Category: A new life in Christ

God is there in time and on time


Some of the attributes of time:

Time moves without legs. 

Time only moves in one direction.

Time moves without regard to religion or creed.

Time seems to slow down with anticipation and speed up with our dread of an outcome or our age.

Time will never stop.

God’s promises are always on time and they are never late or early.

Psalm 46: 1-3 says: 1 …God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.

God is as near to each of us as our next breath so regardless of the trouble we may be facing, He is there to strengthen us and comfort us in times of trouble. During the past few weeks, we have seen a lot of trouble in our nation and in the world itself. Racial tension has been drawn as tight as a bowstring and it seems to be near the breaking point. 

Our people need to be drawing closer to God during this time but it seems that most of the people on the streets and in the news are more interested in pushing God away. This is really nothing new. God has been pushed to the edge of our collective conscience in America and in most other countries as well and it began during the early ’70s or late sixties. Once the people began to move away from Him, it has been very hard to get it to stop or reverse.

Numerous evangelists have preached to those who would listen and some did but the majority didn’t take their message about Jesus and His love for us to heart. I pray that there will be a revival in America and around the world but it seems that the part of the world that does not revere God or Jesus as their Messiah is just not interested. They seem to be inviting as much violence into the world as possible. That is not going to prompt God to send Jesus or the Tribulation any sooner than He has it planned for.

Violence and uprising, looting, and burning will do nothing for their “cause” except to draw the news crews out in force…which is what they want. The truth is not part of their narrative. Yet, they want any reference to ANY historical event from 140 years ago stricken from the public square or from TV or movies. Any reference to a figure which had anything to do with the Civil War regardless of their view on slavery should be taken down or destroyed.

Slavery was never sanctioned by the Bible and God never intended for us to enslave people but people are still being sold into slavery today. Particularly children. We, as a society, need to become more social with each other across racial barriers. In the culture that we live in today, it will be hard to do because of the hate and mistrust that is being spread on the Internet and in the news but it needs to be done!

When parents and grandparents teach their children that they are different from the other children it sends the wrong message. Yes, we have different skin colors and tones but we don’t have to hate each other because of that. Did history record that there were some really terrible things done to people in the past just because of their skin color? Yes, but if we change our view of each other today we can be an instigator of change in that area as well. But we need to look at each other not as black or brown or white or any other shade of color but as people who are made in God’s image.

God’s Promises


God has given us many things and many promises in His Word and yet many people who claim to be saved through their belief in Jesus ignore them or don’t believe that He will deliver on them. God is not like we are. He doesn’t lie because if He did He would not be God. This message is for those of us who have given our hearts and our life to God through Jesus His Son. If you have not done so, then these promises don’t apply to you until you do. 

The first promise that I’ll begin with is this:

Romans 5:6-11 

Christ’s Sacrifice for the Ungodly

(Genesis 22:1-10; John 3:16-21)

6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

Jesus came to Earth as a baby, born of a virgin in Bethlehem, of parents whose lineage could be traced back to King David of the tribe of Judah. All of these were foretold years before He came and He fulfilled all of these prophecies and more. The people who choose not to believe God’s Word or even any part of it have no claim on even this first promise. The promise that you, as a believer, are a child of God. You have been adopted into the family of God through your belief in Jesus as your Savior.

This is God’s promise and it doesn’t matter if you believe in man’s doctrine of once saved you are always saved or if you believe that you can lose your salvation. God’s promise stands regardless of your belief in man’s doctrine because it is His promise and that settles it. As long as you believe in Jesus as your Savior in your heart and you live your life in accordance with your belief, then you truly are His child.

This promise is from God’s Word and it applies to each of us who are His. During these troubled times in which we are living, we need to lean on our Lord for His strength and guidance because without it we are lost. Our faith in Him should bring hope to those around us and yet we see every day the despair and hopelessness in the world. Those who have no hope cling to what they know and most of that is fear and anger and revenge for anything that is happening to them. Even if it is a virus that mankind has not caused but it brings fear into their lives and then other men bring hatred and murder to people only because of the color of their skin. Fear stirs up hatred and hatred lights a fire that won’t be put out easily.

Can the church and the believers who make up the church have any influence in this troubled world? Yes but only by living our lives daily so others can see Jesus in what we are saying and doing. If we live our lives as if we aren’t the church and like those who don’t believe in Him then we shouldn’t claim to be His at all. Yes we were sinners and we still are sinners but as Christians, we are forgiven and we need to live like it. Don’t leave your “Christianity” at the church building on Sunday. Your life was supposed to change when Jesus came into your heart so live your life as a changed Christian who can be seen as a Christian and not labeled as a hypocrite.

