Category: A new life in Christ

Do you believe?


There are many things in our lives that we believe without question. The sun will rise in the Eastern sky tomorrow morning and set in the West tomorrow evening and nobody disputes that. But do you believe God’s Word is true? I know that the physics of our planet and the solar system determine the rising and setting of stars and the moon and our Sun itself but God designed all of this Himself. He determined the size and shape of every planet and rock in our solar system. He also designed the universe itself to be exactly the way He wanted it to be.

We tend to believe many things that are just theories in science because they can’t be proven by repetition. Evolution can’t be repeated by our scientists to produce the same results, but nobody has ever found an actual fossil of an animal in the process of changing from one form to another. God designed each animal they way that they were supposed to be and He didn’t have to begin with an early version of it and mold it to be like its final form. He created them in their final form period.

God’s home in eternity is outside of time and physical limitations of our universe so He can see our world the way it will be in a thousand years or He can look back to the beginning and follow history along if He chose to do so. I saw something today that expressed an idea or a counter-idea saying that there will be no rapture. The word “rapture” is not in God’s Word but Jesus did tell His disciples that He would come back one day and take us to the homes that He has prepared for us in heaven. So you can look at some scripture and say that it doesn’t mean rapture but I don’t care what it means. If He said that He was coming to take us home to be with Him, so you can call it “the great disappearing act” for all I care. I will be happy and humbled to be included in the number of saints who are taken home to be with Jesus!

I pray that everyone who reads this blog will be part of the group that is taken to be with Him. If you aren’t sure about your salvation, read a couple of books in the Bible and then ask God to show you how to become saved, sanctified and free to be called a born again Christian. The books I am referring to are the book of John in the New Testament and the book of Romans. John has about 22 or 23 chapters in it and Romans has 16. They are not hard to read but they do explain a lot. Then read the book of Acts where Saul meets Jesus on the road to Damascus and his life is changed dramatically. I pray that yours will be too.

Today…tomorrow…the next day…


Which is the best day to pray? Every day that you wake up is a good day to pray and thank God for that day. If you are hurting or in pain thank God for the day and ask Him for relief of your pain. Sometimes the pain is there to focus us on our Provider and our Healer, God. Sometimes the pain is there to remind us that we are not the center of the universe and that our needs or wants are not a real priority to God. He has people all over the world who are looking for His help and His healing touch on some level. Whether it is for cancer or for an empty stomach or even someone who is in an ICU with COVID-19, God is still there with each and every one of them. He is present when we have a headache or a cold or the flu and He can give us the strength to get through each problem or disease in our lives no matter how big or small the problem is He is still interested in helping us and getting it taken care of.

We never know what tomorrow will bring with it. It could be a broken leg or a heart attack. It could be a wreck or even a fall that causes a sprain or a broken hip. Tomorrow is the day that we look forward to, at times, but we don’t know what it will bring with it. Tomorrow will bring its own troubles and pains with it but when it gets here it won’t be tomorrow…it will be today. Make sure that your prayers are sincere and are given to God with a humble heart because He may decide that He has something for you to do in Heaven. A job that only you can do which is why we are born into the world here, but God will also keep us busy into eternity as well.

Our small blue planet that God put us on may be tiny in the expanse of our galaxy but it has humanity living on it and we are made in the image of God. He loved us before we came to be and therefore we are special in His grand scheme of things. We are a part of His Kingdom as His adopted children. Something to think about at the end of this year that has been so bad for so many people. I pray that we will all have a better year next year. In Christ.

Place your faith in the Lord!


But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/isa.40.31.KJV

Where is your Treasure?


For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:21 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.6.21.KJV

Your attention follows your heart. So wherever your heart is and wherever your treasure is are the same place. If you value your money more than you value your life, then you have made money your god. What will it profit a man if he gains the wealth of the whole world and yet loses his soul? Jesus asked that question. The quote just says “if he gains the world”, but I looked it up in a few commentarys and the word means the entire wealth of the world.

That would be trillions of dollars today, but what would you do with it? For sure you could buy anything that you set your mind on, but God says that you would lose your soul. He values your soul as being worth more than the wealth of the world. Give your heart to Jesus and seek Him for your treasure.

Christ is all you need


From the time of World War 2 and every terrible thing that happened in the camps where so many Jewish people, men, women and children lost their lives and many family members. This statement by Corrie Ten Boom is so very true because when everything is taken from you like it was in those “camps”, Christ is all that you have to cling to and believe in. In those horrible places their humanity, and their dignity was taken from them. Their individuality and every decent bit of treatment was denied them because of the conditions that they were kept in. Their treatment was inhumane and horrible and many students today are not learning about what happened or even that it did happen.

Christ is our Savior, Christ is the Savior of the world if they will accept Him. I pray that every person who reads this blog will seek out Jesus Christ as their Savior while there is time. Don’t wait because some of you may not be here tomorrow night.

