It's a Beautiful Day in America

Here in Arizona, today at least, it's beautiful. The sun is out. It's not to cold. There's a slight cool breeze. And, no. The picture here is not Arizona, but rather Chimney Rock in North Carolina. I was there a little over a year ago. God's creation is awesome. Just awesome.

....and the war in Iraq is finally over! 9 long years. Thanks to all of our troops for their ongoing hard work to protect our country and our freedom.

Struggling With Repentance?

We all struggle with repentance. Some more that others. Some a lot less. However, it is something that we all have been through as Christians. If you never have been through this struggle, I congratulate you for being perfect.

So I sat down in front of my Linux net-book today to write a little bit about struggling with repentance. I decided to research a little before putting forth my own beliefs. I stumbled upon a site called "GraceConverstaion.com". Jay Guin wrote an article which is geared more toward what the church's obligation is in dealing with an unrepentant member, and is full of helpful information. Here's the link below. Please take a look and think about it. It's a very important subject. Thanks!

Discipline: The member who is struggling to repent

If You Died Tonight...

If you died tonight, would you go to heaven? Why? Because you're a good person? OK, let's run through some of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20).

• Have you ever told a lie? (Ex. 20:16)
• Have you ever stolen. No? Come on...you already told me you're a liar! (Ex. 20:15)
• Have you ever dishonored your parents? ...by not listening, or talking back...? (Ex. 20:12)
• Have you ever looked at someone with lust? Jesus said that this is adultery in the heart. (Ex. 20:14 & Mt. 5:28)
• Have you ever been angry at someone for no good reason? God considers this murder in the heart. (Ex. 20:13 & Mt. 5:21,22)

We’ve only gone through five of the ten commandments. So if God judged you by his standards, would you make it? So how do we get to heaven? By doing good, like everyone thinks? Nope. If that were true, none of us would EVER make it. (Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.) This is why we need a savior. God came to Earth and became a man, lived a sinless life (just like a spotless lamb for the sacrifice in the Old Testament) and took the punishment that WE deserved and died. 1 John 4:10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent us His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.


Then he arose from the dead, which was God saying he approved of the sacrifice. Imagine Jesus taking all of your sins, every single one and putting them on his back right before the Roman soldiers started whipping at it with a cat of nine tails, with pieces of glass, etc. until his intestines started to protrude. This is why Jesus is love. Not because if we follow him, we'll be able to make the next car payment, but because he loved us so much he died for us. Romans 5:8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

If we do not repent and put our faith in Jesus Christ, we won't make it. It's the plain truth. We are sinful and headed for hell. That's the bad news. Jesus paid the price for us, and it's there if we ask him to accept us, and live for him. That's the good news, or "gospel" as the Bible calls it. If we repent and put our trust in Jesus (like we trust a parachute to save our life when we jump out of a plane), God will give us a new heart with new desires, granting us the gift of repentance (Acts 5:31).

Think about what I said about how to get to heaven. I don't know if you're saved. You and God only know. So, if you don't think you are, pray about it.

I'm only telling you this cause I care for you and I want to make sure I see you in heaven. I'm not pointing fingers. Believe me, I'm a much bigger sinner than the likes of ya. Remember that we only get to heaven because of what HE did. If we depend on our own good works, we're headed for the oven. Ephesians 2:8,9 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift - not from works, so that no one can boast.



You may not believe in God, the Bible, or what I have stated above, but I beg you to at least think about this today. Chew on it. Consider it. Don't let the day go buy until you have at least thought about your salvation.

Does God has a wonderful plan for my life?