When you accepted Jesus as your Savior you were adopted into the family of God. The Holy Spirit came to dwell within your heart to teach you about Jesus and about your life in Christ, so act like you received the most precious gift of all instead of a burden or something that you never wanted to begin with. The gift which each of us has been given through belief in Jesus for our salvation is worth more than all of the wealth in the whole world because we have a home with Him in eternity. This life doesn’t matter except for what we can give to others by our faith in Him. Any gift which has no beginning in Jesus Christ means nothing.

What is your foundation?


Do you have a real foundation? In our world today many people seem to be devoid of a foundation. They seem to have no concept of even needing a foundation to base their lives and their beliefs on. Yet, America was founded upon Christian principles. Granted many of those were twisted out of context to legalize all kinds of wrongs such as slavery and prostitution and murder and rape. When I said “legalize” I don’t mean that these wrongs were legal in the eyes of the law but they used principles found in God’s Word to either justify what they were doing or to make themselves feel better about something that they knew was wrong in God’s eyes.

The foundation of our principles is based on God’s Law but it is also based on our conscience which God gave to us by way of reading and hearing His Word preached. Whether it was done by a preacher in a church or by your parents or your grandparents it really doesn’t matter. As long as you have heard the Truth from God’s Word then your conscience will let you know when you are doing something which God does not approve of.

We are made in the image of God and have been since the beginning in the Garden of Eden. That has not changed. Man is the only part of God’s creation which is formed from the clay. To form something you have to put your hands in it and make it into a shape that you approve of. Every other creation on Earth was called forth by the Word of God.Mankind was formed from the clay by God’s hands. Can you understand what that means?

When a potter or a sculptor takes a lump of clay or a piece of stone and makes something beautiful out of it they call themselves forming their vision of what is already there. They can see in their mind the man or woman or some other shape and then they either remove the stone or wood from around their vision. A potter looks at the clay and sees what it can be when he lays his hands on it. A master violin player can take a dusty old violin and tune it and make it sound like it came from heaven. God looked at the clay and saw us and all of the good that we could be. Unfortunately He also saw the bad and evil that mankind would be as well.

The only way that we can be what God saw before or during His formation of man is by His grace bringing us to conviction so that we know that we need Jesus in order to be the people which God saw. We need Him and His righteousness in our hearts so that we will live and be more like Jesus than ourselves. Adam was created perfect and sinless and so was Eve until they allowed Satan to twist the words which God has said. They were duped into thinking that they could become more like God. Except in doing so they disobeyed God’s command and in doing so they became more like Satan himself.

Our foundation has to be laid on the rock of salvation through Jesus and our belief in Him as our Savior. If we don’t start our true life off on that foundation by being forgiven and sanctified by the blood of Jesus then we are fooling ourselves and we are wasting out lives. God knows each of us far better than we know ourselves and He knows how far we will go before He needs to bring us to the point where we recognize our Savior and Lord as Jesus the Christ. I pray that many of you who read this will take it to heart and use it so that someone may come to know Jesus as their Savior. If you do not know Him then please seek Him out as your Savior.


Colossians 1:23
if indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Jesus is also the foundation of our faith.

Do you seek the spotlight?


During this time of video classes and video services from churches without people, are we seeking to be in the spotlight? Some people may be like fireflies in front of a camera and some truly are but for those who are trying to take the message of Jesus to others, shouldn’t we try to make sure that it is His message which is in the spotlight? It is our pride which causes us to seek the spotlight because we want the attention. It is pride which is the tap root from which all sins grow from and Satan knows how to nudge us in this direction.

Jesus didn’t seek the spotlight but He did spotlight the message itself so that people would hear it and seek salvation through belief in Him. It is our own pride which carries us into hell because we try to do everything ourselves. We even try to be our own savior because we believe that our works and our “righteousness” would gain us entry into the presence of God. It isn’t easy to be humble before God because we can’t see Him. We don’t know His majesty or His holiness and we can’t look around us and perceive Him in all of His glory.

We look at all of the accomplishments of mankind and we think that man has done so many great things. In some areas we have but if you look closer you can see all of the failings of mankind’s stewardship of our home. The pollution of rivers and the ocean and the cutting down of rain forests, which clean our air and make it breathable again. In the past few hundred years we have done much harm to our home, most of which cannot be fixed or replaced. Yet, we think that we deserve to stand in the Presence of God because of our “accomplishments”. How brazenly bold and prideful we are.

