Tag: God

What kind of message have you heard?


Many churches teach a gospel that doesn’t conform to the one preached in the early years of the church. In fact, their message is so different that you would think that it is an entirely different gospel altogether. One that doesn’t even teach that you must be convicted before you can be set free. How can you be set free from something that you don’t even realize that you are guilty of? When the clergy began teaching and preaching “positive thinking” and prosperity gospels, the church began to slide down a slope that it wasn’t meant to be on at all.

Jesus did not teach or preach about prosperity or positive thinking, He taught that we are all sinners saved by the grace of God, period. There is no way of thinking your way into Heaven, your own opinion of yourself or of others should be the same as God’s but your opinion and the work that you do here don’t get you into Heaven! Belief in and an intimate walk with Christ daily are the paths that will take you to Heaven’s gate. The first is a strict requirement, belief in Christ and His death which paid the debt for your sins. The second, an intimate walk with Jesus daily, is essential to your growth and maturity in your faith. Your walk and intimacy with Jesus is not necessary for you to get into Heaven, but it may have an effect on those around you that may need what you have, a relationship with Jesus.

The message being taught and preached in many churches has changed over the centuries, some changes were good some, not so much. The best that we can do today is to bring the gospel to those who are hurting, even if they don’t think that they need it. We may have to get in their faces with the fact that God loves them, but He doesn’t like what they are doing. Whether it is their lifestyle or the drugs or alcohol or whatever it may be that they are using, if their heart doesn’t belong to Him then they are on the wrong path and may not even know it!

It is our job, whether you may be a pastor or a member of a church or a believer who hasn’t found a church, to tell others of the grace and goodness of Jesus. He is the only One who can heal the hurt, the pain, the agony of their lives. He is the cure for their heartaches when life throws them a curve ball, He can strengthen you in ways that you can’t and He will! All that you have to do is accept Him as your Savior and believe in His grace for you, all of the other things will come in time.

In our instant society mindset, we have a problem with the idea of waiting for God to get around to taking care of things, but in order to be an effective follower of Jesus we have to learn to be more patient because He can see things which we can’t. We have “microwave mentalities” because of the stuff that most of us grew up with or grew into as we got older. If something isn’t done now, or at the latest by tomorrow, we don’t want to wait. So, we take the problem back from God and tell Him that we can do it better and faster. The problem is that He lets us do it and He knows what will happen because we didn’t let Him take care of it. We will grow through it, but we may not like it! This is something which I am struggling with now, because I want my problems, financial and otherwise, fixed today not next week or next month or even next year. I struggle with patience or the lack of it, waiting for Him and learning His ways is not easy but it is necessary to your Christian life and mine.

The mind is a terrible thing to…..


I know that you have heard or possibly seen the commercial that went along with that opening or ending, but what about all of the other times that your mind becomes more or sometimes less than it should be. Many times it is because of different issues that we have to go through every day such as the stress of commuting, the bills, school, tuition, etc. This is just the stuff that people go through that have a job to go to every day. What about those of us who are disabled? We live on far less than most do, but the bills and the phone calls don’t go away. We just have to pay the ones that we can, and skip the ones that we can’t pay. Like it or not, the bill collectors will just have to get in line and if or when the money is there, they might be paid if something else doesn’t come up.

We all live in stressful times, regardless of your income level. Stress, like death and taxes, is not a respecter of persons. It comes to us all in one form or another. So, how do you deal with your stressful situations in your life? Jesus dealt with them too and did so without sin by relying on God‘s strength and His provision for Him. Here is a quote from the Word which might make it a bit plainer than this:

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8)

Jesus came humbly and willingly so that we would have access to God’s strength any day and every day that we need Him and truly, we need Him daily. Those of us who deal with depression and loneliness, fear and uncertainty, whether it is clinical or temporary, it is real. Sometimes it is only for a day or two, but sometimes it hangs around for weeks in the background, waiting to bring you to your knees and put you in the bed. Such is the way of this state of mind.

So, how can we defeat it? Well, giving your life and your heart to Jesus is the best way that I know of. I don’t mean that depression will never bother you again if you are a Christian, because it will, but through prayer and studying the Word of God you will have enough strength from God to make it through those times. You are loved by the Creator of the universe and He will not allow you to go through anything without His strength and His presence in your life, if you have allowed Him into your heart.

