Tag: Jesu

Religion may put you in hell!


In Paul’s day and in our own time, people keep traditions alive and you hear “that’s the way it has always been done”, as proof of their Christian lives and their beliefs as well as the “proof” of their conversion. We see people in church as well as on the street that we know as “church people”, meaning that they are in church every time that there is something going on there. It could also mean that they volunteer in church to drive the bus or to help in the nursery or any number of duties. These people feel sanctified and saved because of their deeds or their work for the church and they may be, but what about the Person that they are serving? Are they working for Jesus or themselves?

In Paul’s day there were many who were “religious”, all of the priests, the Pharisees and Sadducees were religious and yet Jesus condemned them. They were convinced that they were right and everyone else was wrong and they would not listen to any “new” teaching. They were stuck in the past with all of their laws and rules and they had hardened their hearts against anything new.

Do you know people like that? I do, but what can you or I do about it? We can’t change them because they don’t listen or won’t listen just as those in Jesus’ time wouldn’t. So what can we do? Love them, and pray for them daily.

In reference to the title of today’s sermon, there will be many people in hell who are or were religious while they were here and they were that way their whole life. They were convinced that their way was right and that they were doing things right, so what happened? They weren’t shown the error of their ways? Maybe or maybe they just didn’t listen or really hear sermons which they attended. When your ears are closed to Christ and His way of living, your heart is too. So how do you get people like that to listen? By prayer and fasting. Even Jesus said that some problems can only be solved by prayer and fasting.

I am not speaking of fasting for forty days or even two weeks, but if there is someone that you love who hasn’t given their lives and their hearts to Jesus then pray for them and fast for one day! Drink water and juice during that time and pray.

Their life will be impacted and yours will too! God listens closely to those who combine fasting with prayer. The answer may not come immediately after the fast is over, but you can be sure that your prayer was heard!

When Paul wrote most of his letters to the different churches, he was usually in prison at the time. What does that say about his ministry? It says that it was effective for one thing because he was getting someone’s attention! He was striving for the prize, but what was that prize? The prize that Paul was striving for was to be more like Jesus and if it meant that he was stoned or imprisoned for the teaching that he was doing then so be it! The prize that Paul was seeking was also to be considered worthy of being a “good and faithful servant” to his Lord, which is something that we should also be striving for.

To live for Christ and with Him in your daily life is a conscious decision that has to be made daily. It doesn’t automatically happen when you accept Him as your savior. Many people think that once you have accepted Him into your heart, you have done your part. That is not where your part in your new life ends but where it begins! You have to decide every day to take Christ with you everywhere you go! And if you wouldn’t take Jesus there in person, then you shouldn’t be there either!

That is a radical concept for many people to accept even Christians who have been in church most of their lives. You can get up and have a bad day and from that point you may un-invite Christ or decide not to ask Him to be with you that day. Of course He will still be there but you may not know it because you choose not to recognize Him. We are supposed to know and come to know Him daily because of Who He is and what He did for us and yet we sometimes choose not to allow Him to be a presence in our daily life.

Why would you decide such a thing? The Creator of everything wants a relationship with you and everyone else in the world, doesn’t that sound cool?! We are enamored with all sorts of celebrities and sports figures and would enjoy spending time with them so why not be just as excited when the Creator wants to be in your life and share it with you? The disciples had that relationship for about three years and yet they didn’t fully comprehend it until He ascended to the Father. We have the Bible, God’s Word, to tell us all that we need to know about Him and about the Father and we have the Holy Spirit to guide us daily in our walk with Him, what more could you ask for?

Our world and the one who influences people everyday tries to tell us that the things of this world, right now are more important than anything we could have with Jesus in our lives. Money, power, and possessions are all temporary because when our life is over those things won’t mean anything. Some of them may have sentimental value to our family but other than that, nothing in this world makes the trip past death’s door only your soul and spirit do that.

The way that many people see being a Christian is that we live with lots of rules and regulations about what we can and cannot do. That is not the way this works! Following Christ and keeping our eyes on Him, spiritually and physically is the requirement that we should live with every day. It is not hard to follow Christ, once you get the hang of it. The hard part is the tug of war between your old self and the new one that now lives in your heart.

