The Gospel

Romans 3:23-25 

 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely

by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God 

hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to 

declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that 

are past, through the forbearance of God"

   The supreme problem of life is, How can a man get into a right relationship with God? How can he feel at peace with God? How can he escape the feeling of fear in the presence of God? In a court of law, if an innocent man appears before a judge, then to treat him as innocent is to acquit him; we call it justification. But the point about a man's relationship to God is that he is utterly guilty, and yet God, in his amazing mercy, treats him, reckons him, accounts him as if he were innocent. That is what justification means. 

   When Paul says that "God justifies the ungodly," he means that God treats the ungodly as if he had been a good man. How can I know that God is like that? I know because Jesus said so. He came to tell us that God loves us, bad as we are. He came to tell us that, although we are sinners, we are still dear to God. When we discover that and believe it, it changes our whole relationship with God. We are conscious of our sin, but we are no longer in terror and no longer estranged. Regretful and brokenhearted we come to God, and we know that the God we come to, "is love." 

   My Friends, That is what justification by faith in Jesus Christ means. It means that we are in a right relationship with God because we believe with all our hearts that what Jesus told us about God is true. We are no longer terrorized strangers from an angry God. We are children, trusting in their Father's love for forgiveness. And we could never have found that right relationship with God, if Jesus had not come to live and to die to tell us how wonderfully he loves us. 

Amen!

Reading: Rom. 3:19-26

Ref: HG SB

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

What Is Our Aim In Life?

2 Timothy 3:14  

"But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned 

and hast been assured of, knowing of 

whom thou hast learned them;" 

     As individuals, we should sometimes ask ourselves: "what is our aim in life?" As parents and as teachers we should ask ourselves, what should we teach our children that would be most beneficial,  is it "knowledge or life?" We should also ask ourselves what is the underlying purpose? In all life there is nothing so creative or productive as a clear consciousness of a purpose. Stand on your faith, and complete belief that God's commands are binding and that His promises are true. 

    We must have patience with people. It is the ability not to lose patience when people are foolish, not to grow irritable when they seem unteachable. It is the ability to accept the folly, the perversity, the blindness, the ingratitude of men and still to remain gracious, and still move forward, that is love.          
    My Friends, This is God's attitude to men. It is the attitude which bears with everything men can do and refuses to be either angry or bitter, and which will never seek anything but their highest good. To love man is to forgive them and care for them as God forgave and cares for us.  It is only God who can enable us to do that. Scriptures give the wisdom which will bring salvation. 
Amen!

Reading: 2 Tim. 3:14-17
Ref:HG SB

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross life Ministry

Times Not On Your Side, God Is

2 Timothy 3:1  

"This know also, that in the last days 

perilous times shall come." 

    This present age is altogether evil and it get's more ungodly every day. The good news is the age to come is to be the "Golden age of God," and in between is "The Day of The Lord." It's the day when God will personally intervene and shatter the world in order to remake it. That Day of the Lord will be preceded by a time of terror, when evil will gather itself for its final assault and the world will be shaken to it's core. 
    It will be the inaugurating day of the eternal rule of God and the triumphant day of Christ's return to earth in glory. This is when man's day will close, "man's judgment," "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self," (1 Cor. 4:3). It will be inaugurated with the rapture of the Church, "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality," (1 Cor. 15:51-53).
    My Friends, The day of the Lord in prophetic times will cover the time of the coming tribulation Rev. (6-19) and the reign of Christ on David's Throne (Rev. 20). It will be brought to an end by the judgment of the Great White Throne (Re. 20:11-15) and the ushering in of the new heavens and earth called "The Day of God" (2 Pet.3:10-13). This is just a peek into the coming of the last days. However, there is a complete study of the book of Revelation on my Blog, under the Tab study of Revelations.  
Amen!

Reading:Devotional Scripture
Ref: HG SB

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

    
    

Don't Live In Fear

2 Timothy 1:7  

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; 

but of power, and of love, 

and of a sound mind." 

