Tag: Jesus died for you

Consider this…


We are living in a time of wonder and amazing technology, but it is also a dangerous time with many pathogens and bombs and all sorts of natural as well as man-made problems. What can we do about this? Is it possible for us to fix most of our problems or not?

Consider this:

timeline

 

In the past, life on Earth was segregated. We didn’t have the technology to be close, regardless of where we lived. Even if it was just a few hundred miles away, that was a week or more of travel by horse or camel or carriage. In the past 130 years we began with trains then came automobiles and airplanes and motorcycles, not exactly in that order but you get my meaning.

Most of our “problems” began to be real worldwide problems when we began to have transportation which could move us faster and farther to places that we couldn’t get to in a reasonable time before. Now, I’m not saying that advancing in technology and transportation is a bad thing but it does seem that when we began moving into each other’s back yard more easily, that is when we began to have more and more problems.

Besides, God’s Word predicted that knowledge would increase and with that knowledge our technology increased, just as the timeline shows. Yes, we are nearing the “end of the age”, and it is getting nearer all the time. How soon will the “catching away of the Bride” be, I don’t know. We may see a “new messiah” appear on the stage of the world, who will begin to “fix” things in miraculous ways so as to fool even those who believe themselves to be the elect.

In the days and weeks and months that we have left, I suggest that many of you who read this should be studying the Word of God. It is our most powerful link to the Creator and He knows when and how things will turn out for all of us. Seek His Wisdom, not the so-called wisdom of man because man’s “wisdom” is foolishness to God and God’s wisdom is foolish to mankind because without faith it can’t be understood.

Look up all of the signs that have been foretold in the Bible. See if the “fig tree” hasn’t bloomed again. This is the prophecy of the nation of Israel coming back into its own country after nearly two thousand years. Also, which nation on Earth has been scattered all over the Earth and brought back into its own country which God gave to them thousands of years ago and they are still speaking the language that their forefathers spoke and wrote down? Only the Hebrews and their nation and language have survived so long and it isn’t by accident, it is by God’s grace!

That is evidence of God and His miracle-working power because no other people and their language has ever survived so long as the Hebrews and their language to be brought back into the land which was promised to their father, Abraham over four thousand years ago!

No physical marriage


In Heaven Jesus said that we are not given in marriage nor does our marriage continue as it was on Earth. So, no sex in heaven for He said we would be like the angels. What could we do with our bodies in Heaven? We will be like the angels and like Jesus, with glorified bodies which are immortal. We will reign with Him and be His representatives on Earth and in Heaven.

There have been enough abortions on Earth in the past 44 years that Heaven is full of children who were sent back to God without ever being known by their parents. We have committed a very great sin in our country and around the world because of the ruling on abortion and “women’s rights”. God is going to hold us accountable for this because it was our generation or the one prior to us which allowed this to happen.

Regarding marriage in Heaven, the Church will be married to the Groom which is Jesus at the marriage supper of the Lamb. If you are trying to bring any other definition into eternity then you will be sorely mistaken and disappointed.

We are intended to be part of the group in the marriage supper, the Church, not individuals being married to each other. Eternity will be a time when we can see and know all of the things which we have always wanted the answers to, but those answers are reserved for our life in eternity, not here on Earth. So many people are looking for answers here and now to make the “transition” into eternity more enticing. Why? Having the Grace of God give you eternity through your belief in Jesus and His atonement on the cross for you should be enough!

Just having eternity ahead of you with no pain, no limitations on your body, no problems like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc. should be enough of a reward for all of us to expect and be thankful for! Seek out Jesus and His Kingdom through reading the Bible and going to a Bible teaching church. The eternal rewards of having a relationship with Jesus far outweigh anything found here in this life.

Daily living


Why are we so perplexed with the idea of living with Jesus, when we are supposed to be Christians if we believe in Him? Do you believe or not? Children can believe with no trouble at all, so why do we, as adults, have so much trouble?

