Category: when you feel His call in your heart

Search for the path!!


15253466_1686135641696714_7517591362023224275_nJesus said that the path which leads to eternal life is narrow and hard to travel, but the way is wide and easy which leads to destruction in hell. Why would the right path be hard to find and hard to travel? Because, we don’t sacrifice our self or ourselves easily! We are supposed to “die to self in order to live for Christ” right? Here is one verse which says this in a different way:

Galatians 5:24 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

We are valuable to God because He loves us, but the life of a Christian is hard to do because He wants to know if He is important to you! It is hard to deny our desires or our preferred lifestyle in order to walk as a Christian and we have to do it DAILY, not just one day a week or once a month! This is what makes the way which leads to life a bit harder than just living.

God loves you more than we can understand. Think about it! He lives outside our universe, yet He came as Jesus the Son of God to Earth to live a perfect life and then die on the cross in order for each of us to have access to eternity! Coming to church is not a hard thing to do, yet people come up with excuses all of the time. Saturday night they may be at a bar or a dance or a party or during hunting season they will get up early in the morning to go hunt a deer or a duck. Isn’t your salvation, your eternal life more important than that!?

If you place more importance in a party or a hunting trip or a football game then I will just pray for you. If you finally come to church and seek out Jesus, then you will finally get on the right path hopefully. But, what if living life as a Christian interferes with your party or hunting?  Will you continue on that path or will you return to what you were doing before? If you return to your old life, then you didn’t change your life.

The day of His birth…


Most of us celebrate our birthdays, although many seem to worry about them as the numbers get bigger. Why worry about a number? It just means that God has given you another year, another day to live and enjoy your life here with friends and family! Yes, there are some who feel as if their life would be better if they didn’t have so many birthdays piled one on top of another, but let me ask this question: Without killing yourself, what can you do about the march of time and another birthday?

Blunt answer: nothing

God gives us the air that we breathe and the food that we eat throughout our lives, so what will you do with another day, another week or month or even another year? Will you glorify Him in your days, telling others about His grace and His mercy?

This is one of the jobs that we are all supposed to be engaged in, particularly if you are a follower of Christ. Why do we walk as though we don’t know Jesus? Are there some who do this? Yes, there are some who only come to church on holidays or weddings or funerals, what good does it do for you to come at these times? Do you truly listen to the message or did you come to be seen and be in the community?

If you are doing this for your personal gain, it is no good at all for your spiritual well-being. Like the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in the Temple:

Luke 18:9-14 King James Version 

9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:

10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.

11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Jesus’ day of birth is celebrated in December not because that is when He was born but because it was easy to get pagans to celebrate a day that they already celebrated. Jesus was likely born sometime between the middle of September and October, in any case we do celebrate Him by giving gifts to each other, just as He was the ultimate gift to us. He came not to bring a kingdom down or to begin His reign as Lord and King, but to shed His blood as a perfect sacrifice for ALL of our sins! He died for the whole WORLD, not just for the Jewish nation but for all of the people on Earth and His sacrifice was necessary for us to be able to atone for our sins.

God loves us because that is what His Word says! He is not a liar nor a cheat, yet some people seem to feel cheated by Him because He doesn’t magically provide all of their needs or their desires. He provides for exactly what you need, WHEN you need it. Not more than you need or less, yet that is why many people don’t like Christianity. They seem to expect God to provide for them because He owes them something. God doesn’t owe you anything at all! If you are blessed by Him with riches and wisdom be thankful for it and help those who don’t have what you have been blessed with, as much as you can without offending them.

Why do I say this? Because many people don’t like charity. They don’t want you to give them something and to some it is insulting that you would even think of helping them. But, if they truly needed it I don’t believe the offer would be turned away. It is the same with salvation. It doesn’t cost us anything and we don’t have to do anything to get it. Sometimes it is because of this that people don’t see the value of coming to church and accepting Jesus as their Savior.

The Blessed Life


Psalm 1

1.Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2.But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3.And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4.The ungodly are not so; but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5.Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6.For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Blessed is a state of satisfaction, joy and happiness in the circumstances of your life. It is usually the state of a man who lives in obedience and faith in God.

The Hebrew word for law is torah, which encompasses more than just “law”, it is more closely related to teaching or instruction. So, it is a revelation of God’s will for His people rather than a list of legislative material or judicial decisions.

