COME BACK HOME MY CHILD

What a great time of year this is. It is Spring. Doesn't that sound good? Praise God, Winter is on the way out. Spring with all of its indications of new and fresh beginnings has arrived. What better time to say welcome to your 24/7, week long online church service. Everyone is welcome in this place.

This online church has been a source of new beginnings for many of you. We have received e-mails and comments telling us of how these anointed services have renewed people's desires to learn more about God. One e-mail said, they now desire to live fully for God and to be all He desires them to be. What more could anyone want?

In the past weeks we have preached and taught about wisdom, understanding and love. Last week, we talked to the unbeliever, urging them to accept Jesus Christ into their hearts. Would that not be a great new beginning, my friends? New life in Christ replacing the spiritual death that Satan had them trapped in. This week, we are once again turning our attention to the believer. It has been quite a journey, hasn't it my good Christian, child of God?

Remember the day, weeks and months before accepting Christ into our hearts? No matter how good we thought we were, there was always a cloud of condemnation and sin following us. We weren't always sure of what it was, but we always felt its dark presence. Many of us had praying parents or praying grandparents, and even though we loved them, we thought they were a little weird or just too religious, didn't we? Little did we know the power or effect their prayers would have on us.

You see, the ones that have been praying God's word for our salvation understood things we did not. They understood that praying the word of God over us, that those words would not come back void. Check it for yourself. In Isaiah 55:11 God said:

“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

Does it not make spiritual sense if we pray God's word and intent for someone, that prayer that goes forth from our mouth will not return void. Thank God for those that prayed so faithfully for us. Does not that principle encourage us to pray for our loved ones? God, please save our families, friends and yes even our enemies. Reveal yourself to them, give them eyes to see and ears to hear, that they may be saved. I'm talking about new beginnings, my friends.

Do you remember the day you accepted Jesus into your heart and confessed him as Lord of your life? Do you remember how clean and pure you felt? The feeling of being totally cleansed of all sin was real and true, wasn't it? John wrote a letter expressing this to the churches of his time. Turn with me to I John 1:9.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

No wonder you felt so good! No wonder you couldn't contain the joy you felt. You knew you were saved from your sin. Your were set free. Do you remember how your Bible became alive to you? The realization that God's word was real and true? You began to attend church and to learn the things of God. God's desires became your desires. Why? Because you were delighting yourself in the Lord. Psalms 37:4 explains it best.

“Delight thyself also in the Lord; And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”

The point I am making here, you felt the closeness and love of God, didn't you? Remember how you witnessed to everyone who would listen? What a burden for souls you had. Praying came easy to you because you believed God would answer them. You saw a sick person and you automatically prayed for healing and not only that, you believed they would be healed. And many were, am I right? God living became a way of life. Sin, circumstances, situations, temptations had no control over you. You were a conqueror and had victory in your life, didn't you? You believed Isaiah 54:17 that says:

“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of me saith the Lord.”

And guess what? You were right to believe this. However, that was then and this is now!! Today, defeat seems to loom bigger than victory. The cares of this world, including the economy, your finances, your health or the health of a loved one is consuming you with despair and thoughts of defeat. You notice the Bible that gave you so much delight and encouragement now sits on a shelf and sometimes gathers dust on it. Okay, just a quick note here. At the end of last week's message I said I was going to address believers who have gotten off the narrow road leading to victory and had gotten on the broad road to destruction, didn't I? I also said Jesus loves you and wants you back on track.

If this is not you, then pray for those I am now talking to. Jesus is reaching out to them. Now, to continue. You still love God, you know you do, but somehow the closeness is not there like it was. You find yourself slipping back into sin. Thinking thoughts and acting in ways you know God does not approve of. You want to feel close to God again, but don't. What happened? One thing that did not happen, my friend, is God did not move away from you.

I heard a story once about a man and his wife driving down the highway. This was in the day before bucket seats. The front seats of cars were just long seats where three people could sit in front. Or, where your sweetheart or wife could sit very close to you. Well, as they were driving along, the wife said to the husband “You notice we don't sit close to each other in the car anymore? We used to sit so close to each other. What happened?” The husband, who was driving, looked at her and gently said “Honey, I haven't moved one inch.” That could be God saying to you, my child, I haven't moved one inch away from you. But, you are moving farther and farther away from me. Why is this happening?

I understand there are pressures of this life coming against you daily. You turn on the news and it is all bad. You are afraid of losing your job. You have been betrayed by a Christian brother or sister, hurt by a church or a pastor or preacher. I don't know what is causing you to draw away from God. But this much I do know, unless you turn back to your heavenly Father, it will get worse. God is calling out to you this week through this preacher of the gospel. He wants you to have a new beginning. A new beginning that will restore joy and peace to you.

I am reminded of a poem, it goes something like this: Spring has sprung, the grass has riz, I wonder where the flowers is. One thing I can assure you!! There will be flowers, even though we don't see them yet. If you trust God again, I can assure you!! He will restore joy, peace, mercy and grace to you. You will walk in newness of life again. Come on back home, my child, come on back home.

God bless you,

Brother Bob