Until your faith in Christ can keep your new self in place and kick the old one out, you will be in turmoil because you can’t serve them both. It is a decision that you have to make every day. Get up with Christ on your mind, not what am I going to do today? But Who am I going to be with today? Am I going to go back to doing the things that I did before I met Jesus? Or am I going to read the Bible a few minutes and pray for strength and guidance from Him to carry me through the day?

We are living this life to get ready for the next but you have to make sure that you are going to have a life, a real life, after this one. Many people think that there is no life after this one and the Bible says just the opposite from beginning to end. Give yourself a chance to experience that life because the alternative is eternal separation from loved ones who are in heaven and from the love of God too. The only chance that you have to make this decision is during this life, now. Once this life ends, there are no “second chances”. Ask Jesus into your life, follow Him every day, learn about Him and the love that He has for you during the time that you have now.

The universe shows us every day the power and majesty of God so we are without excuse when someone asks if there is a God. Isn’t it wonderful that the Creator of everything wants to know you and have a relationship with you? Don’t you want to know Him too? All you have to do is ask Him into your life and your heart and you will have that relationship.

A new beginning!


We are coming to the end of one year and the beginning of another, so what do we do with it? Celebrate the fact that the world did not end as the Mayan’s predicted for one thing! We could begin our new year with a passion for living to start the year off right. If you intend to do that, what kind of passion and for whom would you begin with? Many people would like to say that their life and their passion comes first and to many people that is exactly what the New Year is about. There are also many people who are in need of basic necessities for life, what about them? Can we start a new tradition by giving of ourselves and our money to those in need. Not organizations mind you, I am talking about finding people in your community or your state that really need help! You could give of your time to help fix up someone’s home or bring food to someone who may be going through a hard time financially.

There are many ways to help others and you can think of other ways but what about the church? Those who are supposed to be servants of God are supposed to be doing this already, so what is the hold up? There are people in the church and around churches all over this country who really need help. When the church first began to take shape at Pentecost, they were selling what they had and giving to whoever had a need. Now, I am not saying that we should sell what we have in order to give to those who need but we can give what we can. God blesses a cheerful giver and He will bless your gift no matter what the amount or what the gift may be. If it is time, He will bless you with more. If it is money, your finances will be blessed. There are multiple ways that God can and will bless you when you give, but you must give expecting Him to bless and not expecting that the person that you are giving to will give to you. If your heart is right with God and your motives are right then you and the gift that is given will be blessed.

The new year also comes with other beginnings, such as your walk with Jesus and your commitment to Him and His kingdom. Have you committed your life to Him? Many people across the world have decided that they don’t believe in Him which is a sad situation. Even Satan believes in Him because he was created by Him! Belief doesn’t mean that you have to follow Him, but the consequences are not good if you don’t.

Your life here is like a rehearsal for eternity and your performance (belief or non-belief) determines your place in eternity. Your sins that are committed here, big or small, don’t really matter much but your acceptance of Jesus as the Son of God and as your Savior does! What you do with the knowledge that you have gained from attending church services or listening to sermons on radio or television is your choice. No one is going to force you to accept Jesus or even to follow Him once you have accepted Him, but the rewards in eternity are totally different from not accepting Him. Will you give Jesus a chance in your life this year?

The only things that you may lose by accepting Him are: an eternity in hell, habits which may be bad for your health or your marriage or both, so-called friends who may not be your friends when your life changes after accepting Him. These are things which you could do without anyway, but doing without Jesus is not a good decision in light of eternity! You may enjoy temporary joy or other things in this life without Him, but you will not enjoy eternity at all without Him. Think about this decision because it really is one that will affect your life long after your life on earth is over. Remember, this life only the beginning!

Happy New Year!!

So much misconception about God


Why is our world so confused about God? Is it because He is not something or someone who can be seen or touched? I don’t believe so, since the founders of other religions are dead and cannot be contacted or touched either. The difference is that our God can be contacted and He will answer those prayers! Whether the answer will come on your schedule or not is irrelevant because God answers on His time and not yours.

