Category: Believe in the One Who saves

One message in its pages


Ever since mankind began writing he has recorded important facts pertaining to his history and all kinds of important details of life in the ages past. We have books and written history going back thousands of years at least back as far as the Egyptian hieroglyphics and the Hebrew writings of Moses. Some have questioned the authenticity of God’s Word over the centuries but there are more accurate copies of the books that make up the Bible, even the New Testament than there are of other profound works such as Iliad and other Greek tales that no one questions.

The message which is stated in the Bible, from Genesis to the book of Revelation, is about God’s love for humanity. Specifically for the Jewish nation but His love extends to all of the people of the world as well. In the gospels, Jesus says that his disciples will take this message to the whole world and in the two thousand years since His resurrection it has been taken or it is available to everyone who is seeking salvation through Him. That message is that we are loved by the Creator with a love that we just cannot understand on our own.

C.H. Spurgeon said it this way in a sermon and it is more true today than ever:

See what vitality the gospel has! Plunge her under the wave, and she rises the purer from her washing; thrust her in the fire, and she comes out the more bright for her burning; cut her in sunder, and each piece shall make another church; behead her, and like the hydra of old, she shall have a hundred heads for every one you cut away. She cannot die, she must live; for she has the power of God within her. (C. H. Spurgeon)

The Biblical Illustrator, Electronic Database.
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006, 2011 by Biblesoft, Inc.
All rights reserved. Used by permission. BibleSoft.com

In chapter one of the gospel of John he writes:

The Beginning

(Genesis 1:1-2)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

The message conveyed in the Bible from beginning to the end is the same one found in John 3:16, 17. Here is the text of those passages:

For God So Loved

(Genesis 22:1-10; Romans 5:6-11)

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Anyone who seeks Him will find Him and in Him they will be saved and have life eternal with Him in heaven. The message is simply: God loves you and me and the whole world, that is why Jesus came to live and die and rise again.

The prophetic blessing


Many churches today seem to be questioning God’s Word and its significance or even its truthfulness. Some are not preaching from the book of Revelation. They don’t preach about the end times or they don’t preach about what it means to be a Christian because they don’t want to offend anyone.

The blessing which God gave to Moses for Aaron to bless Israel with begins in the book of Numbers chapter 6: 22-26: …On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, 24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: 25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: 26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

Why is Christianity offensive to some or possibly most people today? Because they don’t like a religion which tells them the Truth and gives them limits or rules to live their lives by. Are we supposed to water down God’s Word during these troubled times that we are living in? Absolutely not!! God’s Word doesn’t become washed out nor are we supposed to temper it with less force where it calls sin a sin so that people will know for sure those things which are pleasing to God and which are not.

The Bible is God’s Word and we are to teach all of it to our children and to those who will hear it. Today it seems that there are many who do not want to hear the Truth found in the Bible and that is sad. What surprises me is that some of the preachers and evangelists of the 20th century like Billy Graham and A. W. Tozer and others were seeing people turn away from sound teaching even sixty years or more in the past. The world around us has grown bitter toward the Truth found in the Bible today. Many churches and denominations have begun “watering down” their messages and that is not what we are supposed to do.

I am not ashamed of the gospel and I will not water it down or change its message to suit others feelings. A preacher should preach the whole Word of God without picking and choosing the parts that please men’s ears. Jesus didn’t back away from telling His critics what God’s Word says and we shouldn’t back away from the Truth found in it either. The whole Bible points us to Jesus Christ and He is our Savior and Redeemer and there is no other way to come to the throne of God except by belief in Jesus Christ as your Savior.

The blessing of God will not fall on someone who doesn’t believe His Word is true. Knowledge of God and His Scriptures is only knowledge and doesn’t save your soul. Believe in Jesus for your salvation and then turn away from your old lifestyle and live your life in service to Him.

God’s Word is True!


God’s Word was given to us for learning, correction, wisdom, and salvation because of Who it points us to. We are not supposed to change it or edit it in any way because God’s words and His wisdom is above every human perception. If any changes have been made in the translation of God’s Word it must still contain the same message and point to the same Savior, Jesus Christ. If there are any ambiguities or confusion causing language in the book you are using that is supposed to be God’s Word then you need a new Bible. God is Jehovah and He has many names which tell of His glory and His provision for mankind. Jesus Christ is the Son of God Who came to be the spotless Lamb of God to redeem mankind once and for all. The Holy Spirit is the Teacher and the Comforter and the third Person of the Trinity that is God. He is with you and everyone who calls on the name of Jesus Christ as their Savior. Seek Him for your salvation today because you may not have tomorrow to do it. He loves you and if you are convicted of your sins, don’t turn away from His touch.

