Life…

Do you know the Author of Life? The Creator of Life? The Way to Life everlasting?

The Person Who is all of those and more is Jesus the Messiah. He came so that we might have Life, so that we could have forgiveness of our sins and enter into eternity with Him. There is no other name under heaven by which we CAN be saved.

Today, we see all sorts of bad things or atrocities in our world. Things which most of us have never seen or heard about. Most of them so horrific that we can’t imagine anyone living in the places where they are. But, it is happening. In some areas in America but mostly overseas in the Middle East and Africa.

Life is not respected or revered in any culture anymore, whether it is the life of a child in the womb or your life and mine on the street. It seems that nobody cares about each person’s life, except their own. They, each of us it seems, only care about what is in it for me. Selfishness is rampant, and this is dangerous. Why? Because when things get really bad, everyone will be only looking out for themselves and no one else but them and possibly their immediate family.

God loves all of us and He hasn’t forgotten anyone, but there are so many who have forgotten Him…just turned away from Him and His wisdom. Whether they actually ever knew Him or not, that is between them and God and no one else knows about their salvation or lack of it besides Him. Nobody is condemned to Hell unless they reject His offer of grace and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

It is a sad fact that many people do just that and never really think about it much, until they really need Him, and by that time their lives may be nearly over or they die before then. With death, you forfeit your chance at redemption because your chances for that are while you live here and now. Unless you make that decision while you live, there is no second chance once you are standing in front of Him. Your life is your chance, don’t throw it away or ignore the offer.

In spite of the questions in the picture about God’s interest in you, He really is. He cares enough for us that He knows how many hairs are on your head and mine. If He cares enough to even know that detail, then the rest of your days and your life is included in His knowledge of you as well.

Movement…

It seems that everyone wants some sort of “movement” today. A movement to legalize this or that, one to discourage this behavior or that behavior. Why?

God moved toward us when He sent Jesus to be the substitute for our sacrifice, for our deserved punishment because of sin. He caused a movement in the world because of His love for us which has been making a difference in people’s lives for about two thousand years. Yes, there have been some missteps by those who considered their view of “christian” living and worship to be the only one that was valid but when you step into exclusivity for anything that is the direction you are going.

The only exclusive part of Christian life is that Jesus said “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:” John 11:25. He is the Life and the Way to Heaven, there is no other path to take which can get you there. Jesus is our exclusive and inclusive way to eternity.

Why do I say that He is inclusive when there is so much division in the church all over the world? Because it is not the sinner which God and Jesus hate, it is the sin and the lifestyle of sin which they hate. You are loved by God as if you are the only person on Earth but if you are living in a sinful life, it is the lifestyle and the sins that you are committing which God hates…not you.

He created each of us as a person whom He could have a relationship with. He came down and walked with Adam before the fall in Eden and that is what He wants to do with you. Knowing about Him, listening to sermons, reading the Bible and going to church are wonderful in and of themselves BUT those things will not save your soul! Belief in Jesus and in His life and that He died for your sins is what will save you. Follow Him daily, confess your sinful life and repent of those sins so that others can see a change in your life that they will want in their life!

If there is no change in your life, then it is likely that a change has not occurred in your heart! God loves all of us, but He requires obedience and always has! Words and attendance of a church service or two don’t count. Reading the Bible is good but if you have not believed in the One Who wrote those words,,,it is just a book. Living your life according to a “code of conduct” is a great thing as long as the One Who wrote the code is our Creator and our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

You can live by a moral code which many people do. One that is acceptable to the world, such as the so-called “golden rule”, but living by that rule will not save your soul. Being a peace-loving person and doing no harm to anyone is nice, but it will not save your soul…only belief in Jesus will do that. Yes, Christianity is a movement and it is one which is not accepted by many in our world today because it is a movement toward God and away from sin. It is a movement which causes us to reject the “accepted” way of living for the life of a servant of God.

It does require repentance from your old habits and ways and turning toward God and His ways.

How many times…

In your life and mine, how many times have you wondered about your salvation? How many times have you questioned whether you are saved or have given your life and heart to Jesus? How many times have you asked the question, whether in your mind or in person at church, “Can Jesus save me?”

There are many people who have asked these questions and many more like them. The answer to some of those questions is dependent upon your response to the Spirit of God when it touches you. When you felt it at a revival or a church service or even while listening to a television ministry, did you respond to it? How did you respond to Him because it was the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, which touched you when you felt the need to accept Jesus, so? What did you do?

