Category: Religion

A Father’s place


In our culture, a father is needed in the home today more than ever before. But, there are many who are growing up without one present. Oh, some men are there in the home but they are so caught up in their careers that they don’t have time for the kids and their spouse. But, the sad fact is that for many families there is no father figure around at all. There are too many single parent homes today and the men that are around are not giving the children that are around them the support that a father is supposed to give.

I mean, what can you do about being a father or a Dad if you weren’t raised by one yourself? Did you have a role model like a grandfather or an uncle to teach you the things that your father should have? Boys need a father, a Dad that will be there when they want or need to ask questions, they don’t need a gang or some schoolyard “friend” who may teach them things that they really don’t need.

Our country is reeling from a lack of fathers…of Dads, who need to step up and be the Dad that their children need, even if the child in your family is not yours, they still need a father figure to show them the path that they need to be on! God‘s Word says that we, as fathers, should train a child in the way that they should go and when they are old, they will not depart from it; that is exactly what needs to be done but in the last fifty years there have been many who did not or would not do this! So, why do we seem to be surprised when there are so many men in prison and so many crimes committed by men? They didn’t have someone to look up to or anyone to teach them, so where did they get their example? Who showed them the “ropes” of being a man?

Life is hard enough with a Dad to help you, to show you how to do things and the right way to do them, let alone going through life without an example from a man, especially a Godly man!

Hear, my children, the instruction of a father,
And give attention to know understanding;
2 For I give you good doctrine:
Do not forsake my law. (Proverbs 4:1-2)

Time enough to grieve


When the holidays are over we tend to be saddened by the passing of the feelings of togetherness and love that we experience during the holiday. The gifts, the joy that getting a present brings, the look on children’s faces as they open their gifts, these are all precious and will never be repeated exactly the same way again. For those who may have lost a loved one during this time of year, it is especially hard because the joy of the season is tamped down by the grief and sadness.

Unfortunately, those feelings don’t really go away with time like everyone says, they become a little less bothersome but that is all. The good news is that God knows exactly how you feel and is there with you to carry you through it, no matter how deep the sadness goes or how long it lasts. He never leaves you and He won’t forsake the friendship that you have.

If you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then the sadness will be terrible and deep and you may feel that you can’t bear it. For some, this is a reason to “get off the wagon” and get back into a bottle or go back to their habit of taking drugs to ease the pain. This is a really bad idea! Jesus can strengthen you and help you through this, if you will let Him!

He told us in His Word that we would never be alone, if we have accepted Him into our lives. He loves us much more than we can ever imagine or believe and if we will just trust in Him, we can gain the strength that we need to make it through the days and weeks ahead. The death of a marriage or a family member is a hard lesson in life and it is one that many of us have gone through, especially me, but Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace and He will be with you through this if you will ask Him into your heart and life.

Grief is a natural part of life and death and there are many stages to it, but the most devastating is the depression and anger. We feel anger because we weren’t ready for our loved one to leave or for the marriage to end or whatever it may have been. We are depressed because of the loss of our loved one by whatever means that has taken them away and we know that we may never see them again. Cheer up, if you have Christ in your life and they did too then it is only a temporary separation. They are in a more wonderful place than you can imagine and they are with Jesus!

Their salvation could lead you in that direction if you will allow it to. Grief and loss for a Christian are not permanent but temporary because Jesus conquered death and the grave! You will see them again if you decide to give your heart to Jesus and ask Him to come into your life. Once you have done this, your life and that of those around you will never be the same because of the change in you that they can see.

What is on your mind?


In the times that we live in today, many of us have so much on our minds until we can’t isolate exactly what is on our mind at any one time. Isn’t that strange? I have days like that even though I don’t work at a regular job anymore. How about you? Do you have days that have many things running into each other trying to get them done? You probably feel like you will run into yourself one day trying to finish everything, don’t you?

It is a day like that that this is dedicated to. For one thing, we all need to s–l–o–w d-o-w-n. Not only in our working lives, but at home as well. We tend to have so much for our family to do until we seem to forget that we are really, first and foremost, a family! If your workday ends on Friday, but you hardly have any time to spend with each other over the weekend, then it doesn’t really qualify as a “week-end” does it?