Worship Him in your spirit!


O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. Psalms 95:6 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.95.6.KJV

Worship is not just a “church” thing, it is a state of mind that you should have every day. Merry Christmas!

Are you a sinner?


Of course you are! I am too, the difference between a sinner who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior is forgiveness. The gift of God is forgiveness through Jesus Christ. You can’t buy it and you can’t earn it with good deeds or “working your way”!

The change that happens when God touches your heart is as drastic as giving you gills to swim under the water. It’s not a change that you can ignore or live without once He has changed your heart. If you live that way, your heart has not been changed by the Holy Spirit. Just as a fish can not get up and walk on land and breathe air, a changed heart cannot go back to the sin that was your normal way of life before your heart was changed.

If you are a member of the church and you’ve been baptized but you frequent beer joints and can’t remember even one scripture from God’s Word you may be fooling yourself. A heart, your soul, that has been fulfilled and changed so that Jesus is your Savior cannot and will not go back to those things that it was doing before the Holy Spirit changed you! Make sure of your salvation because when that Trumpet blows one day only those who have been changed will leave this world.

God changes each of us when we choose to follow Jesus when His Spirit touches your Spirit (heart) because He has work for you to do. Not work to become saved. You won’t be working to help Him save you, you will be working for His Kingdom now while you are alive and even after into eternity. Why does He call you to be His? Because the job that He has for you is specific to you and nobody on Earth can accomplish it except you. It may be the advice that you give your son or daughter or the witness that they see in your life and you are the only one that can reach them.

At every opportunity…


As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:10 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/gal.6.10.KJV

I will praise You!


I will praise thee, O Lord , with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High. Psalms 9:1‭-‬2 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.9.1-2.KJV

Off of my game


The past few weeks…basically since the election, I’ve not been writing as much here. I have also been a bit distracted because of having to have a colonoscopy done. That’s as much information as I’ve giving here on that.

I have been studying my Bible although not as regularly as I was. Why am I slacking off? Truthfully…I’m not sure. I’ve noticed during the last few years that my holiday writing and studying drops off a bit. Maybe it is a little bit of the so-called “holiday blues”. It feels as if I am having to put out more effort each day to study the Bible and get the Word, the wisdom that God wants me to understand for my life, to make sense to me. Sounds like I have a real problem.

My problem is easy to pinpoint when I look at it that way. Even so I have to consciously bring my mind into subjection to His Holy Spirit so that I can write and understand that what I’m writing may bring someone who is looking for Jesus will find Him and not me. I cannot make the change in their life, in your life that will give you an eternity in heaven. Only Jesus Christ and your belief in His atonement for your sins can do that. God loves each of us so much that He sent Jesus to Earth to live as one of us and then die for all of our sins.

The only veil separating you from eternity is God’s love and He knows when you will come to know Him as your Savior. Some say that we are immortal until that day that God touches our heart and lets us know that He is waiting and all we have to do is accept Him as our Savior. Some people say ” Now wait a minute, you said that I have to believe in Jesus Christ for my salvation and now you are saying that God loves me enough to wait for me to give my life to Him!” Which One of Them is my Savior? They both are.

Jesus is the Son of God but He is also the Second of the Trinity which makes the Godhead. This is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit or Ghost if you prefer. All of them were present on the day that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist if you will read it in Matthew. So what is my problem these days? Satan.

Just because I am a Christian and a pastor doesn’t mean that he leaves me alone. In fact, he attacks me harder when I am about to write here or when I am working on my sermon or just studying the Bible. Why? Because as long as he can keep my mind occupied with bills and surgery and medical tests and my medication then I won’t be thinking about the work that I should be doing while there is still time to do so…to tell you and others about my Savior and what He will do for you. He doesn’t bring us wealth or fame here on this Earth or in this life but consider that no one on Earth can give you eternal life! What is wealth here compared to being in heaven with the Creator and my Redeemer? I mean the streets of New Jerusalem are paved with gold! How fantastic is that?

There isn’t a rich man on Earth that can pave his driveway with gold bricks because they would be stolen during the night. Nobody would spend thousands on a brick of gold and then place it in the dirt or in concrete to pave even a driveway. But God does. God doesn’t care about the gold and diamonds and pearls, each of the gates of the city in heaven are made from one gigantic pearl and there are 12 gates! Each one made from a precious stone like diamonds or sapphires. Can you imagine a door 12 feet tall made from one gemstone or pearl?

No amount of money impresses God…He wants your obedience and your love to be focused on Jesus and His life. We are supposed to be reflections of Him in our lives so that others can see Him in and through our lives because for some people you and I and the lives that we live in front of them are the only example of Jesus’ love that they may ever see. Live your life as close to Him and be as close to His example as you can with the strength that He gives you through the Holy Spirit because that is the only way that you and I can do this.