Photo Credit – Lori Ward

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25).

It’s Sunday. We are going to church.

Not because God needs us to go to church, but because we need Jesus.

NO. You cannot get hear God’s word proclaimed on a golf course, at a fishing hole, on a hike.

NO. You cannot receive the holy sacraments which the Lord commanded us to do.

There is only one place in the entire universe where the word of God is faithfully proclaimed and the sacraments of the Lord administered. It’s the church

Church isn’t just a place we go. Church is a reminder of to whom we belong. Church is God’s idea. We were commanded to keep the Sabbath and to keep it holy.

So, Sunday’s coming.

Hey! It’s Sunday. We are going to church!

“The [most] important one [commandment] is this: ‘Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and woith all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).

One of the things that the church world gets wrong most often is love.

Yes, God calls us to love Him with all our heart, all our soul, all your mind, and with all your strength. Yes, God calls us to love one another.

Loving people has boundaries. We cannot love people who God has called us to confront.

I came across this the other day:

Who told you to hug Goliath and call it love?

David picked up a stone.

Naivety isn’t holy. It’s foolishness.

Love without discernment will have you protecting what God has commanded you to confront.

by: WiseWoman

I would say she is a wise woman, indeed.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

“For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a).

“For people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

Most Americans and most American church-going people believe that the default destination of people is heaven. It’s only the people who have messed up really bad – or at least worst than us – that end up in hell.

That belief could not be further from the truth.

The Bible is clear – “ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). All means all. Every single human being is a sinner.

What is the wage of sin? What is the result of sin? “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The result of sin is eternal separation from God. The wages of sin is eternal damnation.

What happens after people die in their sin? “People are destined to die once, and after that face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). After people die, every person will be judged for their sin in judgment.

The default destination for sinners is hell.

God never sends people to hell. God hates that even a single person would go to hell. It’s God’s desire that “not one should perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Because God could not imagine spending eternity without us in it, God sent His Son to die for us on the cross.

God never sends people to hell. If people go to hell it’s because they rejected God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus.

God never sends people to hell. God wants all to repent and be saved.

But until people repent, the default destination for all sinners is hell.

If you’re reading this: repent and be saved! Believe in the Lord Jesus!