Some people just shrug it off. The say to themselves, “I have plenty of time to make that decision, after I get my life straight.” Really? What if you have a wreck on the way home tonight? What then? Yes, I am trying to scare you because IF you don’t make that decision when you feel the prompting of God in your heart, you may not get another chance. God loves you, but He also knows exactly how many days or weeks or years that you have left!

He knows what you can do for His Kingdom and how many people you can have an influence in their lives while you are here. We are here for a certain number of years. For some of us, it may be fifty years or less, then again it may be for ninety years or even one hundred. In that time, you can have an enormous influence in your children’s lives and their children’s lives too. You can have an influence over many friend’s lives and people who come in contact with you at work or in a store or restaurant.

Some of us may get chosen to come to salvation while we are children and will be able to touch the lives of many people in our lifetime. Yet, some of those may die when they are only eighteen or twenty years old so their lives will be short but it still may have a huge effect on the people who knew them. God can use your talents and your time in ways that you don’t imagine and can’t imagine, until He does it. I never thought that I would be a pastor of a church, but I am. It is a small church but those in it may have a big impact on the world one day.

This blog and the others that I write for is also part of my ministry and many people can find the words which God gives me to write here. I don’t use this site to make money, all that I am doing is bringing the message of salvation to those who may be looking for it. God loves us all, even if He doesn’t like the sinful lives that we live. I still make mistakes and commit sins every day. To some the sins which I commit may not count as “big” sins, but to God ALL sins are the same. A lie told to your child, even those we call white lies, is still a lie. If you hate someone, Jesus said that was the same as murdering them. No one is immune to sin, except Jesus, because of our nature. We are HUMAN and we are sinful people.

The best part of salvation is that when you accept Jesus and believe what HE did for you to become a child of God, then your old sins are wiped clean and you are given the righteousness of Christ. Of course we will get some dirt on our clean robes afterward, but ask Him to forgive you and help you to do better. Read the Bible, learn of His ways and how God looks at our life and our sins so that you can learn to be more in tune with Him. Pray and thank Him for waking you up in the morning and He will help you to sleep better at night. Start each day with Him and end it with Him and you can’t go wrong.

What do you truly need?

Life is given to us when we are born, but our person and our soul arrives before that event which is why God said, ““Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart;“Jeremiah 1:5

All of our needs are met by God with our life, our breath, our living on this Earth. True, there are people who are hungry and without shelter in the world and in our country, but that is a society problem. One that could be taken care of without a government program, if we would resolve to take care of our own instead of everyone else.

Life and our needs are the things which we are blessed with by God. With each breath and each blink of our eyes we see the horror of life which happens around us and we also see the beauty in a sunset or the smile of a child. So, how do you respond to all of the stimuli that you have thrown in your life, in your face by social media, by news or other programs? Do we, collectively, respond positively with an attitude which can lend a hand to others?

Many times we don’t in today’s society. We protest that there is not enough being done. We march around and parade in the streets and bring wrongs to the attention of the media, but…we could be doing something about these things. Not being dependent upon the government to take care of us, but actually helping each other. Teaching our children, showing them how much we really DO care about their education rather than depending on some stranger to tell them what the “education system” says they need to learn.

What does our country need? People who will roll their sleeves up and get to work to fix the things that need fixing! The government doesn’t know how to fix its own problems, how can they fix yours and mine?

Your life and mine belong to God. Whether you have given your heart to Him or not, He is still the Creator and whether you believe this or not doesn’t cause that fact to be false! We will face Him either when we die or at the judgement seat, but your belief in Him or your lack of belief in His existence doesn’t have an effect on His existence.

He provides for us, whether we acknowledge His presence in that process or not. Our needs are met, but our eternal need is for salvation and that only comes through Jesus and belief in Him. Seek Him out, learn of His Truth in the Bible and ask Him into your heart. How long each of us has in this life is just a puff of smoke compared to eternity, which will be your life after this one. Make sure it is one that you will enjoy rather than be in punishment during that time. It is only a small decision, one that a child can make yet many refuse to believe that it is that simple.

Don’t put it off.

