Tag: Bible

What will be your destination?


Many of us just live our lives as if they are going to keep going. We don’t think about “end of life” until we have to. Even then, we don’t consider our eternal life. So…what will be your eternal destination? Will you just go puff and that is it after your mortal body dies? Do you believe in an eternal destination? It seems that many people do because most obituaries seem to point to a heavenly destination. But what if your soul doesn’t go to heaven? How do you get to Heaven?

How do you get to Heaven?

According to the Bible and the Christian definition, you can only get there by believing in Jesus as your Savior. There are no work requirements and no other “hoops” you have to jump through. Is this the right way? Again, according to Jesus Christ, belief in Him is the only way to come into the presence of God in heaven. Accepting Jesus as your Savior takes all of the punishment for your sins away and you are wiped clean.

There are other religious ways in the world and I won’t list them here. But, in the past 25+ years that I have been a follower of Jesus, no other religion offers you an eternal relationship except Christianity. God loves all of us, but He knows our weaknesses and our strengths and He knows who will accept Jesus as their Savior and who will not.

Remember the thief on the cross? He asked Jesus to remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus told him, “today you will be with Me in paradise”. He couldn’t even be baptized, but he was saved. Just believe in Jesus and ask Him to forgive you of your sins.

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High price conversation


I met a man in 1990 who I have prayed for ever since. Not every day, but I still pray for him. He may be deceased by now, I don’t know. I got into an elevator with him and I tried to strike up a conversation with him, just small talk while we were on the elevator. He interrupted me and said, “I’m going to stop you right there. I charge $800 an hour for my time.” I just said, “Okay”. The trip in the elevator wasn’t going to be very long, but according to his estimate, talking to me wasn’t worth his attention, even if it was just small talk.

I’m glad that God isn’t like that. He listens to every prayer, and every cry for help. Even if it is just one word spoken in anguish and pain. God loves us and cares for each of us more than we will ever know, until we are in Heaven.

I listened to a program a few minutes ago talking about the prayer shawl (Tallit) that every Jewish person knows about. The prayer shawl represents God and all of His attributes. His name YHWH is represented by the knots on the corners (Tzitzit) of the prayer shawl. All of the threads mean something, in particular the commandments of God. I apologize if I have gotten parts of it wrong. My point is this, in reference to the “corner of His garment” mentioned in the New Testament, the woman touched the name of God. She had faith enough to know that if she could only touch that, her medical problem would be cured.

God’s economy doesn’t work by how much money you have or what value you can bring to Him. God is the Creator of everything! You are worth the life of His Son, Jesus, so you are worth far more than any amount of money, including the entire wealth of the whole world! God could create a planet-sized diamond if He wanted to, so there is no amount of gold or silver that you could offer Him to gain His attention.

Your life and your soul are worth Jesus’ dying on the cross and coming out of the tomb on the third day. Jesus is God in human form, with all of our feelings and temptations and it was only because He had the nature of God in Him that He was able to live a sinless life to pay for our sins. If you can place your faith in Him and give your heart to Him, like the thief on the cross, you will be saved. No amount of work required. No giving away your wealth, although that would take a burden from you. Just give Him yourself as a living sacrifice each day and walk with Him until He returns. It is a daily walk, one step at a time.

Why do I have faith in Jesus?


Because God, Who is part of the Trinity, knew me before the beginning of the world. He knows you too, if you are destined to be a Christian. He knows every person on Earth and He knows whether you will believe in Jesus for your salvation, so don’t cry about whether you have been chosen by Him or not. Many are called to be saved by accepting Jesus Christ, but few actually accept Him as their Savior.

There is also another reason that I have faith in Jesus. It’s because He loved us, each of us, before the world or anything else was made. God’s love is deeper toward His creation than we can imagine. Our love for our children is one that can’t be explained or taken away. God’s love for us is deeper than that by a LOT! He knew us molecule by molecule as He formed us in the womb, so His love is that deep.

