Porn Dealer finds God

 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Mt 20:16 NIV

You did not come into this world by chance, no matter how good or evil your parents were, no matter whether your parents planned your birth or did not want you at all. 

God has a calling for every single person. God is our Creator. He created you. God is a good, creative Creator. He does not create anything or anyone without a good purpose. 

John Dawson was a missionary from New Zealand who served in Los Angeles. He wanted to reach the owner of a porn shop for Jesus. He had breakfast with this man every week and explained the gospel to him. The man believed everything, but was still not ready to give his life to Jesus.

Then John Dawson received a new insight from the Holy Spirit.

He told the man that he was hard on the outside but had a soft heart. God had given him the gift of mercy, but he was using that gift wrongly by giving false comfort through pornography.

The porn dealer was deeply moved and he began to hope.

That same day, the man made Jesus the Lord of his life.

Jesus told the religious professionals of His day that they were blind because they were proud know-alls.

… Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 

For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. Mt 21:31–32 NIV
 
There are still such theological experts and high-ranking church leaders today. This story of Jesus and the religious professionals is unfortunately still relevant.

Are you a human being? Then you are called. You have a calling from Jesus, but your calling must be activated. You must believe and repent.

Are you already converted, but somehow stuck? Your life is more or less virtuous, but for you, God's kingdom is only in the Bible and in heaven. 

Jesus has very specific plans for you and important tasks.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph 2:10 NIV

You can continue to strive to be a good, virtuous Christian, or you can take time out to perceive God's guidance and find the true purpose of your life.

“Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. Ps 39:4 NIV

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 
For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Mt 7:7–8 NIV

Hidden Diamonds in the Mud

 My mother's cellar was flooded. Many of her personal belongings were ruined, including some of her jewellery because the silver was corroded. My cousin and my mother searched for diamonds in the mud.

In the Bible, silver is sometimes a symbol of human nature. Silver is valuable, but it can also be corrupted. After the fall of man, we are all corrupted, but we were originally created in God's image.

This quote from the letter of James shows both aspects of our corrupt human nature.

but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Jas 3:8–9 NIV

We must look for the diamonds in corrupt humanity, the traces of the image of God.

John Dawson was a missionary in Los Angeles who came from New Zealand. He wanted to win the manager of a porn shop for Jesus. He explained how Jesus died for our sins and that Jesus wanted to forgive his sins. The man agreed, but he would not or could not meet Jesus himself and receive him personally.

Then John Dawson received a new insight from the Holy Spirit.

He told the man that although he was a tough guy on the outside, he was secretly soft and sensitive on the inside. God had implanted mercy in him. As a porn dealer, he passed on comfort, but false comfort. He had the potential to encourage and comfort people.

New hope sprang up in his heart and he placed his life in God's hands.

Do you see chaos and shame in your life story?

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Rom 8:28 NASB95

Joyce Meyer was sexually abused by her father for years. Her life fell apart. Her first marriage was a disaster. But she believed in Jesus and God rebuilt her life.

She has been helping many emotionally wounded women for years. Through her traumatic experiences, she understands the path to recovery for broken women. That's why she can now be grateful for her trauma.

She has found diamonds in the chaotic mud of her life story. She can now pass these diamonds on to help others.

You must not despise yourself.

 God does not despise you. You must not despise yourself.

God does not despise people. He even sees wicked people as his lost children.

He longs to restore them and bring them home.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Jn 3:16 NKJV

Humanity is God's masterpiece, but we see that we are not glorious beings. Imagine a masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci badly damaged by fire and flood, but not completely destroyed. It looks dirty and shabby, but it is still a masterpiece.

You are also a human being, but not just any old specimen of humanity.

And the people around you who have not yet believed are also special beyond measure, even if they are badly damaged, because they were also created in the image of God.

We need to change the way we think and the way we talk about ourselves and about other people.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.

Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.
Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? Jas 3:9–11 NIV

God doesn't like everything about you and me, but he is working day and night to restore us.
He is not pleased with everything in our lives, but he loves his children, and that is what we are when we belong to Jesus by trusting him.

If you belong to Jesus by faith, God not only loves you, but He is pleased with what He has done in your life.

God has created you with a special purpose. No one else on earth is like you.  

