Tag: God loves you

The eclipse…


I know that I am not the only person writing about this but it is a big deal. I mean this eclipse can be seen by most of the United States! Maybe not in totality but any portion of our Sun obscured is a big deal. I took a picture with my cell phone and it doesn’t look as good as others but I am going to show it here:

Eclipse by phoneThere will be another eclipse for the Eastern half of the USA in seven years so maybe others will get to see that one too. Our God is Awesome! I hope that you had a chance to get out and see this event today. According to our news media there were more people watching this peacefully than have gathered together in a long time. We need this kind of unity!

Life is all around us every day but sometimes we only see the darkness. Take heart, the darkness only lasts for a little while. In an eclipse or in life, the dark times which do come, only last for a bit and then they are replaced by the Light of God’s love. Sometimes the darkness last for a while longer, but if you lean on Jesus and seek His strength during this time, you will get through it and emerge into the Light.

The darkness of the totality during an eclipse is truly dark as I observed on TV, but it only lasted for a couple of minutes in most places. Then the light began to return. It is the same with our lives today. When the darkness overtakes us, it seems very, very dark for a while but you are not alone. Jesus is always by your side if you believe in Him as your Savior.

God loves each of us so much that He sent His Son to live and die on a cross for us. Paying our sin debt in full so that we don’t have anything to boast of except for Jesus alone! Life is sometimes dark and dreary but the good news is that Jesus is the Light of the World and in Him only are we saved, sanctified and given eternal life! There is no other Savior nor any other way to accomplish this except through Jesus the Christ!

Please be in prayer for all who have not made the decision to give their lives to Jesus because, regardless of your idea of a Savior or whether there even is a God, believe the Bible as God’s Word and it is True! He loves you and there is no one else in this universe that could love you more than He does! Don’t turn away from Him when you feel His call in your life, in your heart because you may not get the chance again.

Summer….


The season of heat and humidity, at least in the deep South, is coming to an end. It hasn’t yet, but hopefully before November the temperature outside will get to a point of being tolerable. Summer is also the warmest or hottest part of the year no matter what hemisphere you live in or the time of year in which it falls. I never really liked summer because of the humidity and the heat but then I tried a little of it in Arizona a few years back. It wasn’t so unbearable as summer in the South, but hot is hot when you get in a car, with or without the humidity!

13419221_838712436261893_9132633303197040096_nYou may be wondering why I am beginning this post about the hottest part of the year? Well….there are many reasons. Life itself being one of them. We go through periods of learning and growth in the spring of our lives, then we get to the summer season where we are busy and doing things so much until we don’t know which direction we are going sometimes. The fall season is sometimes the best, although it is then that many of life’s problems show up in our health and relationships. Winter is when all of the accomplishments of life come together and we remember, hopefully, the best of those before we reach the end.

Why do I bring this up today? Because, a friend of mine has passed on to the next phase of life…eternity. I am not sure about their salvation, although I hope that he did give his life to Jesus before the end. Life is full of changes. Some of them are good, some are not, but we have to live through them regardless. It is in living through them that we learn and grow into the person that we are to be. For some of us it takes a bit longer, and for some the learning begins with an early realization that God is in control of all things.

God is in control and He does His will through us and without us, but His will is done in all things good or bad. and the good and bad are from our viewpoint. Not necessarily from God’s viewpoint because His purposes will be done regardless of our actions or inaction. Spring, summer, fall and winter are only seasons in the year even though we use them to represent our lives as well. Seek Jesus out during your spring so that the rest of your “year” of life will be productive and in accordance with His will.

Who is God?


The Prayer of Dedication

22Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. 23He said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart, 24who have kept with Your servant, my father David, that which You have promised him; indeed, You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand as it is this day. 25“Now therefore, O LORD, the God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father that which You have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way to walk before Me as you have walked.’ 26“Now therefore, O God of Israel, let Your word, I pray, be confirmed which You have spoken to Your servant, my father David.

27“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built! 28“Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today; 29 that Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place. 30“Listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear in heaven Your dwelling place; hear and forgive. (1 Kings 8:22-30)

God is the only Creator and Redeemer that we have to turn to in life. There is no man or beast or any created thing which can take His place. Anyone who thinks themselves to be “god of their own life” and they believe that God does not exist, then let them tell Him that He doesn’t exist. How do they believe that this will be possible?

Not believing in God doesn’t make Him or His power and majesty of no effect. Neither does it cause Him to allow you to enter into Heaven, since you are determined not to believe in the One Who created you. Atheist’s have determined in our country to get rid of any mention of God or His Word or anything which might be seen as pointing people toward becoming believers. Why?