He loved us when we were not lovable. Long before we were born, He knew how our life would turn out and when we would “get it” and give our heart to Jesus. I lived through more than two decades of life before I really found Him and knew that I needed Him as my Savior. Read the Bible, whether you begin at Genesis or with Matthew, sit down and learn about Him and His love for us. Yes, He chose the Jewish people first but He still loved us (Gentiles) before the beginning of everything.

God loves those who are down on their luck. He loves those who have made mistakes in their life, big ones and small ones. He loves those who are prison and those who have been pardoned. Don’t believe the lie that you have been too bad to be useful to God. He used Moses and David, both murderers. He used Saul, who became Paul, and he had been a willing participant in the death of Stephen. He pardoned Peter after Peter denied that he knew Him. God can use your strengths and your weaknesses in His service.

The Truth of Christianity


How do you know that Christianity is true?

Wow! I’ve been a Christian for many years and I’ve never actually thought about the truth of it. Not because I wonder about the truth of it, but because that question is silly. The word of God is what is recorded in the Bible and the story of Jesus begins in Genesis and comes to fulfillment at the end of Revelation. Since all of the Bible is made up of words that were given to people by God Himself, it cannot be untrue because God cannot lie.

God is the Creator and my belief in Him and all that He has done is bound up in the Bible and the words that are there. The Old Testament begins the journey toward Jesus Christ because God tells Adam and Eve that there will be one that will come in the future that will restore the relationship between mankind and God. He was speaking of Jesus. I may have embellished the words a bit about what it says in Genesis, but the idea is the same. Genesis 3:15 says: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” This is referred to as the first gospel, it is the first words of hope given to Adam and Eve. It shows that God had planned for Jesus to come in history and bring salvation to us.

God made this promise at the very beginning, before driving Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden. Jesus came at the right time to begin the salvation of mankind and a restoration of the relationship that we had with Him in the Garden. We cannot earn our way into God’s presence by our own works, it is a free gift of God by grace through faith in Jesus that we can be reconciled and forgiven of our sins. Any other “way” will not work.

Are you lost?


Today, we enjoyed a sermon about the prodigal son. If you’ve never heard of it or read it, it is about an entitled young man who wants his inheritance before his father dies. Then his father gives it to him and he runs off to a place similar to Vegas. He enjoys his money for a time, but he soon runs out of money and his friends desert him. Leaving him alone and destitute. In the story, Jesus said there was a famine in the land as well and he couldn’t find a job other than feeding pigs. For a Jewish boy, that was at the bottom of the ladder for sure. He became so hungry that he even wanted to eat the food that he was giving the pigs, because his employer wouldn’t feed him.

Then, he had a great idea! He thought to himself, “The servants in my father’s house have more than enough to eat. I will go home and apologize to my father and ask him to hire me as one of his servants.”

But…as he was nearing his father’s house, thinking about his speech, he saw his father…running toward him! He started his speech for his father, but his father wasn’t having it. He told the servants that arrived after him to get his son some new clothes and a pair of sandals and the family ring! He told another to fetch the fattened calf and prepare it for a feast!

Why would his father accept him back as his son after what he did? Because his love for his son didn’t depend on work, or obedience to the rules, only that he wanted to come home and he believed that his father wouldn’t turn him out. Just like we love our sons and daughters, God loves us even deeper than that. He won’t turn us away when we sincerely turn to Him for forgiveness and ask to be allowed into the family. Belief in Him (Jesus) and asking forgiveness is all it takes! God isn’t a tyrant or a bully, He loves us far deeper than we can know because He formed each of us in the womb. He knows every part of us and our personality and He knows when we will come to Him.

Think about your life and seek out your Savior in Him. His forgiveness and His love are available to you. Give your problems and your failures and those pesky slip-ups in your life to Him and He will untangle all of them and make your life better than it was and your eternal future will be in His house. As Christians, we have the right to call God, Aba (Daddy).