Even Jesus spent time with His friends and His disciples when all of the healings were finished and the bread was broken. He didn’t just walk away and not tell people that He didn’t have time for them. He created time so He could have as much as He needed. The problem was that He took the time to take the time with them, regardless of the amount of time that He had. Now, we can’t create time and He didn’t either while He was on Earth, but the point is that we need to control our time.

I know that time management is a course that is taught in college and it is usually found to be useless once you finish it, but your most important relationship here is your family and they should come first, behind God, but our jobs and obligations usually get in the way. But they don’t get in the way unless we allow it to happen, do they? I know, there are some obligations which come with our jobs, whatever they may be, that can’t be put on hold or put off until after the game or other family get together, but we should at least try to put family and Jesus first in our everyday lives.

Ask God to help because believe me, He can and will do it! Many of the reasons for people not seeing God at work in their lives is because they didn’t ask for His help in the first place! Then, after we do ask for His help we don’t or can’t wait for God to act! I have said it before and I am going to say it again because I have heard this advice from other Christians and other pastors as well: don’t ever ask God for patience! You will learn it, not get it, but you won’t enjoy the wait at all!

That being said, don’t hesitate to ask God for help in any area of your life. He is always there and always ready to help in His way and His time. Jesus is always there, waiting for people to call on Him to come into their lives and change them for the better, because when you become a Christian you are not the same as you were, you are forgiven and whole in Christ. You are not better than the person beside you, but you are forgiven which makes a difference! You are not sinless, yet you are forgiven through His blood and His sacrifice for you and everyone that you know! God sent Jesus to do this so that we could all come to Him through the atonement found only in Jesus. Come to Him and let Him show you how to order your life on a daily basis toward Him and His Word, to learn from Him one book at a time so that you can take it with you wherever you go.

Think about it during the next few weeks and give your life to Jesus. It is the most important and life changing decision that you will ever make!

Live, love and persue happiness


The life that we have been given and the love that has been shown to us through Jesus’ sacrifice for all of us, is a gift of immense proportions. Unfortunately, many people miss this gift and don’t realize just what they have been given until some trial comes along and shows them what they have and what they could’ve had. Also, we tend to miss it because we don’t want to believe any of this because of Who He is! Many people don’t want to know Jesus because Christianity and Jesus Himself said that He was and is the Son of God.

God is love and this is part of the message that Jesus brought to the world and to His disciples. But, we should be trying to live like Jesus did and love the way that He did and if we did that then happiness would follow. We also should be letting Jesus live through us so that others will see Him and not us, so that they will see the love of Jesus in our words and our deeds. That is the gift that we need to be giving to others during our time here.

It is true that during this time of year, we are looking for gifts from our family and friends, our boss, our wife or husband, our parents, but you have already been given the most valuable gift that could be given…that of the Christ, your Messiah, Jesus. He made the sacrifice that could not be done by anyone or anything other than the perfect Son of God. Why do people reject Him and His gift? Because they don’t believe in Him or in Who He is, plain and simple.

Most just think that He is a prophet or he was and he was crucified and died,  and that is it! Many don’t think that the story of His resurrection is true or that He is the Son of God, but He is! Jesus is the only Man of God that is almost always spoken of in the present tense, not in the past tense. “Why is that?” you might say; because He sits at the right hand of God right now! He is not dead, but alive and waiting for you to ask Him into your life. He will not force you to accept Him, neither will He ask you to kill someone who doesn’t accept Him. That is not His way.

He was born to a virgin, by the will and actions of God through the Holy Spirit to become the Son of Man Who is the Son of God. No contradiction exists in this and He is the only One that could fulfill all of the prophecies concerning Himself from the Old Testament, which He did at His birth, through His life and with His death on the cross and His resurrection! He fulfilled them all, no mere man, prophet or not, could accomplish that!

Give Jesus a chance in your life and in your heart. You won’t regret it and others will see Him through your actions as well and may turn their life over to Him because of the changes they see in you. Wouldn’t that be wonderful! To know that even one person came to Christ because of something that you said or did, although you may not even find it out until you get to Heaven, won’t that be a great blessing?

Think about it!

 

The Gift


Many people have tried and failed today,

Many have just turned and walked away.

Some could not care in the least, they

Are at home enjoying a feast!