They do not have anything against any other religion, nor do they keep other religions from telling people about their religion. Why so much hostility toward the Bible and the God mentioned in it? Because they know that this is the truth and the only Truth available to grant salvation to anyone who believes, that is why they don’t want it in schools or police stations or government buildings. If there were scriptures from the Koran or any other religion present in those places, nothing would be said about that.

The reason for this is that the Bible and its wisdom is absolute. There aren’t any flexible decrees in its pages. The world, whether they are religious to one degree or another or not, hates absolute Truth. They can’t dispute it, yet they cannot deny it either. Water is wet, the sun is hot, gravity works very well…all of these things they can “explain” with science. But when a disease is cured for no explainable reason or someone recovers from a horrific accident or comatose state and doctors can’t explain how or why…it makes people nervous.

If you feel any need at all for God in your life, I urge you to seek Him soon. Our time on Earth is coming to an end. The rest of the world doesn’t see this, many have not read the book of Revelation and realized that it is prophecy which is being fulfilled almost on a daily basis. Don’t wait until the Anti-Christ and the World Order takes over and requires an implant or mark on your hand or head to buy food! Seek Jesus and give your life to Him while you can and before the Bible is banned as a hate filled book!

Why do you believe?


There are many reasons why people have their different beliefs about…religion, sexuality, occupation, money or a host of other things in life. I am not going into all of them here. Your belief in religion could get you into an eternal hell. Why? Because it isn’t the religion which brings you to salvation! Jesus does.

IamtheWayIt isn’t a hard thing to believe in Jesus because He did come to Earth and die for all of man’s sins, past, present and future. Whether we accept it and believe it as the Truth of the Bible is another matter. Many don’t believe it, mostly because they see Jesus as He was…a man or a prophet. They don’t see nor do they recognize Him as the Son of God. Why? The Bible tells the story of His birth, most of His life after He began His ministry, and His death on the cross and His resurrection. The Bible is God’s Word, so why not believe it?

It’s words are inspired by the Spirit of God and since He cannot lie, all of it is true, so why not believe it? Because most people really don’t want to believe it nor do they expect it to be true. The facts are these: since it is God’s Word, inspired by Him and attested to be true by proofs of His majesty and power, there is no reason NOT to believe the prophecies or the history within its pages. You can choose to ignore parts of it or to decide that you will not believe in the things which it says, but that doesn’t change the fact that God’s Word always accomplishes that which He wants it to do.

Your belief in Him or His Word has no effect on whether it will be true and will come true or not because God will cause all of the promises and prophecies to come true in His time and at the appointed time for them. Our belief or lack of belief has no effect on His purposes. They will come to fruition…because God loves us.

It is because of His great love for us that He sent Jesus to pay our debts on the cross. We need to understand that our responsibility is to love Him and serve Him with all of our mind, soul, body and strength in this life, regardless of our vocation or our financial ability. God will make you into a real messenger for His Kingdom, if you will give your heart, mind and soul to Him.

Our world would be so much better than it is IF we would commit to doing this every day of our lives. If you have not given your life to Jesus, please consider doing so. Nobody knows when your last breath will be and the end of the age is approaching faster than most realize. Don’t wait…seek Him out for your eternity today!

Is He your Savior?


Our Savior, Jesus, the Son of God is the Him of which I speak. He shed His divinity to come to Earth, be born of a woman, live the life of a man of Jewish descent, perfectly fulfilling the Law (which no normal human could do), teach a group of disciples so that they could carry His teachings to all parts of the world, died on a cross on the day of Passover and then rose again on the third day!

john_3_16_17_scripture_memory_card-raf7013e639264b87b918bea9971565b3_vgbaq_8byvr_540Yes, a long sentence to tell of the life of Jesus the Christ. A short version of His life, death and resurrection, but a story which has significance for so many around the world! Some of whom believe that He is our Savior and Lord, some  do not believe He was anything other than a prophet.

Do you know Him? You can get to know Him if you will believe in Him and follow Him. Learn about Him through reading of the New Testament and do the things which His disciples did…tell others what He has done for you! Why? Because they need Him too.

 

What more can be done?


CallofDutyIn today’s society, whether it is in America or Europe or the Middle East, many prophecies are coming to pass or have come to pass in the last century. Some of them have been noticed for what they are but many of them have not. The wars which began in Europe and ended in the Middle East in the first couple of decades of last century began the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the Jewish people.

This year, we are in what was foretold to be the last Jubilee year for the Jewish nation before the Messiah comes. Which coming are they speaking of? Will this be the True Messiah or will it be the antiChrist claiming to be their Messiah? Will this Messiah show up this year or will it be in the next seven years? Truly, nobody on Earth knows for sure.