God loves all of humanity, that is why He sent His Son to be the sacrifice that took the sins of all of us, past, present and future, and paid the price for them all. Our only response, the only one that is required of us, is to acknowledge that we need Him and accept that He paid that price for each of us. Then ask Him to come into our lives and make us more like Him. Once that is done, and we have taken the steps in our life to turn away from our sinful ways, we must let others know about Him!

I know that many people don’t want to testify that they have changed, that their lives have been changed by Jesus but if the change has happened people will see it in your life whether you tell them or not. The misconception that many people have is that they cannot know God.

The Bible is a collection of writings that were inspired by the Holy Spirit and in some cases, such as the books of Moses, were given directly by God Himself to the writer. All of these books are God’s way of advising us on living our lives through Hiim and for Him. God also expresses His love for us through these books and the wisdom contained within them, all we have to do is read and study them and ask Him to help us to understand. There is a passage in the Bible that says something like this, “if you feel that you lack wisdom, ask it of Him and He will give it freely”. Now that is  paraphrase, but you get the idea.

God is not someone who is billions of miles away, He is here. He occupies the entire universe and He can live in your heart if you ask Him to. You are never very far from Him and when you feel alone remember the only one who may have moved is you! God has always been close by although He will not barge into your life. He waits patiently for you to ask Him to come in.

God is the Creator and the One who sustains the universe and all that is in it. Jesus is the living Word that came to earth and became a man to take our sins and the punishment for them to the cross. He is the reason that many have trouble with accepting Christianity. They don’t want to accept Him because many do not believe that the Son of God would do what He did.

The love that God has for us is one that we cannot comprehend because it is far above what we are capable of. Yet it is because of that love for us that He came to suffer through life as we do, to be as we are in every circumstance and yet follow the will of His Father even unto the cross to pay for our sins.

Can we know God? Can we get to know Him like the prophets knew Him? Yes, we can! He wants to get to know us and He wants that relationship with us. All that we have to do is ask Him into our lives and study His Word prayerfully so that we will gain an understanding of just Who He is and what we should be doing.

We are sometimes to proud to admit that we need Him until some problem happens in our lives that punctuates the fact that we cannot handle life by ourselves. At those times, even those who claim that they don’t believe in God will seek Him! Whether they make a life-changing decision to allow Him into their lives is another topic altogether, but they will look for Him until something or someone directs them elsewhere.

Satan is very good at directing us to look to ourselves or to something in the world besides God. It is what he has been doing since the beginning and his ability to deceive us is a finely honed skill that he is very proud of. Satan is capable of twisting scripture to a point that you will think that you have found “religion”, and you have but you haven’t found Jesus!

Religion, in all of its forms in the world, cannot save you from your sins. Only Jesus and asking Him to come into your life and your heart can do that. The choice must be a sincere and honest one, not lip service. Saying some words and getting emotional about it doesn’t change much. If the repentance of your heart is not genuine, God will know. Read and learn from the Bible. God to a real church that preaches from God’s Word. Give your heart to Christ and ask Him to cleanse you from your sins. Once you have done this, your life and your character will change and you are a new creation. Your family will see it as will your friends. Everything will change because you belong to Him and He will live in and through you! That is my prayer and hope for all who read this.

Ignore the world at your own risk!


It says in the Bible that we are not to be part of the world, and yet we are supposed to take Christ‘s message to all of the world. Kind of contradictory isn’t it? Not really, but we can’t let the world and the things in the world affect our life and our witness to those who may not know Christ. How can we do this?

We can’t do it on our own strength or with our own power because Satan and his demonic forces are far more powerful than we are without Jesus in our life and our heart. Without Jesus, it is impossible for us to do good outside the influence of evil. Regardless of how good we think that we are or can be, we cannot withstand the influence of the principalities and powers that Satan has at his disposal.

The reason behind your failure to withstand him is that he hates you with an undying hatred! The reason for this is that he knew that God intended to put humanity above angels in the hierarchy of Heaven one day. That is the one reason beyond pride that Satan had for his rebellion. Everything else pales in comparison and he intends to do everything that he can to corrupt as much of God’s creation as possible.

So, in a word, no we cannot ignore the world! It would be very dangerous to do so because he is the ruler of this world and ignoring the world would be just what Satan wants, in a sense. He doesn’t want to be ignored, but if enough people regard him as a myth or a fairy tale then they won’t know to defend themselves from his attacks or even know that they need to.

