Category: God’s Love for us

How much more?


What has to happen in our country or in the world to wake people up? How much more will have to be taken away in the form of losing freedoms or rights? How much more will we willingly give up to the government or to our own view of life, freedom, and happiness? Why are we willing to make ourselves into slaves of the government like Israel and the Egyptians did when famine took over their lands? Are we really more like sheep than we thought?

The answers to these questions are answers which we really don’t know. The media, the news outlets, the governments of the world are all clueless in answering these questions because they simply don’t know the answer and they don’t know where to look for it. Is the answer to all of this in God’s Word? Yes, most of these questions could be answered by people following the wisdom contained in the Bible. I mean REALLY following it, daily, in our jobs and at home 24/7!

Would we be willing to do that? The short answer is unfortunately NO! Christian faith has taken a huge hit in terms of people willing to follow it over the years. I am not speaking of those who claim to be Christians, I am speaking of those who really are committed and live their lives in God’s presence with prayer, meditation on His Word DAILY! Not just once per week and certainly not just on holidays! When you try to nail down those who are TRULY committed to Jesus, the number of Christians who fall into that number drops dramatically. Most polls show that out of the world’s population there is approximately 25% that claims Christianity as their faith, but if they are truthful and look at those who committed to following Him daily, I believe that number would be closer to ten percent.

True, this is just my own opinion and I don’t have any facts or polls to back this up with so don’t jump on me because of this. I have only been a pastor for a little more than four years but it seems that the number of Christians who would still claim it even in the face of death threats is likely less than the ten percent, but this was prophesied over two thousand years ago so it shouldn’t be surprising. It is just disheartening and depressing, but God knew and knows who will be His and who will turn from Him. So, how many more will turn away? How much more will we lose to technology or to the attractions in the world?

The real answer is: Only God knows for sure!

We have given up our family time together, we rarely meet with our friends to talk and go over our lives together, the world is crashing in on every aspect of personal life, like waves on the seashore and like the sands of that seashore, we seem to be powerless to stop it. The sad part of it is that we have done this to ourselves! We have allowed it to happen and the more it encroaches on our lives it seems that we are willing to just allow it to happen even more.

Please, turn to the Bible and to faith in Jesus! Getting closer to Him and the wisdom in God’s Word is the only hope that we truly have!

Why are you leaving?


So many people are leaving religion and their belief in God today, why? I know they are dissatisfied in the religion or with most of the supposed rules that it has. Some are saying that they can get their satisfaction spiritually by going to yoga classes or martial arts class. Some just don’t seek any affiliation with any religion regardless of whether it is Christian, Muslim or Jewish or any other religion.

It is true that many people have found that during college their views of the world and their place in it changes and they adapt to those changes, but I would like to ask a question about all of this.

Are you willing to risk eternity on this decision? While it is true that if you don’t believe that there is an afterlife leading to an eternity then there is no reason to worry, but do you really was to risk it? Why am I asking this? Because I have to for one, I am a pastor and a Bible teacher so I am required to make you aware of your choices and what they could lead to.

Even if you don’t believe in God or His existence, He still loves you, and He has provided a way for you to escape the punishment in hell that comes with rejecting Him and the grace that is offered through His Son, Jesus. I know, hell is not real according to some people but if there is a Heaven then there is a hell where Satan and his demons will be punished. If you reject Jesus and His atonement for your life and your sins then you will be there with Satan and his demons and everyone else who believes that they are good enough to get into Heaven on their own.

Our righteousness is as dirty rags in the eyes of God because He is Holy and perfect and our imperfections just don’t measure up, no matter how “good” we think we are.

There are so many today who think that everyone is against them, even the church, and that is not true. Many things are happening today because God is orchestrating it, even if He isn’t directly behind the murder and mayhem that is happening He is in control. Satan and his powers and demons are the ones behind all of the evil in this world, whether you want to believe it or not. It is true that those who ridicule the existence of God or don’t believe in Him at all won’t believe in Satan’s existence either, but not believing doesn’t make anything or anyone go away.

Jesus loves you and gave His life for your healing and for your salvation, there is no love greater than that!

What do we NEED?


Not much more to add to this. Take it to your heart and pray about it.God and Oxygen

Understanding is necessary!


