Category: Salvation

It depends on how close you are…


Your life is very precious to God because He knows each of us before we are born. Yet…it takes us many years to understand and know that we truly need God in our lives. We grow through our childhood and if we are fortunate enough to have parents and grandparents who teach us about Him, we may come to know Him early in our lives. If not, then He may have to get our attention in some other way and sometimes it isn’t very much fun at all.

God came to the prophets and to Mary and Joseph by sending His angel, Gabriel, to them personally or in a dream. In this way He told them what He needed from them and how they could do His will. This, of course, hinged upon their willingness to obey God and the word that He sent to them. They had the choice, just as we have a choice, to believe Him and actually do what He asked of them. In the case of His prophets and the Earthly parents of Jesus, they did choose to do His will.

Many people today don’t even believe that the Bible is true and that it is God’s Word. “It is just some old dusty book written by a bunch of crazy old men”; this is a quote from some of the “pastors” of what is being called the “emerging church movement” today. These false teachers do n’t even believe that Heaven is a real place! As crazy as this sounds, they are drawing young people and many others away from Bible-teaching churches today. This was foretold in the book of Revelation.

I pray that all who read this will seek out a true Bible-believing church and pastor and stay there. Get into God’s Word and study it and then read it and study it some more because He is coming soon and unless the relationship is real, you will be left behind to go through the Tribulation.

Next generation…?


Whichever one is prominent at the moment, I’ve lost count. Some have been born in the last forty years or the last ten or twenty years but what is their belief system or their moral compass? Have they learned anything from their parents or grandparents about what it means to have a belief in God or any “higher being”? Mostly due to the removal of prayer and the Bible from the public schools of America we have at least two generations who have never read from or heard any Bible verses while in school. Unless you were able to attend a private school the use of God’s Word in education was taken away in the early sixties.

Of course after graduating from a private school and beginning your college years, you get back into the public school area and you are slapped with mostly liberal views and no chance of a Christian viewpoint unless you read and study the Bible on your own. Our country was founded by Christians regardless of the “history” that is taught today. Even the “ivy league” schools in the northeast were founded to be seminaries for religious training in their beginning years.

Why has it changed so much in the two centuries plus forty-five years? Mostly because of science and the liberal bent that our leaders in Washington, DC have pushed in their lawmaking in the past 130 years or so. It has become more socialist than Democratic in the past sixty years or so but still God is being pushed out of any mention on the news or in public office except in derision. It seems that a Christian perspective is looked down upon and ANY other religion is pushed forward to be seen as a better alternative…even no religion at all!

Why should is strike anyone as odd that America or some mention of it is not found in the book of Revelation or during the Tribulation? It is very likely that we are not a country which has enough power to be seen as a nation at that time. God has not taken His hand off of our country yet, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it happened during the next few decades. Be praying for our leaders both in the military and in office, whether you agree with them or not because they truly NEED our prayers and God’s wisdom whether they will acknowledge it or not.

Just my two cents.

What kind of light are we shining today?


Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Matthew 5:14 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.5.14.KJV

Is your church teaching it’s members directly from the Word of God? If not then there’s something terribly wrong. Jesus Christ told the disciples to go and preach the Gospel, the Good News, to all who would hear. This was done in the early church before the crusades.

Ever since then, the “church” has been through many changes. Some were good but most were not. The original church tried to live peacefully with those who did not believe. Then, there was the Roman Catholic church that incorporated many pagan beliefs into it’s services to attract the pagans. Later, the church began to break up into denominations. After the Reformation happened, the church became…the best term for it would be fragmented.

Different teachings of doctrine and differing interpretations of the Bible’s message. The “big national churches” wanted to keep people from reading the Bible which was written in Latin and so the service was also done in Latin until Tyndale and a few others began to translate the Bible into English so that a common man could read it and come to Christ. So in many ways, the church has spread the message of Jesus Christ and it has also hurt the message as well.

We are supposed to study and learn from God’s Word so that we can take His message to the world around us. At work, at school, on the street, at a restaurant or anywhere else you come into contact with someone who is searching for the Truth of Jesus and His message of a loving God Who is willing to forgive you and save your soul from the punishment that we deserve for turning away from Him. Jesus came to bring that message to all who would listen and embrace the salvation that is offered by His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection too.

That is our blessed hope. He said that He would come again and take us to His home in heaven and we are closer to that now than we have ever been. I pray that you will seek Him out as your Savior soon because we are not guaranteed tomorrow. God loves you and if you have felt Him touch your heart don’t turn Him away.

What does “giving your life” mean?