Begin…

This is the day that we need to begin not tomorrow because you don’t know what it will bring or even if you will be here tomorrow. Begin something whether it is your dream for your life, or it may be stepping out to finish a degree that you wanted to finish. Life is a beginning, a new day with its sunrise is a beginning and if you are alive then you should begin!

Just as the proverb says that “a trip of one thousand miles begins with one step”, we need to begin. When God called Abram to go away from his country to a country that he knew not…he began with a step in that direction. When the Israelites were freed from slavery, they would never have gotten to the wilderness, let alone their promised land, without taking the first step.

In your life, every day, your day begins when you wake up. But…nothing gets done in the day until you begin it! You have to get up from the bed, put your feet on the floor and take a step, then another and another until you get to your destination. God knows His plans for you and they are plans to prosper you, but your prosperity doesn’t come to you without stepping out on faith and doing something about it!

We all have to begin to do something every day, regardless of the situation because in this life things don’t get done without a beginning! You can’t eat without picking up the fork, you have to begin your meal with an action. Like picking up the plate and the fork and putting the food on it and then thanking God for what we have to eat. Even then, if you don’t begin to eat with that fork, that plateful of food won’t get into your mouth without you beginning to eat it.

The thing about beginnings, regardless of the type of beginnings they are, is that some kind of action is required. In a relationship with your wife or husband it has a beginning, just as life has a beginning. When we decide to live our lives for Jesus or rather WITH Jesus, that life has a beginning too. So where do you and your family or spouse begin? That depends upon where you want to end your journey. Any trip or journey whether in life or as a vacation has to have a starting point…a place to begin and an ending point. So consider where your journey should end or at least where you would LIKE for it to end.

Regardless of your beliefs, whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim or any of the other religions, there is always a place where your eternity also begins. For all of us, eternity begins when this life ends regardless of your beliefs. Some of you who don’t believe in an eternity will find that contrary to your lack of belief, there really is a God and you will meet Him. When your eternity begins, where will you spend it? If you don’t believe that there is one, then you will be surprised and not so happy about your eternity. If you are a Christian, then I need to ask this question:

Have you followed Jesus every day since you asked Him into your life?

Why do I make it that personal? Because a relationship, whether it is with Jesus or your family, is personal. To be in that relationship totally, you have to be present every day not just once or twice per week or once a month! How would your spouse feel if you treated her or him that way? Your relationship wouldn’t last very long would it? If it isn’t a daily walk with Jesus, then you might need to check with your pastor to see if you are saved! Sitting in a pew, reading a daily Bible verse, giving a tithe now and then, these are all good things but they are the motions that you can do that show others that you attend church…that’s all. Your relationship only shows when you are in it for real! Don’t be like the Pharisees were, so religious they couldn’t have a relationship with their Messiah.

Blessings for every day

How can we claim and walk in the blessings that God has for us? I wondered that so much when I would hear my Mom or my grandparents talking about it. The same as I would wonder about it when I heard it in songs or at church growing up. It seems that nobody every explained it to me then and I suppose it was because they didn’t really understand it themselves.

I have come to realize that our blessings are those things that many of us take for granted all of the time. Waking up in the morning is a blessing, even if you wake up in pain be thankful that you can feel it. When you walk to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, be thankful that you can walk, that you can see, that you feel the love of God in your life because you have these blessings.

I know, there are some who say that their pain or their troubles are not blessings. Maybe not, it is possible that God is allowing you to grow through your aches and pains like He did when Satan wanted to test Job. God did not afflict Job, but He allowed Satan to do so because of the faith of Job. Maybe that is where you are now. Maybe the pain that you feel in your body or in depression or some other ailment is a test or it may be Satan’s way of hindering you in your walk with God.

Be blessed in the knowledge that you have God in your life and that He is in control of all circumstances, good and bad. Get into His Word today and every day so that He can strengthen you and your faith in Him. His Word is more powerful than any weapon or disease, so use it every day to fight off the darts that the enemy slings in your direction. God is with you and me just as He was with David when he fought Goliath. He made David’s aim true and the strength of his sling powerful enough to penetrate a giant’s skull and He can overcome any obstacle that is in your life today.

Remember, you have the Spirit of God inside you if you are a Christian and you are made in His image just as Adam was. In that we are all the same, regardless of what race we claim to be or the culture that we live in. The Creator brought the universe together by His Word and the Living Word, Jesus, came and died to make you free from the bondage of sin! All that you need to do is claim His promises for your life and believe in Him, that He can and will accomplish them in your life today and the rest of your life!