For those who may not have asked Him into their lives, you don’t have much to fall back on except your own strength and many times, that is NOT enough! I have lived through times without Christ and I would not want to do it in today’s environment. So many people are in need of assurance regarding the future, their future.

Do you know that you have a future? Truly, God did not create mankind for only the life that we have here. He gave us a soul that is eternal and whether you believe in eternity or not doesn’t have any effect on whether it is real or not. Jesus talked about it, and it is mentioned all over the Word, but especially in the New Testament. Give Jesus a chance in your life because the strength and the compassion that you get from a relationship with Him is more than you can get from anyone or anything else.

 

What kind of Christmas do you celebrate?


In most of the world that is industrialized, this time of year is a very hectic time of year. Everyone that has a business is having sales. They are open early and stay open late all for the reason of making the most sales, and the most profit during the Christmas season. But, the question is “What kind of Christmas do you celebrate?” Are you working through it, having to get to work early and stay later to take care of all of those shoppers? Are you working longer hours so you can afford to give your children lots of toys that will be lying around or broken by the end of February?

Or, do you celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ during this season? Most of us know that He was not born on December 25, the early church used a pagan holiday to try to make some converts and that is why that date was chosen. Nowhere in the Scriptures does it say the exact date, unless there is a record of the census taken under Caesar and that is not likely after two thousand years. Jesus is the true reason for the season but do most people celebrate His birth during this time of year? Unfortunately, many people do not.

They celebrate the holidays by giving gifts and by going to parties. Some give thanks at Thanksgiving, but are they giving thanks for what is or should be important in their lives or are they thankful for things which will not last? Then after Christmas, comes the New Year celebration where people determine that they will do better this next year, they will be a better person or be less of a person by years end (by dieting).

So, with all of these promises and things, what is the important lesson that has been learned by years end? How much stuff still works since last year? How much weight did I lose or gain in the course of the year? All of these things are great, to an extent, but what literal good comes from an Xbox or a PlayStation?

What is the message that your children get from the games that they immerse themselves in? Did the diet really get you back to your jeans from high school? I don’t even have any jeans from that period of my life! If I did, there is no way I could fit in them, with any kind of diet short of a hunger strike!

We have put far too much into the “consumer” part of living, and have left out the most important part…living! Stuff that is bought for Christmas should never replace the One that the season is about in the first place, because He is your Savior and if He is not, then He should be. Take the time to read the book of Luke, chapter 2 verses one through twenty with your family if possible. Pray about the meaning of His birth to you and the world and ask God to show you what you mean to Him, it may surprise you when you find the answer.

What is your salvation worth?


Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? Life has a way of bringing us to a point where we need Jesus, and I mean to a place where we feel that we can’t make it without Him. Many people think that they can use some other way to cope with depression or loss and many do.

They place their life and their future in things that mankind has made, why? We depend upon chemicals, legal or illegal, to make life more bearable. I know that there are people who do not look to chemical fixes to their problems, but the news seems to glorify people who do! Man-made fixes for problems may work for a time, especially if the problem is made by man, but even then the real fix, the one that will lastingly fix the problem will ultimately come from God.

Regarding your salvation, many people seem to think that they can somehow have an impact on whether they get to Heaven or not. How can anyone think this way? We are not supernatural beings, we cannot have an influence over anything which might happen after our physical body dies! For many in the world today, when their life is over their religion teaches that they will come back as something or someone else or not and that is the extent of their “afterlife”. Some believe that when you die, that’s it. There is nothing, you will feel nothing nor see anything once this life is over. Death is the ultimate end to everything.

With that kind of world view, what would drive me or you to be or to do anything good in this life? What would you do if there wasn’t a hope of something better and more substantial after this life? To me, it would be a wasted, useless life if there was not hope for an “after” life. I mean, what’s the point? What really would be the point other than having stuff in this life and enjoying what you have access to now?

The point is that God created this world and everyone in it. He had a part in every person’s life from the beginning, but He also gave us a choice of whether to learn about His love and whether we will follow Him or not. We also have the ability to be adopted as sons through our belief and acceptance of Jesus as our Savior. Once we do that, our eternal life begins. That doesn’t mean that we will never die, but that we will live on after this body dies.