Mostly, it seems to be our own brains. They become so full of information from college or work and news and emails or the Internet, until we have developed a type of information overload disorder. We have so much information from our life and from other areas of our lives rattling around in out heads until it keeps us distracted from keeping our focus on Jesus. Then, just as Peter did when he was walking on the water to Jesus, we get our attention diverted and we lose our spiritual focus.

Like looking for a deer or an elk in the forest when the leaves are still in full leaf, there is so much foliage breaking up the picture until we miss the deer or the herd of elk in the background. The same principle keeps us from concentrating on Jesus, keeping our focus on Him…we have bills to pay, then a friend has an accident in their car or our child needs us at school, there are deadlines at work and we only go to church once or twice a week.

How does a relationship work if you only see or listen to the other person’s voice once or twice a week? It isn’t much of a relationship at all! A husband and wife or any significant other wouldn’t consider themselves a couple if they only saw each other once or twice in a weeks time! So how can you have a relationship with your Savior and Creator if you only open a Bible or go to church once or twice a week? YOU CAN’T!!!

Even in the Garden, the Lord visited with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening. I know it doesn’t say that it happened every day, but why not? This was before their disobedience, before the “eating from the tree that I told you not to eat from” incident, so don’t you think that God had to teach them something about their jobs? He had told Adam to care for the garden and the animals, so how would he know how to do all of this without God’s teaching him? By mind-meld? I don’t think so.

God loves all of His Creation, including the animals, the trees, the ocean and the fish and birds as well as us, humans. He had to teach Adam how to take care of all of this, so the walks in the cool of the day were teaching sessions most likely. That relationship, which we are supposed to be a part of, doesn’t work very well unless you get to know each other. God already knows you, so the only one in this relationship who needs to learn about the Other is each of us! You can’t learn about God or Jesus and the Holy Spirit by ignoring His Word or the teaching in a Bible teaching church.

Having a Bible in the house or on a table doesn’t count any more than having a medical textbook in the house makes you a doctor! We don’t learn by osmosis and you can’t sit in a church with other people and be a Christian, you have to seek Him and answer when He calls you to Himself! You can’t be forced into a relationship and God doesn’t do that. He will call you and you will know that it is His call but unlike some teachings out there which say that it is an “irresistible” call and that you can’t resist it, you actually can and many do.

The problem with that resistance is that eventually you may not hear it at all and your heart will not respond from that point on. Just as in a human relationship, if you keep pushing the other person away long enough, eventually they won’t come back. When you read the Scripture which reads “and God gave them over to their lusts”, that is what has happened. Please don’t make that mistake with your eternity.

Is listening so hard?


Sometimes it seems that we just can’t listen to each other’s problems or to our preacher’s sermons. Listening to each other is the best way to get along with each other, yet there are so many problems between couples and countries all over the world. Most of those problems could be solved if we could put our pride and our attitudes on a shelf and sit down like adults and talk and listen to each other!

This would solve many if not most of the world’s problems, but it seems that when pride gets in the way and our attitudes become broiled in the juices of envy and hatred, then our ears and the ability to listen to each other becomes cut off or stopped up. Believe me, Satan has his hand and his followers all in the middle of these conflicts, whether it is between a man and woman trying to make their marriage work or between political parties in a country!

Our ears, spiritually and physically, become muddled to the point that we don’t hear what we should and we hear only part of what we shouldn’t. Which causes more misunderstandings and problems and it just gets worse from there, like a wet snowball rolling downhill. Pretty soon the problem or the snowball is so big that it can’t be fixed or stopped by just one person!

Jesus listened with His ears and with His heart and that is something which the church in general seems to have lost the ability to do, especially in the times that we live in today! The problem that we have is that we can’t understand the problem today because we aren’t really listening with our spiritual ears, our heart. We listen with our ears but we try to use psychobabble to “take care of the problem”, or make people feel good about themselves, or try to work around the issue.