In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was asking His Father if there was another way but then He said “nevertheless, not My will but Yours be done”. I know, it sounds as if I am giving a talk/sermon/post on giving your life to Jesus and in a way I am. But in our time, in the 21st century, giving your life to someone or for something means a lot more. Consider it this way: Jesus was living in the first century. He was a carpenter Who also happened to be the Savior of the world and the Son of God. His parents who raised Him were not rich in wealth. He wore very simple, home-spun cloth for His clothes. In our world today, His condition would be looked on as a man living in a very poor state of being.

God’s Word asks us to give our life to Him, surrendering everything that we have to have all of His riches in glory. We can’t imagine how Heaven is going to be. Even the prophets in the Old Testament and John the apostle didn’t have the words to describe what they saw in their visions of heaven. Any description that we can come up with today would fall very far from the reality that is there. Why do I go to such detail to tell about what we can’t describe? Because when we are asked to give our life and surrender everything to Jesus…are we able to truly give it all to Him?

For most people, the answer would be a very loud “NO!”. God cannot have my business or my family or my home! The reality from God’s perspective is that those things that we don’t want to give up are really His anyway, He is just blessing us with them while we are here. But, many of us don’t want to admit that what we see as our possessions are actually on loan from God, including our family.

Surrendering your life means far more than most of us consider but the giving of our life to Christ is necessary for our eternal home. Asking Him to take everything in your life is not telling God to take your family or your business or your home away from you. It means that you aren’t holding anything back! You aren’t telling him that “this box of goodies is mine but you can have the rest”. That is not how it works. God either has ALL of you and your life or He has nothing. Just as some people today believe either ALL of the Bible as God’s Word or they don’t believe any of it, you can’t pick and choose this part but not that one. It is the same with your life, you cannot choose to give Jesus part of your life and heart…He either has all of it or none.

Make the decision to give Him everything so that He can return the favor and the blessing to you.

Do you believe in Jesus?


I know that some of you who read this will say “Yes, I believe in Him. What kind of question is that?” That isn’t the belief that I am speaking of. Satan knows Jesus and all of the demons in hell know Him in their minds. They know He exists and that He is real but that is where the difference between knowledge of Jesus and belief in Jesus for salvation branch off from each other. You see, Satan was an archangel at one time before the creation of mankind but he like to look at himself in the mirror too much. God had created him to be the cherub that led the worship of God in heaven. Yet he was proud and became arrogant and persuaded one third of the host of angels in heaven to follow him. He wanted to sit on the throne of God.

What a silly idea. A creation of God was going to war with God in order to supplant Him from the throne. God the Father Who stretched out the heavens and flung the stars into their places with His voice and His hands. God could’ve wiped his entire army away with one command but in His mercy He didn’t. God allowed Satan to live and be a stumbling block to the human race not because God is cruel but because He knew that there would be many nations and many people all over the world. He knew that all of us would need a Savior because He knew that we were going to sin against Him and His laws. God knows your thoughts and mine and He knows that on our own we cannot be perfectly sinless because it is not in our nature.

Jesus came to live in human form but He had the nature of God not man, so even though He was tempted (and He could’ve given in to those temptations) just as we are He did not sin because He knew what His mission was. He had to stay pure and sinless to be the sacrifice for ALL of mankind. That is why He was in a constant state of prayerful communication with His Father. We can do something similar but we can’t live sinless lives. Living in a state of prayerful communication is not as hard as it seems but it does take a lot of practice. I’ve been doing it for almost ten years but there are times when I slip or rather my nature slips in and I will think or say something (hopefully out of earshot) that could damage my witness.

Human nature aside, if you truly belong to Jesus and the Holy Spirit has come in and changed your heart then you can be His faithful witness everywhere you go. If you make a mistake or slip up in any way, ask His forgiveness and move on to a better place or into a place where you can be more effective. God wants us to be His witnesses in this world so that others will want to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I pray that all who read this will understand that I am not bragging because I do slip up more than I care to admit but our Father in Heaven loves me and He sees Jesus living in me and not the flawed human being that I am. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Do you know Jesus?


Does he know you? That’s the question that must be answered with a positive YES! Why do you need to know Him? For the salvation of your soul. God has loved you since the beginning of time and He doesn’t want you to be separated from Him.

But… when you go through life thinking that you have plenty of time to make an eternal decision you are walking on very thin ice. Not one of us has a clue when our last day is, so you need to make sure while today is still today.

The peace of God will comfort you


And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/php.4.7.KJV

Blessed you are…


Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:10 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.5.10.KJV

Do you feel rich?


Many people don’t feel this way at all. Even those who are rich with wealth that the world recognizes see their wealth as their right or as a tool to get more. If you are a believer in Jesus and you know that He is your Savior then you are more wealthy than this world can know. The world around us doesn’t recognize this type of wealth because it is not the kind that you can see. It is wealth in heaven above. It is our forgiveness and our promise of eternal life with God in His house.