Make sure that you follow Him in everything that you do, in life, in business and in all other areas of your existence. Read and study a chapter in the Bible every day, maybe two or three if you can get them in. Once you get into the habit of reading His Word daily, you will sorely miss it when you don’t. His Word can ease your pains and infuse your life with His power so that you can overcome those aches and pains and really be thankful for your blessings every day.

Why did Jesus come?

“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34 These words were spoken by Jesus from the cross as He was crucified for our sins. Not just yours or mine but for every person in the past, in His present and in the future. Why did God do this? Why would God allow this to be done?

The simple answer is because of His love for us, all of us. This is a kind of love that we cannot comprehend…we cannot understand this depth of love. It is so far beyond our pitiful ability that it would be like explaining the concept of love to a shark or a snake. It cannot be understood and it can’t be comprehended by our limited minds. Of course, there are some who will contest this way of thinking but if you really think about it, the depth of love that it would take I mean, our human mind can’t comprehend a love like that.

That is the reason that Jesus said that we would have to come to the Kingdom of God with faith like a child. Trusting that God knows what is best and that we can give Him our life and our heart no matter what!

God created this universe so that we could experience the awesome reach of His power and know that He is the Creator and there is no other. No amount of spiritualism or pagan pseudo-religion will be a substitute for God, period. You can call the Bible a fake and the Word contained in it to be fantasy, but Christians have died believing in the God of the Bible and His Word. Of course, many people who don’t believe in Jesus will also say that they were delusional but people wouldn’t die believing a lie.

I know, sincerity breeds belief and beliefs are what those people ultimately died for BUT if that was the way that things have been taught for nearly two thousand years, what of it? At least Christians are not trying to kill all of those who won’t convert to Christianity. If we are wrong, then our lives have only been wasted doing the work of Jesus while we can. If there is no Heaven or hell, then why did Jesus come to bring the good news to the Jews and to the rest of the world? If the Bible is a lie, then the Torah is a lie and the Jewish religion is a lie.

Nothing about the Christian religion can be disproved. You can choose not to believe any of it if you wish, but the history contained in it has been proven by archaeologists. Science has proven many of the truths in the Bible as well. Such as the ordinance given to circumcise a child on the eighth day after they are born. A baby doesn’t have the capability to clot blood until that day is past, but that wasn’t proved until recently.

God loves each of us, this is proven because we live and breathe. You can laugh at this if you wish, but it truly is by His grace and mercy that our world hasn’t come to an end yet. When the time is up, every eye will see the result and hear it around them but if you haven’t made the decision to come to God by belief in Jesus…it will be too late.

Love unlimited

This is the kind of love which God has for all of us. Why do I say this? Because, He wouldn’t have sent His only Son to Earth to offer salvation to us through belief in Him and the sacrifice that He made if He didn’t love us this way. God did not love just one nation or people this way, but He loved all of us in this way. He told Abraham that the whole world would be blessed through his descendants and He was speaking of the blessing of salvation brought to us through Jesus and His sacrifice.

Unlimited love and compassion brought the “seed of the woman”, the Messiah, into a manger in Bethlehem to be the Savior of the world! That is the blessing to all of the world through the seed of Abraham and David that we have today. The world has had this blessing since the time of Jesus because of God’s love for us.

The Messiah, the Creator, the Living Word of God brought down to mankind in the form of a baby. He was not born as a King, but as a commoner, a carpenter’s Earthly son but He was and is the Son of God. Your life can be changed and will be if you will come to Him and ask Him to come into your life. Your eternal life begins when you are born into the family of God through giving your heart to Him and asking Him to come into your heart!

You are loved by God far more than you can imagine. He would’ve sent His Son even if you or I were the only person yet to be born or saved, that’s how much God loves you and me. Heaven is going to be full of millions of people who have given their hearts to Jesus in the past and today. Give your heart to Jesus this week, today, because He loves you more than you know.

People tell me that a mother’s love is t he greatest love that we can experience on Earth. Yes, our parent’s love is a reflection of God’s love toward us, but it is a dim reflection. We cannot imagine or comprehend the love of God, but it is there and available for each of us. All that we have to do is ask Him to come into our lives. That is the gift that you can get from God, eternity and forgiveness. You will give Him another child to bring into His house one day and all of Heaven rejoices when one more comes to know their Savior. I know that I am looking forward to that reunion and many others are too.

