Category: By faith

Life…


The author and finisher of our faith and our lives is Jesus Christ. If you haven’t come to know Him as your Savior, I encourage you to seek out a Bible-teaching church and learn more about Him. He died to pay for your sins, all you need to do is accept His grace and the gift of salvation through belief in His atonement for you.

Follow these Scriptures, seek Jesus in the Bible, and give your heart and your life to Him. Follow Him and learn to be more like Him. When the Trumpet sounds you will be taken to be with Him forever. That is the reward that we, as Christians, seek to have. This life and the “stuff” in it is temporary but life with Him is an eternity in His love for us.

Salvation…


How can you be saved from an eternity of punishment in hell? Believe in Jesus as your Savior and give your heart to Him. Following Him from that day forward. It sounds easy, doesn’t it? If you feel the Spirit touching your heart and convicting you of your sins so that you know you need Jesus, please don’t turn away from His call on your life. Not one of us is guaranteed to see tomorrow, don’t put your salvation off because you may not have a chance again to “get right with God”.

Some people may say that I am trying to scare you into becoming a Christian. Maybe I am but consider that your life is just a moment in time compared to even one million years. Your decision about Jesus and your salvation through your belief in Him is the only decision that will make your first million years in eternity to be with Him in heaven. You don’t want to consider that amount of time in hell because even if you have friends there, you won’t be having fun at all. Hell is a place of punishment meant for Satan and the fallen angels that followed him. Mankind wasn’t meant to go there at all but many people will.

Jesus Christ came to live a sinless life and to be God’s “spotless Lamb” that could take the sins of the world on Himself and make atonement for them all. Whether you believe in Him for your salvation or not is your choice. Some people will feel the Holy Spirit convicting them of their sins but they will put it off until they can “get right” with God…but you can’t. We can’t do anything that will pay for our sins because Jesus was the only One Who could do that. You can’t pray enough or go to church enough or give enough money to atone for your sins only the blood of Jesus and your belief in Him as your Savior can do that.

Read the book of John and the book of Romans in the New Testament. If you have to, read them a second time but don’t put off your salvation because you may be involved in a wreck tonight or tomorrow and it may take your life before you get a chance to give your heart to Jesus. God loves you but He cannot stand our sinful lives. Do you sin after accepting Jesus? Absolutely! But…you are covered by His blood so just ask for His forgiveness and mean it by turning away from the sinful ways that are still hanging around.

All churches have hypocrites in them but the best ones have forgiven hypocrites.

God loves you!

Differences in can’t and won’t


In the society that we live in today, people usually choose not to see the wrongs in their actions or in what they say on social media. Still, even with the slightest hint of something you say, they will pick it apart and complain about it even when it wasn’t aimed at or about them. Why is this happening today?

Because it was foretold in the Book of Revelation in God’s Word. Other verses in God’s Word refer to “brothers against brothers and parents against their children and children against their parents“. Life and living in the society that we have today are challenging because of the connectedness of everyone around us and the pervasive social media that is having a detrimental effect on our young people. More young people are considering suicide and suffering from depression than they have in the past and they are doing it at a younger age. Scientists have recently determined that the pervasive nature of social media has led to this.

Seek the Lord while He may be found. In church, especially a Bible-teaching and believing one. God loves all of humanity but many still refuse to give their hearts to Him. I pray that anyone who has not given their heart to Him will seek to know Him as their Savior before the Trumpet sounds.

The Cross


The cross of Jesus Christ is more than a symbol, although it became an international symbol in time. It was an instrument of torture and death in the Roman Empire because it was a horrible way to die. A person could hang on a cross for up to two or three days before they would die, suffering from fluid build-up around their heart and all of the pain that it caused being hung by their arms for many hours. If their feet were nailed to the cross, they had to push up on that nail just to take a breath. It was cruel punishment but also a deterrent to other criminals because it was the punishment they would get if they did the same crime.

Dying on a cross was a spectacle because it took time for those punished in this way to die. It wasn’t quick like hanging or the guillotine although they were used later as execution became a way to deter crime. So, why did Jesus have to die in this way? Because it was foretold that He would. That is what Psalm 22 describes in detail yet crucifixion wasn’t being used at the time that David wrote it. God uses many things and people in their way and in His time to accomplish His purposes.

Jesus paid the price for our sins, all of humanity’s sins, even though many will not believe in Him for their salvation. The debt has been paid but unless you acknowledge it and believe in the One who paid for it for your salvation…you will not be saved from an eternity in hell. What a terrible thing to refuse the offer of your sin debt being paid for entirely and then spend eternity in hell because of that refusal. It is your choice that sends you to hell not God or Jesus. Even if you’ve been “basically good” all of your life but you never got around to accepting Jesus as your Savior, it is up to you to refuse to accept Him which will send you to hell.

Hitler is in hell, not because of his war against the Jewish people, but because he refused to accept God or Jesus as his Savior. Although I would think that his treatment of the Jewish people is making his punishment much worse than it would’ve been. God loves all of humanity and He calls many who may accept Jesus as their Savior. Even some of those who have been called may not answer that call to become a disciple of Jesus. Some will put the decision off until later and some will refuse it entirely. God knows who will accept His offer and who will not.

John 3:16,17 says:  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.

Finished…


The work that God sent Jesus to do was finished on the cross, no amount of work or money, or effort is required by us. We can’t add anything to the work that He completed. Jesus came to bring salvation to those who would take hold of it, yet there are many who will not because they want their own “way” to get to eternity. The problem with this thinking is that all of us have eternity ahead of us, yet it is the quality of our eternity that we should seek after.

Some have believed the lie that after you die there is no enjoyment or feeling even though the Bible says that we do have joy and life to enjoy into eternity with God. The life that we have here on Earth is fleeting and less than we expect it to be regardless of the amount of fame or money that we have. It seems that, in many ways, those who have little are the most content in this life. They have fewer “problems”, especially mental issues. They may have more medical problems than some who can afford treatment options but most of the “poor” have greater faith in God. They depend on Him for their satisfaction in life and for their provisions in this life as well.

So, when Jesus said that the poor are blessed…He meant it. God does bless them because they depend upon Him for many things in their life. Those who supposedly “have it all” don’t search for God and His provision because they feel that they don’t need Him. Yet, when some diagnosis comes along that their wealth can’t provide an avenue toward a cure…that is when they seek out prayer and fellowship with people who have placed their faith in God.

No, there is nothing that we can contribute toward our salvation except to accept it when it is offered to us by faith. God provides that to each of us and when we feel it and know that we need it, we shouldn’t turn away from it because the opportunity may not come again. I pray that everyone who reads this will consider the sacrifice that God went through to bring the possibility of salvation to each of us.