Category: A new life in Christ

When things go wrong…


All of us have those days that try our patience. We lose our keys or our glasses. The car won’t crank or maybe its making some awful noise going down the road. Hopefully, these things won’t happen on a Monday or a Friday but we don’t have control over any of it. God will help you through it. I know when these things are happening it doesn’t feel like God is anywhere near you, but He is.

God loves us and He is there with us wherever we may be. That is why I pray while I’m driving. I need Him to be near so I can get to my destination and back home again. I know He’s always near, but it makes me feel better when I’m in traffic. Our lives can be so useful to Him in many ways. When you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, you have access to Him all of the time, every day and in any situation. You are loved more than you realize because the love of God is like nothing we can imagine.

God gives us the strength and the faith to make it through many situations so don’t think you can do it on your own. For some things you might be able to get by without His help but even those could’ve been easier with His help. We are very stubborn at times and I know that I’m not the only one. Allow God to come into your heart and your life so you won’t be going through bad days or good days without Him.

Are you okay?


I get this question asked of me at least once or twice a week. Sometimes I answer it with, “Yeah, I’m fine”, but sometimes I really don’t feel fine. Life does that to you when you pass the age of fifty or sixty. The “okay” feeling that you had when you were younger just doesn’t show up as much as it once did. But, God has a plan and I’m letting Him lead me these days, instead of taking off on my own and hoping that He will get me out of trouble. God loves you and me and everyone who lives on this little ball of water and dirt. He doesn’t like the way many of us live and worship gods who aren’t gods at all. He is the only God and Jesus made a way for us to be with Him if we will believe in Him and turn away from our ways.

Read God’s Word and learn more about Him than you know now. Seek Him out and you will find your Savior and Redeemer because He has been waiting for you. All of us don’t have to be evangelists or preachers, just be willing to tell your own redemption story if someone asks where you get your strength from. I wouldn’t be able to even do this if God didn’t give me the words to put here. Being okay with God is not answer when someone asks about your salvation. You have to believe like the thief on the cross, knowing that Jesus will save you when you call on Him.

Is it possible to be a follower of Jesus and not tell others about your Savior? I don’t think so. Because your life will change and your behavior will change when you have given your heart to Him. So, even if you don’t actively tell everyone about your Savior, they will see it in your life and your actions. Some people may say that is the coward’s way of telling others about Jesus, but St. Augustine did it that way a long time ago.

Being a follower of Jesus Christ demands that your life changes and many people will notice it immediately. If your life hasn’t changed, then the Holy Spirit hasn’t made a change in your heart. Some people claim to be Christians and I don’t doubt that some could be, but if their lives haven’t changed significantly from the life they lived prior to their claim of finding Jesus they should seek Him in a Bible-teaching church. Being okay in this life is fine, but consider that eternity is your destination after you die or Jesus returns for the church. Make sure of your eternal destination because you don’t want to go through the wrong door.

Which world do you live in?


All of us live in the world, mainly the three dimensional world that everyone else lives in. But, there is a world here that is darker and more malevolent and evil than we can imagine. We, humanity and anyone who believes in Jesus, are hated there with a deep and abiding hatred that we cannot understand. So we actually live in both worlds, except the world that the devil and his minions inhabit is a spiritual world that occupies the same area that we live in. But, God doesn’t allow him to do as he wishes with the Earth and its inhabitants thankfully.

God is gracious enough that He protects us as we live our lives every day. Life here is literally held in God’s hands because if it were not, the devil would likely kill every person on the Earth. But, God won’t allow him to have that much control on Earth. The devil can only do things that God allows him to do and we should be very grateful for that.

God loves all of us, yet He cannot save all of us because of our stubbornness and refusal to believe in Him. Life can have an extension into the future but only if we believe in Jesus for our salvation from our sins. I ask all of you who may read this to seek a church that teaches from the Bible and learn about your Savior. Then give your life to Him and believe that He saved your soul from an eternity apart from Him.

Your Jordan river…


All of us have a Jordan to cross or be baptized in or even to be cleansed in. Whatever your Jordan may be, don’t turn away from it because it looks dirty or muddy. Jesus stepped into the Jordan because He came to be our Savior. He didn’t need cleansing. He didn’t need forgiveness. He was being washed with the water because His ministry was just beginning. The Spirit sent Him into the wilderness to begin His testing. Not because He needed to be tested, but because His ministry needed to begin with the testing and His victory over the one testing Him.

Our Christian life is our testing ground after we come out of the baptismal water. Every day is a test that we have to pass by leaning on and depending on Jesus to get us through each day. One day at a time, one step at a time. Some of us try to do it on our own and God will let us try it that way but we are more likely to stumble and fall when we do it “our way”. Walk with Jesus every hour and every day, praying and being in a prayerful attitude each and every hour. Why? Because the devil doesn’t stop trying to trip you and me. Every step we take, he puts something in front of us or in our thoughts to cause us to trip and fall. But, we have been forgiven through the blood of Jesus. As long as we confess the stumble or the fall, asking for forgiveness we are forgiven fully and completely.

Life is a constant walk toward Heaven. God knows the date that you will arrive. He is in control and will give us the strength to finish that journey. Follow Jesus into the Jordan and out the other side and your life will have the meaning that God had always prepared for you.