God loves each of us but those that He has called to be His aren’t doing their job as they should. Some are true enough but many of us seem to look at our salvation as nothing more than “fire insurance”. When we should be working for our Savior and Lord until that day when He comes to take His Bride, the church, home. This is the expectation of our Savior and our God but if we don’t read His Word we won’t know until it is too late.

Just as in the parable of the talents, when the Master of the house comes we should be found diligently working for Him and not being lazy and only bringing his one talent back to Him. Think of being a worker who will be richly rewarded if we are found working hard for our employer on the day when He says, “Enter into the rest of your Master my faithful servant”. Our time here is a very short time compared to even ten thousand years and that is only a moment in time compared to eternity. Make sure of your salvation and get to work while there is time to do so. Once your time is done here you will give account to God for every word and deed which you did for Him or not. You decide which side you will be found on.

Do you listen to God?


There are many people in church and outside of church who will tell you that “God doesn’t speak to us anymore!”. Really? Who do you think is speaking when you read the Bible? It isn’t the person who wrote the words down because it is God’s Holy Spirit which has inspired them to write and speak and pray and write some more. The words in the Bible come from God so how can you say that He doesn’t speak today? No, He doesn’t use His “God” voice because most people would fall down dead if He did! (maybe not dead, but it would scare a lot of people).

God speaks through the words which we read from the Bible but if you don’t read His Word how will you know what He sounds like? God loves us and He has loved us since the beginning of everything. He knew Adam would not be able to resist the Tree of Knowledge. That was not a surprise to God at all. Jesus, His Son, was the Second Person of the Trinity and He knew that He would have to go one day and pay for all of our sins and He willingly did it. His human body and mind didn’t want to but His will submitted to His Father and did it anyway.

Was it painful? Yes! He bled and died for our sins…but He rose to life on the third day and now He is waiting for His Father to tell Him to “Go and get your Bride”. God is giving each of us a chance to be saved but it is up to us and our decision whether we will accept His gift of grace. Salvation is a gift from God just as your life and your health is a gift from Him. Whether we actually accept it or not is our decision. Can God force it on us? He could but that would prove nothing. Forcing obedience from someone is slavery and God doesn’t want slaves, He wants followers and people who love Him because He loved us first!

Love cannot be forced it is given from both parties in the relationship. If it is not or if the love is only flowing one way then pretty soon the stream dries up. A loving relationship is a two way stream and if both parties are not contributing to the stream then pretty soon the relationship will become one sided and then it will die. God doesn’t begin relationships with us in order to let them die. He is the Creator and the Author of Life so a relationship with Him is a two way relationship. He gives and we give as well. We give Him our life just as He gave His Son’s life for us to be sanctified and holy. Did it cost God anything? Of course it did! He felt the nails. He felt the whip as it ripped into Jesus’ body. He knew the suffering that Jesus went through to bring salvation to all who would accept it.

But…not everyone will accept it.

I pray that you who read this will accept His love into your life and accept Jesus as your Savior because one day soon our period of grace will be over and the time of testing and tribulation will begin.

Tiny though thy faith be…


Think of how much something as small as a virus has impacted our world. Look at all that has been done to the wealth of the world and the health of its people because of a little virus and the fear of it, what could we do if we had even a tiny almost microscopic amount of faith in God? Have we given up all of our belief in Him because of something that we can’t see which is taking many in death? Why would the entire world give up on its Creator and His ability to heal and save because of some “new” disease?

There is no disease which is new. It may not have been seen for many hundreds of years or it may be one which is known yet it has changed and mutated in such a way that it affects us differently than it did in the past. Even the “scientists” which believe in evolution would tell us that this is the way of life so that only the strong will carry on.

God doesn’t do this. He may allow it to happen so that we will seek Him for deliverance and healing. Yet today we do not. We turn away from God and His servants and call them hypocrites and hard-hearted toward those who are suffering. Even when Christian organizations give help with no reward to themselves they are looked upon as withholding treatments from some because of their beliefs.

“Oh, ye of little faith“, Jesus said this to His disciples many times regarding their lack of faith. We should be having church services and being the church that Jesus began two thousand years ago. The world and all who live in it needs to hear His message and that He is the Savior Who died for all of us…not just a few. There are many in the world who are living out their lives as heroes because they are doing what He would do if He were here in Person. If we had even a mustard seed’s worth of faith in Him we could pray for His healing and if we believed that He would do it then it would be done.