This is something which is missing in our society today. Why do I say this? Because there is so much intolerance in our country, especially for Christian viewpoints! That is why I said that there needs to be more understanding in the media and in our culture too. Yes, there are intolerant Christians, but just like those who kill people with guns, they don’t represent the Church or the majority of Christians in this country!

We, as a people and a nation, need to stop this persistent categorizing people who you don’t understand by the actions of a few! It’s like deciding that all dogs are bad just because one breed, like the Pit Bull terrier, has a few who aren’t raised correctly. Many times in our society people are judged by the actions of a few people and it is applied to a large group, such as those with dark skin color or those who work in a particular profession. We are told not to judge people by our parents and by God, yet we do it all the time. I heard many times in school “don’t judge a book by its cover”, but today it seems that we as a nation have forgotten those words too. What happened?

Understanding is defined as: the ability to understand something; comprehension; sympathetically aware of other people’s feelings; tolerant and forgiving; having insight or good judgment.

It seems that our society and the much of the world in general has forgotten the meanings of this word, whether sympathetically and forgiving or just simple understanding. Have we gone so far away from our teachings about God and His laws that this word is unknown or disregarded by everyone in society today? It seems that way because every story on the news should have something to do with this, but most stories are about intolerance and hatred toward those who don’t believe the way you do or who look different from you (racism).

I have addressed racism before but I am going to bring this up again: We have different cultures, beliefs, and religions but we ALL belong to the HUMAN RACE! Skin color may be different and the shape of our eyes may be a bit different in some parts of the world, but Biblically speaking we are descended from Adam and Eve who both were likely dark-skinned and not Caucasian. Yes, we all differ in our cultures and our preference for people who look like us or those who are similar in beliefs. These beliefs and cultural differences can be seen from one part of a city or state to another, but if you are a Christian your beliefs a similar enough that there shouldn’t be a division. Specifically one that may cause you to be so different that you can’t stand each other!

The apostle John said that “If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.”  1 John 4:20

Seek God in His Word. Learn of Him and His provision of grace and love toward all of us. Pray that He will come into your heart and change you to be a new creature in Christ. This is what is necessary for salvation. If there are any questions or prayer requests please leave them in the comments. Thank you and I pray that all who read this will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Is your life yours?


This is what we think of our lives mostly…that we own it, that it belongs to us and we can do whatever we want with it. If you are not a Christian and you don’t believe in God nor have you given your life to Jesus and asked Him into your heart, then maybe you do own your life. Unless your parents do or your wife or your boss at work does. They do have a certain amount of “ownership” of your time and your life, up to a point. Our life, as we live it, is ours to do with as we please…until we realize that we need Jesus in our life and in our heart. Then we are His.

Why do I say it this way? Because He purchased us with His blood, His death and His resurrection! He paid all of our debts in regards to sin and we are His creation because He knew us before we were ever born into this world! Our purpose in this life, our REAL purpose is to serve Him in whatever way we can. Whether it is as a missionary or a teacher or a preacher or an evangelist. Our work for His Kingdom is to tell others about the gospel, the Good News of His gift of salvation! You cannot earn this gift nor buy it with any amount of work that you claim to do for Him, particularly if the work is done without Him in your life and heart.

Everything that is done prior to repentance from your sinful life and asking Him to cleanse you and make you a new creature if Him has the same value as garbage. In other words…it is worth NOTHING in relation to eternity! Life in eternity is only granted by belief in, and living your days with, Jesus. Remember the story about the thief on the cross? He didn’t have a chance to be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit nor did he have a chance to witness to many people, he only asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His Kingdom. Jesus said to him, “Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.” Because of his belief in Who Jesus was and is, his faith and belief in Jesus saved him from an eternity of punishment. He recognized the Messiah when very few did at that point.

Truly, because of God’s grace toward us, we belong to Him whether we have accepted His grace and mercy through Jesus or not. The unpardonable sin is that we go through life, having heard sermons or read the Bible and know the way of salvation and yet refuse it, sometimes you or someone you know has felt the pull or the voice of the Holy Spirit and just walked away. That is the unpardonable sin which will not be forgiven, especially if you die without ever repenting and turning to Jesus! Think about this, seek Him in His Word, listen for the Spirit speaking to your heart, pray about it and ask Jesus to come into your life and change you. Then live your life as a testimony to Him and about Him until you are called to Heaven by death or by the Angels. Just don’t wait like Satan wants you to, because his lie is that you have plenty of time yet your time may be up tonight or tomorrow!