According to the Bible, there are few prophecies left to come true before the Second Coming of Jesus. Some of those things which are to happen are the apostasy or falling away from the faith and a global war. These may begin to happen prior to the calling away of the church and those who have died believing in Jesus or it may not. We just don’t know the timing of this exactly.

The fall feasts or Holy Days of the Jewish people give some clues but they aren’t concrete. So…what more is there to do? Keep watching and studying the Scriptures. Looking for signs which point to prophecy being fulfilled or even some of the judgements being carried out which happen in the first few chapters of Revelation. We, as believers, should keep a close eye on the news with our knowledge of God’s Word as a filter so that we may be able to see things that will happen before others do.

God loves humanity and He will give them, meaning those who don’t believe, every chance to come to know Jesus. But at some point He will tell Jesus to go and get My people. Some say it will be too late for people to change at that point but I don’t believe that God will turn away from those who are left behind. He will still be working to draw more to Himself, even if they are under the eye of the antiChrist at the time.

I don’t mean that He will save everyone but He will save those who will give their hearts to Him and serve Him. God knows exactly who they are and He will get their attention even during those trying times. People who claim to be Christians will be forced to prove it with their lives or take the mark of the Beast. If they do, they have turned away from Jesus and they are not Christians. If they refuse to take the mark, then at that time they will be killed. All of this is in the book of Revelation, which I am not going to give chapter and verse here. The entire story plays out during the first sixteen chapters and finalizes from chapter seventeen to 19 when the battle is over, at least for one thousand years. Chapters 20 through 22 detail some of what will happen at the end of that thousand-year reign of Jesus. Just read it and pray about your part in the time leading up to all of this.

Make sure about which side you are on before things get really bad.

Nothing good…


It seems that many in the church today have not realized that nothing good can be done…apart from God and His Strength! Can we do any amount of good in this life without Jesus? I don’t think so. Jesus said that we could do nothing without Him, particularly anything good in this life. Why? Because, as a branch can produce nothing apart from the tree or the vine that it grows from, we can produce nothing for God’s Kingdom without being attached to Jesus in our walk with Him!

Can churches and the people in those churches do much good in their community? Yes, they can and they can do much more if they are doing it for God’s Kingdom! Not for fame or for promotion of the church or the people in the church, but simply for God and for His purposes. Churches have done much to damage the image of Christians in the past and we need to be working toward changing this.

Many of the past “atrocities” that ISIS claims were done by Christians actually were done by the church of that time. I am not trying to point fingers or place blame, but the “dark ages” were times of persecution by the church, but not just toward so-called “unbelievers”. At least one Christian was persecuted and burned at the stake by the church for just having an English translation of the model prayer given by Jesus to His disciples!

During this time period, services were done in Latin and the people were not allowed to have translations in English. Which is why Tyndale determined to translate at least the New Testament into English and was working on the Old Testament when he was arrested, tried for heresy and burned at the stake after he was strangled. So, as you can see, the church has done some terrible things in its time as well. All in the name of God and the faith.

Please, make sure that your faith is grounded in Jesus the Christ and His resurrection. Don’t place your trust in man’s religions and rituals because they are like the flowers in the field, they will wither and die in His Light of truth! God’s Word is the only Truth in this world and the salvation that belief in Jesus brings is the only path to eternity. Any other path is just a dusty trail which leads to death.

What about the rest of the family?


You know, in church and mostly in scriptures such as the New Testament, we only hear about Jesus but Mary and Joseph had other children too. Two of them in particular are highlighted in the New Testament and they are James and Jude. Both are half-brothers to Jesus and they became believers in Him as well as leaders in the church.

It is hard for us to realize that even though He was the firstborn son of Mary, that she actually had some other children too. James was the leader of the church in Jerusalem before his death and he wrote the book of James too. I a preaching this Sunday, tomorrow, from the first chapter of James and he has some interesting advice for us as Christians. Particularly about how we exercise our faith in Jesus and learn to be more like Him.

Even though he is referred to as the half-brother of our Lord, they were raised together just like any other children. To the community, they were brothers since few people knew about the Parentage of Jesus being the Son of God. Only his parents who raised him and Elizabeth and Zachariah and John knew Who He was prior to His resurrection. In spite of some of the “books” which were written about His life as a boy, which were false by the way, Jesus did not create small animals and bring them to life to play with. These books are nonsense and fantasy, nothing more.

