|
|
|
|
|
| c |
Pastor's Corner |
|
 |
6/18/00
|
|
Would you be able to communicate the
Gospel successfully if you had all your bibles, notes, and books taken
away from you tomorrow by flood, fire, or governmental oppression? |
|
It is a question that we often never
look at; certainly, not directly. Instead we say to ourselves,
"tomorrow I will read my bible, tomorrow I will study out those
verses, tomorrow…" |
|
I wonder sometimes if we keep saying
that because deep inside we know that there will always be a tomorrow,
because we know that we are eternal beings. Our sense of eternity is
warping our sense of temporal urgency. |
|
The older I get, the more keenly I
am aware that the ‘tomorrow’ argument just doesn’t hold water. It is
a bag with holes. It is a vanity of the mind. If I don’t do it today,
then I won’t do it when tomorrow comes; for, after all, then it would be
‘today’ again -- and I have a habit of not doing things today. |
|
Have our longer life spans lulled us
into sleep. World conquerors of the past often times completed their
destinies by the time they were twenty-five years old. But today, we start
life at thirty-something. We have been given more time, and yet we only
use it half as well when it comes to accomplishing our futures. |
|
Do you know how long it takes to
become an ‘expert’ on something? About 5 years. That means that in
your lifetime you could become an expert on 16 different fields of
endeavor; assuming that you live to be 90 years old. |
|
Is it really the case that we ‘do
not have enough time’ or is it just that we have become cracked
hourglasses that let the sand slide out of our lives onto the ground? |
|
Is it possible that God has given us
the knowledge to expand longevity because we need longer to come to the
shocking realizations of the truth? Bright kids you can teach early, but
slow students often have to spend more time in class. The more I think
about it, it is not that we are waiting on God but rather that God is
STILL waiting on us. |
|
Jesus died at 33 years and 6 months.
His ministry only lasted 3 years. His death on the cross only lasted 3
hours. He saved a world, conquered an enemy, and cared for millions in
that short time. Now he is in heaven working on our behalf. Perhaps, if we
hurry up and complete our callings and destinies, God will let us come
home too. |
Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M. 6/18/2000
|
6/25/00
|
|
The wages of sin is death. That is
what the bible says. Most of us do not believe this to be true; certainly
we act as if we ‘hope’ that it is not true. I think that I know one of
the reasons why we act this way. Can you guess what that reason is? |
|
The reason is that we do not see
death strike immediately! We don’t even believe a warning of eventual
death when we see it on the side of a cigarette package, when it is
OBVIOUS! Why should we believe the Manufacturer’s warrantee when He
says, ‘DO THIS AND YOU WILL DIE’? Because death comes LATER --
sometimes much later -- after we sin, we feel that somehow we have cheated
death. |
|
Eve ate the fruit of the forbidden
tree. When she did not die instantly she concluded that God must have
misinformed Adam when he said, ‘In the day thou eatest thou shalt surely
die’. So, she offered DEATH to him. The bible says that through Adam’s
sin DEATH entered the world. But even he did not die that day! |
|
There is only one way to UNDO the
wages of sin. Yes, I did use the word UNDO. There is a reset button on the
keyboard of life. There is an ESCAPE key for when you get trapped in a
routine that you never intended to activate. There is an UNDO button. The
scriptural answer is very clear. It says, "But the gift of God is
eternal life". |
|
That’s right. GOD is the undo! GOD
is the way of escape! And God’s word clearly states that sins can be
FORGOTTEN and erased. What most people don’t realize is that forgiveness
from God is not some kind of platitude that says, "I know you did it
but I am going to pretend you didn’t do it, but you will still have to
suffer the consequences." What the bible shows is that through God
THE CAUSE is eliminated. And if SIN is removed then there is no more WAGE
to be exacted. It is not God withholding the Wage! It is God overturning
the LAW of which He is the executioner. A PARDON is a free gift. It can be
given to a man falsely accused OR to a man rightfully accused but RELEASED
OF THE DEBT he owes for his crime. And that is called MERCY AND GRACE. |
|
Sin is the snake in the grass, that
bites you on the leg, and fills you with the poison that will eventually
cause you to die. GOD, through Jesus Christ, is the ANTIDOTE to the
poison! Stop the poison and you stop death!! God does not bring death
immediately after you sin because He is longsuffering and not willing that
any should perish. If he holds back death then he buys time to administer
the antidote and save a life. When you sin… RUN TO HIM!! Get the
antidote and LIVE!. |
Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M. 6/25/2000
|
|
|
. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
Original Quote by Pastor Anthony |
|
|
The noose gets loose when the goose gets cooked well done
|
|
|
This site was last modified on 10/10/2007
|
|
Content:
Anthony J. Massotti Th.M. || Technical:
Webmaster ||
Copyright Information |
|
