Lottery Winner

Imagine for a minute that you won the lottery. A huge lottery. Say 300 million dollars. You were the only winner. What do you think would happen. Family, friends, co-workers, even strangers will come flying out of the woodworks to get in on what little they could from you. These are people who never emailed you, visited you, talked to you, not even a once a week phone call. You weren't even worth the 40-something cents that it cost for a stamp to send you a letter. And now they want to share in your new found inheritance. You would probably be pretty insulted. Of course there would be true friends who were always around. You would share some of your winnings with those who were close to you the whole time, no problem. They would be those who stuck with you through thick and thin and the fact that you had won the lottery was irrelevant to their feelings for you. Now imagine you are on the other end. Someone who should have been your best friend the whole time is coming into some winnings. You however never talked to Him. You never spent time with Him. You never visited His house. You never even read His letters to you. Don't be surprised when He tells you on Judgment Day or the day of His return. 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' We are so blessed to have a God who has already attained victory on that Roman cross so many years ago. Yet so many people who name the name of Christ don't turn from their sin, they don't read their Word daily, they don't pray to Him, they don't share what a great friend that He is with those who don't know Him, they don't go to visit Him at his house and yet when Christ comes into the winnings that He attained all those years ago, all of those people will be right there with hands out. We need to stick with Jesus through the good times and the bad. He never promised us a bed of roses and then we go to Heaven. So many times people will turn from God because of some tribulation, not counting it as a blessing, yet still expect John 3:16 to be their catch all for their willful shortcomings. With the new year upon us, let's all make an effort to be friends with Jesus. Good friends. Not friends who are just waiting for Him to win the eternal "Lottery". Let's be friends who listen to His Word, friends who talk to Him, and friends who visit Him at His house. If you haven't treated Jesus like a true friend, use this new year as a fresh start in your walk with Jesus. Maybe listen to the True and False Conversions sermon here on this site. If you are faithful to Him in these things already, cling to Him. Don't leave your first love. None of us know the day or time, let's be ready. Let's be a true friend to Jesus. He is our true friend. He demonstrated that on the cross. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

John 15:15 (English Standard Version)

¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

Letter to an Unsaved Friend or Family Member

Dear_________,


I am writing to ask your forgiveness for something you didn't know that I did. More specifically, something that I did not do. A while back I learned a truth that I should have immediately shared with you. Instead, I held on to this truth like it was mine and mine alone. In doing so, it must have seemed like I was just weird now and maybe that I didn't love you as much as I did before I believed. The exact opposite of that is true. I love you more now that I actually know how to love but I just didn't know how to share it or even that I was supposed to. Now it seems too much time has passed for me to open up to you without being an emotional wreck so I'm writing to you now. The truth I am talking about is Jesus. Now you may be thinking, "I'm a good person, why would I need Jesus?" And the truth is, you are a good person-compared to the world. But if any of us were good enough to make it to Heaven, then Jesus would not have had to die for the sins of the world. Think of a sheep on green grass. He looks pretty clean and white. That would be like comparing yourself to the world. Now you take the same sheep and put him on a blanket of snow, the snow being God's Law or the 10 Commandments. Now that same sheep looks dirty and not white at all. So I write to you to ask you to think about the 10 Commandments and how you would stack up against them on Judgment Day. If you've lied, or stolen anything, or used God's name as a cuss word you will be guilty on that day and that's only three of the 10 Commandments. The Bible says that all liars will have their part in the Lake of Fire, no thief will inherit the Kingdom of God, and that God will not hold anyone blameless who misuses His name. We still haven't looked at hatred which is like murder and lust which is like adultery according to Jesus. Maybe you're only guilty of lying. The Bible says in the book of James that "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." The punishment for breaking God's Law isn't a Christ-less eternity or eternal separation from God, it's Hell. You may be thinking to yourself by now, well who hasn't done all of these things and that there's probably hypocrites within the church that still break these laws. True. But the standard is God's Law, not other people. I want you to know what God did for you. Imagine for a minute that there were no excuses-no hypocrites, no church, and no religions. It was just you and God's inerrant Word. Here's what it says. That Jesus, who lived a perfect life, died on the cross for your sins-every lie, theft and lustful look. He rose from the dead three days later, defeating death. If you repent and put your faith and trust in Him you will have everlasting life. Maybe you believe in God. The Bible tells us that even the demons believe in God. Belief isn't enough. Will belief in a parachute save you? No, only putting it on and using it is what will save you. The Bible says "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ." I've shared every other dumb thing I've done in my life but this treasure I kept to myself. This is the message I should have shared with you the minute I found out just like in the Gospel of John. Chapter 1:41 says "The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ)." So please forgive me and please consider the message I've just shared with you. It is so important. Judgment Day may not be some far off day. We may not have time to live like we want now and repent when we get older because we don't know when it will be our turn to go. If you have any questions please call me. I hope to talk with you real soon.


Love,

______________