Won’t you join us in our Father’s house? He loves you more than you can imagine and He will be near you regardless of your circumstances or what life throws at you from this point on. If you need confirmation of this, read Luke 2. It is a description of the birth of our Savior and the birth of God’s Son, the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world.

Merry Christmas!

So much strife, remember…

In our world, in our everyday lives, we experience problems of all sorts. Pain, heartaches, anxiety, fears, the list could go on and on. Remember, God loves you, and remember these promises as well:

I know, during this time of year many people aren’t really concerned with their eternal destiny but you should be! Why? Because it is going to last a LOT longer than this life will! God does have a plan for you and me, and it doesn’t stop when your life on this Earth stops. Consider this, God said that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Present tense, not past tense! Meaning, they live on into eternity and you will too…if you have given your life and your heart to Jesus. Ask Him to come into your heart and save you, because HE came to seek and save those who are lost which includes you and me! I accepted Him a few years ago, and I pray that you will too.

Lucifer…bored?

Lucifer…Bored!?

How in the world could anyone conceive of such a thing? He is in charge of Hades or Hell, whichever you want to call it, and the torment of all of the souls who are there. He has at least two-thirds of the world worshiping him in one form or another and is tormenting others, through disease and war, rape and murder. Why in the world would anyone think that he is bored? Contrary to the belief that many have today, he is not in hell yet. He is roaming around on Earth with us!

Granted, there are millions of demons and spirits to do the tormenting for him in most cases, but someone has to oversee them. He has been busy at this since that moment in the Garden almost six thousand years ago and he was starting a war in Heaven long before that. Bored? He is probably laughing at the idea, but I am sure he is encouraging those in Hollywood and Washington, DC in all of their endeavors.

Lucifer or Satan, as he is known now, has plenty to do. He keeps many preachers and churches going in the world. He likely attends services more regularly than many people who claim to be Christians. Our world is messed up and it is due to his influence and our gullibility in following his lead. Life, every day life, is his playground because he has so many people in the world fooled or so sick until they can’t see straight. How could he possibly be bored! He has all of humanity in his grasp and he tries to deceive the churches and Christians in those churches into believing that either he doesn’t exist or that he can’t harm me because I belong to Christ. What foolish nonsense!

Christians are his targets of choice because if he can make you stumble or fall into a sin, no matter what it may be, then he can destroy your witness. If he can do it so that your child or a friend sees it, and decides that your “belief” is not real then he can stop them from becoming a Christian. Which is exactly what he wants. Satan will lead as many CINO (Christians In Name Only) into hell as he can and he will lead their families too. You can claim the name of Christ, get all emotional and even be baptized but if it isn’t real all the way down to your heart and soul, then you are NOT a Christian!

That is Satan’s job right now but deception has always been his job and he has had thousands of years to perfect his craft. His demons have also had many years to perfect their form of deception and thievery. Why do I call it thievery? Because they steal your health, your children, your job, your home and everything that means anything to you…especially your marriage. These things happen all the time and it is not just because of man’s gullibility it is because of these spiritual forces, demons, powers, they are called by many names in the Bible. Suffice it to say that we are subject to their ways and to their temptations.

How can we defeat them? Through the power of Jesus Christ in your life! That’s how. Not an emotional feeling at a revival but a true broken heart knowing that you are a sinner and the only way to salvation is through confession of that sin and by giving your life and your heart to Jesus. You don’t have to confess every lie, every stolen pen or pencil because we have all done that. The sin that needs confession is that you have lived your life without Jesus in it and now you know that you need Him. You have come to realize that there is no way that you are good enough to be allowed into Heaven without Him! This is the only way…the only path which leads you to an eternity with Him.

If you cannot believe this or will not believe it, then you tell God why you refused His Son’s sacrifice on the cross, why you believe that you are worthy without His Blood covering your life. I have given you what can save you and Who, Jesus Christ. All that you have to do is ask Him to save you and cleanse your heart and your life because you believe in His sacrifice for your sins. That is all that the thief on the cross could do and Jesus said that he would be with Him in Paradise. No baptism, no works, no church service…just belief in Jesus and Who He is.

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