Faith…do you have it?


Without faith it is impossible to please God. So…do you have any faith in Him? In Mark chapter 9 there was a father who had come to Jesus’ disciples first because his son had a demon who afflicted him. This boy had this going on for many years and the apostles could not cast it out. When his father saw Jesus he said something that you don’t hear or read in the Bible very much. The father told Jesus that his son had been this way since childhood and he said “If you can….”.

Mark 9:14-29  14 When they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. 15 Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed and began running up to greet Him. 16 And He asked them, “What are you discussing with them?” 17 And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; 18 and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.” 19 And He answered them and said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” 20 They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. 21 And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 “It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” 23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” 25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again.” 26 After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up. 28 When He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, “Why could we not drive it out?” 29 And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”

The boy’s father didn’t know Jesus very well at this point but he did ask Jesus to heal his son and help him with his unbelief. God can do all things as long as we believe in Him and don’t doubt that He can. But, mustering up enough faith to see something done that you have trouble believing that it can be done is something else entirely. Yet, God can help you with your faith in ways that you don’t reallize at first. Our God and Savior is AWESOME so don’t consider for a moment that He can’t do something that you ask of Him because He can!

I pray that everyone who may be in the path of the storms in our country and all over the world will seek His strength and guidance in these troubled times.

Who is Jesus Christ?


This is a question which has been asked ever since His ministry began over two thousand years ago. How can I answer this question? According to God’s Word He is our Savior and the King of Kings. He is also the seed of the woman. He was the cloud by day and the pillar of flame by night to guide the Israelites in the wilderness. When they finally crossed over into the Promised land, Joshua met the Captain of the Lord’s Host with His sword drawn. That was the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ.

Our Lord can be our Savior if we invite Him into our hearts and believe that He is our Savior. So many times when the Israelites were going through the Promised land they turned away from God and went after the gods that those around them were worshiping even though these “gods” were not gods at all. They were a generation which had not seen the miracles of God which brought them out of bondage in Egypt. They may have heard about them from the priests or their grandparents but it is likely that they didn’t believe them.

Later, when Israel had been taken to Babylon, it was demanded that all of the people would worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar . When some would not, he had an oven made hotter than it had ever been. So hot that when he ordered the three to be thrown into the fire, the men who put them in were killed by the heat as they pushed Shadrach, Meeshach and Abednego into the furnace. Then the king looked into the fire and saw four men and one of them looked like “a Son of God”, and he called them out of the furnace. Their hair was not burnt, their clothes didn’t smell like smoke and they were not harmed because Jesus showed up in their fiery trial.

There are many other names and places where Jesus showed up in Scripture. Sometimes in a human form and sometimes He was there in the circumstances. Our Lord and Savior comes to us when that need is there. He is there during our hardest time and in our best day. If you believe in Him as your Savior then the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your heart and He will teach you about Jesus and be your strength when you don’t have any. He will be your friend when you can’t find any. He is our Provider and our Shelter. He is our Deliverer and our Protector. He is the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Great “I AM”. He is the Lamb that was slain for the sins of the world. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the Son of David and the Son of God. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the Commander of the Lord’s angels. He is Jesus Christ now at the right hand of God the Father.

Seek Him and you will find Him and He will fill that empty place in your heart and bring peace to your troubled soul.

Who is in charge?


In our society today even those who are supposed to be in charge have doubts about who is really in charge. Some aren’t sure of their ability. Some are blocked from doing what needs to be done by those who want to see them fail. Some people just want to find someone to blame for their problems and they don’t care what they do or say about someone to switch the blame to someone else. In our country and our world at large it seems that nobody acknowledges that God is really the One Who is in charge.