Doesn’t that sound preferable to being put in the ground or cremated and there being nothing after this life? The Truth is that Satan knows that there is an afterlife and if you don’t accept Jesus as your Savior, your next destination will be in hell with him and the demons with him. Hell was not made for us at all, it was created for those Angels that rebelled with Satan. But…when you reject God’s love for you and His grace through Jesus, you end up on the same side as the demons are.

Your life is worth far more to God than you can know or realize without Him in your life and until you do, your life will feel empty and without…something. That something is not drugs or anything man-made, but it is Jesus! He is what your soul is looking for! That is what the empty part of you is searching for and until you allow Jesus to come in, it will always feel empty. Until you fill your “God-shaped hole” with the One that is supposed to be there, it will always feel empty, so fill it with Jesus.

The Season’s Reason


edited atheistThere is an organization which is trying to push their agenda into the spotlight. Well it is time that some of us pushed back! The image to the left is an edited version of their billboard, the one that they are using to try to trash Christmas.

The Truth is in God‘s Word and the Living Word came to Earth as a baby, although he wasn’t born in December but that is not the point. The point is that the few people who deny His existence are really the ones who need Him the most! Where I edited the words a bit changing it to the Truth, underneath it says to celebrate reason, I would rather people celebrate the Reason for the Season!

Why? Because Jesus is the reason for the Season and because He came to pay the penalty for us who were sinners, who still are sinners but we are saved by His grace and the love of God through Jesus. Whether you believe it or not doesn’t matter, the truth is in the Bible and the One who came to save us is in it from the beginning to the end. If you read it, think about what you are reading, pray about the words that you read and ask God to show you the truth in it.

Don’t look at it or read it with a closed mind and heart, ask God to show you His Truth because it is contained in His Word. There is no mythology or false words in God’s Word, because a book with over forty authors could not write these words and all of them point to the same Truth, the Savior of all of us, Jesus if those words were not inspired by God.

Old questions, new ways of looking at the answers


We have always asked the questions and usually get the same or slightly different answers to them. For example: Can God make a rock big enough that He can’t lift? That is like asking someone if He (God) could make a square circle? It is contradictory in nature and any physics or geometry student knows that you can’t make a square circle. Regardless of the age of the student, they would know that it can’t be done. The same logic goes with the first question. God, being the Creator of the entire universe, can make a rock as big as He wishes to make it but He would still be bigger and would be able to move it.

Besides, what would be the point?

God’s Home is outside of our universe and yet He stretched out the heavens and placed the stars in their places. He is as big as He is and yet He cares for sparrows as well as each of us. It is a hard concept to think on or imagine because our minds just can’t fathom Someone having all of that power and glory and majesty, yet care for animals and people on this speck of dust! In all of the cosmos, our planet is the one that God is interested in. It is hard to believe, but it is true.

The moon is our unique satellite because He wanted it that way. It has nothing to do with “planetary evolution’ or a rogue planetoid that slammed into a primordial Earth and created the Moon from the debris blasted from it. Those are the theories of some astronomers, but I believe the creation events found in Genesis unless and until Jesus or God tells me different (and I don’t think that He would contradict something written in His Word).

We can imagine many things, many possibilities for how things work and why but our imagination is tiny and finite compared to His thoughts and His purposes. I know that many people will not accept any of these words, but the fact is that my words come from His inspiration. I can’t possibly think up all of this nearly every day by myself! He uses me as a pastor at my church and on this site and my other site too, in order to tell people about Him. This is not about me at all!! I don’t care one bit about fame or anything that goes with it. All that I was called to do was to preach the gospel, the news about Jesus and salvation through Him!

I do try to do that, and sometimes I get up on a soap-box about some issues, but the main point of my message is salvation through Jesus so that you can take Him out to wherever you may go and then tell someone else. I pray that you will tell someone about this site or maybe re-blog it so that it might be seen by more people. Thank you!

Rev. Gordon T. Eldridge

Without God, what’s the point!?