James teaches us today that we must bear up under persecution and testing in our life to prove our faith in Him. Just as gold is purified when it is in the fire, we are brought to our best when we use our faith to strengthen our walk with Him, especially when we are under stress because of the world we live in. We are expected to exercise our faith just as we exercise our muscles, making it stronger and more durable in times of trial. Therefore, when trials do come we will be able to bear up in faith and lean on Jesus and His strength for our support.

Jesus did not say that we wouldn’t have trials in this life, He said when trials come and when you fast, be of good cheer because He has overcome the world and its troubles. We are to have faith in Him and lean on His strength and the wisdom from God’s Word, not on our own strength and wisdom. Jesus will give us the strength and the ability to get through our trials, whatever they may be, as long as we have faith in Him.

Other paths lead in a different direction


You may wonder why I didn’t put something specific where “paths” is and there is a reason. It is because we are giving legitimacy to so many religions and beliefs when we shouldn’t be! There are too many paths which would fit in that title. What are they? Dowsing, pyramid energy, mediums who claim to be using “angel cards”, ouija, etc.; all of these and more are part of the occult and people shouldn’t be consulting with them, but they are.

Giving these “optional” beliefs or paths legitimate status doesn’t help us to get the message out into the world that Jesus is the way to salvation, not “alternate religions”. There are so many different beliefs in the world until it is hard to understand just why there are so many. Satan has been working very hard to give people an alternate viewpoint which can be molded into a new religion or faith. It seems that today it is so easy to put your faith in almost anything besides God and Jesus!

separatechurchesWe talk about religion and being religious as if that covers all of Christianity but you can be religious about anything. Just because someone seems to be religious doesn’t mean that they are a Christian. They could be religious about any one of the hundreds of different religions out there, you could even be a religious atheist! My point is this: don’t give religions other than Christianity a legitimate foothold!

I know, I am not being inclusive of all people and their beliefs and I will own that. What I am trying to get people to think about here is ETERNITY!! There is only one God and Jesus the Christ Who can grant you access to eternity, or at least one that you would enjoy living in! The Bible states it plainly that Jesus is the only way to Heaven, all other paths, even though they may be morally good, will lead you elsewhere for eternity.

Some faiths don’t believe in eternal punishment like the lake of fire foretold in Revelation. But, if God says that is where you will be and He doesn’t lie, then that is where your choices will take you! Seek out Jesus and His gospel, believe in Him and repent of your sinful ways and then follow Him, reading His Word and praying for strength each day because it is through Him that we are given eternal life and forgiveness.

Don’t let someone pull you away from faith in Jesus just because they believe in some other faith a bit stronger than you believe in yours. That is what has happened to many today, especially young people. They meet someone who is very passionate about their faith, regardless of what that faith may be in, and it is their passion which draws people in. A question which comes to my mind when I may be confronted with this would be: Would you be willing to die for that faith, that passion in your religion?

Does it convince you enough that you are on the right pathway to Heaven that you would give your life under fire or being burned at the stake for it? If you question this just the least bit, then you might want to back up and consider your faith again.

Which god do you follow?


In today’s society, we have many gods. Phones, careers, cars, games, family, Facebook, all qualify to some extent as our “gods” at one time or another. Sometimes, we have more than one. We can’t leave the house or even get up in the morning without checking our phones and then we check in on Facebook. If we lose our phones, we will nearly tear the house apart trying to find this pocket computer which demands our attention every day!

Don’t make that face about this, you know that what I have written here is true because you have seen it in church or at home and certainly on the highway, although I hope not while you are driving. So, yes we have many gods which seem to claim so much of our time on a daily basis, sometimes even hourly, because I have seen people in my family at the dinner table or walking outside with the phone in front of them. They can’t seem to see past that four or five-inch screen in front of their faces.

I may be showing my age here but…how can you live like that?? There is so much more beauty and life going on around you without that screen taking all of your attention and you are missing most of it because of status updates or messages!! Whoever came up with that word certainly had the right idea to begin it with “mess”, because that is exactly what they do! Keeping up with those balloon messages and notification tones keeps many people occupied so much until they can’t pay attention to the rest of their life!

CallofDutyHow much better would our society be if we paid that much attention to the Bible? If we had to have it with us every day and read a part of it every hour of our waking day, wouldn’t our world be so much better than it is? I know we would offend many people by having our Bible out when we eat at the restaurant or when we sit to drink some coffee. But, wouldn’t our society really benefit much more in the area of morality and decent behavior if we patterned our life around God’s instructions for life, His Word?

A novel idea which, in my opinion, has come full circle and it is time for it to take its place in our society again. In schools, in the home, in business and in government, God’s Word should be consulted for all of these. Not as a state religion but as a guide to get our country back on the path which it started out on to begin with.