Many Christians don’t even know that they need to take care of the thoughts that they have and give them to Jesus. To walk with Jesus on an hourly basis is the only way to defend yourself and if you choose not to be that close with Him then Satan can get into your life, even if you go to church. Mainly because he is there too! He and his demons are in every congregation in the world. They never miss a Sunday or a Sabbath, yet many don’t have any idea that they are there.

When you give your heart to Jesus, He comes in and cleans out anything that has been there before and makes you into a new creation! Your heart becomes the temple for the Spirit to live and work in and through you and for you. When this happens, your life can have so much more meaning not only for you but for God too.

Making Jesus the Lord of your life makes you one of His disciples and they were able to do many glorious, miraculous things as long as their trust and their faith stayed focused on Him. Can we do the same? Yes, we can if we truly believe in Him and repent of our old ways and truly change. Don’t go back to the same places that you went to before, make new friends and tell your old friends that you are a new person!

Take them to church with you and introduce them to your Savior so that they will come to know Him. God loves them, they just have to realize it and accept His love and grace and they will become part of His family too!

What can we do for the world?


We as Christians, are supposed to be the light of the world but are we? The few of us who are dedicated to furthering Christ‘s teachings in the world have little influence in it. Our sphere of speaking engagements and preaching opportunities doesn’t extend very far from our homes. We are not international evangelists, so how can we possibly make a difference?

In all seriousness, we can’t do it without Christ’s help and influence behind the words which we do speak and the limited amount of influence that we do have. Without Him, we are nothing but with Him our words and our actions can make a difference. The difference will be in accordance with His will however so don’t expect things to go as you might hope. Our own feelings and wants are not a part of the equation when God‘s hand and His Spirit are involved. Our prayers to Him are for our benefit but ultimately, He is in control of everything.

I am not writing this to dampen the spirit of those who truly are followers of Christ and have their hope in Him but we have to face reality. The reality of our world is that even though Satan has control over most of the governments of earth, God is still in control of what he can do. We are not left alone, without help. God is behind the scenes, but in control and that is what we have to hold on to in order to be strong enough to stand up for what is right and for those who need to know Him. Even though there are many places where God is not known, His presence and the works of His hands are always visible to everyone. So no one has an excuse for being unable to know about God or who He is.

God’s handiwork is evident in the night sky or the cry of a newborn baby or a new sunrise. The beauty of His creation is that it is because He put it there. Nothing and no one is here by accident or evolution, regardless of the scientific community believing otherwise and trying to teach it as fact.

There will always be people who don’t want to hear about religion or God or creation and that is fine. They are free to believe whatever they wish to believe, but what if all of Christianity and the Bible is true? When you die you don’t get a second chance. There are no “do-overs” or re-incarnation for anyone to fix what was done wrong in their previous life. Your life here and now is the chance that you get, regardless of how long it is. If you choose to believe that there is no God and that you just go to sleep when you die and that is it, no one on earth can change your mind.

Although, when you open your eyes in eternity after death what will you say to the One that you stand before? It won’t be a blank screen staring back at you and it won’t be a computer asking for your ID card. It will be the Creator of the Universe who may ask you “What were you thinking?” or “Did you really think all of this was an accident”? It is possible that the Bible is true because the Creator does not lie! The words that He gave to His prophets and to His disciples are all true, whether you choose to believe it or not!

Yet, there are many who will wake up in eternity to find that it is real. Then what? At that point for them, the Truth is standing in front of them and cannot be denied except that it is too late. You can only accept Christ while you are alive, in the flesh. Once you have crossed over into eternity, what decisions were made here are cast in stone and cannot be changed. Make sure that you have checked all the possible explanations, especially the one about Christ and His saving grace for you before you die. Decide to make a difference in your life, because He will.

You almost persuaded me to be a Christian


 

“Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian”. Acts 26:28

King Agrippa’s comment to Paul is the only time in the New Testament that anyone said to a disciple that they were almost persuaded to become a Christian. These eight words give a sad testimony to King Agrippa and yet, many people say this today, nearly word for word. It is a frightening thought to me to see or hear someone say that because the punishment for those who have rejected God‘s offer of salvation is spiritual death, eternal separation from God!

