Category: By faith

Augustine…


Augustine was an early church father/preacher who wrote and taught many things in his lifetime. One of the opening sentences of his writings is this paragraph of The Confessions of Augustine, which acknowledges, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” (Confessions, 1,1.) Only in God is found the final happiness of any person.

This is a teaching and a truth I have written about myself that I learned through the Holy Spirit as I read the Bible over the last ten years. God reveals His wisdom and truth to us as we read and study His Word…if we seek His wisdom and ask the Holy Spirit to teach us. I am not bragging that I learned this because of Augustine but that it surprised me today as I was reading about him. God’s Word is the best book of Wisdom in the world because it comes from Him. There is no “human wisdom” contained in it because all that is written in it was inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Seek to know Jesus as your Savior through your study of His Word and ask Him to come into your heart and cleanse you while you study. He will give you the joy and peace that you have been searching for that can’t be found in schools or jobs or in any endeavor that we engage in daily.

Every good gift…


Your gifts are for giving away


Are you ready for eternity?


Can you keep these completely? Have you considered that God wrote these on stone tablets and gave them to Moses? Have you ever considered that GOD is the Creator of EVERYTHING? That is the Person that you pray to and worship every Sunday morning! When we pray we are speaking to our Creator and most people just shrug their shoulders like it’s no big deal. Why?

Jesus came because He wants a relationship with you, me, and everyone who will give their hearts to Him. He knows when you will follow Him but why do so many of you wait? You don’t know if you are going to wake up in the morning! None of us knows how many days we may have left and it is only in this life that we can come to know Jesus as our Savior. Once you die, that’s it! You don’t get a second chance. 

Once, I was accused of trying to scare people into giving their hearts to Jesus and I’ll admit that I tried but only God can bring you to the point of knowing that you NEED Him. The Holy Spirit has to touch your heart and bring you to the knowledge of your sin and that without Jesus as your Savior, you will go to hell. Some of my friends from years ago, when I was a firefighter, said they would have the fire put out by the time the rest of us got there. No, they won’t! There is no light in hell, only heat and an absence of God’s Spirit and presence. There is no way that there will be a party in hell the way many people used to say. There is no water in hell either!

Remember the parable that Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus? The rich man asked Father Abraham to let Lazarus come and just dip his finger in some water and put one drop on his tongue to cool it in the heat. Hell was made for Satan and his demons because they wanted to rule in Heaven. It was not made for mankind but Satan likes to trick people into thinking that it doesn’t exist or that they have plenty of time to make peace with God. The only peace you can make with God is by accepting Jesus as your Savior!

Your life here is short compared to even one thousand years. Imagine living in your eternal body in hell. Your body can feel the heat and the separation from God and at that point, you know that you can’t get out of hell. The pain that you will feel will be from your separation from God and it will be from the heat of the lake of fire too because your body cannot die even though you will want the pain to stop. 

The only remedy that will keep you from going to hell is by giving your life and your heart to Jesus. There is no other path and no other remedy for your sins. Jesus paid the price to buy your soul with His blood and He paid for all of your sins with it as well. All you have to do is accept Him as your Savior and repent of your sins, then follow Him until He comes again. The period of grace for this world is drawing to an end and His coming could be at any time. Don’t wait until it is too late.

Why am I writing this? Because there are many people in the world who know about Jesus and about God BUT God doesn’t know them. These people have likely been in a church nearly every time the doors were open. They’ve heard the sermons and some may even take part in Bible studies on a weekly basis. Yet they haven’t truly given their hearts to Jesus and allowed Him to change their lives to do the will of God. 

If you are one of these “so-called Christians” or if you just have doubts about your relationship with Jesus, I implore you to seek Him in the Bible, read the books of Romans and John, pray about what you are reading and ask Him to show you the condition of your heart. Make the right decision to give your life to Jesus so your eternity will not be like the rich man in hell needing water but there is no water in hell.

Old Testament prophecies…


Direct quotes from the Old Testament in Matthew:

1:22-23 Isaiah 7:14 (virgin birth)

2:5-6 Micah 5:2 (born in Bethlehem)

2:14-15 Hosea 11:1 (called out of Egypt)

2:16-18 Jeremiah 31:15 (murder of the innocents)

4:13-16 Isaiah 9:1-2 (lived in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali)

8:16-17 Isaiah 53:4 (healing the sick)

10:34-36 Micah 7:6 (His truth will cause division)

11:9-10 Malachi 3:1 (John the Baptist)

12:18-21 Isaiah 42:1-4 (obscure start to ministry)

13:14-15 Isaiah 6:9-10 (spiritually blind will miss the truth)

13: 34-35 Psalm 78:2 (speak in parables)

15:6-9 Isaiah 29:13; Malachi 2:2 (man-made rules of religious leaders)

21: 4-7 Zechariah 9:9; Isaiah 62:11 (entering Jerusalem on a donkey)

21:15-16 Psalm 8:2 (triumphal entry)

27:3-10 Jeremiah 32:6-9; Zechariah 11:12-13 (betrayed for 30 pieces of silver)

If Jesus only fulfilled these prophecies, we would have solid proof that He is the Messiah. But He did much more than prove Who He was when He came the first time. Jesus is our Savior, King, and Creator and He is coming back…likely much sooner than most people think. In today’s world, most people don’t think He was real and if they do believe that He is Who the Bible says He is, they’re not sure what to do with that information.

