Sunday, 2005

Nov. 13, Pentecost 26

Matthew 25:14-29 (NLT)

"Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a trip. He called together his servants and gave them money to invest for him while he was gone. ¹⁵He gave five bags of gold to one, two bags of gold to another, and one bag of gold to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities—and then left on his trip. ¹⁶The servant who received the five bags of gold began immediately to invest the money and soon doubled it. ¹⁷The servant with two bags of gold also went right to work and doubled the money. ¹⁸But the servant who received the one bag of gold dug a hole in the ground and hid the master's money for safekeeping.

¹⁹"After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. ²⁰The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of gold said, 'Sir, you gave me five bags of gold to invest, and I have doubled the amount.' ²¹The master was full of praise. 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!'

²²"Next came the servant who had received the two bags of gold, with the report, 'Sir, you gave me two bags of gold to invest, and I have doubled the amount.' ²³The master said, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!'

²⁴"Then the servant with the one bag of gold came and said, 'Sir, I know you are a hard man, harvesting crops you didn't plant and gathering crops you didn't cultivate. ²⁵I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth and here it is.'

²⁶"But the master replied, 'You wicked and lazy servant! You think I'm a hard man, do you, harvesting crops I didn't plant and gathering crops I didn't cultivate? ²⁷Well, you should at least have put my money into the bank so I could have some interest. ²⁸Take the money from this servant and give it to the one with the ten bags of gold. ²⁹To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away.

Sermon: How Can I Be Saved?

From the first reading:

³When people are saying, "All is well; everything is peaceful and secure," then disaster will fall upon them as suddenly as a woman's birth pains begin when her child is about to be born. And there will be no escape. ⁴But you aren't in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won't be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief. ⁵For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don't belong to darkness and night. ⁹For God decided to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. ¹⁰He died for us so that we can live with him forever, whether we are dead or alive at the time of his return.

Question: How can I be saved?

First question, what does the term “saved” mean to someone who is not already a Christian? We may need to explain that? Most people in our world today don’t even think to ask such a question, or perhaps they don’t ask it in just that way. They may say, “I believe I will go to heaven when I die” or, “I think God will accept me when my time comes.” That’s OK. It’s the same idea in simpler words.

So, how does a person get to heaven, or become “acceptable” to God, which is another way of saying how does a person get saved?

The Bible is very clear about this. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. But there’s some more church jargon that may need some explanation- grace, faith. Grace just means a free gift. When someone gives you a present for Christmas, or your birthday, that is an act of grace.

And faith simply means to put our trust in something. When I sit down on a chair, I am putting my faith in the chair, and the person who made it, that it will hold me without collapsing.

So, what the Bible tells us about salvation is that it is first of all a gift, and that the gift is received by trusting Jesus Christ to be the One who can give us that gift.

When we spell it out, that salvation is through faith in Christ alone, people often respond by saying something like this:

“Wait a minute! You’re telling me I have to accept your opinion of what is a good person or God will send me to hell.”

No! Back up. Let’s deal with that statement one step at a time.

First, “You’re telling me…” I’m not telling you anything. This isn’t an opinion that I just made up. What I am saying is what the Bible clearly says. In fact, if I had to make up my own way of salvation, I wouldn’t have done it this way at all. I would have probably designed a system of good works and rewards. You know, like when we were little. Your parents said, “Be nice to your brother, eat your vegetables, and you can have dessert.” That’s how most of the world operates. If you want something, you have to earn it. So just be glad I’m NOT the one who defines what salvation is. If I had my way, salvation would be based on whether you lived up to my standards, me definition of what “good” is, and trust me, you wouldn’t make it, unless you happened to be somebody I really liked. But that isn’t God’s way at all.

What God says to us is, “You could never be good enough to earn a place in heaven. That’s why I have to make a way for you.” And He did that by sending His Son into the world to be the one perfect Person who was good enough to take upon Himself the sins of the world. You need to accept what He has done for you. And if you will do that, if you will acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of a Savior, and that Jesus Christ is that Savior, then He will be your way into heaven. So, it isn’t me telling you anything.

Now, second point, I’m not saying you “have to accept” this. You have free will. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. But if you won’t accept the free gift of salvation that God is offering, if you won’t come to God in the way God has made, just how do you think you’re going to get there? You going to make your own way? How? Why not just do it God’s way? We all know the answer to that one, don’t we? PRIDE!

Jim Rutz

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

“What’s the difference between a 2-year-old and a terrorist?

“You can reason with a terrorist.

“Every 2-year-old starts off as a tyrant, determined to be ruler of his little world. His purpose is thwarted only with great patience and (now and then) a little force. The final solution is encapsulated in a plaque over the desk of a friend who reared three lovely daughters. It read: They Grow Up.