Are you okay?


I get this question asked of me at least once or twice a week. Sometimes I answer it with, “Yeah, I’m fine”, but sometimes I really don’t feel fine. Life does that to you when you pass the age of fifty or sixty. The “okay” feeling that you had when you were younger just doesn’t show up as much as it once did. But, God has a plan and I’m letting Him lead me these days, instead of taking off on my own and hoping that He will get me out of trouble. God loves you and me and everyone who lives on this little ball of water and dirt. He doesn’t like the way many of us live and worship gods who aren’t gods at all. He is the only God and Jesus made a way for us to be with Him if we will believe in Him and turn away from our ways.

Read God’s Word and learn more about Him than you know now. Seek Him out and you will find your Savior and Redeemer because He has been waiting for you. All of us don’t have to be evangelists or preachers, just be willing to tell your own redemption story if someone asks where you get your strength from. I wouldn’t be able to even do this if God didn’t give me the words to put here. Being okay with God is not answer when someone asks about your salvation. You have to believe like the thief on the cross, knowing that Jesus will save you when you call on Him.

Is it possible to be a follower of Jesus and not tell others about your Savior? I don’t think so. Because your life will change and your behavior will change when you have given your heart to Him. So, even if you don’t actively tell everyone about your Savior, they will see it in your life and your actions. Some people may say that is the coward’s way of telling others about Jesus, but St. Augustine did it that way a long time ago.

Being a follower of Jesus Christ demands that your life changes and many people will notice it immediately. If your life hasn’t changed, then the Holy Spirit hasn’t made a change in your heart. Some people claim to be Christians and I don’t doubt that some could be, but if their lives haven’t changed significantly from the life they lived prior to their claim of finding Jesus they should seek Him in a Bible-teaching church. Being okay in this life is fine, but consider that eternity is your destination after you die or Jesus returns for the church. Make sure of your eternal destination because you don’t want to go through the wrong door.

Which world do you live in?


All of us live in the world, mainly the three dimensional world that everyone else lives in. But, there is a world here that is darker and more malevolent and evil than we can imagine. We, humanity and anyone who believes in Jesus, are hated there with a deep and abiding hatred that we cannot understand. So we actually live in both worlds, except the world that the devil and his minions inhabit is a spiritual world that occupies the same area that we live in. But, God doesn’t allow him to do as he wishes with the Earth and its inhabitants thankfully.

God is gracious enough that He protects us as we live our lives every day. Life here is literally held in God’s hands because if it were not, the devil would likely kill every person on the Earth. But, God won’t allow him to have that much control on Earth. The devil can only do things that God allows him to do and we should be very grateful for that.

God loves all of us, yet He cannot save all of us because of our stubbornness and refusal to believe in Him. Life can have an extension into the future but only if we believe in Jesus for our salvation from our sins. I ask all of you who may read this to seek a church that teaches from the Bible and learn about your Savior. Then give your life to Him and believe that He saved your soul from an eternity apart from Him.

Your Jordan river…


All of us have a Jordan to cross or be baptized in or even to be cleansed in. Whatever your Jordan may be, don’t turn away from it because it looks dirty or muddy. Jesus stepped into the Jordan because He came to be our Savior. He didn’t need cleansing. He didn’t need forgiveness. He was being washed with the water because His ministry was just beginning. The Spirit sent Him into the wilderness to begin His testing. Not because He needed to be tested, but because His ministry needed to begin with the testing and His victory over the one testing Him.

Our Christian life is our testing ground after we come out of the baptismal water. Every day is a test that we have to pass by leaning on and depending on Jesus to get us through each day. One day at a time, one step at a time. Some of us try to do it on our own and God will let us try it that way but we are more likely to stumble and fall when we do it “our way”. Walk with Jesus every hour and every day, praying and being in a prayerful attitude each and every hour. Why? Because the devil doesn’t stop trying to trip you and me. Every step we take, he puts something in front of us or in our thoughts to cause us to trip and fall. But, we have been forgiven through the blood of Jesus. As long as we confess the stumble or the fall, asking for forgiveness we are forgiven fully and completely.