One day…


Have you considered how much God was able to do in one day during the creation week? He created the Earth. He separated the day from the night. He created the Sun and the Moon and the stars. Every day was different, but He created many things in one day.

We will experience His Presence one day. What a glorious day that will be! Why? Because it won’t just be one day, it will be forever. Oh, how I am looking forward to that. God will remake Earth the way it was when Adam was in Eden, and we will have a perfect place to live forever. No more bills or problems or cell phones, yay!! I would definitely call that heaven for sure.

Tropical river valley with lions, deer, birds, and elephant
A vibrant tropical garden surrounds a peaceful river where lions, deer, birds, and an elephant gather.

I could spend many thousands of years exploring this world. God loves us and He would rather have us here than spending eternity in hell. I pray that you will seek out Jesus Christ for your Savior soon. I look forward to seeing many of you there.

The Lord delivers you


In today’s climate, we should be depending on the Lord to deliver us from evil people and those who would bomb us into oblivion. Some might ask, “Why are we having all of these troubles?”. Jesus told His disciples that they would have troubles in this world but He also told them that He would not leave them nor forsake them. For believers, this is comforting in so many ways. So what can the rest of the world expect from Jesus?

His love and compassion in times of need, if you will seek Him out during those times and give your life to Him by believing in Him. Jesus died and rose again to pay the price for all of mankind’s sins but He waits for you to allow Him into your life every day. The only requirement for being His and obtaining true salvation is that you believe in Him and determine that with His help, you will live your new life as His disciple.

Yes, many people come to church and get baptized and they leave convinced they are saved. Some are but there are some that may never come back to church unless it is a holiday or some other event. Some people who have been “in the church” ever since they were born think they are saved just because of their presence in the church or because Mom or grandma was a Christian. Many of these are actually “cultural Christians”, they believe that their salvation is due to family or just getting baptized in the church or even being there every Sunday. But if you look at their lives, you can’t see a difference between what they did prior to accepting Jesus and their life after their baptism.

Jesus coming into your life is supposed to deliver you from your old life and habits and bring you into a new life with Him. All of the disciples’ lives changed after their time with Him, except for Judas. Their livelihood didn’t change, Peter and John were still fishermen but mostly they were “fishing” for men and women to come to belief in Jesus. Even Paul’s vocation as a tent maker didn’t change but he made the vocation that he followed hard was his preaching about Jesus’ crucifixion and his resurrection. This was his main focus until the end of his life.

I pray that all who read this will seek to know Jesus as your Savior.

God is there, wherever you are


This is a post which should give you peace. Regardless of the problems that we live in and through in our lives, God is there with you. God said it in the Old Testament and Jesus taught that worry is not good and said for us to “not worry about tomorrow”. There is nothing that you can do about what you think is coming, it may not come at all. Tomorrow is not here until after midnight and even then it is not tomorrow at that time. God was/is there before you and He can help you in every good or bad situation because He is there. For those who believe in God and His salvation through Jesus, there is not one day that you are alone.

If you don’t know Jesus as your Savior…then you do have a problem. Living life without Jesus as your Savior doesn’t work very well. It is like an unsharpened pencil because it is useless and it has no point! Your purpose is found in serving God and believing in Jesus as your Savior. There are people who live their lives with their “version” of God and say that they are Christians. You will hear them say things like: “My God would never send someone to hell”; “My God is forgiving to all people”. God didn’t let the Israelites get away with any transgression, so why do you think that you are so special? Having a “version” of God ISN’T the real God.

Seek Jesus Christ in the Bible. He appeared to Abraham. He appeared in the bush that didn’t burn when Moses was commanded to take of his sandals. He appeared to Joshua before the conquest of the promised land as the Commander of the Lord’s armies. Jesus came to protect the Jewish boys who would not bow to the statue in Babylon and they walked out of the furnace alive and without the smell of smoke.

Life goes much better for those who believe in Jesus as their Savior. It is not without problems, but Jesus is with you through those problems. Your life will not be perfect but you do have the peace of Jesus to comfort you in all of your troubles. Regardless of the trouble, He will give you the strength to get through those troubles. God loves you and He will be with you in all things, place your faith in Jesus for your salvation so that your eternity is secure in Him.

On that day…


Be slow to get angry


These words should be mounted in BIG letters in Congress and on the walls of every school. Life cannot be about anger and raised voices. I should know. I have a problem with my anger. Not all of the time but…it happens more than it should. Ever since I became a pastor at a small church, God has changed that part of me so that it doesn’t show up nearly as often. My wife has never heard me raise my voice, only my son has heard that part and I’m ashamed to admit it.

I suppose I’m like my Dad in that respect. I remember his raised voice from many years ago. Thankfully he wasn’t violent and he didn’t hit me or my Mom. God gives each of us a spirit but until we surrender our lives to Him, our human nature gets to “play” more than our spirit. Sometimes that is not a good situation nor a good outcome in many instances. Seek to know Jesus as your Savior and let Him change your spirit and your nature so that you will be more like Him rather than being the sinful person that your nature tries to mold you into. God know who you really are and only He can move you into the direction to be the child that He knows you can be.

All things are possible