Wisdom from Proverbs – Words are powerful

By Pastor Curtis
 
“A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; from the produce of his lips he shall be filled.  Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” 
Proverbs 18: 20-21 (NKJV)
 
Our words are powerful!  We don’t often realize or think about just how much our words matter.  According to Proverbs our words hold the power of death and life.
 
We see from the beginning that words are powerful.  You will see in Genesis 1 that over and over when God created the earth and everything in it, He used words.  You will find the words “And God said” or a variation of this approximately 11 times in Genesis 1 as God made His creation.
 
God said “Let there be light”, and there was light!
 
It is with our mouth that we declare Jesus as Lord and believe in our heart unto salvation.
We have authority to use the name of Jesus.  The name above all names.
 
Death and life…  The choice is ours…
 
Let’s choose wisely!
 

Jesus is everything

By Pastor Curtis
 
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 (NKJV)
 
Jesus really is everything!  We have covered many weeks as a church looking solely at Jesus.
 
Jesus is:
– Our foundation
If we build on anything besides Jesus, we will crumble.  Jesus needs to be the chief cornerstone upon which everything else is built
– Our friend
We call Jesus our friend because He is.   But, the amazing thing is that Jesus calls US His friend also.  Are we a fan who knows about Jesus or are we a follower who knows not just about Jesus, but actually knows Him?
– Our example
We are to become like Jesus.  We are to imitate Him.  We are told that we can do what Jesus did and even greater things.  That is amazing!
– Our king
Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Jesus has full authority.  Every knee will one day bow, the choice is ours if we do it now or later.  Heaven or hell, the choice is ours!
– Our Saviour
Jesus came not only to get us into heaven when we die BUT also to get heaven into us!  Repentance and following Jesus is required.  We become new creations, new creations are different from old creations!
– Our Lord
Not only is Jesus our Lord BUT He is our risen Lord!  Jesus is alive.  Death could not hold him.
 
Jesus is at the core of all we believe.  Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
 

Living a life filled with Faith, Hope and Love

By Pastor Curtis
 
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13 (NKJV)
 
We have studied the idea of faith and it’s role in the life of a believer.  Faith is essential to our walk with the Lord.
Scripture tells us in Hebrews that “The just shall live by faith”, That’s you and me!
Hebrews also tells us that “Without faith it is impossible to please God”.
Clearly, faith is important!  While faith is important, let us not forget to mix hope in with our faith.  Hope is the outward expression of our faith.  Hope produces joy in our lives.  It’s OK to be excited as a Christian, it’s OK to be full of joy and expecting God to do amazing things.
Here at Alpine, we believe God can move mountains!
Yet, the greatest of these is love!
1 Corinthians 13 tells us that even if we are doing amazing things, it profits nothing if we aren’t operating in love.
Love is what brought Jesus to this earth and love is what sent Him to the cross.  God is love.
Jesus died for you!  Because He LOVES you!  But don’t forget, EASTER is coming… JESUS IS ALIVE!!!
 

Wisdom from Proverbs – Fear of man

By Pastor Curtis
 
“The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.”
Proverbs 29:25 (NKJV)
 
Approximately 15 times Proverbs discusses the idea of “Fearing the LORD”
“The fear of the LORD”, this is a common theme in the book of Proverbs as well as the rest of Scripture.
This “fear” is more of a reverence, respect and honour than it is a cowering in fear.
God created the universe and everything in it, and He made it from nothing.  God spoke… and there was!
If that isn’t worthy of our love, respect, reverence and honour then I don’t what is.  God is amazing!
Many times though, we misplace this fear and put it onto our fellow man.  We are not to fear man, we are to fear God alone.
Proverbs 29:25 tells us when we misplace this fear, respect, reverence and honour and place it off of God and onto our fellow man we get caught in a snare.
What is a snare?
– Something by which one is entangled, involved in difficulties, or impeded.
– Something deceptively attractive
God wants to accomplish great things in our lives and through our lives but we can’t do it caught in a snare.
Once we are caught in a snare it entangles us, it makes things difficult and impedes us from moving forward.  The snare of the fear of man can even seem attractive to us, it may seem good to us… But if the reason we are doing something or not doing something is because of the fear of man, it leads to a snare!
God alone is worthy of this place in our lives.  Yes, we show others respect and love everyone as ourselves but this place of reverence, respect, honour and fear belongs to God alone!
If we seek to honour God in all we do, if we seek to please Him with every part of our lives, there is no limit to what He can accomplish in and through us.  God is amazing!