God loves all of us and yet we, in our own ignorance, tell lies, we cheat, we commit all kinds of sinful acts daily which cut us off from communication with Him even now. He can’t and won’t hear us when we have become defiled by the world and the things in it that draw us away from Him. In many people’s eyes, the things which come between us and God on a daily basis doesn’t matter in the here and now. But, just for a moment, think about this: we are going to be in eternity whether we are in heaven or hell!

True, what you say or do on a daily basis may not hurt anyone right now but if you are the one saying something hurtful or out of character for a true Christian, who is it hurting? You in the long run, because you are going to pay for it by losing something which you would have gained in eternity! It also may hurt someone who hears what you say or sees what you did. Your witness as a Christian is visible to those around you all the time, especially your family but also your students, your friends and co-workers. Every word and deed, small or large will have an impact on your life now and in eternity and it will have an impact on someone else’s life too!

Being “almost” a Christian is like not being one at all! Any little misstep that you make in front of someone, regardless of who it may be, can be eternally damaging. That is why we have to crucify our “self”, the person who wants to say what they always said or do the things that they have always done; it has to be done daily because if you don’t stop that “old you” from showing up, it will happen again and again until no one will be able to tell if you ever changed or not!

Jesus was ordained to follow the path that He did from the beginning. It was not as a result of what happened in Eden, God knew it was going to happen. and we were purchased with His blood, every person from that point until the last person on earth is born and chooses to follow Christ or not. They and we are all forgiven, it only matters who decides to choose and which choice is made, whether to follow Christ as your Savior or not. That is the only choice which really makes a difference in your life now and in eternity!

What about those people who have not accepted Jesus as their savior, do they have to follow the same rules as we do? Actually, they don’t because they are not bound to any commitment to Jesus. They are free to do as they please. Many people would comment that that is unfair but how is it unfair? Being bound to Jesus is a choice, a choice that we make as Christians, while the same is also true about people who have chosen not to follow Christ. They have chosen to be committed to their own beliefs and moral codes, regardless of the eternal consequences.

Their choice is for their immediate satisfaction, right now and they choose not to worry about eternity until it gets here, if it ever does. Now, we know that eternity is true because Jesus spoke of it in the Bible, by many who do not believe don’t think that there is anything beyond this life. Many who do not follow Jesus, don’t come to church and even if they do, they don’t believe what the Bible says so they don’t “listen” to what they hear in church anyway. Their ears heard it but they choose not to listen, yet when they cross through the door of death and find their judgment waiting for them, it is too late to decide then.

What can we do for our loved ones if they are un-decided about their Christian life or whether they will even follow Christ? Pray for them, witness to them, answer their questions, bring them to church with you. After all of this and they are still un-decided, pray for them some more, but don’t push because other than prayer will seem as if you are doing just that, pushing. Many people don’t like “pushy Christians” and they will put even more distance between themselves and you and Jesus! At this point, the seeds have been planted so let God grow them. The Holy Spirit will take over as the gardener and it is out of your hands.

How does death affect you?


The life that each of us lives here is dependent upon the life that we are brought up in. How we are brought up by our parents or even the lack of parental figures can have a great impact on our life. But, what about our spiritual life? Our parents or grand-parents have a tremendous impact on how we view God or our belief in Him.

What about death? Does it have an effect on your life? It depends on who dies. If they are close to you like your father or mother, then yes it has a great impact on your life for years to come. Whether you admit it or not, it does have an impact on your life. Whether the death happens at a young age or if you are an adult also makes a difference.

What about your knowledge of their relationship with Jesus. Does that make a difference in how their death has an effect on you? For Christians, it does have a great impact because we have the hope of seeing them again in heaven one day. Then we will have an eternity to truly get to know them and understand them instead of the limited amount of time we have in this life.

Time, during our life on earth, takes away many joys of living because between our job and the things that have to be done for our children such as school, home-work, games, recitals, etc. all seem to get in the way. We do enjoy our children and being with them but wouldn’t it be better if we could get to know them individually, rather than watching them grow up in relation to other kids and their peers? I don’t mean to take their friends away or to school them at home (although that is what I do because I can’t afford the schools in our area), but to really get to know your children you have to spend time with them.