Some only want what is yours and not their own,

It may be because their heart is a stone, but

When the day dawns and the Prince appears, then they will know

Why they see Him through tears.

They’ll know and they’ll cry because they know the reason,

Their tears are caused because they forgot Him during

This season.

They forgot or maybe didn’t want to remember,

The Babe who was likely born in September. Who

Came to be the deliverer of all, even though He came

When He was quite small.

His life didn’t last long but it was for many a reason,

Each one of us owes Him for our own reasons.

You see Christ came For you and for me, to give His life on an old

Rugged tree.

The reason is simple though understand it we cannot, because

He loves us all more than we ever could,

which is why He died on that old piece of wood.

But, He rose again and settled the debt on that day…a debt that none of us can ever repay.

True lies, really?


How can we believe the things that are being taught today? Unproven theories are accepted as truth, lies are taught as if they are from God. What are we supposed to believe anymore? Can we believe anything or anyone today or from the past? I don’t know about believing just anyone, but the One that you can count on and believe in is Jesus the Christ!

Many people seem to think that He lied about Who He was and nearly everything that He said, but He did not. All of the miracles were seen by more than one person, sometimes more than fifty or one hundred so they were verified according to Jewish law. His disciples saw Him taken up into the clouds and angels told them that He would return in like manner, so that proved His claim as being the Son of God and the Messiah. I know that many of these take faith in God and in His Word to truly believe, but many of the things in the Torah are also historical fact and our Old Testament contains much of the Torah if not all of it. Jesus quoted many things from it during His ministry.

The theories being taught today as facts are still just theories because they can’t be duplicated or verified by transition forms from say a fish to a reptile or an actual fossil of a “missing link” between man and ape. Most of the fossils that have been found were small pieces of a jaw or a leg or part of a vertebrae, the genetic makeup of the animal that it belonged to can’t be identified, so it is not proven to be one or the other. Genetic markers don’t survive fossilization just as cell structures and blood don’t. Yes, there are rumors of blood vessels being found in the leg of a dinosaur, with blood in it no less, but it was never widely reported. Many even disregarded it as a quirk or an accident, nothing more.

But, what if the account of creation is true like the rest of the Word of God? If there really was a world-wide flood and the world is only about ten thousand or so years old then blood could survive in a leg bone. Dinosaurs and man existed at the same time on this earth. Would believing in the Word of the Creator be such a bad thing? I think I would rather believe in Him and His Word than in much of the history and science that is taught in our schools today as fact! I would rather stand before Him and say that I did believe in Him and His Son rather than having the audacity to say that He doesn’t exist! I really don’t think even the most devout atheist will be able to stand before God and tell Him that they don’t believe in Him!

Consider that before you jump to a conclusion about Him that’s based purely on your own thoughts and beliefs or lack of belief. Just as saying that gravity is not real doesn’t take it away, not believing in God doesn’t remove Him from His throne either.

Christmas, what is it to you?


This time of year is many things to many people. It is a time of hope, a time of joy and giving to others, a time of renewing friendships and relationships with people who are close to us. To some it is a time of worry and anxiety and being unsure of what to do or what to get someone special, it is a time of loss for some and a time of grief as well. Many people experience a very depressing time during this holiday season. In consideration of that, I have to ask “Why?”

I went through many years of depression and anger during this part of the year because of a divorce between my parents which seemed to coincide with this time of year. Then, about 18 years ago, my mother died on Christmas Eve. It wasn’t exactly unexpected because she had been sick for a long time, but it took me many years to get past the feelings which came during the holidays because of it. I am telling all of this to those of you who read here in order to ratify my ability to sympathize with the feelings which come during this time of year.

Yes, there are problems which we all have during this time of year. Bills, frustration, grief, heartache, anxiety, but there is also joy, happiness, kindness, love and acceptance between us and those that are around us. We can choose to be better human beings and be a blessing to those around us or we can act in such a way as to be labeled a “scrooge”, but it is our choice!

Can we choose to be better in our daily lives so that the holidays are more enjoyable? Yes, we can! It has to be a conscious choice though, not just a temporary or superficial show which is not real. Choose to be a better person and decide to work toward that goal, though many of us can’t accomplish this on our own. We have to be prepared to be changed from the inside out and that change is something which we cannot do on our own!

