Category: Creation

Do you really know God?


Why is our world so confused about God? Is it because He is not something or someone who can be seen or touched? I don’t believe so, since the founders of other religions are dead and cannot be contacted or touched either. The difference is that our God can be contacted and He will answer those prayers! Whether the answer will come on your schedule or not is irrelevant because God answers on His time and not yours.

God loves all of humanity, that is why He sent His Son to be the sacrifice that took the sins of all of us, past, present and future, and paid the price for them all. Our only response, the only one that is required of us, is to acknowledge that we need Him and accept that He paid that price for each of us. Then ask Him to come into our lives and make us more like Him. Once that is done, and we have taken the steps in our life to turn away from our sinful ways, we must let others know about Him!

I know that many people don’t want to testify that they have changed, that their lives have been changed by Jesus but if the change has happened people will see it in your life whether you tell them or not. The misconception that many people have is that they cannot know God.

The Bible is a collection of writings that were inspired by the Holy Spirit and in some cases, such as the books of Moses, were given directly by God Himself to the writer. All of these books are God’s way of advising us on living our lives through Hiim and for Him. God also expresses His love for us through these books and the wisdom contained within them, all we have to do is read and study them and ask Him to help us to understand. There is a passage in the Bible that says something like this, “if you feel that you lack wisdom, ask it of Him and He will give it freely”. Now that is  paraphrase, but you get the idea.

God is not someone who is billions of miles away, He is here. He occupies the entire universe and He can live in your heart if you ask Him to. You are never very far from Him and when you feel alone remember the only one who may have moved is you! God has always been close by although He will not barge into your life. He waits patiently for you to ask Him to come in.

God is the Creator and the One who sustains the universe and all that is in it. Jesus is the living Word that came to earth and became a man to take our sins and the punishment for them to the cross. He is the reason that many have trouble with accepting Christianity. They don’t want to accept Him because many do not believe that the Son of God would do what He did.

The love that God has for us is one that we cannot comprehend because it is far above what we are capable of. Yet it is because of that love for us that He came to suffer through life as we do, to be as we are in every circumstance and yet follow the will of His Father even unto the cross to pay for our sins.

Can we know God? Can we get to know Him like the prophets knew Him? Yes, we can! He wants to get to know us and He wants that relationship with us. All that we have to do is ask Him into our lives and study His Word prayerfully so that we will gain an understanding of just Who He is and what we should be doing.

We are sometimes to proud to admit that we need Him until some problem happens in our lives that punctuates the fact that we cannot handle life by ourselves. At those times, even those who claim that they don’t believe in God will seek Him! Whether they make a life-changing decision to allow Him into their lives is another topic altogether, but they will look for Him until something or someone directs them elsewhere.

Satan is very good at directing us to look to ourselves or to something in the world besides God. It is what he has been doing since the beginning and his ability to deceive us is a finely honed skill that he is very proud of. Satan is capable of twisting scripture to a point that you will think that you have found “religion”, and you have but you haven’t found Jesus!

Religion, in all of its forms in the world, cannot save you from your sins. Only believing in Jesus and asking Him to come into your life and your heart can do that. The choice must be a sincere and honest one, not lip service. Saying some words and getting emotional about it doesn’t change your heart. If the repentance of your heart is not genuine, God will know. Read and learn from the Bible. Go to a real church that preaches from God’s Word. Give your heart to Christ and ask Him to cleanse you from your sins. Once you have done this, your life and your character will change and you are a new creation. Your family will see it, as will your friends. Everything will change because you belong to Him and He will live in and through you! That is my prayer and hope for all who read this.

Live blessed…


Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: They will be still praising thee. Selah. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; In whose heart are the ways of them. Psalm 84:4‭-‬5 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.84.4-5.KJV

When this Psalm was written, David was no longer writing them. But the message is still the same. Blessed is the man or the country that gains wisdom and strength from the Lord and the knowledge of His ways. All of us are blessed whether we believe it or not. God has given us the Earth as our home. He created the atmosphere and the water and all of the things that we need for life. God even created all of the trees and the animals and the grass and the air that we breathe, so shouldn’t we give thanks for everything that we have?