I know there's a God, because a week ago I got out of work and went to the parking lot. It had already stopped raining, but I had heard that part of the road out was still flooded. As I put on my motorcycle gear (helmet and jacket) I saw the only other motorcyclist around, who was parked immediately next to me. He hopped on his bike and rode off -no helmet, no jacket, just a scraggly ol' tee-shirt. Hmmm...
I said my usual, "God please protect me on the way home" prayer before buzzing away. The road was wet, but not too badly. I knew that a flooded area would be waiting for me down the road in front of the neighboring Federal prison. As I rode down the street at 40-45 MPH, I turned my brights on in order to look for any puddles. Sure enough, there it was ahead of me. I slowed down to third gear, maybe second, I'm not sure, and took it slow and steadily through the puddle of water.
Then..BAM! I felt the hit from behind. Everything went black as I flew off the motorcycle and down the street. I don't know what it looked like when I flew off and tumbled on the pavement, but all I know is that it hurt and that it lasted forever, it seemed. After about 4 seconds, I'm guessing, I realized what was going on. When I finally stopped in the road, I was on hands and knees facing the opposite direction I was originally heading. I remember seeing vehicle lights and thinking, "Oh, no! I'm gonna get run over."
I realized the vehicle was stopped. A fellow co-worker ran over, "Are you OK? Do you need an ambulance?" "Yes, I do." I didn't feel any pain at that time, but I had been in an accident before and knew what it meant to be in shock. I lay down on the edge of the road in a couple of inches of water. I didn't care. I knew I shouldn't move. That other driver had run into me from behind. I learned this morning that the other driver saw me slowing down in front of him, hit his breaks and skidded in the water. Bang! There I go... I was loaded onto the gurney and placed into the ambulance. Good thing that the ambulance station was right across the street my workplace. They arrived very quickly.
Upon arriving in the Trauma Unit (The guy in Trauma 5, that was me), I received kudos from medical staff for wearing "your full gear". My helmet had lost its visor and was scratched up. My motorcycle jacket was torn up on one side and my brand new work pants were torn up. My leather belt was badly scuffed up from sliding on my behind.
Upon arriving in the Trauma Unit (The guy in Trauma 5, that was me), I received kudos from medical staff for wearing "your full gear". My helmet had lost its visor and was scratched up.
The outcome:
No broken bones. No internal injuties ...but I do have lots of pulled and strained muscles in my back, in addition to a scraped up left knee and bruises and scuffs on both elbows...oh, and a chipped front tooth.
So that's why I know there's a God. I could have been dead. Easily.
Later, a friend from work called me to see how I was doing. He said my motorcycle looked all bashed in from behind, but the truck was worse. It's font grill was smashed in and the radiator was punctured. He said it looked like it had hit a tree!
So, does God have a wonderful plan for our life? Yes. Yes he does. From this I have learned that life is short, and that I need to get in gear and do something for his Kingdom. Although we are are not saved by good works, the Bible says that we are created to do them and commanded to do them, and some day, we'll be judge for them.

If Our President Were A Christian...

If our president were a Christian --and one that fought for our rights as believers in the Gospel...

• We might get back to qualifying as a "Christian Nation" someday.
• We'd have the same rights as Muslims.
• We could pray in school again and bring our Bibles too, if we chose to do so.
• We could pray while at the bus stop and not get arrested.
• We could pass out Christian literature or witness to somebody and not get asked by police to stop (even though the Muslim or the evolutionist could do their thing on the same street without anyone saying a word, because this is their right, and those Christians shouldn't be imposing their values on other people).
• We could mention the word "Jesus" at work and not get in trouble.
• Our president would not be afraid of offending anybody when praying in the name of Jesus before the fancy dinner started.
• He wouldn't be afraid to say that someone "is wrong".
• He wouldn't be afraid to tell the truth instead of saying, "Well if that's what you believe, then it's true for you!" just to make others happy and to avoid confrontation. We cannot all be right. We are either both wrong or one of us is right. That's all there is to it.
• Maybe he would communicate what the "separation of church and state" really means.
• He wouldn't allow the removal of Christianity while protecting those of other faiths and religions because they have the right to practice their faith. What about us?

What we do have to remember is that the president that we have now and the one that we'll have in the future has been placed their (ultimately) by God, whether we like it or not.


Romans 13-1 says:

"Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God."

Too bad Mike Huckabee pulled out of the race. Michele Bachmann is someone I am keeping an ear out for. We just need a believer in Christ (and not a Mormon --sorry Mitt Romney) to lead this country for once!

P.S.: Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there!

See the this article discussed on Wretched TV:
http://youtu.be/FtN5s5QmCfI

Why Jesus Came

Ask someone nowadays who Jesus was, and there's a good chance you'll get, "Jesus was a good guy", or "Jesus was cool dude" and many times they'll add, "I don't know if he was the son of God, though".

Too many people will tell you that Jesus came to be the example of how a human should live. OK. This is partly true. But he primarily came to live a sinless life and become the perfect sacrifice for our sins (past, present and future). He came to seek and save those who were lost. Here's why I say this:

1. We are innately sinful. 
2. We have to be perfect, like him, to get into heaven and be in the presence of God.
3. To do this, we have to obey every commandment and never sin in order to be deserving of heaven.
4. We can't do it. Can we?