In truth…all we are doing is putting a band-aid over a large cut or rather we are bandaging it but we aren’t helping in the healing of it. This kind of “help” is not helping at all, it only makes the problems worse! Like putting used tires on a car every six months, they wear out sooner and will still go flat easier than new ones, even if they are cheaper it is not helping.

Making people feel better about themselves is good, but spiritually it is suicide and murder. If you smooth over people’s sins and make them feel okay about them without telling them about salvation through Jesus, you are not a preacher…you are acting as a psychiatrist and that won’t do anyone good for eternity! PREACH FROM THE BIBLE! Tell the salvation and healing story of Jesus and His atonement for all of us from the gospels!

People need that today more than they know! John 3:16 is so powerful that it is a sermon in itself! Please, the Church needs to wake up and be the Body of Christ that this world needs NOW! This world will soon be in more of a situation than anyone alive has ever seen or experienced and the only rescue is through Jesus!

Living with….


We all have different things which we have to live with on a daily basis. Whether it is arthritis or Parkinson’s or cancer, at some point all of us have to go through life with pain or a condition which makes daily life harder or more difficult. So, what do you do to get through life on a day by day basis?

Some people take pills, some use other drugs such as alcohol or opiates, some use harder drugs than these. Some of us just suffer through with the pain and discomfort or with OTC medication. These coping mechanisms, legal or not, are ways to handle the discomfort and pain on your own. Sometimes they work pretty well, sometimes they cause more problems than they help.

Trusting in God and His Word will help with all of these problems and more. It is true that God will not always take the problem or condition away by healing it, but He can supply you with the strength to get through it a day at a time…if you will listen to Him and follow Him. Don’t try to do things on your own all of the time! We are taught to be independent, but when it comes to your life, God wants to share it with you through all of your good and bad days!

He doesn’t just want to hear from you when things go completely off script and throw you under the bus! When you wake in the morning, thank Him for it. When you get to the kitchen and get a cup of coffee, thank Him for your ability to do so even if you are in pain getting there. Live  life, everyday, with Him by your side and even if the pain is still there, God is with you too.

We have the privilege of having an awesome and mighty God and Creator Who can bless us in mighty ways. Sometimes by giving us the strength to get through a tough time and sometimes by healing us of the problem. It is up to God to decide which. Sometimes, His timing seems off to us, but in His time He will answer your prayer one way or another. Because, He is a good and loving God, Father, Savior and Creator and He says in His Word that “I will never leave you or forsake you“.

Wisdom, where does it come from?


Some people say that wisdom comes with age, but I have seen some older people do some strange things that don’t seem to bear this out. I am not giving any examples here, but I think you know who you are. Some novels contain some interesting wisdom or at least some sayings which people like to quote or post on Facebook.

But…the greatest wisdom that I have ever read is contained in the Bible. Yep…that’s what I said, the Bible! In many ways most of our “wisdom” has come from God’s Word at some point, whether we heard it from our grandparents or parents. Sometimes, they don’t ever realize that much of their sayings are actually re-worded quotes from the Bible.

Why do I say that wisdom comes from God? Because He is our Creator, so don’t you think He is wise beyond our measure? He lives outside of time and space and He can see all parts of your life and mine from beginning to end.

We can’t understand Him, except by reading and studying His Word and even then we won’t understand Him even as much as we can each other. God is far above us in all ways, yet He loves us so dearly that He sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins. Why would God do this? Because of His love for us that is why. Trying to reason out God’s ways with the wisdom of man doesn’t work.

His wisdom is only gained by reading His Word and by faith in Him. To the world and to those who have not accepted Him as Savior, God’s wisdom and His Word is just foolishness and can’t be understood. Without faith and belief in Him, it can’t be but God only asks that we believe in Jesus as our Savior and the faith which brings us to that point will allow us to see the wisdom in His Word. In this life, we won’t understand it, but we can at least live our lives as His servants and help the rest of the world to know Him.