God loves His Creation and everything in the universe is His creation. Although it is true that many people believe that all of the stuff that we see in space and all around us came about by accident…none of it did. There had to be a Planner and a Creator to put everything in its place and create it the way that it should be. Creation doesn’t just happen. A car or a building doesn’t just happen because all of the parts are there. There has to be a plan and a designer and a builder to make those things happen so we were created by God, the Designer, and Builder of everything.

So…are you blessed? Yes! All of us are blessed by God each and every day of our lives. Live your life as a blessed and loved child of God. If you don’t know Him as your Savior then seek Him out as soon as you can.

Do you understand?


There are many, many things in this world and in the universe that we will never understand. Such as, why do birds sing? Why does the humpback whale sing and what is the song’s purpose? Why does the sky seem to light up with crimson fire just before dawn?

Understanding our life itself and why we are here is a mystery to every person on the Earth. Many of us search almost the entirety of our lives trying to find the true answer. Some people do find the answer but we don’t want to believe that it is as easy as believing in Jesus as our Savior. A child can understand it but most adults want to try to “help Jesus save my soul”. The fact is that no amount of work or prayer from us is needed in order to save us from an eternity in hell.

Understanding even a small amount of what Creation itself is and also understanding Who our Creator is…well it is too much for our finite minds to hope to grasp in this life. Maybe in a thousand years or more in His Presence we may grasp a fraction of His greatness and the purpose for the whole of creation. We may begin to grasp it during that time but it will likely take many thousands of years if we ever grasp these mysteries at all

Look at a hummingbird. It is the smallest of birds and yet it is the only species which can fly backward and hover in place. God designed them. He designed every cell in their body and in ours to carry oxygen and nutrients to all parts of the body in a timely fashion. That is something which can’t be “evolved”. God is the Creator and it is His creation, those who don’t want to believe in a created universe just refuse to believe in the truth of the Bible.

Is anything too hard for God?


In Genesis chapter 18 and verse 14, God asks “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Why do we test Him with our “burdens” when He can take care of them with no effort? It seems that we don’t think God, in this Internet age and in the 21st century, is the same God Who split the Red Sea and brought the people through on dry land. We know from Sunday school and Bible school that God is the same yesterday, today and forever but most of us only know this intellectually. We know it in our head but we may not believe it fully in our heart.

God created the whole universe with a word! Genesis even says it this way, “and He created the stars also”. It sounds like an afterthought doesn’t it? But when you look at the pictures of the universe and everything that is out there…you know that God doesn’t do afterthoughts. He knows the name of every star out there, not just the ones that we can see in the constellations. Every star in every galaxy in the entire universe, trillions in number, God knows them all and it is His power which holds all of them together in their orbits and their courses.

The problem with humanity is that we read this in His Word but we can’t prove it. We can’t see it happening. Like the servant who thought that he and his master were about to be killed and his master prayed for God to open his eyes so he could see that “those who are on our side are greater than those against us”!

Nothing is too hard for God of course. But why do we question whether He will do what His Word says? Do we truly doubt God’s promises or His ability to do what is promised? In today’s world, Satan has caused humanity to doubt God’s existence and His abilities. Even though many don’t even believe that Satan exists either. Of course, that is his plan as well. That of course, brings into question the whole Bible itself and that is also his plan. If he can get us to question God’s existence or the veracity of His Word then belief in Him and His plan of salvation will also be questioned.

There is nothing too hard for God and everything that is happening in our world is allowed by Him because it is part of His plan to bring as many as possible to a saving knowledge of Jesus. Many people outside the United States are coming to know Jesus as their savior while there are many in the United States who are walking away from the church and their belief in God. Because our country has been pushing God out of many areas of education and family life for years. I pray that there will be an awakening and a revival of faith in our country but that is completely in God’s hands now.