Your life is a gift from God, and also an assignment from God.

What is your special purpose in life? God wants to show you your calling in life and show you the path you should take.

See yourself as God sees you.

 Before the creation of the world, God already had an image of you in his mind. He saw in you a reflection of the beautiful humanity of Jesus.

Of course, I don't mean that you should be an itinerant Jewish preacher in Israel. You may be a woman. You may be an introverted academic. We are all different and unique, but we are to reveal the glory of God in different ways.

But almost everything has gone wrong with God's plan. The first humans rejected God's plan and were disobedient. Since then we have seen murder and war, lies and deceit, selfishness and perversion time and time again.

We are all born with shortcomings, with negative tendencies and character flaws. But God has never given up.

God can turn a run-down car into a Formula One machine.
But humanity needed a new beginning.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

Jesus took the punishment for all the sins of all people on the cross. He died so that we could have a new beginning, freed from guilt, because God's Son bore the guilt on his innocent soul.

Your guilt is taken away if you gratefully accept God's sacrifice and want to make a new start with Jesus.

We can have a new life with Jesus because Jesus not only died for us, but also rose again. Jesus is no longer a humiliated man on earth, but the eternal King of mankind in heaven.

Jesus wants to assure you.

… “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.
Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. …” Jn 11:25–26 NLT

Are you deeply dissatisfied with life? Are you perhaps at the end? What does Jesus have to say?

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Mt 11:28 NLT

Jesus loves you. He is waiting for your cry for help.

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ Jer 33:3 NIV

You can make a Difference

 I am God's creation, so are you. My sight and my breath only come from God. I can think because God created my soul and my brain.

I have a lovely daughter because God created me as a fertile man.

I am a creation, totally dependent on God, but I am not a puppet.
We are created by God in his own image.

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Gen 1:27 NIV

God is the ruler who governs everything. We humans are created to rule under God's authority. We are God's managers on earth. We must manage with God and for God.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Gen 1:28 NIV

The man is not to rule over the woman, but the man and the woman were created as partners to rule over the earth together. The dominion of men over women came later, after the fall.

The question is whether the subjugation of women was God's plan or a consequence of the sin that God allowed.

From the very beginning, God gave us humans important tasks. We received everything from God. God made everything.

Without God we can do nothing, but we are made in God's image. God is an active creator. That is why we are also active agents on earth. Anyone who truly believes in God is not a passive believer, but an active agent who does stuff, who influences the world in some way.

Even without obedience and without trust in God, people are active. People are doers, but without God we have brought God's world to the brink of destruction.

What is your task in life? God wants to guide and empower you.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph 2:10 NIV

Sin has ruined the world. What is the problem? People without trust in God.

What is God's solution? People who trust God and follow Jesus.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
not by works, so that no one can boast.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph 2:8–10 NIV

Therefore do not grow weary in doing what is good. Do not be discouraged and never give up, for in due season we will also reap the corresponding blessing. Galatians 6:9 NLB

Jesus accomplished everything for us on the cross, but not so that we should do nothing.

We are meant to be God's active agents on earth.

Love is a Choice

 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NIV

God sent His only Son into this world to rescue us from our self-destruction. God’s original purpose for us all, is that we know him as our creator, who loves us and cares for every aspect of our lives.

Why didn't God just make us perfectly good and leave it at that?

Then none of us would turn bad. None of us would kill or steal. We would never mess up our lives with useless addictions.

In fact, God did make the first man and woman perfect and good.

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Ge 1:27 NIV

God is perfectly kind, loving and good. So the first man and woman were created fully formed with the same character as their loving creator: kind, loving and good.

Even today, we can see imperfect manifestations of God’s goodness in many people.

We see faithful couples, loving mothers, skilful doctors who care for their patients, judges who do their best to be fair. Not all politicians and rulers are corrupt.

So why did people go wrong?

God created men and women with his own nature.

One essential aspect of God’s nature is his freedom to make decisions. God did not have to create anything or anybody. He freely chose to create everything, and everybody, including you and me.

If we are created in the image of God, we must also have this essential attribute of God, the ability to make decisions, to marry or stay single, to love or hate, to obey or disobey.