So much truth in the gospel


How much truth do you see in God’s Word? In the gospel? If it isn’t true and there is no Truth in it, then why believe?

The Trinity has existed as three in One…as God for a very long time, long before we or anything else in Creation existed. How can we so arrogantly believe that God sent His Son to die and then abandoned Him there? The Holy Spirit was there, God was there and Jesus was on the cross, so He wasn’t abandoned at the cross exactly…He just felt that He was. His humanity felt that way!

The same way that His human heart and His brain told Him to be afraid and anxious before the scourging and the crucifixion. It was His humanity which made Him feel alone, scared and helpless on the cross, but He wasn’t. Our truth is relative today because as psychologists put it, “your truth is not my truth”. This is a very clever lie from Satan. God loves each of us far more than we could ever know or comprehend, until we are in His Presence of course.

You have the freedom to believe in Him and His Word or not, because it is necessary. Love doesn’t come to anyone unless it is free to be given in return as well as received from the other person. Yes, we are free to refuse His love for us if we choose and to live our lives in complete self-righteousness, thinking that we are good enough without Jesus. That we deserve to be allowed into Heaven on our own merits.

The problem with that kind of thinking is that it is totally WRONG!! Until you give your heart to Jesus and allow Him to come in and fix the problems which you caused and to show you what real love actually is, you will always feel empty and without hope. This is what God wanted to save us from in the first place…ourselves. Because ever since the Fall, we have all been born with a seed of sin in our hearts. Toddlers will lie to you without even knowing what they are doing, so that proves that sin is there.

God loves us anyway!! He created all of us and He knows the desires and needs of our heart even when we weren’t born yet. From the moment you were conceived until your death, God knows what you will do, when you will do it and why. He doesn’t force the decisions on you, but He knows what those decisions are or will be, and until you give your life to Him, He will watch you and be with you regardless until you figure out that you really need Him.

Seek Him out before it gets too far or before your life gets out of control! He is there and always has been, so make sure that you know Him before your life is over and your chance to know Him as Savior is gone for good.

So many claim Him, yet so few follow…


You have seen and heard about the number of “Christians” in America. Our country, in most polls, claims to be over 80 percent Christian. If that were true, there would be no abortions, there would be no city which has over 250 murders in a year’s time. If that were true and all of them were true, devout believers there would be fewer homeless people, Veterans or otherwise.

If that were true we would be building more churches than prisons and every one would be full on Sunday morning. So, what happens to everyone when any sort of test of faith comes into your life? We give in to what the rest of the world wants to hear or not hear. We become PC Christians. So many claim to be Christian, but when the least bit of resistance pops up in your life or mine, we fall into our “politically correct” mode of coping.

If the apostles had done that, there would be no church today! If other brothers and sisters had done that, we wouldn’t have the stories of the martyrs that stood proudly, boldly declaring Jesus as Lord while they were burned at the stake or beheaded! Some in countries around the world today are being killed or imprisoned for their faith, but they have not given their Savior up or backed away from their faith.

So many claim to know Him, yet there are few who will boldly say it. Our problem isn’t knowledge of or about Jesus it is possession of Him in our hearts and our lives. Just as an engagement ring isn’t much without a diamond in its setting, we aren’t much without Jesus in our hearts! Knowledge of Him and doing works to please Him are all good, but without Him in your heart and the change that comes with it through the Holy Spirit, you will walk right into hell with your “holy bible” in your hand.

Knowledge of Jesus and God is great, reading the Bible from cover to cover is wonderful, but if that Book hasn’t changed you in any way that others can see…it means NOTHING!! God inspired the writers of His Word so that we can learn about Him and His Creation, but He also gave us His Word so that we could come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ!

Is it possible to read the Bible and not come to a saving and believing knowledge of Jesus? Yes, I have heard that many people read it as a book of history and nothing more. Without faith, hearing the Word and believing it whether you are reading it or not, it will do you no good at all. If you are not open-minded enough to give God’s Word and prayerful read, then why bother? Yes it is a history book in some ways, particularly of the Jewish people, but it is also His story!