“My point is that tyranny is not an anomaly; it is the innate desire of every uncorrected child and unchecked nation. Dictatorships have always been the natural form of government, and it took a very long while before the Athenians stopped Darius in 490 B.C., an even longer time before the English nobles put the screws to old King John and got the Magna Carta in 1215, and a still longer time before we Yankees started dumping tea in Boston Harbor.”

Whether we are talking about an individual or a nation, mature, responsible self-government is not natural. It is super-natural. Self-control is a “fruit of the Holy Spirit.” It is the saving work of Jesus Christ.

So, there you go. Salvation is the way God has provided through His Son Jesus Christ, and living a good life is not how we earn our way into heaven, it is the fruit, the result of a life given to Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Dallas Willard,

"My primary calling must be hearing God and being in communion with Him for the guidance He will give, and not try to be in business for myself trying to use a little God to advance my project." 

Case Study: Kathryn Kuhlman.

Some of you remember Kathryn Kuhlman. In the 60s and 70s she was an international phenomenon in the Christian healing ministry. People traveled from all over the world to attend her healing services.

Kathryn Kuhlman was a woman who believed in miracles. Born on May 9, 1907 in Concordia, Missouri, Kathryn was just fourteen years old when she was born again. Although she came from a denominational background, in her ministry she refused to be a part of any denomination and gave no one but God credit for her ministry.

Kathryn carried with her some strong beliefs. She always said that anyone could experience the operation of the Holy Spirit in one’s life if he was willing to pay the price. She was determined in her life not to allow self-pity, self-hatred and self-indulgence to take hold on her. Kathryn believed that these sins would only stand in the way of the Holy Spirit’s working in our lives. Another belief she always pushed was that we should surrender our lives to Christ and be “dead” to ourselves that He may live through us.

Kathryn Kuhlman began her ministry working with her sister and brother in law with their tent ministries for five years, always preparing herself for her own ministry. A local pastor in Boise, Idaho offered Kathryn her first place to minister from an old pool hall. Soon she began preaching throughout Idaho. She would preach and sleep wherever she could find a place, suitable or not, she made it so. In her, God developed dedication and loyalty to Him and His people. Kathryn would say, “ My heart is fixed. I’ll be loyal to Him at any cost, at any price. Loyalty is much more than a casual interest in someone or something. It’s a personal commitment. In the final analysis, it means, here I am. You can count on me, I won’t fail you.”

Kathryn was a traveling evangelist that did not believe in allowing finances to get in the way of doing the Lord’s work. She ordered up all that she needed to make her healing meetings work, knowing in her heart that God was without limits in His finances.

On May 30, 1935, the Denver Revival Tabernacle opened with a huge neon sign over it that read, “Prayer Changes Things.” Thousands of people from the area would attend her meetings six days a week. After starting the Sunday school program, she added a bus service. Kathryn also began an outreach to prisons and nursing homes and she even went to the media with a radio show called “ Smiling Through”.

For a short time in her life, Kathryn refused to listen to the Holy Spirit’s leading when she fell in love with an evangelist named, Burroughs A. Waltrip. She suffered rejection from others for having a relationship with this man, since he was still married and with two sons when he began his romance with Kathryn. On October 18, 1938 in Mason City, Iowa, the couple secretly married against all concerned advice from those that were close to her. The church was furious with her for not taking this situation seriously as a sin against God. Kathryn lost her church, her close friends and her ministry, even her relationship with God faltered because she put her husband’s desires before her passion for God. It took Kathryn eight years to end this relationship and try to find her way back to the place that God had for her.

It took a lot of hard work and determined faith to restore her ministry. Kuhlman bought a one-way ticket to Franklin, Pennsylvania and never turned back. She began having meetings in the Gospel Tabernacle that seated fifteen hundred. Not long after, she began doing daily radio broadcast in two cities. It was after the end of World War II that Kathryn Kuhlman began to lay hands on people who came for healing. She had no idea that a healing ministry was going to bring her international fame. It wasn’t until she realized in her studying of the Word that healing was provided for the believer as well as salvation.

In 1950, her the Kathryn Kuhlman Foundation, established in Pittsburgh, financed more than twenty churches in foreign mission fields. Her messages were heard all over the nation and in various places overseas. Even though thousands of miracles had taken place, Kathryn counted mostly on the miracle of those being born again. Her ministry stands out as one of the leading ministries of the “Charismatic Movement”. For many, Kathryn Kuhlman was special. She made the way for those in our generation to come to know the Holy Spirit. On February 20, 1976, Kuhlman went to be with the Lord, she was sixty-eight years old.

⁵For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don't belong to darkness and night. ⁹For God decided to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. ¹⁰He died for us so that we can live with him forever, whether we are dead or alive at the time of his return.