Guitar Jams: MAX LIFE Ezine Lesson -- STOP: Realize God Wants A Relationship With You-

REMEMBER: The Video for this article is at the bottom of this page.
A couple of weeks ago my family and I were channel surfing and we came across the movie "Pearl Harbor"� we got sucked into the "love story" � and started watching---and then the attack scene hit. It was horrific to the massive destruction and death occurring on the screen. We were about to change the channel when my daughter, Kara (11) began to cry, we reached out to comfort her, but she would not be comforted-she was overwhelmed by the fact that this was not just a movie---this actually happened! It was like she had reached a certain age� a place in life or whatever where a switch went off in her brain and all of a sudden she "realized" WAR IS A REALITY� there really are people in the world who want to kill us. She just realized that in a big way, all at once, and it overwhelmed her.

Of course-we spent the next several minutes having what I thought was a very good conversation about our world, and how sin has messed things up� even why we need to be so thankful for the men and women of our armed forces who lay their lives on the line to protect our freedoms� but main thing that really struck me-was this "aha moment" that Kara experienced. We all have those kinds of moments in our lives� moments where the light-all of a sudden comes on-and we REALIZE something that maybe never did before.

Luke 15 contains the famous story of the prodigal's son. You know the story-there are two brothers. The youngest asks his father for his share of the inheritance early and gets it-runs off and parties it all away and then comes Luke 15:17 - an awesome moment in this story - it says, "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!" Did you catch that? "WHEN HE CAME TO HIS SENSES..." The light came on�he realized, "Ah, what a mess I've made of my life� I need to repent and go a back to my father!"

Friends, we all need to experience that kind of moment in our lives... a moment when we COME TO OUR SENESES and realize, "I've blown it! I've screwed up� I need God in my life� I need His forgiveness and grace in my life� I need Christ in my life!"

I've got TWO ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR YOU
Announcement 1: "You Matter to God"

Genesis 3:8-10 "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"

Listen, it wasn't that God didn't know where Adam and Eve were. He's omniscient-he knows everything. No, this statement was directed at their hearts. It was an expression of sorrow and remorse� "What have you done? Why didn't you trust me and when I said eating this fruit would bring death into your life?" I think these are some of the saddest words in the Bible. God's heart is broken.
This passage launches the long and often painful saga of God reaching out to us. To encapsulate it-God reached out to Abraham and called him to trust-and he did� God promised Abraham that he would make a great nation of him� and He did. God gave him son in his old age, Isaac who also received God's call to trust him� Isaac had two sons Jacob and Esau� Jacob carried on the faith and was renamed Israel when he wrestled with God (Gen. 32). Israel (Jacob) had 12 sons who became the fathers of the 12 tribes that made up the nation of Israel. One of those twelve sons, Joseph, was sold by his own brothers to slave traders because they were jealous of him. He ended up in Egypt-all of which led to the fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham that his descendents would be in bondage 400 years in a foreign land and then liberated as a nation. After the Israelites had been slaves 400 years in Egypt God raised up Moses-who delivered them from Pharaoh by God's mighty power. And Israel became a free nation!

God then gave his people, Israel, His Law and a religion-a way for them to relate with Him. Through the Law and the Rituals of Judaism-God taught the people what Holiness was (that God is perfect and that sin cannot exist in His presence)� what a Priest was (an intercessor between God and men) and what Sacrifice was all about (God's holiness demanded death/the shedding of blood to pay for sin).

But Israel lost sight of RELATIONSHIP with God and slumped into dead RELIGION.

Isaiah 29:13 "The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men."

God sent prophet after prophet to His people-calling them to turn their hearts back to Him. The Prophet Jeremiah capture the message of all the prophets well when he writes, Jeremiah 3:12 "'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the LORD, 'I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,' declares the LORD, 'I will not be angry forever.'"

Through it all-God made it known that a Savior was coming. Throughout the OT God shared 300+ prophecies/over a period of 2,000+ years. Detailing who the Messiah would be---his ancestry -- Where he'd be born -- Where he'd grow up/live� that he would be a prophet, a teacher, a healer - that he'd be rejected by his own people and crucified. That men would gamble for his clothes� that he'd be buried in a barrowed tomb and rise on third day! Why? ALL in so that we wouldn't miss him when he came!

Jesus fulfilled every messianic prophecy! God put on skin & dwelt among us-WHY? Because he desired RELATIONSHIP with us!

John 3:16 (Amplified Bible) "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life."

And when we surrender to Jesus and receive him as our Savior and Lord... he literally moves in and takes up residence in our lives via His Holy Spirit-- why? BECAUSE HE LOVES US ... and want to be with us... amazing. And then--AT THE END of all things... check out where God will be--- Revelation 21:3 "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them�"

Announcement One: "You Matter to God"
Announcement 2: "God needs to matter to you"

We all have to have some point in our lives when we STOP and realize, "Okay, I know I matter to God, but I need to respond.. I need to show that God matters to me� I need to step over the line of faith and surrender my will and my life to Christ.
Not long back, someone who is really dealing with a ton of nasty issues in their life said to my wife Kelly, "You know, you and Debbie (Kelly's sister) are so lucky." Like - your life just seems to go so well automatically.   Kelly and I talked about that statement later. The person who said this knows that they matter to God�but they haven't surrendered their life to Christ as Lord - while Kelly and Debbie both have. It's not like Kel or Debbie's lives are perfect-not at all. We all have struggles and problems and issues in this broken world-but when you do life with Jesus in control-it's just better. Life is hard-but God good and faithful and His Spirit produces joy and peace and strength in the hard times. His Word provides wisdom that allows you to avoid so many pitfalls in life, etc. I think that's what this person saw and was referring to as "lucky".

Guys! It's not about LUCK-it's about choosing today to do life God's way. Choosing to surrender to Christ and live in obedience to His lordship today-will lead to a better life tomorrow. Failure to do so will lead to all kinds of messes-just look around-you see it everywhere-everyday.

Three awesome verses that make it crystal clear.
Ephesians 2:3 "All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath."

All of us were "object of God's wrath" because of our sin-not a good position to be in�

2 Corinthians. 5:21 "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."   As Believers we "represent" the righteousness of God."

Jesus became the "object of God's wrath". He took the hit for us! And now, when we surrender to him and receive Him as Savior-we are forgiven and declared righteous!

Ephesians 2:4-5 "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved."

How awesome is that!?

You Matter to God�   God needs to Matter to you�

As all of you know-I grew up a HUGE fan of the Heavy Metal of the late 1970s and 80s. One of huge metal bands of the mid-80s was a band called POISON - very successful-sold over 19 million albums during the second half of the 80s alone. They were also the kings of the sex, drugs and rock-n-roll life-style. I watched a documentary on them this week - and man, it was just bad. I don't even want to repeat the stuff they were into---you can imagine-it was all about the flesh and gratifying its cravings.

I say that-to say this - Poison's guitarist, CC DeVille (second from the right in the photo)� Received Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord THIS summer (2008)! For me-the video below is an awesome example of the fact that Christ LOVES us� wants to be with us� that we all matter to Him-and Also-that we need to STOP/realize that we need a Savior-and surrender out lives to Him. WATCH THIS.

"We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done. For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times. And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus. Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds. It is based on our faith." Romans 3:22-27 (NLT)

I hope it's utterly clear to all of us at this point-that the Gospel� is the greatest thing the world!

And I pray-that if you have not yet received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior---that you will STOP/realize right now-that He loves you-right where you are� that you matter to Him� and receive Him today! CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN� or email me at pastorbrad@aol.com.
It's the greatest decision you'll ever make!

Blessings,
Pastor Brad