Jesus told us to “lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven where rust and moths cannot destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal“. The world around us doesn’t recognize this as wealth because it cannot be spent here and now but it is more than any wealthy man or woman has on this Earth.

God loves each of you even if you don’t believe in Him or His Son, Jesus. But beware…God loved Isaac but only one of his children did God place as the most favored. He said that “Jacob I loved but Esau I hated”. Today it’s not so simple, especially in our society. Everyone wants a new home and a new car now! Nobody wants to wait and save up some money for a down payment. This “microwave generation” wants everything right now regardless of how Mom and Dad did it. It’s the same with the way people view a relationship with Jesus. They want to be assured of a place in heaven and if they don’t feel like they can learn that at this church or from this pastor or denomination then they will go somewhere else.

Many are encouraged to join a church during a revival or some special event and some do but joining a church is not the same as gaining your salvation through the actions of the Holy Spirit. Some people get caught up in the singing or the emotions of the sermon and they “feel” led to make this decision tonight and it may be the Holy Spirit touching them. The problem that we have in churches today is that once they are on the rolls of membership, they are almost forgotten. Unless they are mentored at home or join in a youth group study or Sunday school regularly they will not learn how God wants them to live and be a part of His family.

The Scriptures that are referenced in the paragraphs above are good ones to learn from but unless you read and study them more than once the principles that they have to teach will not stick in your head or your heart. Listening to God is learned through reading His Word in order to know His voice and His ways of teaching. You can’t learn by osmosis from carrying a Bible to church, if you don’t read it then none of God’s wisdom will ever take root in your heart and your life.

The book of Proverbs is one of the greatest collections of wisdom in the world but very few people read it even once in their lifetime. They will read through a novel or a self-help book by someone who says they have the answers regardless of the length or the thickness of it. Proverbs is only thirty chapters long so reading one chapter a day takes about a month. Then go back and read it through again and pray about what you have read, asking God to show you which parts apply to your life and situation. Then…read it again. Usually after the third read your brain cells will realize that this is important stuff and we should remember this. You won’t have it memorized word for word but when problems come along, you will remember that you read about that somewhere recently.

Try reading God’s Word and asking Him to show you what you need to learn from it. He will answer you with more than you were expecting to learn.

Too much…


America has had too much violence and hatred spread during this past year. It has stretched our ability to handle everything that has happened in this past year and some of us have snapped! COVID, politics, the election…the list could go on and on but there is one person who is actually in control of it all whether you believe in Him or not and that is God. He has always been the One Who placed kings and Presidents in their offices and He has been behind the scenes giving them a nudge here or a suggestion where it was needed. There is also another ruler who has done these things behind the scenes and that is Satan. He has been there to counteract anything that God has tried to get done since before the flood that Noah saved his family from.

All of the things that we have had to deal with in this past year were foretold by prophets and by Jesus Himself. Maybe not word for word prophecy but in Matthew 24 Jesus said that there would be those who called evil good and good evil. There would be rumors of wars and wars and all sorts of diseases (pestilence) and quakes and other things happening in various places. Our world, not just America, has been experiencing these things for years but they seem to be growing in number and intensity just like labor pains for a woman.

What does that mean exactly? Well, when the number of labor pains begins to increase and their intensity increases it usually is a sign that the baby will be born soon. In Jesus’ prophecy it simply means that the day of His return for His Bride, the church, is getting closer to fruition. When I wrote “the church” I am not speaking of a specific church, I am speaking as Jesus did in general terms. The church in this scenario is made up of those who are watching for His return and who believe in Him for their salvation. Satan and his demons believe in the existence of Jesus and God as well, but they determined not to serve them long, long ago.

That is one of the unique qualities that all of creation doesn’t have but the angels and humanity do…we can choose to serve God and Jesus Christ the Son of God or we can choose to follow some other “path”. The problem with choosing another path is that it doesn’t lead to an eternity with God in heaven. The only pathway which allows us to walk through the gates of Heaven is by following Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

We place too much faith in our politicians and our “heroes” in sports and the movies in our society today. We follow people on Facebook and Instagram that we idolize and we have no clue who they are or anything substantial about them. We like the clothes they wear or who they are married to or even the movies that they are in and yet the people that we idolize would not be able to truly live up to their “fans” expectation or ideal of them. Just as the “ideal” husband or wife doesn’t really exist, the people that we want to dress like or even be like…don’t exist either. An ideal is just an idea with an -l attached to it.

God know you intimately because He is the One that brought your parents together so that you would be the result of their union. He knit your DNA together so He knew your personality and your abilities even before you were born and it is because of this that we can fulfill our lives in so many more ways by accepting Jesus as our Savior and work for Him in this life and into eternity. Seek Him out because if you have ever felt a tug on your heart during a sermon, He is searching for you as well.