Your life will have far less impact on those around you unless you read this book with an open mind and with a prayerful attitude of “Show me Who you are, God!”. If you will do that, honestly and prayerfully, then He will show you Himself in all of its pages. If you don’t want to know about God and His provision of grace and salvation for your life, then just read a Bible like any other book. Don’t ask questions and don’t expect any answers, if you can.

God has a purpose for all of us, no matter whether we have believed in Jesus from a young age or if we are fifty or more before He touches our life with a moment of clarity bringing Jesus into focus for us! Be willing to give Him a chance in your life, because if you don’t one day you will regret that choice and after your death that choice can’t be undone.

Are you tired of -ism’s?


I certainly am. Racism in particular. My reasoning is this: according to the Bible, ALL of us are descendants of ONE couple! They were likely dark-complexioned so the genetics worked out to create all of the tones of skin in the world. But…we are ALL of ONE race, the human race, Homo sapiens, if you want to take it that far.

There are many of course including Communism, consumerism, Islamism, racism, etc., so why are we so intent on raising the flag of racism in our country and in the world itself. Since the races diverged from Noah’s family after the flood, the genetics of different shades of color in our skin has allowed all of the different “races” to be in all of the different places around the world.

The real “race” difference in all of us is our religious differences and cultural differences as well. Culturally the human race is very diverse in many, many different ways and it is that culture difference which causes most of our problems. Culturally, we can be very different from each other from one side of town to the other.

The differences worldwide are enormous between cultures. The barrier of languages, religious differences, cultural differences, “racial differences”, all of these contribute to our global problems. Could all of these be overcome? Yes, and one day they will be, but it won’t be due to humanity’s strength and will, it will be done by the King of Kings!

Religious differences have caused so many problems and wars in our world, past and present, until many are wondering if we should just get rid of religion altogether. The problem with that solution is this: mankind. We are a sinful race and we will all do what is right in our own eyes. It would be an anarchist’s dream! There would be no limits, morally, to what we could or would do to each other. The world would truly go insane, even compared to the chaos which is going on today.

God is still in control, no matter what, and He will allow some things to happen which we don’t like or enjoy. But, He will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability to resist, if you will turn to Him for strength. Seek Him out while He may be found. God’s will for all of us is in His Word, all that we have to do is prayerfully seek Him out in it.

Confusion in Christianity


So much is happening in the world today and some of it is due to confusion about Christianity, what is contained in the Bible and how to live as one. Do I mean that Christians are confused? Some of them are, but mostly it is the world that is confused about what Christianity is. Why is that? What is there to be confused about?

Jesus is our Savior and Creator, He was born as a man but with the nature and Spirit of God present in Him. He died because of His humanity and the body that He lived here with, and He also allowed Himself to die in order to pay for the sins of mankind. Could He have refused this cup, yes He could but He didn’t want to defeat God’s purpose.

Many films and books today question Who He is and the authenticity of the Bible as well as whether it is the Word of God or not. People seem to get all worked up about Christianity’s claim that it is and Who it is about, even if they don’t believe it themselves. If you don’t believe it, then let all of us “Christian nutcases” believe what we believe. Very few of us seem to be trying to convert anyone or bring anyone to any knowledge of Jesus, so why does it bother so many people?

I think it bothers them because they doubt their own beliefs or rather non-belief. What if the Bible is true? What if the sermons which have been preached and the truths in them are true? What if hell really does exist? What if…Christianity is right? If you wait until you die to find out, it will be too late to change your mind then.

God loves each of us, regardless of our love for Him. Please, tell others about Jesus if you know Him. The workers are few in the world and we can’t reach everyone, but people are wanting to know Jesus. I do try with this site, but I can’t get to every person because the Internet doesn’t reach everywhere. I will be praying for you all. Thank you.