God created all of these stars and planets. The size of them should inspire awe in us because He brought them into existence with His Word and nothing else.

Have faith in God alone!


“Isaiah 43:1-2, this is what the Lord says,” do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned and the flames will not set you ablaze.”

onebreathawayOur Lord and Savior is on His throne and all of these promises are given to those who believe in Him. Seek to do good for those who cannot do for themselves because that is what Jesus would do in this world.

Life, especially life on Earth, is precious to God and He doesn’t look kindly on those who take it lightly. We, the whole of humanity, are His creation and in spite of what some religions teach, God loves each person as His own. Why else would He send Jesus to die and pay the penalty for our transgressions, even before most of us today were born?

Yes, God will protect those who believe in Him and His Son and He will give them life even after this body has died. Will all of us see this come to pass in our lifetime? I don’t know nor could I tell you because only God knows when that time will be. He knows the day and the hour and when the time comes, it will happen and not before. It will also happen when God has determined it will and not because of what we are doing or not doing on Earth.

There are some who think that if they cause more death and destruction on Earth it will force the Tribulation/End Times/Whatever you want to call it to begin, but that is not how God works. Yes, He did bring about the flood because of the evil intent of mankind and Jesus said that the condition of the world would be “like the days of Noah”, but our wickedness is not going to trigger the Tribulation.

God’s timing of events will proceed at the pace which He decides on, not on anything that we are doing or not doing at the time.

Make sure that you are ready and looking for His coming when it does happen, because the world which will be here after the church is taken up will be much worse than the one we have now.

 

The eclipse…


I know that I am not the only person writing about this but it is a big deal. I mean this eclipse can be seen by most of the United States! Maybe not in totality but any portion of our Sun obscured is a big deal. I took a picture with my cell phone and it doesn’t look as good as others but I am going to show it here:

Eclipse by phoneThere will be another eclipse for the Eastern half of the USA in seven years so maybe others will get to see that one too. Our God is Awesome! I hope that you had a chance to get out and see this event today. According to our news media there were more people watching this peacefully than have gathered together in a long time. We need this kind of unity!

Life is all around us every day but sometimes we only see the darkness. Take heart, the darkness only lasts for a little while. In an eclipse or in life, the dark times which do come, only last for a bit and then they are replaced by the Light of God’s love. Sometimes the darkness last for a while longer, but if you lean on Jesus and seek His strength during this time, you will get through it and emerge into the Light.

The darkness of the totality during an eclipse is truly dark as I observed on TV, but it only lasted for a couple of minutes in most places. Then the light began to return. It is the same with our lives today. When the darkness overtakes us, it seems very, very dark for a while but you are not alone. Jesus is always by your side if you believe in Him as your Savior.

God loves each of us so much that He sent His Son to live and die on a cross for us. Paying our sin debt in full so that we don’t have anything to boast of except for Jesus alone! Life is sometimes dark and dreary but the good news is that Jesus is the Light of the World and in Him only are we saved, sanctified and given eternal life! There is no other Savior nor any other way to accomplish this except through Jesus the Christ!

Please be in prayer for all who have not made the decision to give their lives to Jesus because, regardless of your idea of a Savior or whether there even is a God, believe the Bible as God’s Word and it is True! He loves you and there is no one else in this universe that could love you more than He does! Don’t turn away from Him when you feel His call in your life, in your heart because you may not get the chance again.

The human equation


If you have ever read the beginning of Genesis in the Bible where it says “Let us make man in our image”, then you have likely wondered about what God was thinking at the time. I have. There are many who have likely had this reaction and thought “why would God, the Creator of everything, make mankind in His Image? Why not do as the “evolutionists” say and use an ape, a gorilla or chimpanzee, as the model for His crowning creation?

