Category: Believe like a child

Are you lost?


Today, we enjoyed a sermon about the prodigal son. If you’ve never heard of it or read it, it is about an entitled young man who wants his inheritance before his father dies. Then his father gives it to him and he runs off to a place similar to Vegas. He enjoys his money for a time, but he soon runs out of money and his friends desert him. Leaving him alone and destitute. In the story, Jesus said there was a famine in the land as well and he couldn’t find a job other than feeding pigs. For a Jewish boy, that was at the bottom of the ladder for sure. He became so hungry that he even wanted to eat the food that he was giving the pigs, because his employer wouldn’t feed him.

Then, he had a great idea! He thought to himself, “The servants in my father’s house have more than enough to eat. I will go home and apologize to my father and ask him to hire me as one of his servants.”

But…as he was nearing his father’s house, thinking about his speech, he saw his father…running toward him! He started his speech for his father, but his father wasn’t having it. He told the servants that arrived after him to get his son some new clothes and a pair of sandals and the family ring! He told another to fetch the fattened calf and prepare it for a feast!

Why would his father accept him back as his son after what he did? Because his love for his son didn’t depend on work, or obedience to the rules, only that he wanted to come home and he believed that his father wouldn’t turn him out. Just like we love our sons and daughters, God loves us even deeper than that. He won’t turn us away when we sincerely turn to Him for forgiveness and ask to be allowed into the family. Belief in Him (Jesus) and asking forgiveness is all it takes! God isn’t a tyrant or a bully, He loves us far deeper than we can know because He formed each of us in the womb. He knows every part of us and our personality and He knows when we will come to Him.

Think about your life and seek out your Savior in Him. His forgiveness and His love are available to you. Give your problems and your failures and those pesky slip-ups in your life to Him and He will untangle all of them and make your life better than it was and your eternal future will be in His house. As Christians, we have the right to call God, Aba (Daddy).

What excites you about eternity?


Has anyone ever even asked you about your eternity? Many people have likely never been asked this question. But, have you thought about it? Eternity is a long, long time and since Jesus talked about it then it surely is your destination. Where will you spend it is the question that needs answering. Some people, even pastors, have questioned where we will be after our life here. If you have read the gospels or heard a sermon from them, you have heard about it. Jesus died for us to have a chance at being in Heaven with Him so there is a life after this one, the only question that needs to be answered is will you be with Jesus?

If you haven’t given your life to Him then your eternity looks very different. You will be outside the boundaries of Heaven and outside the presence of God. Have you ever thought how that would be? Life would not be here without God’s sustaining it, including each of us.

When things go wrong…


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

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

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

Your Jordan river…


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

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

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

One day…


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

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

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

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

The Lord delivers you


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

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

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

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

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

On that day…


Serve in love


On our nation’s 250th birthday, we need to seek Him and learn from Him how to live in our freedom in Christ and the freedom that we have in America.

Live peacefully


Resist the Devil…


Resist the devil. What does that mean?

Any temptation that comes into your mind or your sight that tempts you to do something or want something that you shouldn’t have. Those come from the devil and his minions. Temptation comes in many forms but most are from things that God wouldn’t approve of. Jesus went through temptations when He was in the wilderness after His baptism. We see things, such as beautiful cars or trucks that we can’t afford and it is tempting to finance it, especially if we can’t afford it. It is a temptation to get what you desire rather than what God wants you to have. Resist these temptations and pray that God will show you what you should have and ask Him to help you to get it. Walking and living in His will is not hard to do, but you have to do it deliberately.