Grief, life and eternity!


GloryshiningthroughSooner or later we all have to go through one of the first two and everyone will be in an eternity of their own making one day. So, which one will you choose?

Life begins at conception but our life truly begins after we are each born into the world. Our parents have to take care of us for a few years of course, until we get smarter than them at puberty and then they are relegated to our description of “old people”. After each of us graduates from either high school or college, we forget about our parents for a while until we become parents. Then, all of the advice and the “old sayings” come back to us and ring true, so true in fact that we wonder how did our parents get so smart?

Amazing how life works like that isn’t it? Later as all of us age, regardless of whether we want to or not, we notice aches and pains that weren’t there a few years ago. Then, some of the other advice that we heard from “old people” comes to mind when we think about our joints and how it aches to sit for a long time and then get up feeling stiff. We find out we just can’t do stuff like we did when we were younger. That’s why grandma couldn’t run and play with us when we were kids. We thought we would be able to go on hunting trips and travel when we got older and then we find out why our parents didn’t go far from home.

When our parents or our in-laws get older than us and death comes calling on someone close to you, each of us finds out what grief feels like. So, how do we handle it? For some people who may not know Jesus as Lord, this time can be a really hard time. Many people assume that everyone goes to heaven and that is not Biblical. If your loved one has accepted Jesus as their Savior, then that is where they will be, but if they never did or if you’re not sure then you should pray that the rest of your family will give their life and their heart to Jesus.

I am not saying this to make people scared about a loved one that they aren’t sure of, but to open your eyes to the reality that everyone does NOT go to Heaven! Yes, you do stand before God but there are two outcomes which are always present there. One, when Jesus stands with you and says “This one belongs to me, their sins are covered by my blood”, the other is when you are alone and you are asked “What did you do with the light that you were given?”. You are shown all of the times that you heard a sermon or a teaching in Sunday school or at a crusade or on TV and you rejected the call of the Holy Spirit. Maybe you thought that you had plenty of time or maybe you would get around to it next week or next year.

At this point, your eternity is ahead of you. Regardless of the place you will spend it, if you are standing in the presence of God then your eternity has begun. The outcome of the two questions from the paragraph above will determine where your eternity will be. The main thing that you have to consider is that it is your choice and the choices that you have made in this life which determines your eternity. Nothing that you do in this life will have any lasting effect on where you spend eternity, unless you have chosen to give your life and heart to Jesus! 

It won’t matter how good you were or how moral you were considered. It won’t matter how much money you gave to the poor or to any ministry or how much you gave of your time. Until your heart belongs to Jesus and you are living for Him in this life, nothing that is done here makes one bit of difference, especially concerning your eternity. Consider where you are in life and whether you have given your life to serving God and His Kingdom or not, then make it a point to seek Him out and learn of His goodness and His love for you. Because, until you can look at someone else and love them as Jesus did, particularly someone you don’t know, then you don’t have His Love in your life. As Paul said, “I Corinthians 13:3 “And though I bestowed all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned , and have not charity (love), it propheteth me nothing.”

When?


There are many times that this is asked of us and of God Himself. When will we see your deliverance of the church? When will you return, Lord? When will the church wake up and take salvation to the places that truly NEED it?

This question cannot be answered today. But, we as Christians need to get off of the pews and into the streets and take God’s gospel to those who may not have heard it. Yes, there are some places in the South and all over America that still haven’t heard the gospel preached in a way that people truly need to hear it right now. God loves all of you, but the sinful lives that we lead and the sins that all of us commit are not included in that love. He wants us all to come to salvation, but God doesn’t force anything on you or me. It is our response to His call, His Spirit which gets His attention and His Spirit should get our attention too.

When will we learn to be disciples and be the feet and hands of Jesus? When will we be the church that Christ wants us to be…intended for us to be? I don’t know, but the time is winding down. There is very little left to happen before the angels will sound the Trumpet of God. More people have to hear about salvation, more people need to be ministered to physically and spiritually. If the church doesn’t do this by being the REAL church that Christ intended for us to be, then who will?