I believe it is because God wanted us to be totally unique in the world. Even though He gave the apes and some cetaceans a marvelous way of communicating, as well as interacting with each other, we are unique in all of Creation because we are made in His image. Still, I ask myself and sometimes I ask Him as well…why? Maybe that is the reason. Because we question things to search out the answers, to find out how something works, to find the reason behind a disease or some problem which needs to be fixed. Although, sometimes our questions are aimed at God Himself and we question Him and His motives, particularly in regard to the rules which He set down in the Bible.

We have an independent streak, a stubborn streak, even before we are old enough to know what those words mean. We rebel against our parent’s authority and our teacher’s authority and we also rebel against God too. We may not do it when we are very young, but as we get older it tends to show up more and more. Submitting to God’s rule in our life is not something which we do automatically, it is something which is brought on by the Holy Spirit touching our life and our heart. Telling us that we need God in our life by showing us or our spirit that we have been without Him for long enough.

We are unique in that we are like God in that we have a body, a mind and a soul. We are triune beings just as He is. It seems that this part of us and God is something which people have a hard time with, especially regarding Him. The early part of the Bible or Torah, Genesis, was dictated to Moses by God while he was on the mountain with God. No, the Bible doesn’t say so but how else could Moses write the history of Creation since he wasn’t there when Adam and other early patriarchs were around?

Do I believe that God’s Word is Truth and accurate in all of its words and meanings? Yes, I do. I don’t try to read into the book of Genesis that it was a book which was made up by someone in the ancient world. The creation story and the history of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were written by Moses and he was given that information from God because it was at least one thousand years or more prior to Moses’ birth when all of this happened. Some of it may have come down by word of mouth, but I believe that it was given to him by God. It just makes sense that it was written and given to him this way because God was there and Moses was not.

The salvation story and all of the prophecies concerning the birth of the Messiah begins in Genesis and continues on up until the birth of Jesus. The gospels of the New Testament carry on the story of Jesus and His atonement for us on the cross and then the continuation of the prophecies carry on up through Revelation. God lives outside of time and space, so He can see all of time from beginning to end in our history and the history of the cosmos itself.

God loves each of us, but the lives that we live without Him and our choices to do as we please instead of pleasing Him, He doesn’t like that at all. Seek Him in all that you do, pray to Him and ask Him to show you what He wants in your life. The prayer of a sinner who is genuine in asking for God’s forgiveness will not be turned away. A prayer in jest or without a sincere heart behind it could bring worse punishment into your life. Be careful how you approach the Creator, He doesn’t sling lightning at you but other consequences can happen which would not happen otherwise, so be warned.

Romans 8


Romans chapter 8 has been called the most wonderful chapter in the Bible, mainly because it begins with a sentence saying “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus’. Why does this make a difference? Because by belonging to Christ, we are not condemned under the Law, and this applies to Gentiles and Jews.

Romans is a letter of Paul’s to the church in Rome to give them encouragement and to strengthen their faith in the One that they have believed in, Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God and our Savior. A believers freedom from the Law comes from Jesus’ incarnation and His sacrifice for sin and by the Holy Spirit’s operation in providing life. Jesus, being the Second of the Trinity and the Son, took on humanity. He did not cease to be God but took on human form without sin and became the perfect offering in order to fulfill the law’s demands in His life and death which broke sin’s power in the flesh on the cross.

Through the Spirit, a believer’s life can now be lived in a new way of life by loving as Christ did, through Christ, which fulfills the Law. Paul describes our struggle with “the old man”, which is our old nature and the “new man”, which is two different mindsets which we struggle with daily, sometimes with different outcomes. Depending upon which mindset you choose to follow on any given day.

Unregenerate people, those who haven’t accepted Christ, being hostile toward God and unable to submit to His law because they lack God’s Spirit, which makes submission possible. Christians live in a new realm because they have God’s Spirit dwelling within them. His Presence is the mark of Christ’s ownership. Your physical body will die because of the effects of sin, unless the Lord returns before your death. The pledge and promise of the Spirit is that He will raise us as He did Jesus, providing everlasting Life and righteousness.