When God created the first man and woman, he put them in a garden full of fruit trees. They could choose to eat any fruit except one, the fruit of the forbidden tree. They had to make a choice, whether to trust and obey God or to disobey.

True love is always a choice. A newborn baby feels the love of its mother and returns that love, but as boys and girls grow up, they must choose to love their parents, or they can rebel and make bad choices. 

We must also choose to forgive our parents, which can be a serious problem.

God did not make us as perfect computers, infallibly programmed to do what we were programmed to do. God made you and me to be unique individuals who mature by making good choices.

When we love as God wants us to love, it is always a choice.

What will you choose today?

We have all inherited a degree of corruption from our parents, and we have all been exposed to bad influences by the world we live in. 

We don’t live in a perfect relationship with God because the first man and woman ate the forbidden fruit and passed on a corrupted nature to all generations.

But God knows all things. He saw that we would misuse our free will. Free will involves rewards for good choices and bad consequences for bad choices. By distancing ourselves from the only source of love and goodness, we are all doomed to die and continue in the next life without any hope or goodness.

God is the God of justice. He did not want to punish us. He sent His own eternal son into this world to pay the penalty for our sin. If we turn to Jesus, we will be forgiven and given a new life, life in the image of our creator.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  Jn 3:16 NIV

Loving and trusting are choices. Believing in Jesus is a choice. How will you choose today?

KNOWING THE HEART OF GOD

God loves you completely. He wants only the best for you. 

He created you to be a wonderful person, just like himself. Because He loves you, he wants you to be happy and healthy.

• Most of all, he wants you to be just like his son, Jesus Christ.

For from the very beginning God decided that those who came to him

—and all along he knew who would

—should become like his Son, so that his Son would be the First, with many brothers. Romans 8:29 (TLB) 

We all need to be transformed dramatically to be like Jesus, all of us. 

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 1 John 1:8-9 (NLT) 

The man who wrote these words was the disciple whom Jesus especially loved, the man who wrote the Gospel of John.

• A good leader knows he too is a brother or sister and not a superior holy being.

That doesn't mean a preacher must always be available for everyone who wants his attention. 

• Many people cry for the preacher’s attention like babies for their mother. 
• Because preachers and leaders are only human, they need time to rest, think and listen to God. 

Don’t expect a preacher to give you what only God can give, to give you his complete and undivided attention, to give you perfect wisdom and to love you as his own child.

Once someone rang up our pastor after 2 o’clock in the morning because he couldn't sleep. 
The pastor answered: “Now there are two of us who can’t sleep.” 

But God never sleeps and when you can’t sleep, he is there with you.

God sees the end from the beginning. 

Before your grandparents were born, he looked down the centuries to come and saw you choosing to love him and trust him with your life. 

• He saw you learning to know him and experience his deep affection, to know the intense devotion that he has for you. If you belong to Jesus, God is your FATHER, the perfect Father who adores his children. 

• A good mother adores her baby and the love of God is even stronger.

Sing for joy, O heavens; shout, O earth. Break forth with song, O mountains, for the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion upon them in their sorrow. 

Yet they say, "My Lord deserted us; he has forgotten us."

• "Never! Can a mother forget her little child and not have love for her own son? Yet even if that should be, I will not forget you. Isaiah 49:13-15 (TLB)

What is God like?

But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8 (NLT) 

Who can understand what this means? 

A child can understand best of all. A child knows what the love of a good mother or father feels like.

Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 18:3 (NLT) 

When it comes to understanding THE LOVE OF GOD, scholars and teachers often become confused.

• In one usually good commentary I found this strange contradiction.

For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:8 (NKJV) 

“How desperately the minister and church need such tenderness and affection for each other!” 

I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. Philippians 1:9 (NLT) 

“ ...love in the Bible never focuses upon good feelings...The focus of love is knowledge.”  Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible - Commentary.

God is not controlled by his emotions but he feels intensely. 

He wants you and me to know His heart and feel what he feels.

GOD IS INTENSELY INTERESTED IN YOU

God wants nothing but the best for each person, and that includes you. 

• God made you for His purposes, and His purpose is always good.

...God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 (NIV) 

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good...Genesis 1:31 (NIV) 

But Adam and Eve messed up God's plan by listening to lies and choosing the wrong way. 

