He gave up His deity for us

God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit had always been together in eternity before the creation of the universe. This is not a myth or some raving of old men and one day soon the world will know. When sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden, the Son knew that He would have to pay the price for humanity’s sin so that they could be in the Father’s house one day. If He had not given His life for our salvation by being obedient to His Father’s will, we would not have the hope of eternity.

Jesus had to give up His part in the godhead to become human and live a sinless life in order to be the spotless Lamb to pay for our sins. Why? Because it had been known by God the Father since before mankind was created. Jesus had to go through the crucifixion because it was necessary for us to have a place in eternity with God. Mankind was created to have a relationship with God and he did for a while. They were perfect and sinless until they gave in to temptation.

Why did they give in? Because God created the angels and humanity to have a choice. Love and service aren’t real if it is forced. Only if it is given. It was the ability to choose which caused a third of the angels to follow Lucifer. This is the same ability that God gave to Adam and Eve, the ability to choose to follow God’s rules and to follow Him. We still have that same choice today but there are many who choose to go their own way because they are listening to the lies of the world around them.

Money, power, fame, and other “stuff” don’t fulfill your life and it doesn’t fill that empty space in your heart either. All of us grow up having a space inside that we can feel and we know it needs to be filled but some of us live a long time before we find out Who actually fits in that space. We think it’s something like more cars or a bigger house or a younger wife or husband and sometimes these do satisfy us for a time. But that empty space usually comes back if we don’t fill it with Jesus. He is the only Person that fills our empty space completely.

Seek Him out soon because not one of us is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow.

Jesus came to save us!

He paid our price for us

Failure…

In life, you can fail at anything. The one thing that you shouldn’t fail at is claiming your salvation. As a pastor and in life, you can fail by trying to please everyone. Preach a message that doesn’t hurt anyone’s feelings and doesn’t tell them that they are born a sinner. Tell them that everything will be fine if they are good enough and live by the “golden rule”, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you“. Teaching and preaching a “sermon” that makes people feel good is the way to be a failure if you are trying to “preach” for God but it might bring you success if you are doing it for your own gain financially or personally.

Jesus didn’t preach a message about feeling good or just doing good, although He did that very well. He taught that God loves you and He calls those whom He knows will work with Him and for Him. He taught that your life has meaning and purpose in God’s Kingdom if you follow Him and listen to Him. While the “golden rule” is good teaching that Jesus taught, it is not the only rule. It will not save your soul.

Believe in Jesus as your Savior and accept Him as your Lord, then you shall have eternal life in Him. There are no specific things that you have to do or perform. There is no specific amount of time that you have to give to Him in His service. But…when you realize the complete salvation that He bought for you with His blood and His life on the cross, you will want to serve Him and give Him whatever you can to work for Him. Because when He calls you to become His disciple you need to search the Scriptures and see what He paid for your soul and that’s what will humble you to the point of being His forever.

It doesn’t take a lot of education. His disciples were fishermen except for Matthew. God can use your talents whatever they may be simply because He is the One Who gave those talents to you. He knows what you can do and He will empower you to be able to do what He calls you to do. Having lots of letters behind your name and certificates on the wall doesn’t make you any better than one of the disciples. They learned at His feet and their education was just as good as any college education today. Make sure of Who you are serving in your walk with Him.

Testing of your faith makes it stronger

What will get your attention?

In today’s society, our attention spans have decreased to the point of being only long enough for a blurb on the news. I’ve noticed that most news programs seem to sell drugs more than they tell us about the news. The news anchors only speak about one or two sentences then another commercial for some new or renamed drug comes on for three minutes. Then they will come back and say a few words and then more commercials will come on. I know that is the way that the networks make money but I would like to actually hear some NEWS if I bother to tune in.

If you have heard any sermons about Jesus Christ then you may remember one of His parables about the days near the end of the age. Two are working in the field, one is taken and the other left. Two women are grinding meal, one is taken and the other is left alone. Two are in the bed at night, one is taken and the other is left. This is a description of the “rapture” of the church or of believers when Jesus comes back to take His Bride, the church, to heaven. We are not far from that time.

I know that the disciples thought that Jesus was coming back during their lifetimes as well but there are too many prophecies that have come true in the past seventy years for His coming to be very far away. It could happen tomorrow or even tonight, but the world will know when it happens because it will be an event that will happen all over the world at the same time. No one knows the hour or the day or even the year in which it will happen but God knows the timing down to the second. Are you ready for it? Have you given your life to Jesus and repented of your old ways of life?

God loves each of us and He doesn’t want any to die the second death in hell but that is your choice. God doesn’t send you to hell, your decision to accept Jesus as your Savior or not accept Him is the decision that truly condemns you to hell. Murder, theft, rape, genocide or other sins will determine the severity of your eternity in hell but your destination is determined by you. Make the decision to follow Jesus and ask Him to come into your life as your Savior. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins and make you clean so that you can be counted in that number of those who will be “taken” to heaven when He returns in the clouds.

This decision only takes a minute of your time but it will impact your eternal life forever. Choose to Live with Him.

His Grace is free to all

We won’t stay on the pathway

A little bit here and there…

This is something that all of us should be used to by now. Every time the state gets a little more money from gambling income or the lottery we always hear that it is going to education or teacher salaries. Then we hear that there isn’t enough money to do this or that. I’d like to know who’s pocket all of the money ends up in because it isn’t in the teacher’s pocket and it seems that more money in the education system isn’t really helping that much anymore.

Have you ever wondered what really went wrong? It isn’t the money or the salaries or even the jobs that are being offered because it seems that there are too many today who really don’t want to work or get a good education. The real problem began in the early ’60s when prayer and Bible study/reading were either taken from our education system or it was being taken away. Prior to that time, our education system was the best or at least one of the best in the world. But when God is removed and the moral center of society begins to shift away from Him, the quality of education goes down and it has continued going down ever since.

If you don’t believe what I’ve written, look up the ACT scores from the 1950s. Then look up the range of scores from the 60s and it is trending downward.

God and His teachings from the Bible are essential to education and its effectiveness. Without His laws written in our hearts by reading and studying them, our society will fall and it is doing that now. I pray that parents and grandparents will begin to read the Bible to their children and grandchildren now before it is too late.