Life today is hard enough, particularly in places that are devoid of churches or where there are many miles between them. Yes, there are places in the world where Jesus hasn’t been preached yet, and those are the places that need to be touched with the gospel. Working at it for a few years, telling people in your community or your county is good but will they take the message with them? When will those in Mexico hear about Jesus’ love for them? When will those in Jamaica or Honduras or Bolivia or Columbia hear about a loving, caring, powerful God Who wants to save them? These are questions which need answers and I can’t give those answers to you.

The church needs to sit down and have a Holy conference of all of its members, regardless of denomination, and determine to get out there with the message of love that we are supposed to be telling others about! We were not saved from hell to sit in the pew and say “amen” in a timid little voice! God needs people to blow the shofar and tell others about the God Who loves them so much that He sent His Son to die for them, in their place, so that by grace we can come to Him and know Him!

Time is on my side….is it really?


We are not guaranteed any time. Some of us get to live to be 8 or 9 decades old, some make it to the century birthday mark, but those years are not given at birth. We live them, one day at a time, one year at a time, one decade at a time as God wills for us to be on this Earth. It is not something that we have any control over, for the most part. Of course, if you live your life doing dangerous stunts or smoking or drinking all of the time then you can have an effect on your quality of life and its quantity too.

In the Bible, God says that man is allotted “three score and ten“, any years beyond that is a true gift from Him. Right now, I am not far from my three score but I am going to serve Him until He comes again or until my time is up, whichever comes first. Your time and mine are pretty much the same. We all get, if God wills it, 24 hours every day. Part of that we spend sleeping, part of it we are travelling to or from work, part of it we are eating and we usually work about eight hours or so depending on the job we have. So, do you see time as a friend or a master? The reason for my question is that many people rush through life day after day, like they are being pushed or forced to rush through the day. Then, some of us see a day as a gift which God has given to us and we use it and every hour that we have is precious.

This is the way that I have had to learn to live since I became disabled and unable to work at a regular job. I wake up and thank God for the day, then get my coffee and read a few chapters in the Bible. I may get inspired to write a post for this site or one of my other blogs. I make sure that our dogs are fed and the cats too and I try my best to get my son out of bed before noon. God has given me this time to enjoy in life because the age of grace that many refer to as “the Church age” is coming to an end. I don’t know when, but God does and according to all of the prophecies in His Word it won’t be too much longer.

By saying that I mean that I believe that I will be alive when the Trumpet sounds and He calls us home. If you would like to go with me, please consider giving your life to Jesus soon. Pray about it, go to church and talk to a pastor about Jesus. Ask questions about Him, seek Him in His Word and in prayer. Why do I say this? Because, after the church and the dead who are Christians are raised, the world is going to change dramatically and it won’t be for the better. God loves you and knows who you are and where you are in your life, all that you need to do is seek Him out and pray that He would forgive you of your sins, just like He forgave me of mine. I am not perfect, only Jesus can claim a sinless life, but God will forgive you if you are sincere about changing your life and following Him.

So much need and so little time…


In our country there is a vacuum that is forming in towns and cities, communities and homes and it seems to be going unnoticed by most people, but God knows that it is there. We have pushed Him away from our churches and our homes and our jobs, especially from our own government so the vacuum that has been created is of our own making. We have caused this, we as a culture and people have done this collectively. Why did it happen? What is the purpose of it?

In reality and in truth, we have been fulfilling Scriptural prophecy that God inspired the writers of the books in the Bible to write down. Many people seem to be wondering the same thing that I have for many years: Why is America or at least a reference to it completely absent from the Bible, particularly the prophecies concerning the end times? It is simple really, it is because we are not a powerful nation anymore. We have lost our foundation and our purpose for being. How did that happen? Over the past century, our government and many politicians in the states have gradually taken freedom from us. Just a little bit here and there, nothing that would be missed for a while. But, after fifty years or so the missing pieces begin to add up.

Like taking a rock from a pile of rocks. At one point, after the pile has settled, the rocks are all suspended and touching each other supporting the ones above on the ones below. If you remove a small one from the bottom, it may not make much difference, but if you take enough small ones from the bottom the result can be hundreds coming crashing down. Another illustration would be a large amount of snow packed on the side of a mountain. As long as you don’t disturb much of the packed snow, there isn’t a danger. But, if you disturb enough of it then the whole side of the mountain may come crashing down as an avalanche.