You and I followed the wrong way and messed up a lot of God's plans but that did not change God's heart towards us because...

... if a person isn't loving and kind, it shows that he doesn't know God—for GOD IS LOVE. 1 John 4:8 (TLB) 

When we are not loving and kind, it does not change the character of God or the heart of God towards us.

• God is love and he made you because He loved you.

• He loved you before the creation of the world. 

• He loved you when you were conceived and when you were born,

• and He loves you now.

But what if you were conceived in the back seat of a car after your parents had too much to drink?

• That does not change the love of God for you.

What if your parents brought you up in witchcraft, and you were demon possessed as a small child?

• That doesn't change God's love for you. He doesn't blame you for what was done to you.

One of the most amazing characters in the Bible was a man with a terrible past. 

• We don't know his name but when he first met Jesus, he was running around naked and cutting himself with stones. He was possessed by hundreds of devils, but he still had a human soul. 

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 

He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" Mark 5:6-7 (NIV)

He was so confused, that he could not distinguish his own thoughts from the thoughts of the demons who controlled him, but he responded to Jesus with faith when the demons left him.

For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!" 

Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." Mark 5:8-9 (NIV) 

After Jesus drove out the demons with a word of power, the man was restored to sanity and begged to be allowed to stay with Jesus.

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Mark 5:18 (NIV) 

But Jesus did an astonishing thing.

Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." Mark 5:19 (NIV) 

But the man did far more than tell his family.

So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them. Mark 5:20 (NLT) 

After Jesus healed a totally insane and demon possessed man, He immediately commissioned him to go and tell his story to a whole region. 

• He became the evangelist for ten towns.

Before this man began to preach, the people asked Jesus to leave them.

• When Jesus returned later, great crowds followed Him and many people came to faith in the Son of God.

It may be that you have also been rejected and bullied. You may have been tormented by illness, depression or even demonised by involvement in witchcraft, drugs or sexual abuse.

Whatever your story might be, you are important in God’s eyes. He wants to give you a future and a hope.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV) 

FINDING DIRECTION IN YOUR LIFE

Where is your life going?
Are you choosing your direction, or are you reacting to life as it comes? Are you navigating towards your promised land or are you serving as a crew member on a ship going somewhere else? Do you know what your destination is, or who is directing your course? Is your life being pushed and pulled by your employer, your family or your church?


God designed you to be a unique agent of change, to impact this world for Him. God made you in His own image, not to be a second rate copy of your parents, your teachers or a preacher or leader. If you live to please other people, you have missed your reason for living.
Does that mean you should forget other people and just please yourself? Of course not. When you live only to please yourself and fulfil your own dreams, you make yourself the God of your own life. Any sensible person should realise that this is crazy, yet it is a popular idea today. And look what a mess people have made by playing God!
God created you in His love and He loves you. He has a wonderful plan for your life. He wants you to find Him and to work with Him to live out his plan. He won’t do it for you and He won’t do it to you. He wants to live WITH you and for you to live WITH him.
For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 (TLB)
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Revelation 21:3 (ESV)
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12 (ESV)
Why do you and I need Jesus? We have messed up this world. We have all contributed to the darkness around us. We often think there must be something better but we just muddle through by guesswork.


There is an amazingly good God who made this world for Himself. He gave this world to us, to be His sons and daughters but we have taken this world away from Him and messed it up. He wants His world back but He doesn’t want to take it away from us. But we can only share this world with God if we are reconciled to Him as our Father.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (ESV)
You may have heard that Jesus died to pay the penalty of your sins. If you turn to Him in faith, He will forgive your sins and you will have eternal life, and enjoy heaven when you die.
All that is true but God’s plan is much bigger than that.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. Revelation 21:1 (ESV)
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Revelation 21:5 (ESV)
We often hear preachers invite people to turn to Jesus and receive eternal life. God has a wonderful plan for your life.
But after you turn to Jesus and join a church, no one talks about God’s wonderful plan for your life. You find yourself just pleasing people at home, at work and at church. You were saved from sin, from condemnation, from hell but where is God’s wonderful plan?


IT IS STILL THERE AND YOU CAN FIND IT.
But you must find it in God and walk that way with God. Only God can show you and only God can lead you in the way He has prepared for YOU.