That's the point. In the old testament, the Jews used to sacrifice animals to "cover" their sins. Jesus came and became the perfect sacrifice. This is a sacrifice that doesn't just cover our sins, but erases them. We cannot be in God's presence when we are full of sin. If we receive Jesus' free gift, repent and trust in Him, God now sees us as perfect and sinless, because He now sees us through Jesus. This is why we are called Saints when we are saved. It's the way God sees us now. We now have, as John MacArthur once explained, an alien righteousness. We can now be one of God's children. Not through our works, but through the works of our true Savior, Jesus Christ!

Luke 19:8 says:

Jesus responded, "Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham.For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost."

OK, time to go to church.

God bless!

CRITICISM - Who me?

Criticism. Sometimes we don't take it very well. When criticized, it can anger us, driving us into a defensive display of snarkiness and spastic reactions. Think about it. Humorous, yes, but indeed true. But what does the Bible have to say about criticism? Quite a bit. When we agree that criticism can be helpful, we dub it "constructive criticism".

Proverbs 15:31-32 says:

"If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise. If you reject criticism, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding." NLT

Am I Satisfied With My Life? (What is enough?)

Paul teaches us and emphasizes that we are to be satisfied with what the Lord has blessed us with, whether it is in riches or the total opposite. We all go through difficult times. Other times, we are very satisfied with what is going on around us. At all times, we are to be content and continue to remember that our goal is to be forever with our Lord Jesus. Sure, we have concerns in this life. We need to clothe, feed, and shelter ourselves and our families. We work hard to do these things. But we should not be anxious about it, since the Lord will always provide enough. Key word: enough. If "your ship comes in", praise God. If it doesn't, praise God. And remember that we have our treasure stored up in Heaven.

Philippians 4:11-13 says:

11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.  (NLT)

God's Patience

"The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." 2 Peter 3:9 (NLT)

I've been pondering lately the fact that God has been so wonderfully patient with me. He's been known to take a life on the spot (like Ananias and Sephira, who lied to the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 4)... as well he should, considering that we all deserve it, if we're willing to be honest about it.

God is infinitely and patiently waiting for us to repent. When we repent, it's not that we stop sinning and never sin again, but that we continue this short life in constant battle with sin in obedience to God's word. There is a saying that explains, "Failure is not falling down, but refusing to get up". Therefore, if we fall (and we will), we get up and we keep on pushing for the finish line. It's important to remember that we are saved by grace, but are now filled with a desire to obey God's commandments. 1 John 2:3 says, "And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments." (NLT)

Galatians 5:22-23 shows examples of the "fruits of the Spirit", of which one is patience. These "fruits" are of and from God. Patience is one of God's attributes. We are impatient at our best as humans. When God enters our lives, he puts the Holy Spirit into us. As we continue on our trek in this life, we stumble, struggle, and fall, but throughout all of this, God is growing our patience as we strive to be "Christ-like" as we are called to become.

God's patience is amazing. When someone commits a horrible act, we demand immediate justice. But when we ourselves do something that we should not do, we hope and pray for patience from God. He does not want us to perish (or be destroyed, as the NLT translation of the Bible puts it).

The fact that you are alive enough to read this blog demonstrates God's innate goodness and the wonderful fact that God is indeed a patient God, since we continue to goof up and commit violations of the commands that were lain down before us through His Word.

Back to 2 Peter 3:9, it says that "...he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." (NLT) I believe that the Lord has not yet returned because he is patient with us, not desiring that any of us perish, allowing us time to repent. Exodus 34:6-7 says,

The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out,

“Yahweh! The Lord!

The God of compassion and mercy!

I am slow to anger

and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations.

I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin.

But I do not excuse the guilty..." (NLT)

In conclusion (in case you are still reading :), Romans 5:6-8 explains something awesome!

"When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." (NLT)

Additionally, one of my favorite verses says in Romans 8:1,

"So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus." (NLT)

Remembering My Mom

This Mothers Day I am reminded of what a good mother my mom was. When I was growing up, she was always there for us children. She worked hard. She used to keep the house so clean we could eat off the floors. She always made sure we were clothed in clean clothes and ate well. Even during times of financial struggle, she would make the beans, potatoes and tortillas taste like Gordon Ramsey's mentor made them.


I can remember, very clearly, how my mom would sit in her chair, taking a break from all that she did, reading the Bible. When I was small, I would see her there reading it, but didn't really ask her any questions about what she read, or what she learned -- I was too busy with me.  But being exposed to this example, something was instilled in my heart. That image of my mother was burned inside of me all these years, and when I take time to read the Bible I can still see her sitting in her chair with her Bible, her feet curled up underneath her, half-covered by a small blanket, reading glasses on. When I saw her reading her Bible like that, I would try not to bother her. It was something I respected, but didn't understand at the time. Now I do. The Word of God is what our soul feeds on. It edifies us, grows us, enables us to overcome temptations and to resist sinful things, and keeps us remembering that we can set our eyes on the better world that is to come and that this world we are presently in is only a temporary experience.