The image of the righteous as flourishing trees is a common metaphor in the Old Testament. Bearing fruit is an extension of the metaphor and refers to the product of faith in God and the spiritual life of the individual.

In the fourth verse, the life of the godly and the ungodly are contrasted by the reference to the chaff. Chaff which is a useless byproduct of threshing wheat is in contrast to the fruit of the previous verse.

The ungodly are carried away by the wind, being separated from that which is useful and valuable, even separated from God.

In verse five, stand gives the idea of being able to survive or remain after the judgment.

In verse six, the summary shows what is anticipated for those who follow the two ways; God’s protection for the righteous and disaster for the ungodly.

In this sermon/study of Psalm 1, it is easy to see what is important for those of us who decide to follow God and His laws and His wisdom. The blessings of God are the expectation or the reward which will be given to those who delight themselves in Him. In today’s society, many people think that these “blessings” will be in the form of money or other tangible things such as cars, homes, etc.

In God’s economy, obedience to Him can reward us with things such as these if He desires to give them to us and if we are willing to use them for His glory and His Kingdom. The big part that many people miss is that they look for these things NOW!! We tend toward being very impatient when looking for a blessing or reward from God.

God may reward you during your lifetime, or your actual reward may be your eternal life in Heaven and your dwelling place there. Your reward is completely up to God because He is in control ultimately. He is the rewarder and your Creator, so your rewards are entirely in His hands and under His decisions.

This psalm was written to show us and anyone else who reads it, that wisdom comes from God and true wisdom comes from seeking Him out in your life. I am not speaking of your so-called “life” here, paying bills, going to work, having a relationship with your spouse and your children.

I am speaking of your Life in Christ, the Life that you receive from Him when you give your heart to Him and accept Him as your Savior. Seeking Him out in the Word of God and learning about Him through reading it and studying it. Yes, it takes a few minutes every day, but so does reading a newspaper. If you need to learn something about Jesus and His Father, the Bible is the only place to find truthful information. Reading a magazine about flower arrangements or gardening takes a few minutes, sometimes more, but if you want to know how to do those things it is necessary to learn from the source.

If you want to be successful in being a Christian and a follower of Jesus, then you need to read and study His teachings in the New Testament and learn about His Father’s ways by reading and studying the Old Testament. That is a lot of study and reading isn’t it? If you have a college education you had to read and study those subjects while in college didn’t you?

If you didn’t learn from those books, then you couldn’t pass the tests to get your degree. If you really want to know Jesus and His Father, then you need to study the Word of God. Not only to learn some passages or to remember some of the Psalms or a few passages from Matthew, but to understand the requirements of being a child of God. The only real requirement of God which can’t be negotiated or bargained away is obedience.

God required it of Solomon, David, Saul, Moses, Abraham, Noah, Enoch and Adam too. All of them failed at some point in their obedience, but they came before God, admitted it and asked forgiveness for it at some point. We all fail, but Jesus paid the price for each of us because the price of sin (failure) is death or being far from God Himself.

Why would that be a punishment? Because, when you are exposed to the perfect, Holy and whole Love that God is, then you realize that you don’t measure up without Jesus. If you stand before Him without Jesus, you will know how unworthy you really are. How bad would that look to us today? Think of a wedding chapel. Decorated all in white from top to bottom. Everyone is required to wear a white robe or clothes to be admitted to the celebration. Someone arrives, who is a friend of the groom, but they look as if they rolled around in the mud of a pig pen before coming. Can they come in? Will they be admitted dressed as they are? No! Because they may have had white on, but now it is filthy and they can’t change in time right? Wrong! If they repent and the Groom forgives them, then a fresh garment will be provided, after a short bath of course, and they can attend.

That robe is the covering blood of Christ which cleanses all sin (the bath), making us acceptable and holy before a Holy God. When we stand at our judgement and our life’s decisions, wrong or right, sinful or not, are brought forth. If you are covered by the blood of Christ, the consequences are taken care of by Him and He is your advocate before God. Your debt has been paid in full by Jesus and you are part of the family of God.

Please, make sure that your heart is right with Him before that day comes because afterward is not the time to make a decision which should’ve been made during your life here. When this life is over, you will stand before God. Pray that you don’t stand there alone.

