"Rest...Blessed Rest!!"

This time of the year we find many people that mis-use the word REST. For example a member of our church once took a week and vacationed in Maryland. After driving for hours, lugging bags in and out of motels, and eating countless hamburgers on the road, he was happy to stop his RESTING and return to work!
In Matthew the 11th chapter this word REST is used in the correct way. The Lord Jesus here gives a tremendous invitation. In verse 28 He says: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you REST." Here the Lord Jesus invites all those who are conscious of a heavy burden of sin and guilt to come unto Him. The book of Romans makes it clear in the third chapter that all mankind has this burden of guilt and shame, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God:"
A close study of the word REST as used in Matthew 11:28, reveals that all those who will, may come to the Lord Jesus, and leave their burdens with Him.
If you want rest, REAL REST, the Lord Jesus Christ is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25).
For those that know the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, we find that this word REST, does not mean a cessation from work. This word carries with it the connotation of resting-in-the-work.
Why not experience real REST? This rest will last for all eternity, and it costs nothing for it is the gift of God. "What must I do to be saved?"..."Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."
A short vacation really doesn't offer REST, but Jesus Christ offers eternal REST, with a wonderful side benefit...It is called PEACE.

"Qualifications for Love"

It is interesting to note that everything has attached to it some sort of a fitness requirement. This certainly is evident in the business and professional world as well as every facet of our lives. Love is certainly no different in this respect. In the book of I Corinthians, chapter thirteen has become known as the 'Love Chapter.' The Apostle Paul here speaking under Divine inspiration lists several qualifications for a Giving Love,...Charity.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; Charity envieth not;
Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.
Real love can stand the tests of time and events, and will come through these trials showing it's kindness. Real love does not stand in the shadows of envy, nor does it have to boast of it's merits, it is not puffed up.
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own,
is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Here we find that love isn't something that manifests itself in vulgarity, nor is it selfish. This giving love holds itself well when tempted to anger and never dwells on evil thoughts. You may also identify love by several other characteristics;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth:
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things,
endureth all things. Charity never faileth!
Does your idea of love match up to God's qualifications for love? It is interesting to realize that this love is also spoken of in Matthew 5:44- "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you:"
As you mature in love, remember also that the love which fosters all love was made manifest in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." - John 3:16

"A Question for Roman Catholics"

Have you submitted to the authority of man or to the authority of God for salvation? What's the difference, you may ask? The difference is life or death, heaven or hell, curse or blessing, eternal joy or eternal punishment. Believing in man will take you as far as man can take you, believing in God will take you as far as God can take you. The difference is infinite, so I ask you again, to whose authority have you submitted, man's or God's?
According to The Catholic Dictionary, edited by Donald Attwater, man teaches the following about salvation:

SIN: "Mortal sin deserves eternal punishment. Venial sin can be remitted by prayer or other good works."

PAYMENT OF SIN: A. Confession: "Confession must be made by all who have come to the age of reason at least once a year. He must use such reasonable care as he would in any other matter of grave importance, to remember at least all mortal sins since his last confession; otherwise he is incapable of receiving absolution."
B. Penance: "A sacrament of the new law instituted by Christ in which by the absolution of a priest, acting as judge, sins committed after baptism are forgiven to a person who confesses them with sorrow and purpose of amendment."
C. Holy Eucharist: "The holy Eucharist is the living Christ....the body and blood of Christ are truly, really, and substantially present...its efficacy as a sacrifice is bound up with the act of the Mass and as a sacrament with the act of eating, and does not extend beyond these."
D. Good Works: "We are made just by the sanctifying grace of infused charity; but if we love God efficaciously above all things, we necessarily act accordingly, and thus good works are necessary to salvation. But good works must also precede justification in an adult."

SALVATION: "The ordinary road to salvation is through visible membership of the church....He who refuses to join the church which Christ founded, recognizing that Christ commanded adhesion to his church, is in the way of perdition."

BAPTISM: "Baptismal regeneration means the owing to the removal of sin by the sacrament and the infusion of the first grace, the subject who has begun to live to nature now begins to live supernaturally."

CHURCH: "A supra-national society with the supreme pontificate and jurisdiction of the Holy See."

These preceding statements accepted by the Roman Catholic Church are man's conclusions about your salvation. The honest question every Roman Catholic should ask is: "Do these teachings of the church agree with the teachings of God in the Bible?" and if they do not agree, "To who will I submit and whom will I believe?"

Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said in Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
Paul, the apostle, wrote in Romans 3:4, "...let God be true, but every man a liar." Please read on.
According to the Holy Scriptures, God teaches the following about salvation and obedience:

SIN: "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
"For the wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23).
The Bible teaches no mortal and venial sins, but that all sin is sin and deserves damnation.

PAYMENT OF SIN:

A. Confession: The sinner prayed in Luke 18:13, "God be merciful to me a sinner."
1 Timothy 2:5 says, "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
The Bible teaches that God the Father forgives sins through one and only one priest, Jesus Christ.
"In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:14).

B. Penance: The Bible uses the word "repentance," which means a change of mind and heart toward yourself, your sin, and your Saviour.
Luke 13:3 "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
Acts 20:21 "Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."

C. Holy Eucharist: The Bible teaches in 1 Peter 3:18, "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." In Hebrews 10:12 we are told, "But this man (Jesus Christ), after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God."
In instituting the ordinance of the Lord's Supper or communion, the Lord Jesus specifically said, "Do this in remembrance of me." (Luke 22:19)
The Bible teaches that there is but one sacrifice for sins, completed in the death of Christ, and that the Lord's table is a memorial of that sacrifice. Christ is not present in the elements; neither is there any saving grace in the ordinance.
D. Good Works: The Bible teaches in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast."

SALVATION: Salvation is not in a church, sacrament, or in good works. Salvation is in a person.
Jesus said in John 10:9 "I am the door (Not the church); by me if any man enter in he shall be saved."
Jesus said in John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the father, but by me."
The Apostle Peter said in Acts 4:12 "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

BAPTISM: Baptism is an act of obedience of immersing the entire body in water after salvation.
Acts 2:41 "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized."
Acts 8:12 "But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, 'they were baptized,' both men and women."

THE CHURCH: The church is a group of baptized believers who gather in a local assembly for the teaching of God's Word, the administration of the two ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper, and the carrying out of the great commission found in Matthew 28:19-20.
Read: Acts 2:41-42, Ephesians 4:11-16, 1 Corinthians 12:13-26.

Are you trusting today the teaching of man or the teaching of the Bible? If you will accept God's authority, you will readily see that salvation is not in a church, in good works, or in any religion. Sacraments do not save; the one, finished sacrifice of Christ saves. Salvation is a free gift, which has been purchased by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You may have this gift if you will repent of all your sin, turn from yourself and the teachings of man, and obey Acts 16:31, where it states, "Believe (trust in, rest in completely, place faith in Him alone) on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
If you are willing to accept God's authority, you may be saved from your sin and hell right now.

This series is planned to go on with more messages, as soon as I got them I will add them.