Tag: Christianity

What is ….?


The idea of asking someone, that you don’t know, to describe a smell or the taste of their favorite food or drink is something that crosses our minds sometimes. But…how would you describe such a personal thing such as a smell or a taste?

It would be similar to attempting to describe a color or love to someone who has never had sight or who has never had the experience of love. Impossible would be an apt description of the attempt. The description of warm feelings or trying to describe a color, even to someone who can see, is very difficult. When you don’t have a reference to build on or they don’t have a way to visualize what you are describing, the act of description becomes futile.

Many of our descriptions of the love of God are that way as well. His love is so deep and encompassing until we don’t have a reference to compare it to. The only human comparison would possibly be the love of a parent toward their child when they are born. This little person is a part of you and your wife/husband and just after they’re born you love them deeply beyond words. How does that happen? You know that they have been growing in the womb for the past few months and until they are born, you have never seen them until that day. Yet, the feelings that you have for them when they are born are indescribable to anyone except yourself and your mate.

The love that God has for each of us is similar to that but His love goes deeper. All the way to the molecular level. Why? Because He knit your genetic structure together and activated your personality and gave you your eye color and all of the quirks that make you and I unique. So God knows you better than you do. He knows you better than your parents or anyone else. That is why He made the sacrifice that He did in order to bring each of us to salvation. He knew you and me before we were born and He knew where we would be born and who our parents would be. That’s what makes God’s love so fantastic and deep!

When you feel His touch in your life and it is drawing you toward being a born-again believer, don’t turn away from HIm. He loves you so much and even the slightest turn from Him would hurt Him and you don’t want to do that. He won’t take it out on you or cause you to hurt because of it because He is far more patient than we are. God’s love is so deep that I can’t give you any better description than I have given here. I pray that anyone reading this will take it seriously because He is coming for the church soon.

God’s Son


We hear many messages about our Savior and about His sacrifice for all of us, but have you considered the fact that He was God’s Son. Part of the Trinity in the flesh so He could die and pay the price for ALL of our sins. Granted, there are many who don’t believe that He was/is God’s Son and that’s okay, but He came and paid for every sin of every person who ever lived on the Earth.

Think about that and let it sink in a bit.

God came to Earth as a baby, wrapped in frail humanity to live and know the temptations that we live with and have to deal with on a daily basis throughout our lives. God has loved each of us since before He created everything, but that is something our minds can’t understand. The prophets in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament said that we were known “before the foundation of the world was laid“.

Jesus came to be the sinless, spotless Lamb of God Who took the sins of the world on Himself, dying on a cross after being flogged so brutally that He scarcely had any blood left to make it to the cross. God loves each of us deeply enough that if it had only been me or you to save, He would’ve still gone to the cross.

If you have never seen the movie, “The Passion of Christ“, I believe it will drive home the brutality of a Roman crucifixion.

I pray that everyone who reads this will take the time to read the book of John and the book of Romans in the New Testament. If you want to, watch the movie and you will feel the love of God shown in the sacrifice Jesus went through for the whole world.

Why ‘But’ Hinders Our Reception of God’s Wisdom


That word causes more problems in people’s lives than any other. “But”, why do people try to put that word in a sentence referring to the Bible and what it says? Mostly its because they are trying to get around what it says. Either because it refers to a part of their lives that they don’t want to stop doing or it is a way of rationalizing something.

I’ve noticed that in TV shows and movies, the word “but” usually comes before something going wrong. Why do we go this way? God’s Word was given to it’s writers by His Holy Spirit so it is the Truth, yet many of us don’t want to listen to the wisdom contained within it. Our world would be so much better if people could follow even half of the wisdom God has given us in His Word.

Photo by John-Mark Smith on Pexels.com

Studying the Bible isn’t difficult or impossible if you have given your heart to Jesus. I’ve heard people say that it is hard to understand and it can be if you don’t have the Holy Spirit in your heart teaching you as you read it. Before I became a Christian, most of the Bible didn’t make sense to me. Yes, the stories of Creation and the Exodus from Egypt I could understand from watching the movie about the Ten Commandments but (there’s that word again), when I tried to read the Psalms or any of the prophetic books of the Old Testament it was hard to understand.

God has blessed me in the last fifteen years. I have served as a pastor of a small church and I’ve read through the Bible each year since 2011. I figured I had better know about what I was going to be preaching about. In my reading of His Word, He taught me more than I could learn from going to a school (which I couldn’t afford to do). This site is the only place I’m preaching from anymore, but I enjoy it because it is what God called me to do.

Turning away from God’s Word because it seems hard to understand is something a Christian shouldn’t do. You learn about God and what He likes and hates and how to get closer to Him. Through prayer and reading the Bible you will learn more about how we are supposed to live our lives every day. It is not a rule book or a book with a lot of do’s and don’ts. The Bible is really an instruction book about living as a Christian, especially the New Testament. Every prophecy that was written in the Old Testament is or will be fulfilled in the New Testament. It is likely that we will see the return of Jesus in our lifetime, so I urge you to give your heart to Jesus soon.

