evangelism / heaven / Judgement

Are WE on a Mission?

Acts 20:26 comments I am innocent of the blood of any of you.images

The Apostle Paul understood completely his mission to tell others about God’s offer of a pardon to all of humanity through Jesus His Son for all the evil humanity has ever done against God. Paul remembered the warning God gave to the prophet Ezekiel about failure to not warn Israel of approaching judgment.

God intended to hold Ezekiel accountable for faithfully declaring His command to repent lest the people perish without opportunity to make amends with God. Paul understood that God, by entrusting His message to His people of forgiveness through Jesus, held the same expectations for Christians as He had for Ezekiel. (more…)

0 Comments
January 20, 2015
Christian Living

Happiness or Joy

Acts 16:34 describes he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God.image

What’s the difference between being happy and having joy?

I would suggest happiness is a result of circumstances and joy is the result of attitude. Feelings tell me whether I am happy or not but conviction tells me I have joy.

Interestingly, God promises joy but not happiness. (more…)

0 Comments
January 16, 2015
evangelism / Judgement / obedience

Drawing a Line in the Sand

Matthew 12:30 observes whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Meimage scatters.

On occasion in the gospels, Jesus, God Who has become man, throws down the gauntlet and demands we choose sides. This passage is one of those times when Jesus invites us to separate ourselves into wheat or chaff.

What does it mean for us when God demands we choose but we refuse to even engage the discussion? (more…)

0 Comments
January 12, 2015
heaven / Judgement / Theology

Why all Religions Can’t get us to Heaven

Matthew 7:14 warns small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.images

This generation finds offensive God’s instruction that He has only one way for entering heaven. It seems more fair, more loving, more gracious for all religions to be acceptable to God so that all people can get to heaven.

The problem with this thinking is that it ignores the love of God and the sacrifice God made for saving people. (more…)

0 Comments
January 7, 2015
Christian Living

Our Gift to God

Matthew 2:11 records they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincenseimages and myrrh.

The Christmas story ends with pagan god believers giving gifts to Him Who is the One True God.

As we prepare for a new year, what gift will we who love God offer Him?

At one level, we are free from the burden of having to come up with some sort of elaborate offering to appease our God. Our God is not so vain that He requires gold, silver or any other material thing for He Himself needs nothing from anyone. (more…)

0 Comments
January 2, 2015
Christian Living

Life is a Marathon

2 Chronicles 36:13 records Zedekiah was a hard and stubborn man so far as obeying the Lord God of Israel was concerned, for he refused to follow Him.images

The Bible does a lot of recording of how people finished their lives.

Any of us can run a ten yard sprint. Some of us can run a 100 yard dash but very few of us could run a marathon. What’s the difference? Focus, commitment, training.

Living on earth is a marathon and not a sprint. (more…)

0 Comments
December 31, 2014
Christian Living / obedience

Feeling Bad

John 12:25 warns if you love your life down here—you will lose it. If you despise your life down here—you will exchange it for eternal glory.image

For a long time I understood this instruction from God to mean I was to despise the way I lived in disobedience to Him. I thought if I was really connected with God my disobedience to Him which is so consistent, would grieve me to such a degree that I would despise myself.

My logic flowed from understanding the opposite of this thinking. Those who ignore God have a good time doing those things that displease God without regret or concern (much of the time), so the opposite must be true as well. Those who seek to please God but find themselves constantly falling short must despise themselves for their poverty of godliness. (more…)

0 Comments
December 23, 2014
Christian Living

Being a Good Example

John 5:17 records “My Father constantly does good, and I’m following His example.”images

Whoever claims to live in Christ must walk as Jesus did the beloved Apostle John wrote in his first letter to the church. How did God the Son walk? He followed the example of God the Father.

How should we as the children live? We should follow the example of God the Son. Simple really but not easy for the requirement of putting others first before ourselves is immensely difficult and to know what Jesus did we must be students of Who Jesus is.

God in Jesus set before us the example of seeking God the Father diligently through the Scriptures and through prayer. (more…)

0 Comments
December 15, 2014
Christian Living / obedience

True Love

Revelation 2:5 Think about those times of your first love (how different now!) and turn back to Me again and work as you did imagebefore; or else..

While we all have felt love we all know that love is doing more than feeling.

In romantic love the feelings are overwhelming and they cause us to do many acts of good toward the one we love. When those feelings diminish over time too often the acts diminish as well sometimes resulting in a termination of the relationship.

God describes love in a couple of different ways. (more…)

2 Comments
December 11, 2014
Christian Living

Proving we are Children of God

3 John 1:11 reminds us that those who do what is right prove that they are God’s children; and those who continue in evil prove imagethat they are far from God.

In Christianity, getting to heaven is easy, at least for us, but living as though we are residents of heaven is hard. God made getting to heaven easy by offering freely a pardon to us through His Son Who sacrificed Himself as payment for us.

It cost God His most precious possession to secure His most precious creation: His Son for you and me. For those of us who believe God, He has given us the right to be declared children of God; forever forgiven and forever sealed for spending eternity with Him in heaven and upon the new earth.

Christians don’t have to do anything because everything that was required for getting into heaven has been done by the Son and has been credited to those who humble themselves before God in submission to the Son of God Who is Jesus Christ the Lord. (more…)

0 Comments
December 8, 2014