Our freedom in Christ brings with it an obligation to subdue the sinfulness that is in the flesh because we have been changed by the Holy Spirit, decisively submitting the flesh to God as a living sacrifice to live daily in the spirit.

The leading of the Spirit of God is His providential sanctification. It is common to all adopted sons and it is constant. It will bring a believer to glory.The leading of the Spirit is not some mystical direction or ecstasy. It is the Spirit’s empowerment for mortification of our fleshly desires.

The Holy Spirit does not act as a spirit of bondage, but it is the means of our adoption into God’s family. By the Spirit we have a consciousness that God is our Father. It is a mark of a Christian to cry out to our Father in our prayer. The Spirit also gives us assurance of our salvation and our status in the family of God. We are joined to Christ in suffering by also in future blessing and destiny in Heaven. As He is in glory so will we be glorified with Him.

In verse 18, Paul wrote that our “light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

All of creation groans and has since the fall, but all will be restored in the regeneration. When we receive our freedom, the entire world will be changed. Christians only have a pledge of what is to come. We groan because of our fallen nature which is at war with our regenerate nature in Christ, which we have to conquer daily through Christ. One day our resurrected bodies will conform to the same glorification as Jesus’ glorified body.

In our weakness, we have the strength of the Holy Spirit and His intercession for us when we can’t say the words. Our Spirit agrees with the Holy Spirit and with groanings which are above words agrees with the Father on our behalf, saying things and asking for those things that we need even before we need them. The Spirit is also in agreement with the will of God for us and those prayers are always answered.

Who are those who love God? Those who have been called according to His purpose, the called are all Christians. The promise of this verse is that God orders everything for us so that all of life’s experiences work together for our ultimate good. Whether it may be good in and of itself, but God uses all of our circumstances for our good. Jesus taught that God’s sovereign care for and guidance of creation covers even the death of a sparrow and the hairs on our heads.

If God looks on even those minute details in our lives, don’t you think that He is interested in the things which many of us deny Him access to in our everyday lives because “we don’t think He needs to be part of it”?

Remember, we are more than conquerors through Christ! Once you have given your heart and life to Jesus and asked the Holy Spirit to take up residence in your life and your heart, there is NOTHING which can separate you from His love or from Him. Believe in Him and you shall be saved! Not maybe, not sometimes, but every time and for all time! Amen!

This is my sermon for tomorrow morning, I pray that it touches your heart and draws you closer to Jesus.

Restraint


I read an article recently on American Family Association’s website about the most amazing thing about Jesus. It wasn’t referring to His power or His glory or the fact that He gave Himself as the one and only sacrifice needed to pay for ALL of humanity’s sins. It was speaking of His restraint. I am not going to quote from the article since I placed a link to it in the fourth word/link above, but I must say that I have never considered this point before.

Featured Image -- 3119The reason for His restraint of course is that He did not and He does not have a human nature even though He was born to a human woman. His nature is God’s nature. Therefore, when we think of what we would do in a particular situation and compare it to Him, it really doesn’t apply. What we would do with that kind of power would be destructive, but we are talking about the Creator! When God spoke, the Son created!

A thought or even a word from Him in any of His situations during the night and day of His scourging and crucifixion could’ve saved Him pain and anguish and death, but He chose to endure it because of His love for us! So, the incarnate Word of God could’ve saved Himself at any time but He didn’t. That is the part of His actions and His life which we just can’t understand. Our human mind and our nature just can’t imagine going through this with the power that He possessed. Thankfully, Jesus was as much God as He was human and He chose to follow God’s directions in everything that He did.

He still is doing this because until God tells Him to come get the Bride of Christ, He will stay in Heaven on the throne. We serve a risen Savior Who used His power as the Father told Him to when He was here the first time, but when He comes back He will be the Lion of the tribe of Judah! The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! His anger and His judgement will be coming with Him at that time and the whole world will know it. Amen!