The only difference in taking freedoms away is that the catastrophe won’t necessarily kill you, although many people may die in the aftermath, but the economy of the country will fail eventually. Bit by bit, a little knowledge is taken away, a bit of history is changed so that the next generation doesn’t really know the truth, money is printed to keep the supply up and the interest rates are dropped to prop up the economy. The net result is that sooner or later, the stocks and bonds that were sold to keep everything going are worthless, the money that our economy depends on is not worth enough to keep the value up when the banks come looking for payments on loans. Our creditors in other countries will look at our devalued status and demand payment on the bonds. Sooner or later this house of cards will collapse under its own weight.

Why is this traced back to our character and our heritage of being a country which feared God and used His Word as a template for our laws? Because, without God at the center of our nation and its governance, the wheel will fly apart and our country will be no more. The movement, if you want to call it that, which began at the beginning of the twentieth century is called “progressivism”. By the time that this is published, we will have lost about half of the freedoms that our great grandparents took for granted and it will get worse before it gets better.

Our country and all of the people in it NEED a true revival of Biblical proportions. Similar to the Great Awakening of a couple of centuries past, but even more fervent in scope. We are seeing our country brought down by a few people, those who believe that an altered view of the Bible is needed or those who believe that God and His Word needs to be booted out of the country and all of its institutions and offices all together. Our people, those in the United States but also every person who reads this blog, need to get into God’s Word and pray for a real revival in their hearts and in the heart of the nation itself. Please, take this to heart and look for God in His Word because He is there waiting for you to come and open  your heart to Him.

Prayer…does it accomplish anything?


Last night, I went to a Wednesday night prayer meeting. Not a Bible study like we have been to before, but an actual prayer meeting. All of us prayed for someone or a group of people on our hearts. Many of those in attendance prayed for each person on their hearts, some prayers were long, some were specific about their health problems. In truth, we really had a “prayer meeting” and not just Bible study.

Does prayer accomplish anything? Yes, it does! A sinner’s prayer can bring a soul that has been searching for something or Someone into a relationship with Christ. The prayer which is prayed by a grandmother or grandfather can keep a child out of harm’s way until they can come to know Jesus. A nation which prays and humbles itself before the Lord and repents of its sin of turning away from Him, will be forgiven and their land will begin to heal. Prayer for someone who is suffering from cancer or some other incurable disease or condition can bring relief or healing, if that is the outcome that God sees for that individual, especially if they are to be used by Him in a special way in the future.

Prayer is a two-way communication between you and the Creator. There is no loss of signal, or misunderstood words or problems with interpretation because God knows what you need, He is just waiting for you to ask for Him to fulfill your needs in your life, not your wants! He doesn’t pour out money from Heaven just because you ask for it, but He will provide for your needs at the right time and the right amount in relation to your faith and belief in Him. We all have a measure of faith, but our ability to have a prayer answered is in His hands and His will not yours. Just as Jesus prayed in the Garden for “let this cup to pass from me, nevertheless not my will but thine be done” Matthew 26:39

God allowed Jesus to go to the cross and He had to drink from the cup of suffering because that was the Father’s will. The punishment and pain that He felt on the cross and from the flogging beforehand were miniscule compared to the Father turning away from Him and leaving Him as He hung on the cross. The pain from that is what caused our Lord to cry out on the cross in agony as the separation became clear and it was very painful to Him. The abandonment and isolation from His Father is the punishment which Jesus endured for us, because it is the same isolation that we would be subject to feel if we were cast into Hades or hell. We will know the times which we had a chance to choose life with Jesus, we will remember all of those chances that we had that we didn’t take. If you haven’t given your heart to Jesus, then consider it please. Anything that we have to endure here is but a puff of smoke compared to the eternity that you face without God’s presence in your life because of turning away from the grace offered to you while you live today.

Yes, prayer can and does accomplish many things today. Not just in your life or in the lives of your loved ones but God can use your prayers and those of others to affect the world and how things turn out in the rest of the world today. Prayers asking for strength and endurance for those who are persecuted as Christians, God especially answers those because the people being prayed for are praying for the same thing. Thank you for reading and I pray that all who come here will seriously consider accepting the offer of grace that we have been given in this life.