A quote that I read a while back said that men in the twentieth century have forgotten God. I know that many have tried to say that He is dead and that He doesn’t exist, but how can you forget God? With everything around you in the world and in the universe itself, how can you possibly forget God!?

I know that all of everything is supposed to have come about by some cosmic accident. Something went “Boom!” and then billions and billions of years later everything just put us and everything else into the place where we are and that is that, right?

NO! Explosions involving trillions of tons of matter and chemicals don’t just form up into planets and people and trees and fish. It just doesn’t work that way! Entropy and all of the thermodynamic forces will devolve into less organized bits and pieces given time, but it doesn’t go the other way! Some of the bits and pieces may clump together and become planetesimal bodies, but belief in all of this coming together into living biomasses by accident is by definition insane.

God is the Creator and Designer of everything and everyone in the universe. His place is outside of time because He designed it as well. He can see the beginning and the end and all that is in between them. God is not taken by surprise because He can see those things which are happening and the ones which are going to happen. Life is precious to Him, all of life is precious to Him. From the fish in the sea to the sparrows in the field to a newborn baby in a hospital, each life is precious to God and to push Him out of our lives or try to legislate Him out of our children’s lives is wrong!

We need Him and the moral compass that He gives to each of us because without it we really do act like animals. Humans are selfish and immoral by nature. There are some who are taught right from wrong at an early age, and they will take that with them, but there are many who are not and it is those, regardless of the country or racial strata that they come from, that we hear about on the news. It is the part of society that shouldn’t be getting the exposure but it is. The good part of society, the people who are doing good things usually are not heard about unless they try to help someone who doesn’t want their help and kills them. Then, we don’t hear about he good thing but the bad.

Why are we this way? Because mankind has forgotten God! Some might turn that around and say that God  has forgotten us, but He can’t and He won’t! We are created by Him to be special, to be something which most don’t realize until they get much older. I didn’t realize that I had a purpose that God had given me until I was in my forties. Some may not “get it” until later than that, but the point it that there is one! God doesn’t turn His back on you until you have turned away from Him, if He has been calling you. If He has not, then you have to make the move toward Him and realize that you need Him in your life. This is not an easy thing to do for us because we want to do everything like children, “I can do it myself!”.

That kind of thinking can get you and each person in the world into some places that we can’t get out of. There is no real point to life without God because if you aren’t His or don’t have Him in your life, then you are only working for yourself. Some may think that that’s the point of life, to work for yourself and your family and don’t worry about anyone else. If that is how you feel, then that is a very selfish way of looking at life! Who gave you your life, your family and your job? You didn’t create any of these, God is the One that provided them. They are the blessings of God toward you, each of you and if you can’t see that then your eyes aren’t open at all.

 

Can you handle the Truth?


The Truth needs to be in front of as many people as possible. I hope that you enjoy this as much as I did.

Tracy Eldridge's avatarIn service to Him

My memory brought up this quote from a movie recently and I thought I would use it to see what sort of reaction I might get: “You can’t handle the truth!!” Is this the way that many people see God’s Word, as a Truth that they don’t want to handle or just don’t want to believe?

bibleTruthGod’s Word and His Truth is hard for some people to swallow or it seems to be. It upsets people who are not Christians to see a cross or a Bible. Why is that? A cross is just a couple of pieces of wood and the Bible is considered “just a book”.

The reason that many people have trouble with both of them is because of what and Who is represented by them. The cross is where Jesus gave His life for all of us and paid the price for our sins…

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Why not Jesus?


Do you believe in Him? Does He offend you?

Is belief in Him too hard or offensive to you?

Why?

What is so offensive about Jesus? Is it because Christianity believes that He is the Son of God or because He died on the cross and rose from the grave alive to ascend to the Father?

He is the only Savior that we have, all of us, and yet few people claim to be true Christians. Many do claim to be Christians but they say they only attend church when they feel like it or they only go to church once or twice a month. How is that being a follower of Christ? Peter, James and John didn’t follow Him on Monday and Wednesday only and let the other disciples take over during the rest of the week! Being a “sometimes” Christian is like being a sometimes husband or wife, how long would that last? Not long at all!