Judgement, where does it start?


Many times in God’s Word, the judgement began at the door of the Temple and went from there. Today, I believe that the church, all churches, needs to examine its doctrine and its practices to make sure that they line up with God’s Word. If any part of our service, our doctrine or our lives inside or outside of the church doesn’t line up with His Word, then revival and repentance is sorely needed!

Sometimes you hear people in the media saying that the church is too this or that or they are judging us, by what right can they do that? If we use God’s Word as our True example and don’t add any of our human frailties and feelings into it, then our witness is true. If we are using rules and regulations that “the church founders wrote”, then we are way out of line!

We cannot be salt and light for the world if we, as a church, have lost the flavor imparted to us and our lives by the Holy Spirit. Our lives have to reflect the message and the life of Jesus, as much as possible, otherwise we don’t look any different from any other “religion”. Jesus gave His disciples and the church a mandate of going and making disciples of all nations. It wasn’t a suggestion or a talking point, it was and is a command from our Lord and it shouldn’t be ignored regardless of the opinion of those outside the church.

Why do I say this so forcefully? Because, we are supposed to be telling people about Jesus and His love for them. We are not supposed to be “like everyone else”, we are representing the Body of Christ here on Earth. Taking His message to those who may not hear it, taking God’s Word to those who can’t afford or get a copy, bringing food and clothes to those in need, teaching them about Jesus by being like Him so that they want to know Him. That is what His church is supposed to be doing. Not meeting in huge auditoriums and cheering to a sermon which says nothing about any of this!

God loves all of humanity but there will come a point when He draws back and lets us go our own way, to the ruin of whichever country that may be. I pray that is not happening to America, but from the news and the stories that have been told in the past decade, it just may be. Please pray with me that we are not at this point. We are at the point of truly needing God’s strength and His mercy but if we don’t repent of our sins and our weak religious ways then we may experience His judgement instead.

Salvation, do you need it?


Salvation is a state of being which you need if you wish to have a productive and rewarding eternity. It is granted to us through the Grace of God by believing in Jesus and His sacrifice for us which paid the price for our sins. All that we need to do to claim it is to ask God for His forgiveness and repent (turn away from) of our sinful ways and ask Jesus to come into our hearts to make us into the person that God intended for us to be.

We can’t do this alone nor can we come to it from any other pathway except by belief in Jesus’ sacrifice which paid the price that we cannot pay. Why am I writing about this? Because it is necessary to do so. Our world is out of sync with God and the world seems to be OK with this! Most things which are seen as good today would’ve been looked down upon thirty or fifty years ago. The things which are labeled as “bad” today are the virtues and values which our grandparents valued and raised their children to emulate.

We are in a society which is upside down from the values which our country once valued. Why is that? Because society has been trying to get rid of any mention of God or Jesus in any part of our society. We have been under what I consider to be God’s judgement for the past few years but it is going to get worse. I don’t know which of our candidates will win the election, but unless we repent of our march away from God and turn back to Him, I fear that our situation will only get worse.

We need salvation and we also need a revival on a national scale, even a worldwide scale! God has been trying to get our attention and yet we seem to concentrate on every little bit of fluff news which isn’t news and we ignore the real issues. Poverty, human trafficking, drugs, killing each other for no reason except that we wanted to do it, these are symptoms of a society on the edge of anarchy and we need to pull back from that edge!

God provided a way for us to be reconciled to Him and for us to be more at peace with each other, but it requires repentance and humility and a willing spirit to follow Him. We cannot do it on our own merit nor do we have the strength to do it on our own either. The only way that we can do this is by giving our heart to Jesus and repenting of our sins of pride and selfishness. Then get into and study God’s Word because it is not a false book as some claim, it is the Truth which God gave to us as a guidebook for our lives.

Many people who have fought against this Book are now turning to it for strength and comfort and salvation. Why? Because it is just as relevant today as it was when it was written. The wisdom contained in it is useful and effective for all parts of your life and God will speak to you through its words. He has done this and will do the things which are written in it again. Believe in Jesus for your salvation and your eternity, learn about Him by studying His Word and follow His example for being a disciple of His.

Amen.