The Depth of God’s Love Explained


What does it mean, “to call on Him in truth”? The truth that David is speaking of here has to do with your faith in the Lord. God has never been very far from any of us whether we believe in Him or not. He is always near us. Close enough to be a comfort in our time of need, whatever that need may be. It is true that we sometimes feel that He is far away, but in those times it is because we have moved away from Him. He is always close at hand to be a comforter and a friend in all of our times of need.

We are living in a time where we feel the world is going crazy. It seems to be coming apart at the seams, to quote a phrase. But even when the world seems to be coming apart, God is still in control. His plans and His prophesied work will be accomplished regardless of our belief in Him or not.

God loves us and even if there had only been one person to save, Jesus would’ve gone to the cross for that person. That is a hard truth to wrap your mind around but it is true. God’s love extends to each person so deeply and completely that He would’ve gone to the cross even if only one person in the world would believe and be saved. Think about that for a moment. If that doesn’t blow your mind, I don’t know what would.

We can’t imagine the real depth of the love which God expressed on the cross through Jesus Christ. Jesus told the thief “today, you will be with Me in paradise“. All that thief did was believe in Jesus, yet it brought him to salvation

Only Jesus Can Heal: Discover True Restoration

Three wooden crosses stand on a rocky hill against a fiery sunset and dark clouds.

Only Jesus can heal completely, so that the disease doesn’t come back. Only Jesus can heal paralysis and strengthen legs that haven’t walked for years. Only Jesus can do impossible things in your life and mine. Heal your hurts. Quench your thirst for something or Someone you’ve never met before. Only Jesus Christ can do these things and more in your life. No other religious figure can accomplish these changes in your life and also bring salvation to your soul at the same time!

Today most Christians are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the grave! No other religious figure has ever come out of their grave…not one! Only Jesus!

The woman at the well found her Messiah and a well of Living Water to refresh her soul all the way to heaven! The paralyzed man who had to be carried to his healing and let down through the roof to get in front of Jesus came out of the house on his feet walking home and carrying his bed. The thief on the cross who realized Who Jesus was before he died just asked Jesus to “Remember me when you come into your kingdom”. Jesus told him that he would be in Paradise with Him today. He didn’t have to do anything but believe in Jesus for his salvation.

Our lives have many problems that follow us around. Relationship problems. Financial problems. Health problems. The only way to fix these is to get our heart’s problem fixed by allowing Jesus inside our heart and soul. Your salvation and mine through Jesus will bring healing to our other problems. The healing may take some time for all of your problems and mine, but it will come.

Jesus came to pay the price for all of humanity, but only those who are called will answer and accept His offer of life and healing. Will you accept His offer? Will you be His follower when He calls you? 

You may be in a situation like the thief on the cross or maybe the man who needed healing. You might be like the woman at the well and feel judged and rejected by everyone, but God doesn’t turn away from those who need Him. Just call on Him and ask Him into your life to fill that empty place or heal your broken heart and accept you as His child. God only asks that you follow Jesus Christ in love from that moment on.

Three wooden crosses stand on a rocky hill against a fiery sunset and dark clouds.
Three wooden crosses stand silhouetted against a breathtakingly dramatic sunset and stormy desert sky.

There is too much…


Every day we are exposed to all of the news. Good news, bad news, and every kind in between. Today we have “smartphones” which expose us to all sorts of information that we actually don’t need to know. If you are on Facebook, then you have that on your phone and you get all of the relevant “stuff” that comes with it. Any of the other social media sites that you may be a part of and your exposure just goes up exponentially. Does anyone remember when daily life was a lot simpler? I do enjoy having my phone and the fact that I can use it to look up information is just a plus. But, how many people are truly addicted to their phones and the networks that we have on them?

I saw a young man last week walking around with his smartphone in his hand and in front of his face as he walked. I pray that he doesn’t drive that way. What is my point about all of the news and exposure that we have day after day? My point is that we should be using all of that time that our phones take from us to be with our family and friends. I don’t mean texting them or giving them a like on something they shared. I mean actually putting the phone down and talking to them. If you have children, put the phones down and talk to them.

God allowed the smartphone to be invented but I don’t think He would agree with how we live almost 24 hours connected to social media and all of our “friends”. What do I mean with the “friends” being in quotes? I’ve seen people on Facebook who supposedly have over two thousand friends!? Really? I don’t have 500 and I actually try to keep my list of people that I actually know or have become friends with.

Regardless of the number of friends you have on Facebook or any other social media page, the friend that you truly need is Jesus. The world around us is reflecting the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation and from Jesus in Matthew 24. If you have never given your heart to Jesus and allowed Him to change your life, you need to be seeking Him today. We don’t know how many days we have on this Earth, so today truly is the day of your salvation! I pray that everyone who reads this will turn away from their “life” and seek your true Life in Jesus Christ.

God can overcome evil!