The price that you are willing to pay for hope and strength in any situation, depending on the severity of the situation, is also dependent upon your desire to find hope and salvation in that situation. Your life, whether it is this one or the one for eternity, is precious to God whether you believe it or not. Nothing that God has done or will do is dependent upon you or your input or opinion, it is up to Him and what He desires for you and your life! Belief in that is good but it is not necessary because He will cause things to work in such a way that His will and purpose will be fulfilled.

Sometimes or part-time relationships don’t work or last for long, whether it is a friendship, a committed relationship or one that is supposed to be one that is for your own salvation! Part-time commitments just don’t last. The one who is doing things part-time is you! Jesus is all in, He has loved you since before the world began and it was His love for each of us that held Him to the cross, not those nails.

If you have ever felt a tug or a pull on your heart, inside while you were reading something inspirational or maybe at a service of some kind, that was the Holy Spirit knocking at the door to your heart. The only thing that you need to do is to invite Him in. You don’t have to clean up your act or get to be a better person, that will happen when He comes to live with you. He will clean up your heart and your mind and make you a new creation. Your belief in Jesus and asking Him into your life is all that is required on your part and as long as your change is real, you will never lose it.

If you just have a feeling, all fuzzy and warm inside, but no change in your life. No real relationship change between you and Jesus, then maybe you need to check again. Pray and talk to God, read the Word and ask Him to make Himself real to you. He will hear your prayer if you mean it, but He knows whether you do or not. You can’t fool Him and you can’t hide from Him either. Remember Jonah? He tried to run from God and His call too, and look where he ended up? Once you truly decide to let Jesus into your life, you are never alone again. It is your choice and yours alone which will decide your eternal destiny, but if God has called you and you have felt it please don’t ignore it because He has something great in store for you!

Are you a loving person?


We are told to give away our faith in Jesus so that others might have hope in Him too. Do we do this? If you don’t, then why? We can all be the types of people which do this. We can give money or time to causes that we believe in and yet not have any love or compassion for those who are receiving our gifts but you know, but spiritually we are not getting it! Giving without love is easy but you can’t love without giving because it is impossible!

If you truly love Jesus, you can’t keep it to yourself…you have to tell others, you have to give away the thing that you could not afford to attain that which you cannot lose! Not one of us who claim Jesus as our Lord and Savior could’ve paid the price that was paid for our Salvation, but once you get it you can’t lose it. Some people walk away from it and from Him which ruins their witness to others, but your eternal salvation (if you were sincere in your belief in the first place) is secure.

There are people who have thought, in their own minds, that they were saved at a particular time and yet when things get tight or tough in their lives they turn away from the only One that can help! You have known people like this, when they are making enough money and everything is going fairly well in their lives (on the outside) and they seem to be strong in their faith, they may be coming to church regularly. But, when they are at home or at work or out with their friends then they allow a part of themselves to show that doesn’t show at church. Usually, they are quite the opposite. So, what happened? Are they true Christians or were they deceived into thinking that they were?

A loving, kind person can be as sweet to you as your grandmother but they may not be genuine about having faith at all and could not care less about you or your situation. Love and kindness can be faked, affection can be faked but a person who truly has accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior cannot fake it! If there has been a real change in their life and in their heart, and the Love of Christ is dwelling inside them, they can’t keep it in, they have to let it out. In whatever ways that God leads them to, it will come out. It will come out when they are at work or at a restaurant or a store, it is impossible for them to hold it inside! The genuineness of that love is so real that anyone that it touches will know it for sure!

I know that there are people who will disagree with this, but when you are the recipient of the greatest love that the universe has ever known, you cannot keep it to yourself! If it has truly changed your life and your heart then there is no way that you can keep it to yourself because it has to show in your life and your work and it will show through  your character! The love of Christ is too contagious so it has to get out so that someone can see it, it has to be shown and felt and known by all of those around you!

Here is a link to a wonderful site which shows and explains the reasons for becoming a Christian

If you have never known Jesus or a genuine Christian, then I encourage you to seek Him out. Through prayer, reading the Word, regardless of the translation and asking Him if He is real. He will show you for sure and He will be with you no matter the situation. The problems and the stuff that is happening all over the world have been caused by us or by Satan and his fallen angels. God is allowing it to happen, but He has a plan and is still in control, whether you believe it or not.