Wants…and needs


All of us have come to this part of life and looked outside of the Word of God for the answer. We don’t want to hear that God rewards a cheerful giver because who is happy about giving away their livelihood? Being a cheerful giver doesn’t mean that you are happy giving away ALL of your money, but don’t be a grudge or a Scrooge when you do give your tithes to Him. God looks at the heart and He knows your reason for doing every little thing that you do. He knows is you are genuine about your faith and about tithes.

And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two MITES, which make a farthing. ( Mark 12:41-42 ) A farthing would amount to about a halfpenny worth in the time that Jesus was there. How is it possible that the widow gave more than all the rest? Because she gave to God from her need. Those mites were all that she had, but she knew that God would supply her needs because of her gift in faith.

The rich young ruler which came to Jesus asking how he might inherit eternal life had done all that was required to be righteous as far as the law was concerned but Jesus saw that his money was an obstacle to him. When Jesus told him to give his money to the poor and he would have riches in Heaven, he couldn’t do it. Money meant more to him than eternity.

Why do I bring this up today? Because there are many who look toward riches and having their wants met by having money enough to do whatever they want rather than looking beyond this life into eternity. God can reward you today if he chooses, but nothing that you can have here can compare to your home in Heaven forever!

Consider having enough money to fill a box 3 ft. square with $100 bills. I can’t tell you to the dollar how much that would be, but it would be more than I have ever had! If you had it in the bank, you couldn’t get it any time you wanted. If you had it under the mattress, you would be worried that someone would steal it. If you had a safe at home, it would be full unless it was a very large safe. What could you do with it?

Many people would be afraid to spend it because once you begin spending it, it goes like it is on fire. If you invest it carefully it might grow even larger, then what do you do? If you invested it foolishly, it might disappear in a day or two, then we are back to an empty box.

God has a home for you where your address is on a street made of pure gold! So pure that it is like glass! He formed your dream home from His Word, made not with hands but by His Word. No mortgage, no bills, and all of the time in eternity to enjoy it! What could you do with that! Take eternity one day at a time, the problem is that there is no calendar in Heaven. But, that won’t matter.

God loves you enough that your place is secure IF you have asked Him into your heart, so please consider that and don’t turn away from His call to your heart.

Treasure…


john317Many people don’t realize that they are searching for it. Many will never find what they are searching for, yet it does exist. You and I are given a treasure beyond imagining and it doesn’t cost us anything. How can it be that a treasure which is not measured can possibly cost us nothing? It must be some worthless trinket or talisman.

This treasure is something which many today reject and many more are angered by it or at least by the Person which brings it to us. The treasure of which I speak is salvation. Our salvation, every person’s salvation was paid for by Him on the cross with His blood. Many times we see that people learn of wisdom from some very different places and people.

“Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate.”  Captain Jack Sparrow

“Not all treasure is silver and gold”, it is the most profound bit of wisdom that I have heard from anyone let alone someone in a movie made in Hollywood.

Treasure from God is something which many cannot see nor can they make sense of the grace that is poured out upon us. We have been given a gift of salvation that we don’t have to work for. A gift which we cannot buy, but one which by proclamation from Jesus Himself we must give away. It is a gift of immeasurable value, but also one which God intended for all if they will accept it and believe.

Aside from Captain Jack, many people don’t seem to realize what REAL treasure is today. It isn’t money in any form. It is eternity and salvation provided through the grace of God for us even before we were born. The qualifier is that we must realize that when we accept Jesus as our Savior, we have asked one of the Trinity to live in us because the Holy Spirit is part of that Trinity. If you have placed a priceless pearl in a clean vessel, then why would you put the dirt of your old life back in there?

I am not saying that we will never sin after becoming a Christian, but turning away from the church and willfully sinning and never going back or even trying to be a Christian is WRONG!! Asking forgiveness is good at this point, but if you aren’t going to repent of the sin, what good is the forgiveness?

Some scriptures which may help with this are these:

Everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. (1 John 2:29); Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. (1 John 3:4); Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7); Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (1 John 5:1); Everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning. (1 John 5:18)

These may make you wonder if you are saved at all, particularly if you haven’t been a real believer who turned away from a life that you would be proud to show Jesus.

