Tag: Believe in Jesus for your salvation

I will sing praises to the Lord


Make peace not war


Fruit of the Spirit


Make me a blessing


We seem to be at a crossroads moment in our lives whether we are Christians or not. Each of us gets to a place where we look around and wonder if this is all there is. How can we live a blessed life each and every day when we can’t see or touch our blessings? The problem with this kind of thinking is that our life and our breath is a blessing every morning!

Job 33:4

“The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”

King James Version (KJV)

It seems that many Christians have forgotten about that but God’s Word says so in many places. God has blessed each of us with a planet to live on that is tolerable in its climate, gentle with its gravity, and has a stable orbit that gives us four seasons in a year to plant, harvest, and enjoy the fruit of our labors. These blessings are just a few of the details that God did for us to be able to live and work to praise Him and give Him the glory for our lives. But…do we? Most of the population dismisses all of these details out of hand because of our schools and the curriculum that is taught in them.

Astronomy and physics classes teach that all of these happened to our solar system by chance when the opposite has been proved by the number of exoplanets that they have found. Years ago many scientists believed in God and the order of how our solar system was laid out was considered to be His blessing for humanity. In fact, it truly is a blessing because most of the planetary systems that have been found show planets that are far too close to their star for life. Many of these systems have no rocky planets with water, that we know of. In fact, most have gas giant planets whirling around their star so close that they are nearly touching it. If the study of other systems has shown anything it is that our solar system is completely unique because they have not found others like it within an observational distance of our home planet.

God designed the universe and placed us in the precise place that was perfect for our lives to exist. Many scoff at this and say that out of all of the stars and other star systems that there must be other life-giving planets out there. There could be some but I don’t believe we will find them by using our telescopes and our intellect. God may have placed other people and planets out in the vastness of space but if He did they are too far away for us to hear them or for them to hear us. So the opening line from Star Wars is very likely the truth “…a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”. 

We are blessed by God in that we are isolated from other civilizations. Not because we should be but for the same reason that the Jewish people were told not to mingle with the people of the land that God had given them. Because their ways and their religions were not compatible with the blessed life that He had given them. So we should truly count every breath and every step that we take on a daily basis as His blessings for us on that day. Give thanks for every one of them, even if it hurts to take those steps and those breaths that we are given each day.

God is good!


Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: Romans 15:5 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/rom.15.5.KJV

God knows your needs…


But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. Matthew 6:7‭-‬8 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.6.7-8.KJV

God knows what you need but He enjoys hearing from you as well. Ask Him for your needs, tell Him your problems, look at His creation around you and know that He is in control.

Are we supposed to be holy?


The Bible says that we are supposed to be holy because God is holy. So what is the definition of the word “holy”? It is this: dedicated or consecrated to God or a religious purpose; sacred. In another way of saying this, we are supposed to be set apart from the world and its ways but we should try to teach those around us about His ways. If not by our words then by our life and our actions. Being a Christian is supposed to be exactly that…holy and set apart to do the work of God while we can. So why aren’t many who profess to be Christians acting like Christ?

It is a good question to ask but I’m afraid the answer would be too laborious and it would require too many specifics. Why do I say this? Because there are many who profess Christ but they don’t possess Christ. Their Christianity is only genuine to them because they believe in Christ and they attend church occasionally but He hasn’t made a change in their lives because He was never invited in. They are a believer just as well as Satan is. He knows Who Jesus is and he knows that He exists but he chooses not to serve God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit in any way.

Knowledge of Jesus and God is a good thing but if you haven’t given your life and your heart to them so that you are changed by them, then your knowledge does your eternal life no good at all.

If you belong to Christ and He belongs to you, then your life will reflect Him and His character far more than it will reflect your ideas and your ways. If others can’t see Jesus in what you do and say, then it is possible that He doesn’t live in your heart just in your mind.

The beginning of the church


Why is belief in Jesus so important? Because “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

In Acts 4:12, the Bible says: Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Belief is necessary because Jesus is the Living Word of God and He came to redeem the lost of this world. You may think that you have done some things which would allow you into Heaven but if what you have done in this life was done out of pride and your own self-righteousness and without Jesus’ guiding hand then it was a waste. Nothing that we do with our good intentions and our own ideas of self-righteousness can ever bring us into the Presence of God. Well, it can bring us there but it will be in judgement and not reward because without Jesus and our repentant heart and His Spirit guiding us…everything that we do is dust and filthy rags.

There are many words which God has placed in the Bible which point the way to a life of service to Him. Such as believe or obedience or humility.