You can struggle all you want, trying to get free of sin, but all you’re going to do is sink deeper. Stop the struggle. Surrender to Christ, because you do not have what it takes to get out of sin unless someone gives you a way out. And that way out is Jesus. His name is wonderful. He is the mighty God, the everlasting Father, our Prince of peace. He is your salvation and the path to salvation, the only path that is available to each of us, yet it is our decision to accept this offer. Whether we accept it or not, Jesus is the only way to salvation and being free of the burden and bondage of sin.

Have you ever been down?


By that, I mean depressed, angry, upset with almost everyone about something that you can’t put your finger on? This is the kind of “down” that I have lived with most of my life. I never really talked about it with many people, not even my immediate family, but it has always been there. Like the monster in the closet or under the bed, never seen by anyone except the person that is scared of it, it haunts us in our minds and in our dreams when we are asleep.

That feeling of being down and not worthy of anything that the world might give you except despair is constant and it doesn’t go away. Christians get this way too. I feel it at least once a week, sometimes more, usually after a good sermon in which I delivered the words and tried to bring some feeling with those words. Yet, it was not received with any feeling by the congregation. I have no feedback as to the effectiveness of the sermon and it makes me feel hollow and empty, similar to someone talking to a wall.

The only solace that I have is to bring my voice here, that I might be heard by someone that will listen and give me some feedback. Then there is my prayer life and my study of God‘s Word which gives me hope because His prophets were hated, killed and despised by the very people that they were sent to, so I am thankful that I haven’t had any fruits thrown at me or anything that might cause bodily injury.

Many people think that, as Christians, we are immune to these sorts of problems when the very opposite is true. We see the world as no other group of people see it…through the eyes of prophecy and the Word of God. The news that we hear each day, is written in God’s Word. Maybe not word for word, but there are places in the history of God’s people that sound as if they were taken from today’s headlines. But, few people think that what we base our belief on is the truth. Today, many people call this book a work of fiction and fantasy. One day, when the sky’s roll up like a scroll and Jesus comes in the clouds, they will know that it is the Truth. I pray that it will not be too much longer.

It is true that being happy is a choice, but in today’s world it is hard to make the decision to be happy with so much happening in the world and so many people hurting in our world today. I hope that you can find some hope and encouragement in my posts here and in Jesus, because He is the answer to the questions that people are asking, many of them just don’t know it yet.

Many people try to mold their version of Jesus. To change Him into the savior that they want, and not accept the Savior that He is. This is something which our recent, within the past fifty years or so, Christian preaching has caused. We are responsible for making people think that He is only a personal Jesus. He is in truth, but He is so much more than that.  I think that is what causes us to feel down many times. We don’t give Him the credit and the position that He deserves in our life and in our ministry, whatever it may be.

Only through Him can we accomplish the calling that has been placed on us. He and the Holy Spirit are the Ones which accomplish the conviction and the transformation of souls into Christians, we only bring messages that point people in their direction. It is usually our own pride which causes us to make Jesus in our image instead of being transformed by Him. When we can get out of His way and let Him do His work through us and through the words which He gives us, then we will see the changes and the results that come from being “little Christs” like Christians are supposed to be.

Are you a slave?


I read the book, “12 years a slave”, over the weekend and I never learned this in high school or college history. Any of it! Oh, I had heard that things were really bad in some areas of the South but I didn’t know how bad that it really was. Yes, I am a white man but as far as I know none of my ancestors owned a slave, at least as far back as the Civil War era. For all of those who had family and friends, and I know that there are many of you, who either owned slaves or were slaves in the past that history has been acknowledged and it was dealt with in our past. It is true that the hatred and feelings still bubble up to the surface from time to time, but it shouldn’t make that much difference in our personal relationships today.

That being said, there are many who are still in slavery today. It is well hidden because the media doesn’t report it, but it is there. Children and young people, boys and girls, are captured or coerced into going with someone that doesn’t have their best interests at heart at all. They are sold as sex slaves or as servants in some capacity all over the world, but many are right here in America. Slavery has not gone away, it is hidden behind locked fences and gates, inside mansions or in brothels overseas. Their living conditions are usually very close to starving or they are addicted to drugs to keep them where they are.