Jesus in the Old and the New Testaments


God saysTo show how much God wanted us to see His Son in Scripture, just look to the Psalms:


1. The Messiah will be rejected by Gentiles (Psalm 2:1; Acts 4:25–28).
2. Political/religious leaders will conspire against the Messiah (Psalm 2:2 Matthew 26:3–4; Mark 3:6).
3. The Messiah will be King of the Jews (Psalm 2:6; John 12:12–13; 18:32).
4. The Messiah will be the Son of God (Psalm 2:7a; Luke 1:31–35; Matthew 3:16–17; Hebrews 1:5–6).
5. The Messiah will reveal that He is the Son of God (Psalm 2:7b; John 9:35–37).
6. The Messiah will be raised from the dead and be crowned King (Psalm 2:7c; Acts 13:30–33; Romans 1:3–4).
7. The Messiah will ask God for His inheritance (Psalm 2:8a; John 17:4–24).
8. The Messiah will have complete authority over all things (Psalm 2:8b; Matthew 28:18; Hebrews 1:1–2).
9. The Messiah will not acknowledge those who do not believe in Him (Psalm 2:12; John 3:36).
10. Infants will give praise to the Messiah (Psalm 8:2; Matthew 21:15–16).
11. The Messiah will have complete authority over all things (Psalm 8:6; Matthew 28:18).
12. The Messiah will be resurrected (Psalm 16:8–10a; Matthew 28:6; Acts 2:25–32).
13. The Messiah’s body will not see corruption (natural decay) (Psalm 16:8–10b; Acts 13:35–37).
14. The Messiah will be glorified into the presence of God (Psalm 16:11; Acts 2:25–33).
15. The Messiah will come for all people (Psalm 18:49; Ephesians 3:4–6).
16. The Messiah will cry out to God (Psalm 22:1a; Matthew 27:46).
17. The Messiah will be forsaken by God at His crucifixion (Psalm 22:1b; Mark 15:34).
18. The Messiah will pray without ceasing before His death (Psalm 22:2; Matthew 26:38–39).
19. The Messiah will be despised and rejected by His own (Psalm 22:6; Luke 23:21–23).
20. The Messiah will be made a mockery (Psalm 22:7; Matthew 27:39).
21. Unbelievers will say to the Messiah, “He trusted in God, let Him now deliver Him” (Psalm 22:8; Matthew 27:41–43).
22. The Messiah will know His Father from childhood (Psalm 22:9; Luke 2:40).
23. The Messiah will be called by God while in the womb (Psalm 22:10; Luke 1:30–33).
24. The Messiah will be abandoned by His disciples (Psalm 22:11; Mark 14:50).
25. The Messiah will be encompassed by evil spirits (Psalm 22:12–13; Colossians 2:15).

The last ten references to Psalm 22 refer to His arrest and crucifixion, this Psalm was written many centuries before crucifixion was ever used as a form of torture and death, but it describes it very literally. The Holy Spirit gave this Psalm to David and I am sure he wondered what did all of this mean. What it means to us is that God had already planned for this before the birth of Jesus or Mary or Joseph.

Nothing in our world happens without His hand in it or knowledge of it. Does God cause all of these bad things which happen to people, good or bad? No, but HE allows them to happen to bring His Glory into people’s lives as they turn to Him for answers! Satan’s time is running out and he knows it, so all of the evil and vile things that people are doing to each other and the torture which is going on in areas of the Middle East is all caused by or prompted by him and his demons and spirits.

God allows it to happen because it is part of the prophetic time-line which He saw thousands of years ago and He has known about it from even before the world was created. These things will happen without our involvement, including the melting of ice in the Arctic or the Antarctic as well as the storms and earthquakes which seem to be getting out of control…like things are coming apart.

Seek out your Creator and He can save your soul because He has already paid the price for you, all you need to do is believe in Him, in Jesus, and your eternity will be much better than the alternative.