In Colossians chapter 1 Paul writes this:  16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 

Our Creator, Redeemer and Savior is God and also Jesus Christ in whom we live and have our life now and into eternity. If you have given your life to Jesus and follow Him then your Spirit lives in Him and through Him. God’s love for us and especially the Jewish people is a love which cannot be measured by any human measure. We cannot understand it. He is above us and yet when Jesus came to live among us, He personally lived as a man so that He would know our weakness and our frailties and would be able to identify with each of us in a personal way.

Some people foolishly think that we are able to “rise above the human condition” with no help from anyone. If you look at the history of every country in the world, you can see that it just doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t matter what political system is involved, mankind will be the animal that we think he is. While it is true that humanity can be and do good things for a while, historically it won’t last very long.

We can be more like Jesus Christ if we live according to His Word and teachings. The Holy Spirit comes into your heart and changes your “condition” so that we are able to rise above but we must live in His Word. Reading it, studying it, praying about it and what we can do through Him to be more like Him. Without the Holy Spirit we can do nothing. Our “natural inclination” is to be selfish and seek pleasure for our own purposes and do whatever it takes to “get ahead” in life. But by reading and studying God’s Word, not man’s rules and ideas, we can move toward being better than we could be on our own IF the Holy Spirit is allowed to work in and through us.

Don’t be the animal that “evolution” says that we are. God did not design us by using an ape, we are made in God’s image! More people need to see Jesus in and through our actions and our lives so that they will want to know Him too. The future of humanity is written in God’s Word and we should be living through Jesus and He should be working through us to bring the whole world into the future that God has prepared for it.

What makes the difference?


What makes a difference in a person’s life? I don’t mean materially like having a lot of money, what I am speaking of is an eternal difference. Now, there are some in our country today who would ask, “What do you mean “eternal difference”? Well, according to God’s Word which, isn’t read very much in America anymore, all of us have an eternity to look forward to after we die. Some of us won’t like it there at all. They will see their eternity as a punishment and a prison. Well, it is. 

You see when you live your life like the devil then your eternity will be to live in eternity with the devil. Now during this life, I have heard many people say that in hell we will be having a party all through eternity. But that is not the way Jesus describes hell. He said the smoke of their torment rises for eternity and that they will be thrown into the lake of fire with Satan and his demons. A lake of fire doesn’t sound like a party to me. Especially when your eternal body is capable of feeling pain even though the lake of fire can’t kill you.

The difference that we make in other lives and in our own life can only come by one Person, Jesus Christ. He is the Author and the Finisher of our faith and it is His Spirit which remakes us into a child of God. We cannot do this transformation on our own. There is no amount of money or time or work, which will miraculously make us righteous in the sight of God. Only belief in the Son, Jesus Christ for our salvation will accomplish this task. We do not choose this on our own because even when you have been in a revival tent or meeting if you feel that you need Jesus and you go down front that decision may be because of your friends going down or some girl going down.

When the Holy Spirit touches your heart and breaks it so that you know that you need Jesus regardless of who may see you or what your friends might say. Nothing will keep you from going down and making Him your Savior. God’s Holy Spirit will move you to make that decision and you will make it. Sometimes it may take a few more prompting touches from Him but you will get down on your knees and give your life to Jesus.

What does all of this have to do with making a difference? Because others will see the difference in you and they will want to know what happened? Your life and your way of living changed and someone will want to know how they can have the peace that you have. They will hear about your life turning in the opposite direction from where you were headed and they will see a difference in you. Some may not see it as a good thing and that’s okay but there will be others who see the change and they will want what you have found.

When your life changes like that then you will make a difference in someone’s life. Maybe even more than one person. Then they can go out and make a difference and the effect will keep going from there. God can make one person…one seed sprout into a field of new growth for His Kingdom. It only takes a spark to start a fire if the right kind of wood is there. Your “spark” comes from the Holy Spirit and the fire that He starts in your heart is what other people see. Once they see this change in your life, they will want to know what or Who it is that made this change.

Make sure that they know it was Jesus Christ Who brought you to this place in your life.

Endless love for…


We have heard songs for this and we’ve prayed for it to happen to us but until you realize that you already have it…it never really sinks into your conscience. God has loved every one of us since before the first blade of grass grew in Eden. He has known our weaknesses and our strengths and where and when we would make mistakes and He loves us anyway. Even when we refuse to listen to Him or we turn away from Him for a time and do our own thing…He still loves us. Feeling loved or unloved? Seek God in the Psalms and Proverbs. His love shines so bright that our own Sun cannot be bright enough to make a shadow.