There are so many who do not believe in Him or in God or in any part of the Bible as God’s Word but one day soon all will see and know that it is true. They will see that it is the Truth yet for many it will be too late. I pray that you will be one of those who does believe in Jesus for salvation and forgiveness now…today. Because when the believers are taken up to be with Him the time that is left on Earth will be only seven years and during that time there will be many signs and wonders which will deceive many people. Seek Him for your salvation while there is time. You may not have tomorrow so trust Him now.

One Life changed everything


Have you ever thought which Life changed everything? In truth it isn’t hard to figure out because, if you are a Christian, you already know Him. The Life which changed our calendar and each of our lives is Jesus Christ. He came into the world in obedience to the Father’s will for all of us to know Him and come to know Him as our Savior. His life is eternal because He is the Son of God and the Living Word and our Savior.

Jesus did change the world and He did it from a three year ministry before He was crucified. But of course that was not the end of the story…it was just the beginning. So how did He change the world? He taught His disciples that God loves His people regardless of their nationality or their skin color or their gender. God is our Creator and He knows each of us so well that He knows your next thought and the next word which will be spoken by you.

God has ordained each of us to be His representative in whatever fashion or task or ministry we may find ourselves in. It may not be a ministry in a church or on a mission field but we are to “bloom where we are” so to speak.

I want to apologize for the shortness of this post and the fact that I began working on it two days ago. A companion of mine who happened to have four feet and beautiful copper-red fur passed on to the next life this past weekend on Saturday morning. She had been my constant companion and nurse for fourteen years and she was only two months from her fifteenth birthday. But, she had an enlarged heart and God knew it was time for her to come home. I pray that I will see her again one day.

Thank you for understanding. Please, seek out a Bible teaching church and learn more about our Savior, Jesus the Christ. He is the only way to gain entry into Heaven.

Jesus wept…


He wept for His friend, Lazarus. Not because he died before Jesus could come but because he had to die so that others might see him return from the dead and live because Jesus called him back. He came back because of the call of Jesus and because many would believe in Jesus because of the miracle. Jesus wept because of the unbelief in the world even at the time that He lived and it likely grieves His heart even now because of the unbelief and hatred that is still in the world today.

We weep when a loved one dies. Sometimes it hurts so deeply that the pain lasts for days or weeks or even years…but God knows our pain and He gives us the strength to make it one more day. It is only by His strength that we can get through today and tomorrow and the next day. Sometimes it hurts and it is hard but many times the good memories that we have bring a smile to our face and warm our hearts even when they feel broken.

We hear people say things like “time will heal the pain”. It won’t. With the passage of time the pain gets easier to bear but it is still there and it is never truly healed. The pain of loss and the fact that you can’t talk to or see the person who is not here never truly goes away. The only time that the pain and the sorrow will ever be gone will be when we see them in heaven one day. Then we can celebrate throughout eternity.

Those who don’t believe in Jesus for their Savior and are part of a family that didn’t believe in Him for salvation don’t have this hope and assurance. Our hope comes from Jesus because of His love for us and the sacrifice that He made for us to have a relationship with Him. I pray that anyone who has not made that decision about their eternal future will make it before it is too late. Seek Him out and ask Him to come into your heart and forgive you of your sins. Live your life following Him and learning from Him by reading and praying about what you read in the Bible. God calls us to Himself and we should answer His call by humbly telling Him that we are sorry for waiting so long.

Fear is our enemy…


If you look at some of the decisions which we make in our lifetime, a good percentage of them are motivated by fear. In particular when we buy things. Some people call it “impulse buying”. Something looks like a good deal so we buy whatever it is because we think we may not find a better price, only to find the same item a month or so later “on sale”. Sometimes it will go on sale the next day, but the people at the store aren’t allowed to tell you that. This happens in our consumer-driven economy more often than it should. I know because I used to do this more often than I should’ve. I still do at times but I keep praying that this “impulse demon” will go away.

Fear causes many things to happen that shouldn’t happen and these things usually happen because of specific fears. Sometimes they happen because of a general feeling of anxiety which is also a form of fear. We also fear telling other people about our Savior and what He has done for them and for the rest of the world. We fear rejection and anger since there are many who just don’t want to hear about a “god that I can’t see” or “a god that left us here to die on this ball of mud”.

God has never turned His back on humanity. He may allow some tragedies to happen or some wars or diseases to become more virulent or for the war to drag on and on, but He has never left us. We look around our world and we see the good of humanity sometimes but the news reports on mostly bad things. There is very little encouraging news which is reported on a daily basis. We may hear of a good deed or some philanthropy that has helped people when they were in need but that is mostly on a once per year calendar. On a daily level, we usually just turn the TV off so we won’t hear so much negativity.