To get to know your friends, you have to spend time with them as well. “Facebook friends” are acquaintances, unless you live in a town that includes all of them and you take the time to get to know all of them! Many people could not know, really know, all of the people in their friend’s list. What about knowing Jesus? He is the most important friend that you can ever have and yet many just know about Him. They have heard about Him in church or from family, but they don’t know Him!

Death may not seem to have much in relation to knowing your friends or Jesus, but it does. Your friends’ death impacts your life. Your death will impact your family and your friends lives. If you are close friends, it will be a more profound impact. Just as the death of Lazarus had an impact on Jesus, it also had a profound impact on his sisters. When Jesus came to the tomb, “he wept” but He did not weep for Lazarus. He was weeping because of those who did not believe who He was, even after raising Lazarus from the dead.

Death is a great equalizer. No one can escape it and it comes to rich and poor, old and young, Communist or Democratic, and all continents and to those who believe in Christ and those who do not. Compared to eternity, which comes after death, our life is like a puff of smoke. I know that some may not believe that they have an eternal soul and I don’t have the proof to give you. But we will all find out about it after our death and our belief in eternity or not won’t change the reality that we will find ourselves in at that point.

Look for Jesus and salvation through belief in Him because eternity is a long time and I would rather meet you in Heaven than find out that you are in hell because of a decision not to come to know Him.

Do you know Jesus?


There are many in the world today who have either turned their back on Christ or they have never invited Him into their life in the first place. Many people live in areas where belief in Him would mean their death or imprisonment, but there are still followers of Christ there anyway. In my home country of the United States, there are many who are turning their back on religion, Christianity in particular and yet in other places in the world there are many who are embracing Jesus and the love that He offers them.

Why are there such divisions, so many who just turn away from Christ and from the way of life that He offers? It seems that there are so many choices, so many “ways” to serve a god and so many “gods”, how can this be? The trees and the fish cannot save you from going to hell. Your job, your spouse, your children or grand-children cannot save you, your grand-parents or your ancestors cannot save you either. What is the attraction to everything that is created, the creation instead of the Creator? Why can’t we realize that the One who Created it all is the One that we are to humble ourselves before?

The life that you have, and everything that is yours was given to each of us by God. We have these things because of Him, not because of something that we have done. Your job, your pay, your home, your family was given and provided for you by God because everything belongs to Him and always has. God’s Son, Jesus, came to give us a chance at being adopted into God’s family. All that we have to do is believe that He died for us and ask Him to come into our hearts.

When that happens, we change from the sinful people that we are into children of God. The transformation doesn’t give us the ability to be “gods”, it gives us the ability to come before Him and serve Him. I know that there are some people, in fact there are many people, who don’t like the idea of serving or being a servant. But, consider this, you and all of us were born as rebellious children. Our nature is that way from the time that we are small and only gets more so as we get older. Notice, I did not say “as we mature”, because we don’t mature until that side of our nature is either under the control of Jesus or by some force of our own will through meditation, martial arts or some other “mind over self” control.

When you have given your heart to Christ, He will come in and begin to clean things up, but this process is not immediate. Just as polishing a piece of brass takes time, so does our “clean up” take time. It may not be enjoyable and it likely won’t be fun but it is necessary. When you see an artist or a sculptor working on something whether it is a painting or a bowl, it doesn’t show up as a finished product immediately. It takes time. Just as when we pray for something like a healing in our family or a job, the answer doesn’t come the next day. It may not come for a week or two or maybe even a few months, but it will come in God’s time.

We have to understand this and at the beginning of our walk through life with Him, it is difficult. It is the most difficult lesson that we have to learn, but until we learn patience enough to wait on God and His answer, in His time, we will be frustrated and sometimes angry with Him. Asking for patience from God is a prayer which will be answered but you may not like the answer. Because in the cultivation of patience, God will try yours to the point of breaking. As the adage goes,”be careful what you ask for”!

God loves each of us far more than we can understand because He knew us before the foundation of the world. He could see into the future because He is outside of time itself and knows the beginning from the end. He knew then and knows now what you are doing and what you will do in the next second, the next minute, or hour or week or even the next decade if you have that long. He knows when you are going to die and the cause of your death, but He also when you will decide to give your life to Him or not. Nothing is a surprise to God!