God honors those who humble themselves to Him and recognize that He is the Author and the Finisher of our faith in Christ Jesus. Only through Him can we gain entrance to the City which is not built by hands but by the Word of God. I pray that any who read this small letter might turn to the One Messiah, Jesus Christ because it is only through belief in Him and repentance from your own sins can you be saved to walk the streets of Heaven one day.

Follow Jesus because He is the only way into Heaven.

I just want the real thing…


If someone asks you to not tell them about religion or the church, they just want the real thing… what do you say? First, tell them about Jesus and why He came in the first place. How should you tell them? Just tell them about your Savior and His message about forgiveness and love which He came to bring to all of us! This is the story of His purpose and the Good News of salvation!

1545620655183_image.jpgThat is the message that counts. Salvation through belief in Jesus and His atonement for your sins and mine on the cross. It doesn’t have to have doctrine or religion attached to it and it doesn’t have to be all flowery and noble. Like the thief on the cross, believe in Jesus as the Son of God, your Savior, and mine. That is all that is needed. It doesn’t require hours of service in His Name or certain amounts of money or other “works” like teaching or preaching. All of that may happen after you have accepted Him as your Savior but they will be done because you love Him and you know He loves you and died for you.

That is the true nature of knowing and loving your Savior. Just know that He loves you and He came to give you hope of eternity through Him. A child can understand it but many of us as “adults” try to dress it up or add things to our belief which are not needed. We try to make a simple belief in our Savior into a life-long project which we have to help Him bring us to salvation and none of that helps at all!

In fact, it hurts our own belief by adding things which we do or think we need to do in order to have salvation. When all that is necessary is our heartfelt need of Him and our belief in Him for our forgiveness and salvation. Because until we come to that place where we know deep down that we need Jesus…we will not seek Him out as our Savior and Lord.

God provided Him as The Atonement for our sins, but the Holy Spirit has to bring us to the point of knowing that we need Him before we will ever seek Him out. Those who are sinning and have never sought their Savior or heard that they need Him will never go looking for Him. It’s kind of like a man who walks by fountains of clear, cool water every day. Until that man is thirsty enough to notice them and seek one of those fountains for a drink, he will never know how refreshing their water is.

God knew that we needed a Lamb which could take the sins of the world away, but until each of us realizes this and that we need Jesus for our salvation, each of us will walk right by without ever seeking Him to be our Savior. God has placed a Fountain of Living Water for us to drink from and it’s within our grasp, all we have to do is realize that we need Him and ask Him to come in and quench our thirst for salvation and forgiveness.

My sermon for tomorrow


I pray that this sermon touches someone who may turn their lives over to Jesus.

Acts 14:8-20

The Visit to Lystra and Derbe

8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked: 9The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, 10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. 11 And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. 12 And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. 13 Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates and would have done sacrifice with the people. 14 Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, 15 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: 16 Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. 18 And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.

19 And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. 20 Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

Paul preached the gospel of Jesus the Christ, the Messiah even though at first he wanted to destroy the Way as they called it in those days. Why did he have the conviction which he had to preach salvation through Jesus? Because Jesus called him personally just as He called each of us! Do we live our Christian life like we are called by Him? Most Christians don’t live that way. We have salvation, we believe that Jesus saved us from our sins but are we thankful enough to be useful to Him?

If you know the hell that you have been saved from then you should be very thankful. Many people think that those who go to hell will endure for a while but their punishment will end. That is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible says that “the smoke of their torment will rise forever”!

Your spirit, your soul is immortal and the body which you enter into eternity with is immortal so your torment is eternal and forever! Just because you don’t go to heaven doesn’t mean that you don’t have an eternity to look forward to, but going to hell is an eternal life which is called the “second death” because you are in the place where Satan is and you are not in the Presence of God, where Life is.

Paul was called to be a disciple and the apostle to the Gentiles so that they, you and me, could learn about the Jesus which paid our debt for our sins so that we don’t have to go to an eternity of punishment. We have the hope of an eternity with Jesus in Heaven and with those of our family who believed in Jesus for their salvation. We are supposed to be the apostle in our family telling others about Jesus. It is our JOB to do this because when we are called to be saved then we are supposed to give that salvation away to others, especially those in our family!

God has chosen you to be His disciple in the place where you work or in the areas where you live to be the person that people can see Jesus through and tell them of His love for them. If you don’t, they may never hear about Him or know about Him because you may be the only contact that they have with a true Christian.