    Now I am not talking about fearing the power of God, but the things you can't control see or hear and especially the unknown. I believe that not knowing the outcome of any one situation stirs up a fear in us all. As Christians, we must have control of ourselves in the face of panic or passion. It is Christ alone who can give us that self control which will keep us from being swept away and from running away. No man can ever rule others unless he first controls himself. 

   My Friends, Any suffering is healed in the power of God. To the world, the gospel is the power to live. "God gave men life, but some men take their own lives away"(by choice). The gospel was, and is, power, power to conquer self, power to master circumstances, power to go on living when life is unlivable, power to be a Christian when being a Christian looks impossible. Don't live In Fear, call upon Jesus Christ and be Saved today!

Amen!

                                            "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear;"                                                             

Reading: Devotional

Ref: HG SB

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Deluding Ourselves And Others

2 Peter 2:13

"And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure

to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting

themselves with their own deceivings

while they feast with you;" 

   What Paul is saying here is not only religious truth but also sound common sense. The pleasures of the body are subject to the law of diminishing returns. They soon loose their thrill, so as time goes on it takes more and more of them to satisfy. There is self-destruction in fleshly pleasure! To make such pleasure the be-all, it will end-all! It is a suicidal way of life and in the end even the pleasure is lost. The point Peter is making is this, and it is eternally valid; If a man dedicates himself to these fleshly pleasures, in the end he destroys himself in bodily health, and in spiritual and mental character, that he cannot enjoy them. They are like blots on the Christian fellowship; and makes it unfit to be offered to God.
   My Friends, "The hand and the eye, are the brokers of sin." As Jesus said, such people look in order to lust "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart," (Matt. 5:28). Today many men and women
have come to such a stage that they cannot look on anyone without lust in their heart and mind. Now is the time to put our trust in God. "We must lay everything on God's table to be sanctified, before we can sit at God's Glorious Table"   
Amen!

Reading: 2 Peter 2:12-14
Ref: HG SB; BDSB

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Return And Rest In God

Isaiah 30:15  

"For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; 

In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness 

and in confidence shall be your strength: 

and ye would not." 

   The method God used to guide Israel into salvation and strength was, "In returning and rest shall ye be saved." The God that knew them, and knew what was proper for them, and desired their welfare, gave them this prescription; and it is recommended to us all. Would we be saved from every evil and calamity and guarded against the temptation of it and secured from the curse of it?  It must be in returning and rest, in returning to God and placing our rest in Him. Let us return from our evil ways, into which we have gone aside, and rest and settle in the way of God and duty, and that is the way to be saved. Return and rest satisfied in the will of God, and then you may trust Him with your safety.  Return through reformation of your hearts and lives, and entire submission of your souls to God and rest in God. 

   My Friends, Would we be strengthened to do what is required of us and to bear what is laid upon us? It must be in quietness and in confidence; we must keep our spirits calm and a continual dependence upon God, and His power and goodness. We must maintain into ourselves a holy quietness, and keeping the peace in our own minds. And we must rely upon God with a holy confidence that He can do what He will and will do what is best for His people. And this will be our strength. It will inspire us with a holy fortitude and will carry us with ease and courage through all the difficulties we may face. "Remember God's prescription: In returning and rest shall ye be saved."
Amen!

Reading: Is. 30:15-18
Ref: HG SB

May God Bless You

And Your Family 

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

We Must Be Reminded

2 Peter 3:1-2  

"This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which

I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye 

may be mindful of the words which were spoken 

before by the holy prophets, and of the 

commandment of us the apostles 

of the Lord and Saviour:" 

    Here Paul is talking about the principles of preaching. He is reminding us that it is necessary to have Scripture said over and over again to get it embedded in our minds. Having God's word repeated over and over is not weariness, but safe as Paul said in (Philippians 3:1), " Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe."

   My Friends, We are all guilty of wanting to hear new things, when what is needed is to hear repetition of the eternal truths which we so quickly forget and we so often refuse to see. There are certain foods that we don't get tired of, that's necessary for our daily sustenance that are set before us every day. We speak about a man's daily bread and there are certain great Christian truths which have to be repeated again and again and must never be pushed to the back in the desire for other things of much less importance.

Amen!

Reading: Devotional Scripture 

Ref: HG SB

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross life Ministry