Life is a constant walk toward Heaven. God knows the date that you will arrive. He is in control and will give us the strength to finish that journey. Follow Jesus into the Jordan and out the other side and your life will have the meaning that God had always prepared for you.

The Lord delivers you


In today’s climate, we should be depending on the Lord to deliver us from evil people and those who would bomb us into oblivion. Some might ask, “Why are we having all of these troubles?”. Jesus told His disciples that they would have troubles in this world but He also told them that He would not leave them nor forsake them. For believers, this is comforting in so many ways. So what can the rest of the world expect from Jesus?

His love and compassion in times of need, if you will seek Him out during those times and give your life to Him by believing in Him. Jesus died and rose again to pay the price for all of mankind’s sins but He waits for you to allow Him into your life every day. The only requirement for being His and obtaining true salvation is that you believe in Him and determine that with His help, you will live your new life as His disciple.

Yes, many people come to church and get baptized and they leave convinced they are saved. Some are but there are some that may never come back to church unless it is a holiday or some other event. Some people who have been “in the church” ever since they were born think they are saved just because of their presence in the church or because Mom or grandma was a Christian. Many of these are actually “cultural Christians”, they believe that their salvation is due to family or just getting baptized in the church or even being there every Sunday. But if you look at their lives, you can’t see a difference between what they did prior to accepting Jesus and their life after their baptism.

Jesus coming into your life is supposed to deliver you from your old life and habits and bring you into a new life with Him. All of the disciples’ lives changed after their time with Him, except for Judas. Their livelihood didn’t change, Peter and John were still fishermen but mostly they were “fishing” for men and women to come to belief in Jesus. Even Paul’s vocation as a tent maker didn’t change but he made the vocation that he followed hard was his preaching about Jesus’ crucifixion and his resurrection. This was his main focus until the end of his life.

I pray that all who read this will seek to know Jesus as your Savior.

God is there, wherever you are


This is a post which should give you peace. Regardless of the problems that we live in and through in our lives, God is there with you. God said it in the Old Testament and Jesus taught that worry is not good and said for us to “not worry about tomorrow”. There is nothing that you can do about what you think is coming, it may not come at all. Tomorrow is not here until after midnight and even then it is not tomorrow at that time. God was/is there before you and He can help you in every good or bad situation because He is there. For those who believe in God and His salvation through Jesus, there is not one day that you are alone.

If you don’t know Jesus as your Savior…then you do have a problem. Living life without Jesus as your Savior doesn’t work very well. It is like an unsharpened pencil because it is useless and it has no point! Your purpose is found in serving God and believing in Jesus as your Savior. There are people who live their lives with their “version” of God and say that they are Christians. You will hear them say things like: “My God would never send someone to hell”; “My God is forgiving to all people”. God didn’t let the Israelites get away with any transgression, so why do you think that you are so special? Having a “version” of God ISN’T the real God.

Seek Jesus Christ in the Bible. He appeared to Abraham. He appeared in the bush that didn’t burn when Moses was commanded to take of his sandals. He appeared to Joshua before the conquest of the promised land as the Commander of the Lord’s armies. Jesus came to protect the Jewish boys who would not bow to the statue in Babylon and they walked out of the furnace alive and without the smell of smoke.

Life goes much better for those who believe in Jesus as their Savior. It is not without problems, but Jesus is with you through those problems. Your life will not be perfect but you do have the peace of Jesus to comfort you in all of your troubles. Regardless of the trouble, He will give you the strength to get through those troubles. God loves you and He will be with you in all things, place your faith in Jesus for your salvation so that your eternity is secure in Him.