We are supposed to overcome evil with good as well, but we can only do it IF we have God in our hearts.

When you ask Jesus to come into your heart and save you from the sin that you were in, it is His power that gives you the ability to overcome evil. Life is full of good things that everyone can see and feel, but some bad things happen every day, too. Prayer is one of the weapons that we have to overcome evil in this world and we should use it. Will God stop evil in this world? Sometimes He will, but He won’t stop all of the evil in the world because even God uses the outcome of it to bring about His purposes.

It sounds wrong to say that God would use evil to accomplish His purposes, but He does. God loves us all, but many of us have not given our hearts to Jesus. He is still trying to bring as many people in the world to Jesus as He can, but He knows who will respond and who won’t. The age of grace is coming to an end, and if you want to spend eternity in Heaven, you should give your heart to Jesus as soon as possible. I don’t know when He will call the church home, but it is much closer than many people think.

I pray that anyone who reads this post and hasn’t given their life to Jesus will consider it and make that decision soon. The Tribulation spoken of in the book of Revelation will not be a pleasant time for anyone on Earth, so be sure you get your life and your heart right with Jesus before it is too late.

Living with Jesus daily


The preacher tells us that we should strive to do this, but I don’t remember him telling us how to do it. It depends on your relationship with Jesus. If you are a new believer, you will be seeking to know Him on a daily basis. At least for a while. I did that because I wanted to know Him, so I got into reading the Bible every day. The problem of reading the Bible every day is that life gets in the way. Your morning routine gets rushed because you slept late or for some other reason. Living your life with Jesus is something that you have to be determined to do, and eventually it will become a habit. Bible reading and prayer will just happen, but it won’t happen unless you make a daily decision to do it.

As you become more mature in your walk with Him, your prayer life and reading Scripture will become second nature. You won’t have to think about it; you will just do it. It may not be at the beginning of every day, but you will do it at some point in the day. I like listening to the Bible reading on my phone with the You Version Bible app. For over ten years now, I have picked a year-long plan to give me a certain number of chapters to read/listen to each day. I enjoy doing my reading this way because I don’t have to sit and open the Bible to read it. I can do so and read along with it, but I have to be at home to do that.

Living with Jesus every day is a choice, and some people choose to do it as their Christian walk. Others choose to only learn about Jesus when they come to church. Sometimes they come every Sunday, while some come only when they feel like it. Living your life with Jesus is not supposed to be a part-time life; it should be like a marriage. A marriage wouldn’t last very long if you only came home sometimes, and that is what I mean when I wrote “part-time” life with Him. Any relationship will only work if BOTH partners are dedicated to each other. In a relationship with Jesus, He is intent on His part of the relationship; it is on you to choose to be dedicated to Him. That is why it should be a daily relationship, not just a “part-time” relationship.

Suffering produces strength


Rejoice in your life, whatever might be happening every day. God loves you, and He doesn’t leave you, regardless of how you feel. Some people will tell you that God doesn’t care, but He does! God loves each of us more deeply than we can imagine because His love is elemental. He created you in the womb, and He knows every part of you because He knit your DNA together, especially for your purpose. What that purpose is, only He knows for sure. Seek Him so you will learn about His love and about your purpose.

The entire Bible is a book about God’s love for His creation. Yes, it does focus on Israel and the Jewish people, but when Jesus came and died for the whole world…that includes each of us. Don’t go through life thinking that money will solve your problems. It does help, but money is not the only thing. Your life matters, regardless of your status or how much money is in the bank. Allow God to guide you every day by reading His Word and seeking to know Him better. He does have a purpose for you, so find it and ask Him to help you fulfill it.

Do you talk to God?


He created you and me and everything in this world, so why not thank Him for everything in your life? I know that we all have good days and bad ones, and sometimes the bad ones may outweigh the good ones, but God provides His promise for us all.

God talked to Adam, Noah, and Abram. God also talked to every faithful king in Israel and every prophet that He sent to Israel. If we acknowledge that He talked to all of these people, then we can infer that God likes to talk to His people, whether they are Israelites or Gentiles.

So, why does the church only talk to God when we pray for others? Why can’t we talk/pray to God about everything that we need to talk to Him about? I’m not speaking of prayer for things that we want, but prayer about being thankful for our blessings. I’m not saying that prayer for others is a bad thing, but do you pray to God about your day? He knows what is going on in your day, but like a parent asking their child, “How was school today?”, God wants to talk to you about you!

God loves each of us, whether we love Him or not. He cares about you and me. He may not like your lifestyle if you live a sinful life, but He loves you. When you wake up, thank Him for a night’s sleep and for waking you up again. When you have a good day, thank Him for it. If you have a bad day, pray about it, and He will help you with that problem.

Read the Bible and ask Him to help you understand His Word. God speaks to each of us through His Word, and you can know what He is saying IF you read His Word. We are living in the beginning of the end times, so I encourage you to seek His knowledge and wisdom by reading His Word, and come to know His will for your life.