The time and place of your birth, your life and your death are all known to God and have been known by Him since before the world began. Adam‘s sin the the Garden was known, Satan‘s rebellion against God was also known before it happened. God would not be God if He did not know these things, but He does. Give Him a chance in your heart and in your life before your life is over, because once you are before Him at your judgement it is too late. Your chance to come to Him is now during your life here, once the door to this life has closed and you stand before Him there is no second chance. Salvation is only a prayer away, just a few seconds of time to change your life forever. Think about it.

Jesus feeds us today


Feeding the five thousand

Matt. 14: 13 through 21

(paraphrased in my own words)

When Jesus heard of John the Baptist being beheaded, he departed into a deserted place. John was his cousin so naturally, it bothered Jesus that this should happen to him. While He was there, many people found out where He had gone and followed him on foot to be near him. When he became aware of them he had compassion on them because they were far from home and he healed the sick that they had brought with them.

Afterward, toward evening, his disciples came to him saying for him to send them away so that they could get something to eat. Jesus said “they need not depart; give them something to eat”. What do you think Jesus was trying to do at this point? Have you any idea?

He was trying to get them to exercise their faith in Him. They told him that they had five loaves and two fishes. The multitude numbered about five thousand men not counting women and children and yet he told them to sit in groups of fifty and an hundred. Then He blessed the food and brake the loaves and fishes and gave them to his disciples to distribute. They all ate their fill and had twelve baskets left over.

What was shown during this feast? The power of God and His Son to be sure but what else? The power of faith in Him. If the disciples had not had faith in Jesus when He gave them the pieces of fish and bread, would they have distributed it as he had told them to? I don’t think so. Their faith was rewarded with substance, just as ours is today. When we have faith in the prayers that we pray and the outcome of those prayers, then the result with be answered prayers.

When Jesus came into history and chose His disciples we began to learn about Him and the Father because they wrote down their experiences with Him and what He said and did. Jesus and His Father worked together and that they loved all of us, not just one people. We learned by Jesus’ words and His work that He wants all of us to come to Him. Many people look at this and say that we are to be slaves to Jesus. Is that actually so bad? Considering that He will reward us with eternity in Heaven, is that so bad?

Granted, God may not answer our prayers in the way that we want Him to but they will be answered.

Can we have faith as they did when they were with Jesus? Yes, we can because we have the testimony of the Bible to bolster our faith. Many people today think that the bible is outdated and useless for the twenty-first century but God can see the time we live in and beyond so His Word and the promises contained within it is never outdated.

We, on the other hand, have our own agenda. We gravitate toward discounting the Word of God and not give it the power that it actually has. Is it possible that we don’t look at God the way that He is portrayed in the Bible? Why would we do such a thing? God created all that is around us, for our benefit and for His Glory. He created us the way we are, warts and all, to reflect His glory so that others will see what we have in Christ and want it too.

Do you look at the bible as being an old book full of children’s stories but not something that we should not pay attention to today? God revealed Himself to Israel through His prophets and they wrote down the words that He gave them to say and to write down. In those writings, we can learn who He is and we can learn about Him. We can learn what He wants of us today, not just Israel. How we are to treat others, how He will treat us, how much He loves us.

Some religions today say that we can be gods. Can you, by willing it, be any taller or slimmer than you are? I know we wish we could at times, but we can’t. Our Creator, Jesus, loves and cares for each of us. Right down to the last hair on our heads. How can you possibly understand a love like that? It is hard for anyone to understand it, but He does. He and the Father have loved all of us since the beginning, long before we were born because God sees the end from the beginning. Time was created by Him and yet He is outside of time. We cannot understand the concept of this, but it is true.

The universe was put together by Him for us so that we could see His majesty and power, even if we never heard a sermon preached. Nature cries out that the Creator is here! He has been from the beginning. The smallest life-form is perfect in its ways because He made it so, not because of some accident.

We cannot make it without Him. He is the One who sustains us, protects us, gives us our faith and our courage for everyday living. Oh, we can pridefully do it on our own for a while but what happens when the really bad stuff happens and our way just doesn’t cut it anymore?