1.No one who denies the Son has the Father. (1 John 2:23)

2.No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. (1 John 3:6)

3.No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. (1 John 3:9)

Even the tolerance of sin is an agreement with it. It is not something which will sit well with your heart, especially if the Spirit abides in your heart. Although we aren’t to judge people, we can bring their sin to their attention and if they don’t want to do anything about it, then leave it to God.

 

Satan is happy today!


Satan is happy with the church right now.

“….Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:.”  Matthew 28:19

Do you understand why all of the problems are in the world today? It is because of ___________.

Really? The church has had two thousand years to make disciples of ALL nations and what have we done? Not much. Yes, there have been millions of people who have accepted Jesus as their Savior because of Billy Graham and other evangelists over the years. But…look at the population of the world. How many of them are Christians or part of a religion which claims Jesus as their Savior? 2.5 billion give or take a few hundred thousand. The population of the world is around seven billion right now and all we have reached in two thousand years is less than half??

On the day of Pentecost, when the disciples received the Holy Spirit, when Peter preached there were 5000 added to their number! That was just one sermon! The blank above referring to the reason for all of the world’s problems has nothing to do with Christianity, although some are blaming us for them. Satan and his followers, those demons that Jesus cast out and his human followers today, are partly to blame for the problems of the world.

Why is Satan happy with the way the world is today and the church in particular? It is because we aren’t doing what Jesus told us to do. Yes, I know we are sending missionaries all over the world and we have programs and Internet sites which tell people about Jesus and how to know Him. But, we just began that in the last twenty or twenty-five years or so! What happened to the last 1975 years that the church has had to work on this?

I don’t mean that the church could’ve added as many as Peter did in that one day, every day since then but if we had gone, if we had put our feet into the streets and the paths around the world every day since then….? Don’t you think that we would have more people who attend church and follow Jesus if we had done this? I mean, if we had witnessed to one or two people every day since we became a Christian and then invited them to church, doesn’t it begin to add up when you do that?

1+1=2 …then 2+2=4, then 4+1=5, then 5+2=7, then 7+2=9…that is linear progression that is staggered a bit by our own design; but what if those numbers doubled EVERY time? 1, then 2, then 4, then 8, then 16, then 32, then 64, then 128, then 256, then 512, then 1024, then 2048, then 4096……! That is geometric growth or getting into algebra (x squared).

What happened to our numbers? Why isn’t the church growing like this?

Because our enemy and the enemy of God, Satan, is at work in the world today. People give many excuses for not coming to church, for not telling others what they believe and for not being a true disciple of Jesus and all of these are encouraged by Satan and his demons. You can decide to believe this if you wish or don’t believe it, but if Jesus was having to deal with their influence 2000 years ago, then they are certainly at work today.

You can hear about the evil and their influence in the world on the news every day and all of that which is happening is likely caused by or influenced by Satan and his followers. It will get worse because he knows that his time is growing very short. He has had more than twenty centuries to become very good at deception so much so that he can influence the churches and their leaders to not follow the example set by Jesus and His disciples. Many of them think that they are doing God’s work and they are following the ideas placed in their heads by Satan himself, but he uses scripture to make it seem like the idea is from God.

He was there when all of the Bible was written so he knows scripture better than any of us and he can use it against you any time he wishes. So, is he happy with the church today? Yes, he is. There aren’t very many true, Bible-believing and teaching churches today. Sure, there are pastors who preach every week and they read scripture and teach about it. But, are they teaching God’s vision for His church or are they teaching their own version of the words that they read? Do they teach it from its context or do they choose one verse and preach on that without the verses before or after it?

Taken out of context, any verse can say or be taught to mean anything to anyone!

The scripture which I started with could mean anything if taught wrongly. Let us read the entirety of that chapter and see what was written there:

Matthew 28 King James Version (KJV)

28 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:

4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.

5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

11 Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.

12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,

13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.

14 And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.

15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.

17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

We are told to do this because we belong to Him, if we have given our hearts to Jesus. If you haven’t, then you don’t belong to Him nor He to you! God loves you and has provided a way to salvation through Jesus and belief in Him so that you can have eternity after this life! With such a good and wonderful gift to you, why wouldn’t you tell others that they could have the same? He didn’t die for one person but for the whole world and He expected us to go and tell others about His gift. Examine your life and your heart and question whether you really belong to Him. If you believe that you do, then you are saved as far as I can see because only God knows the condition of our hearts. If you are not sure, then you may want to seek Him earnestly and fervently so that you can know…for sure.