Are you still a slave today? Do you know anyone who is? I know that there aren’t any plantations that have slaves today, but do you feel like you are a slave to your job, or to the government? Are you in debt so much that you are a slave to it and have to work, making the money to pay it off? What about cigarettes or alcohol or gambling, anything that can make you addicted to it can be a “master” to you? So, in many ways today, there are lots of people who are enslaved to something!

What can be done about it? Well, as far as the kids that are enslaved, it is not easy. There are groups which are trying to rescue them as well as stop those who are the perpetrators of these crimes. But since these are hidden from plain sight, without money and some help from eye witnesses, the proof is hard to come by. As for the others types of slavery, they are personal masters that can be overcome only with your will-power and by prayer. God Himself can give you the will and the power to overcome them, if you will acknowledge Him for His help and ask Him to help you. Many people know that they need Him, but they are too proud to admit it. The problem with this is that God and Jesus have made it very easy for you to ask and receive their presence in your life, so why don’t more people do this?

The slaves who knew about Jesus did quite a bit of praying and asking for His presence, so why don’t we do this today? He loves you and cares about your life, especially your eternal life in Him, which you will have if you have given your life to Him. If you have not asked Jesus into your heart, what are you waiting for? We have today, each one of us, but what about tomorrow? You and I are not guaranteed tomorrow, your life may be required of you tonight or in the morning, so what will the answer be? Jesus is the answer to your life’s needs. He doesn’t provide you with money or drugs or anything that this world recognizes as “necessary”, but He does provide you with the only path to salvation which will provide you with eternal life. And that is worth more than anything that this world can offer!

What kind of message have you heard?


Many churches teach a gospel that doesn’t conform to the one preached in the early years of the church. In fact, their message is so different that you would think that it is an entirely different gospel altogether. One that doesn’t even teach that you must be convicted before you can be set free. How can you be set free from something that you don’t even realize that you are guilty of? When the clergy began teaching and preaching “positive thinking” and prosperity gospels, the church began to slide down a slope that it wasn’t meant to be on at all.

Jesus did not teach or preach about prosperity or positive thinking, He taught that we are all sinners saved by the grace of God, period. There is no way of thinking your way into Heaven, your own opinion of yourself or of others should be the same as God’s but your opinion and the work that you do here don’t get you into Heaven! Belief in and an intimate walk with Christ daily are the paths that will take you to Heaven’s gate. The first is a strict requirement, belief in Christ and His death which paid the debt for your sins. The second, an intimate walk with Jesus daily, is essential to your growth and maturity in your faith. Your walk and intimacy with Jesus is not necessary for you to get into Heaven, but it may have an effect on those around you that may need what you have, a relationship with Jesus.

The message being taught and preached in many churches has changed over the centuries, some changes were good some, not so much. The best that we can do today is to bring the gospel to those who are hurting, even if they don’t think that they need it. We may have to get in their faces with the fact that God loves them, but He doesn’t like what they are doing. Whether it is their lifestyle or the drugs or alcohol or whatever it may be that they are using, if their heart doesn’t belong to Him then they are on the wrong path and may not even know it!

It is our job, whether you may be a pastor or a member of a church or a believer who hasn’t found a church, to tell others of the grace and goodness of Jesus. He is the only One who can heal the hurt, the pain, the agony of their lives. He is the cure for their heartaches when life throws them a curve ball, He can strengthen you in ways that you can’t and He will! All that you have to do is accept Him as your Savior and believe in His grace for you, all of the other things will come in time.

In our instant society mindset, we have a problem with the idea of waiting for God to get around to taking care of things, but in order to be an effective follower of Jesus we have to learn to be more patient because He can see things which we can’t. We have “microwave mentalities” because of the stuff that most of us grew up with or grew into as we got older. If something isn’t done now, or at the latest by tomorrow, we don’t want to wait. So, we take the problem back from God and tell Him that we can do it better and faster. The problem is that He lets us do it and He knows what will happen because we didn’t let Him take care of it. We will grow through it, but we may not like it! This is something which I am struggling with now, because I want my problems, financial and otherwise, fixed today not next week or next month or even next year. I struggle with patience or the lack of it, waiting for Him and learning His ways is not easy but it is necessary to your Christian life and mine.