What about the times that we have lost someone dear to us or they have been diagnosed with cancer that is inoperable? Can you hold up to that on your own strength? Maybe for a while, but eventually your strength will fail, then where will you turn? To what or who will you turn to? If you don’t know Jesus, will you blame Him or God for all the bad things? Many people do, which is exactly what Satan wants us to do.

The provision that Christ showed to the five thousand, He will give to us if we only turn to Him. Whether we turn in our hour of greatest need or we turn because we are drawn to Him by the Spirit. He loves us, which is why we are all still here to begin with. If it were not for the love that God has for us and the mercy that He bestows on us daily, the world would have ended years ago. We might never have been born, but God knew that we would because He has a purpose for each of us. That is why the mouth of hell is not yawning beneath us, because of His pleasure and His mercy toward us and those who have not accepted Jesus yet.

We are loved by the Creator! The One Who put all of this together perfectly so that we could see its majesty and His Glory! Can we comprehend a love like that? I can’t and I would imagine that you can’t either! Almighty God, His Son and the Holy Spirit did an awesome work in this universe and man cannot fathom why we are special enough to be the only life here. In reality, we may not be or God may have something else in mind, who knows? Only God Himself knows why He did what He did.

The love and mercy of Jesus, His compassion toward the people that He fed and healed and toward us, is what is keeping hell and the end of the world at bay and Satan too. What will you do when the time comes that Satan’s wrath comes to earth? If you are still here, who will you turn to?

Jesus is the only way to eternity, regardless of the promises you may hear from any “false Christ”. The end of our life is only a heart beat away or one more breath away, what will you do about Jesus? You don’t know when your life could end. It might end tonight or tomorrow. I may not make it home, but I will be with Jesus. Some might ask me: “How do you know that you will go to heaven?” Because the Spirit within my heart gives me peace in the knowledge that I am His. Are you?

Your life’s purpose


Did you know that just twenty-one days elapse from conception to the first heartbeat when you are still in your mother’s womb? From that point on your life is begun and your parent’s lives will never be the same. The things that you desire in life that give you a purpose or worth, make you feel significant or accepted, give you security or cause you to feel loved or allow you to experience the beauty of God’s creation. These are the things which you will follow after and crave  most of your life. Can they be found in one place or person?

The answer is yes, they can be found in one person and His name is Jesus. The creation, of which we are a part of, is His doing. We are special to Him and to God, so why don’t we feel special? Did we do something wrong? Can we fix it if we did?

Some of us do feel special because our parents and grand-parents reinforced that feeling. But are we special? To God we are special because He created each of us for a purpose and we are made for that purpose especially by Him.

The second question: Did we do something wrong? No, not exactly. We all do or say things that we regret later, it is just our human nature. That is the problem but we can’t blame everything that we say or do on that. We cannot abrogate or refuse to acknowledge our responsibility in life because of “human nature”. It is that nature that we have been handed down from antiquity that we must take control of but we cannot do it on our own strength. We have to allow Jesus into our life and our heart so that we can become someone better than we can become ourselves.

We can’t do it on our own. Regardless of the science-fiction stories of a utopian future where we all get along and disease and poverty don’t exist. That world is not possible without the rule of Christ in our lives and even then it would not work unless He was the ruler of the world as He will be.

But, the most important decision that you will make is whether to accept Him as Lord and Savior in your life and your heart. When you give your life to Him and give up your way of doing things in favor of His way, your life and the influence that it has on others will be changed dramatically. God loves you far more than you or I can possibly imagine and He wants the best for you. That does not mean that you will have millions of dollars or houses or anything that the world recognizes as “success”, but you will be successful in other ways, eternal ways.

The life that we have does not end when our physical body dies because God created us with an eternal spirit which will live on. Eternity makes this life seem like a puff of smoke so the influence that you have here needs to be based on following and loving Jesus, not on following what the world wants you to do.
Think about it. Pray about it and seek the wisdom that only God can provide through His Word, the Bible. Don’t just read it like a book, because it is the Creator‘s conversation with us and His people. Pray and ask Him to show you the wisdom that is intended for you and your situation. He will open your eyes and your heart so that you can see and understand that which you need.