Amen.

Why did Jesus come the first time?


It seems that this is the real question that many are wondering, particularly those who attend church but don’t study their Bibles. This is also a rant, in a way, from a pastor to those who come to church. Please don’t take this personally.

We have heard and seen and sometimes read the story about Jesus’ birth. How it was foretold in the Old Testament, brought to reality in the New Testament. The people involved were told by the angel, Gabriel, that this was going to happen to them. All of these Bible facts are there and available to read at any time. Yet, there are so many “blank stares” in congregations which seems to tell me that much of this information is doing exactly what our parents said: “It goes in one ear and right out the other, with no deposit in between.”

If sermons and revivals and going to Bible school don’t plant any of this so that you take it in and believe it, then what do you come to church for? The food and fellowship?

Jesus came because of the love that God has for ALL OF US! Yes, He came first for Israel but God knew before this that He would be rejected. We are always outside of the intended target audience, but when they refused to believe then we, as gentiles, were offered the “prize” from that point on.

What is that prize? The offer of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus and our belief in Him, that is the prize! It is a gift to us, one that we can’t afford and can’t pay for ourselves! But it is offered to us if we will believe in Him and ask for forgiveness from our sins. From that point, our only purpose is to tell others of His grace and love for them and that it is available to them too.

The scripture of John 3:17 says it best:

john317

The world. Not just a few people from one country or nationality, but all of mankind are offered this salvation. Free for the asking, for those who seek it, for all of us who need it and that includes everyone everywhere. The Son of God didn’t come to condemn us for not understanding the Word of God and He didn’t come to do anything more than to offer us salvation. He healed some people of disease and ailments which only God could do, such as the man who was born blind. Why did Jesus do this? Because it was foretold that He would and because of their hard hearts, it was necessary to get their attention.

There are miraculous healing’s being done today, but not as radical and unusual as some that He did. Some of them today are radical, like a tumor which goes away completely with no medical intervention. That kind of healing can only come from God and by the faith of those involved. We are loved by God and I can’t give you a reason for it, except to say that He loves us because of Who He is!

Seek Him out, look for Him in the Bible, learn about Him through His Word. Even if you don’t like to come to church, read His Word and ask Him to show Himself to you in it. He is there for all to find and know, all you need to do is seek Him out in it. His majesty is around you in the trees, the stars and the entirety of the universe but all of that is His creation, it is the Creator that you should worship and He is available to those who seek Him out!

Choose Life…


Life as I choose to define it here is a life which is following the Author of Life which is Jesus the Christ. Many people write His name as if Christ is His last name, but it is a title meaning Savior or Messiah which is why I chose to write it this way here.

God loves you enough that He sent His Son to die for you on the cross, giving His life and His blood as the ransom in payment for all of the sins of the world. He didn’t die for just a few people, He died for all and His blood paid that price for you. All you have to do to inherit eternity is to believe that He did this for you and that you need Him, also realize that you are a sinner and that you should turn away from your sins whatever they might be.

I have heard people say that they won’t go to this church or that one because there are hypocrites in there and not real Christians. All churches have hypocrites in them because we all fail at some point either today or tomorrow or maybe last week and you saw it or heard it. Preachers do it too because the only person who was sinless was Jesus. Being a Christian doesn’t make you perfectly sinless, but your sins are forgiven by God’s grace through Jesus sacrifice!

He is the Creator and Author of Life itself because He was and is the Living Word of God and it was by His Word that all of creation came into being. It was because of His love for us that He couldn’t be the liberating and conquering King that the Jewish people wanted when He came the first time. When He comes again, He will be the King of Kings and He will conquer the world’s system and its leaders who have persecuted His people for so long.

Satan and all others will get their reward when their judgement is given and carried out.There will be no appeal and no bargaining. The same judgement will fall on you if you have chosen not to live a Christian life and ask Him into your heart. Even if you have been a faithful member of a church or maybe a deacon or pastor, but have not given your life and your heart to Jesus, then you will be judged as one who knew about Him but He didn’t know you.

Please, don’t make that mistake. Everything that is needed for you to be saved has been done, all you need to do is accept it and change your life to match His. Follow in His footsteps, learn from Him and soon His ways will become your ways.