God provided the sacrifice to pay for the sins of man, and humanity in general, but most of the world doesn’t want to believe the Truth of God’s Word. Everyone seems to want to “create” their own “god” that is comfortable and acceptable to them. The problem with this is…we are created in His Image and His creation shouldn’t create a god in their image. That is given as a commandment! The first commandment!

We have been given His grace and mercy, neither of which we deserve but because of His love for us, we have received them in abundance. I pray that anyone who is looking for a Savior will read these scriptures and seek Jesus to be your Savior. I don’t believe the world will have to wait much longer to have the proof of God’s existence because the church will soon be gone. I can’t give you dates or years but with everything that is happening in and around Israel, the prophecies in Ezekiel and in the first few chapters of Revelation are about to come true.

What kind of peace?


Have you ever wondered what kind of peace is available to us? People search for “peace” most of their lives but they can’t tell you what kind of peace they are searching for. Most of them couldn’t tell you if you asked every person as a survey, “What kind of peace are you searching for?”. All of us know this feeling. When we are in high school we usually begin to feel this but we may not realize exactly what it is. Where is it pointing us? What direction is this feeling taking us in? Sometimes, we take the wheel in a manner of speaking and push our lives in one direction or another. Occasionally we get it right, find our vocation and calling in the same place, and feel satisfied. Although many people never find their place in the world and they never feel fulfilled in their life.

This is the time when we begin to search for meaning and purpose in our lives. Where should we look? The only place you will find real peace is in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Read God’s Word, especially the New Testament, because it is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Nearly every prophecy that was written in the Old Testament has been fulfilled except for the Kingdom of Jesus on Earth and that is coming. The Tribulation and the Antichrist have not yet begun but they are coming too. The “taking up” of the Church hasn’t happened yet…but it could happen at any time.

It is amazing to me how many people in church have the most bored attitudes that show on their faces. I’ve seen them on television and from the pulpit but all of them have the same expression. No one seems to be the least bit joyful or happy about their salvation or the message being brought to them. God loves all of us and hearing about His grace and mercy, that we don’t deserve, should bring some semblance of joy and peace. Seek the Prince of peace and learn what real peace is.

Do you live worthy of your calling?


Paul the Apostle wrote this many years ago but is relevant today: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Ephesians 4:1

As Christians, we are called by Jesus to become one of His disciples. Not to become rich or famous but to live your life so that anyone around you can see that there is something different about you. Yes, we are called to be different from the world around us because the people that we meet every day need to know Jesus Christ. Some of them do know Him but many don’t and if we don’t live and breathe any differently than the rest of the world…what will show them that our life is different or better than we used to be?

Considering the sacrifice and the torture that Jesus went through for our salvation, there is no way we can repay Him except by living our lives walking with Him every day. It is the least we can do for Him since He did so much for all of us long before we were born. God had a plan for your life and mine and we should walk according to His Word every day with the Holy Spirit leading us because we can’t do it on our own.

Many have made sacrifices to live for Jesus and many more will do so before the Kingdom begins at the end of the Tribulation but it will be worth it! God’s grace and mercy are ours according to His promises when we accept Jesus as our Savior and eternity with Him is the promise I’m looking forward to. Amen? Make sure of your eternity before your “end of days” comes because we don’t know when that day is.

Call on Him!


God has always sought to have fellowship with mankind. He did so in the Garden and wanted it to continue during history yet mankind would not continue their fellowship with Him. Why do we only seek God’s favor and Presence when we need Him? When something happens, like a sudden death or a problem we can’t handle, we seek Him and His favor in whatever situation. But, when the “problem” is resolved we thank Him, sometimes, and go our way until we need Him again. 

God is as near to us as a breath but we don’t want to acknowledge Him until some crisis happens. Call on God and tell Him that you are thankful for His blessings because He gives every breath you take to you and me. He watches over the birds and every person on Earth but many of us don’t thank Him for it unless we have a need that only He can fill. We need to stop regarding Him as some kind of “genie” that we only call on during our troubles.

God created each of us and if you have felt His call on your life I beg you to answer it. We are living during the most unusual time in our history and each day shows more Biblical prophecy coming true. Over the past fifty years or more, preachers and theologians have taught that we were coming into this time but we can see it on the news every day now. Every day brings some part of the prophetic puzzle to light and one day the puzzle will be finished. It may take another decade but it could come to the finish sooner than anyone expects it to.

The prophecies in the Bible are coming true and many of them are coming true as you watch the news. I pray that anyone who is looking for a Savior will seek Jesus today. Don’t put it off because none of us are guaranteed to be here tomorrow! He died for our sins and God had this planned ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed in the Garden. Make sure that you give your heart to Jesus and then study the Bible to get to know Him better, especially the books of Romans, John, and the book of Revelation. 

The time is evil


We are living in the time that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24. Daniel also spoke of this time and Ezekiel did as well. This is why so many are preaching about prophecy these days. God’s prophets spoke about this time and we are seeing it come to pass on the news and other media outlets every day.

God has told us of this time and it is an evil time with people rejecting the Word of God and many of the prophecies contained in it. Yet many people are seeking their Savior in Jesus Christ. So many have heard of Him and the salvation offered through belief in Him yet some are finding their Savior and some are still rejecting His grace and mercy. Time is running out for those who want to be included in the church to be taken up when the Trumpet sounds.

I’m not saying that you can’t accept Jesus during the Tribulation but it will be difficult and dangerous. Christians will not be accepted and will be hunted during this time. If you choose Jesus as your Savior and refuse to take the “mark”, you won’t be able to buy or sell and if you are caught you will be killed. Make sure that you find your Savior soon…before the Trumpet sounds.

All of us have trouble