Endless love. The kind of love that lasts not just for a lifetime but for eternity is the love that God has always had for each of us. Will He show this love to us while we are still alive? Yes, and He does it every time you wake up to a new day. When your day goes your way until you get home that was God making your day smooth and productive. God’s Spirit comes to live with you when you accept Jesus as your Savior and He is with you during the good days and the bad ones. He is never any further from you than a breath and a prayer. If you are hurting, the Holy Spirit can fill in the blanks that you can’t pray because of grief or the loss of a loved one. He knows your pain but He will give you the strength to get through it today and tomorrow and the next day too.

The gifts which the Spirit brings to your life will help with so much and add to your life and your enjoyment of it. God does so much for us each day and most of it goes unnoticed because He takes care of little things before they become big ones. Sometimes we ask Him to do something for us and He knows that we don’t need it or that it would cause problems for us later. He answers those prayers by not answering them. We don’t understand His logic but we aren’t supposed to understand Him. He’s God our Savior, our Protector, our Creator and our Redeemer. What more could you want or need?

God watches over the righteous


For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. 1 Peter 3:12 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/1pe.3.12.KJV

When you pray, God hears your prayers. If you are a sinner, the only prayer that He will hear is your prayer for forgiveness and repentance. After that, He will be near you every step of the way. God never turns away from a sinner if they are sincere about turning away from their sins. Only a prayer for forgiveness and repentance from a sinner will be answered instantly, if it is sincere. Just like trying to quit smoking or drinking will not work unless you truly mean it. God knows what is in your heart and He knows what you are thinking. It cannot be hidden from Him.

God does care about and He watches over all of us, sinner and saint alike, and His will for all will be accomplished because His will cannot be undone. The world around us thinks that they can change the future by their actions but the future is in God’s hands and it will happen the way that He says it will in His Word. Look to His Word for your peace and your salvation through Jesus Christ.

Another Saint goes home…


Life on Earth is getting harder to bear. More of my friends are going home to be with the Lord. Yes, we prayed for healing and God chose to heal by giving them their eternal body without disease or hunger or glasses. Life goes on here but I am truly looking forward to that day when the Trumpet of God is sounded and the Church, the Bride of Christ is called home. I don’t want to write much but I do ask for prayer for those who have lost loved ones to this COVID-19 thing! It is time for this to end.

We, and I mean all of us, are sometimes confused about God’s way of healing. Love works in ways which few of us can truly understand. Especially when it comes to God’s love which is deeper and more complete than any emotion that men or women can feel. Our emotions are not comparable to God’s. We ask Him for a healing, sometimes we plead for it for weeks or months, and we don’t see a healing happening…yet. But God has something planned. It may not be what you want or the way that you want it but God can see all of the options and His knowledge is boundless. He can see that one person’s death will bring about more than his or her life would’ve accomplished had they lived.

God is not being mean to the family because their faith will grow if they see that something greater is happening because of their witness in this life. Many may not have known about his ministry or influence. He or she may not have known that someone was changed or inspired in some way by their life or something that they said or did. God knows what it will accomplish and it is His will that it continue and it might not even begin had they lived.

God does things much different from the way that we think. Even the first miracle that Jesus did confused the people who had been serving the wine at the wedding in Cana. His mother called Him over and told Him that they were out of wine. He said, “What is that to me? My time has not come yet.” She still told the servants to “Do whatever He tells you to do”. He told them to fill six jars which held about sixty gallons each with water. When they had done so, He said to give a sample to the head waiter of the house. Then the man said that most people serve the best at the beginning of a celebration but you have kept the best until later.

Those who have been healed by taking them into eternity hopefully were followers of Jesus Christ. Some may not have believed in Him for their salvation but their death may still influence someone to change their life. God allowed His Son to pay the price for ALL OF OUR SINS so that we could have an eternity with Him. A strange way to save humanity when most of them don’t even believe in God or His Son. It is because of His great Love for us that He has for all of us. Did my friend believe in Jesus for his salvation? Yes! I envy him right now because of the wondrous sights he is seeing, especially because he is reunited with his Daddy and his grandparents. Yes, I envy him because I can’t see those wonderful sights until I am there and I’m looking forward to it.