But…God is still in control. He hasn’t forgotten us and since Jesus told His disciples that God the Father knows even when a sparrow falls to the ground, don’t you think He watches over each of us too? God doesn’t lie to get His point across or to just have His way. He is in control of the temperature of our Sun and the gravity which holds our planet in its place. He knows how much is needed to balance the dance of our solar system so that everything stays out of the way of everything else. The universe itself is balanced so delicately that it takes astounding calculations to know that if even one percent fluctuated in one direction or the other life could not exist.

Why am I writing about fear? Because it is an emotion which we are very familiar with and Satan uses it to cause us to doubt our faith in and our salvation through Jesus. Our lives are bound up in anxiety and fear due to disease and wars and economic upheavals just as we are going through right now. Many people are asking the question, “Why would God allow this to happen?”. He is allowing it to turn our attention back to Him and to the real fact that we need Him!

We have become so desensitized to violence and hatred and the sins which happen each day on the Internet or on the news and on TV shows and movies until we don’t blush about much these days. We are not ashamed of the actions of celebrities or our family members. Sinful actions which would’ve been enough to send someone to live with a relative a few decades ago are looked at as normal and permissible in today’s society. When my parents got divorced about fifty years ago it was enough of a scandal that my Dad’s boss leveled some form of punishment at him which I think had to do with a promotion. That would not happen today.

Do we need God and a belief in Jesus which can save our souls from the second death in hell? Yes! The problem is that today many people don’t believe that there is a heaven or a hell and they certainly don’t believe that the Bible is true let alone the fact that many of its prophecies have come true. God exists and Jesus is the only way to salvation for your soul. Satan is also real and hell is prepared for him but many people will go there as well if they don’t turn their hearts back to the One Savior Who can give them eternal life and atonement for all of their sins, Jesus the Christ.

Are you a visitor or a Christian?


In churches you sometimes see little cards to quantify if you are a visitor to the church. When you fill out one of these you admit that you are “just visiting” but what about the members of the church? Are you just visiting? Why do I ask this question? Because some people who come to church on Sunday morning don’t even darken the door at any other time. Some come to Sunday school and church on Sunday morning but you don’t see or hear from them until the next Sunday and this covers many people in the church today. To explain what I mean when I say that you are “just visiting” even when you attend every Sunday morning I want to ask a question of you: Does anyone at your place of business or your workplace know that you are a Christian? I am not speaking of those who may know that you attend church on Sunday. I am asking you if they can see the influence of Jesus in your work and in your speech when you are at work?

Or do you sound like everyone else at work and in public? Do you act like those around you when you are away from your church or can they see Jesus in your everyday life?

See, visitors who attend church only get a little bit of what is available to each of us. When you are committed to Jesus and your walk with Him goes out of the church and into the world then you are NOT visiting…you are being the church which Jesus wants us to be. Because, how are your co-workers going to know about Him if you don’t show Him to them in your life and your words? In many parts of America only twenty percent of people even attend church so if you aren’t taking Jesus with you then how will the other eighty percent find out about Him?

Many of us don’t even invite other people to come to our church so how will they ever find out about their Savior unless you show them how He has changed your life? God sent Jesus to the entire world and everyone in it. While it is true that He came to the Israelites first His message was intended for everyone. So how will it get to everyone if the church (people who are committed to Jesus) doesn’t carry the message outside the church building?

The world and those living in it have eternity ahead of them and you have a message to give them about Jesus Who can bring salvation to their lives and give them an eternity worth dying for. Because each of us has an eternal soul and whether you decide to follow Jesus and know Him as your Savior or not has an impact on your destination to live out your eternity. If you aren’t sure about your salvation or where you will spend eternity I would suggest that you take care of that as soon as possible. Not one person is guaranteed to see tomorrow and if you die tonight your eternity begins at that point. The question still remains: where will you spend eternity?

There is a chapter in the New Testament which the Apostle Paul wrote which gives a clear description of your life and mine as believers in Christ. Read chapter 8 in Romans and you will see. We are responsible for our lives and what we say and do here on Earth. We cannot be sinless because we sin every day. There are no sinless people on Earth, Christian or not because we cannot be sinless. Our life is given to us every day by God Himself and if you are a Christian we should be telling others about our Savior especially if we aren’t sure about their salvation and especially if they aren’t sure of it either.

Don’t be a visitor in church, be a disciple who takes God’s Word and your Salvation in Christ out into the world around you so others can see it and hear about Him. Be doers of the Word not just hearers only.