Dear Beachside Family and Friends:
Do you want to please God? Is pleasing God even important in your life? Does it matter whether we please God or not? I certainly want to please God in everything I do. I believe pleasing Him is extremely important. I am grateful that He cared so much for us that He sent Jesus, who paid for our redemption with His very life, and who ives in our hearts today. I am compelled to please God, knowing I could never repay Him for what He has one for me.
If we want to please God, how do we go about it? Do I please Him by going to church? It has been said that Satan is the most regular church attender, but He certainly isn't pleasing God. Can I please the Father by working at a local shelter, and serving meals to the homeless? I know of atheists who do this, but are they pleasing God? Certainly going to church and helping the less fortunate are important, but are not in themselves what pleases God
A man named Enoch understood what it meant to please the Lord. "It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him. For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God." (Heb 11:5) There was an innate quality about Enoch's life that was pleasing to God: he lived by faith. His walk of faith was so impressive that God caught him up to be with Him! By Enoch's example we know it is possible to please God. Continuing in Heb. 11 vs 6 "And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
If it is impossible to please God without faith, it IS possible to please him WITH faith. In fact, living by faith is the ONLY way to please God! When we live by faith in God's Word, we not only please Him, but He rewards us as well. I believe it's time to live like Enoch, please God, and have an "out of this world" experience in Him.
2018 is upon us, and living a life that pleases God should be our primary resolution for this new year.
This Sunday we will have our annual anointing service for families, individuals, and business leaders. We will also be revealing the theme for 2018, and I can hardly wait to tell you what God has planned. Join us for pre-service prayer at 9:30 am and hang around for service at 10:00. The Miracle anointing is with us, and God has great plans for our lives and our church. In 2018, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE WORD!
Pastor Ramon
