Roy’s Blog: “Point Of No Return”

https://bphowlett.wordpress.com/?p=2630

Matthew 11:28 “Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

The sky diver can tell you about the point of no return. Once he commits himself to the air outside the plane, there is no getting back into the plane. He has passed the point of no return.

The high diver can tell you about passing the point of no return. While on the diving board he can change his mind walk back and climb down the steps. Once his feet can no longer touch the board, he has passed the point of no return.

Life is full of these points. Whether it’s a ride at the water park, or on a roller-coaster at the amusement park, or the plane ride at the airport. There is a point of no return.

There are other times in life that pass that point. There may be the point you are joy-riding and going too fast. Maybe you are texting on your phone. The time may come when something happens. Someone is hurt…or killed. That is the point of no return. You can cry, you can grieve, God can forgive, but you can’t go back and undo.

Jesus taught us to not let our lives go past the point of no return. Isaiah 55:6 says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.”

At that last trumpet, you will have passed the point of no return.

Roy’s Blog: “High Noon”

Revelation 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is at hand.”

In the classic 1952 western “High Noon”, Gary Cooper gives an Academy Award winning performance as a U.S. Marshall waiting for the arrival of four vengeful gunmen bent on shooting him down.

Three of the killers clean their guns and bide their time at the train station. The train bearing their leader is scheduled to roll into the little desert town at high noon.

Throughout the drama two haunting images are shown. The first is that of empty train tracks stretching off into a heat-distorted horizon. The second image is of ticking clocks, lots of ticking clocks. Wall clocks…pocket watches…all of them ticking down the hours, minutes, seconds until the howling locomotive screeches into the station bearing bitterness and death for a good man who must stand alone to face what’s coming.

The clock is ticking down on our world. It is nearly “High Noon”.

The Lord is returning with a shout, and the voice of the Archangel, and the righteous will be gone in an instant!

Be ready. It may be at high noon, or it may be at the midnight hour. Are you ready for Him to call your name?

Roy’s Blog: “Somebody Out Of Nobody”

Luke 12:6-7 “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

In the Jewish sacrificial system, the poor, who could not afford lambs for offering, were permitted to use birds instead; thus, a thieving business of selling sparrows evolved during feasts.

Merchants worked out their advertising bargains. “Two sparrows for a penny!” You would expect to hear next, “And four sparrows for two pennies,” but instead, they blurted out, “And five sparrows for two pennies!”

“What a bargain!” you would think. It appeared to be a great deal.

The fifth sparrow actually had no value at all. This bird most often was defective, a reject. Maybe it had a broken or misshaped wing. It couldn’t even be used to pay their offering. It was worthless.

If God is aware of each and every bird, and God is aware of the very hairs on our heads, how much more do you think you matter to God?

The God who loves you says, “I make somebodies out of nobodies.”

You may feel like you are a nobody, that you don’t matter, but God has His eye on you. You matter to Him much more than the sparrows of the field.

“I sing because I’m happy. I sing because I’m free. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.”

Roy’s Blog: “Rejoice!”

Philippians 4: 4 “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say rejoice!”

Everyone wants to be happy. Don’t you? If you ask people what their number one wish or ambition in life is, nearly everyone will say, “I just want to be happy.”

Being happy is serious business. People really work hard at it. Many people have this idea that they must be happy all the time. They have to act happy. They must talk happy. They even have to smell happy, and if they are not happy…fake it.

There are a lot more people faking happiness than living the reality. The fact is, everyday just doesn’t score a ‘perfect 10’ on the scale. Let’s face it–some days are disasters. Sometimes it seem as if ‘Murphy’s Law’ is in full effect on everything you touch.

So. What do you do? Isaiah 43:2 says, “When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you; your troubles will not overwhelm you.”

If you are a believer, nothing can overwhelm you. No matter what you go through in life, you will never go through it alone. And that is reason to REJOICE!

“Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say rejoice!”

Roy’s Blog: “That Moment With God”

https://bphowlett.wordpress.com/2020/05/24/roys-blog-that-moment-with-god

Galatians 1:22 “Through His death on the cross in His own body, He has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault.”

When you world touches God’s world, the result is a holy moment. When God’s hope reaches your earthly hurt, that moment is holy. These moments occur daily.

No, not your wedding; not your birth, or the birth of a child. These moments are special.  But, I’m talking about the holiest moment in your life. Not your first date, or first prom, graduation, promotion, or even your baptism. These are great, but…

I’m talking about the sacred hour. It happened this morning right after you woke up, standing there in front of your mirror, that moment with God.

God saw you the way your are. No fancy clothes, no makeup, hair a mess (if you have any), maybe a bit of drool still staining your chin. God saw you exactly as you are…and He loves you.

Roy’s Blog: “He Doesn’t Remember”

https://bphowlett.wordpress.com/2020/05/23/roys-blog-he-doesnt-remember

Hebrews 8:12 “For I  will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”

“And I will remember their sins no more.” What a remarkable promise!

God doesn’t just forgive. He forgets. He erases all trace from the board. He destroys the evidence. He doesn’t remember my mistakes. For all the things He does do, this is one thing He refuses to do, remember.

He refuses to keep a list of my wrongs. When I ask for forgiveness, He doesn’t pull a clipboard out and say, “But I’ve already forgiven you a 101 times.” He doesn’t remember.

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:2

“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Isaiah 1:18

You may remember the things you did, even though you’ve asked forgiveness, but, He doesn’t remember.

Galatians 3:27 “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

We have ‘put on Christ’. When God looks at us He doesn’t see us, He sees Christ. We wear Him. We are hidden in Him.

Do yourself a favor. Purge your cellar of guilt and regrets for things you’ve asked forgiveness for. Take the Roman nails of Calvary and board up the door.

God doesn’t remember those things.

Roy’s Blog: “Uncluttered Faith”

https://bphowlett.wordpress.com/2020/05/22/roys-blog-uncluttered-faith

I John 1:4 “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.”

Bed time is a hard time for kids. No child understands the logic of going to bed while there is energy left in the body or hours left in the day. My children were no exception.

Several times as I lay my granddaughter down to take a nap, she would lift her eyelids one final time with a smile of anticipation and excitement, as if to say, “I can’t wait until I wake up.” Oh for the attitude of a child. The simple uncluttered passion for living that can’t wait.

She had the philosophy of life that read, “Play hard, laugh hard, and leave the worries behind (for granddad to deal with). A bottomless well of optimism flooded by a perpetual spring of faith that all would be well.

Is it any wonder Jesus said we must have the heart of a child before we can enter the Kingdom of heaven?

In Matthew 18, Jesus says, “Change your whole outlook and become like little children.”

Look to Jesus with an uncluttered childlike faith.