In Proverbs 31, the Bible gives us an example of what a woman (mother as well as wife) should be like:


¹⁰ Who can find a virtuous and capable wife?
      She is more precious than rubies.
 ¹¹ Her husband can trust her,
      and she will greatly enrich his life.
 ¹² She brings him good, not harm,
      all the days of her life.


It goes on to say:



²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity,
      and she laughs without fear of the future.
 ²⁶ When she speaks, her words are wise,
      and she gives instructions with kindness.
 ²⁷ She carefully watches everything in her household
      and suffers nothing from laziness.
 ²⁸ Her children stand and bless her.
      Her husband praises her:
 ²⁹ “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world,
      but you surpass them all!”
 ³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last;
      but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.
 ³¹ Reward her for all she has done.
      Let her deeds publicly declare her praise. NLT




Love ya, Mom!

How does the Holy Spirit work in us?

This is something I've been looking at more and more lately.

Last week I was thinking a lot about just how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. I was in the kitchen cleaning up one evening when I just felt the need to pray. I usually don't depend on feelings a whole lot because they can be wrong, but then I thought, Well, it could be the Holy Spirit prodding me to pray, so I guess it couldn't hurt. So I prayed in front of my messy kitchen counter, just a simple prayer to thank the Lord for saving me. I always listen to sermon pod-casts or Christian radio shows (like Greg Laurie or Wretched Radio) on my iPod while cooking or cleaning. I put my iPod on and Greg Laurie started preaching on the Holy Spirit. Hmmm..... My wife came home from work a few minutes later. She sat down at the table and I turned my iPod off. Right off the bat, she started asking questions about the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and all that sort of business. Huh? Interesting. The next morning, I went to church at Calvary Tucson. Pastor Furrow got up and began his sermon. You'll never guess what he was preaching about. OK, I knew you would guess -- the Holy Spirit. God, are you trying to tell me something?, I thought. Hmmm. It was an awesome sermon too. After they service, they usually sell the DVD video of the sermon in the church's book store in the building right next door. I just had to go over and buy the DVD. I took it home and popped it in the DVD player while eating lunch with my family.

My pastor spoke about how he used to attend charismatic pentecostal churches when he was younger (like I did). He said he loves the brothers there and agrees that the Holy Spirit and all the spiritual gifts are for still intended for us today also, but that in church, things are to be done decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40) and not all crazy-like, with the falling down and the running around and "hanging from chandeliers" and everyone speaking in tongues all at once.  He was being funny when he mentioned that "that's why we don't have chandeliers in our church", but I knew exactly what he's talking about. I had seen a lot when I was a teenager in a charismatic pentecostal church called The Apostolic Church in the Faith of Jesus Christ, which is a (mostly) Spanish-speaking fundamentalist/modalist type of church.

OK, I didn't explain how the Holy Spirit works in our lives in this post. This is a very important topic and I don't want to attempt to teach others on it, but rather ask my readers (if you there are any) to share their knowledge on the subject of how the Holy Spirit works in us today.

Thanks for reading!

Heaven

It's been a little while since the last time I wrote on this blog. My Mom passed away a week ago. I am comforted only because I know for a fact that she is now with our Savior in the "present" heaven. I know this because the Bible explains to us that we are saved by faith (Eph. 2:8,9). My Mom understood that she was in need of a savior, just like the rest of us. She believed that God sent his only Son (John 3:16) to become the perfect, blemish-free sacrifice in our place. He took all of our sins, past, present, and future, upon Himself and died on the cross at Calvary. He rose on the third day, conquering death. If we receive this free gift (Rom. 6:23, Eph. 2:8,9), repent, and put our faith in him, he is faithful to save us from His wrath.

Romans 1:16-23 says it clearly:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel (the good news that he paid the fine for our sins), for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures."

I'll see you in heaven some day, Mom, because Jesus paid for my sins as well. Love ya.

What is Water Baptism?

Acts 2:38 says:

 "Repent," Peter said to them, "and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Some believe that we are saved by water baptism. This is not the case. Baptism is a symbol of our commitment to God. It is a public proclamation of our salvation. 1 Peter 3:16 says:

Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2: 8,9). Yet we are commanded to be baptized in Acts 2:38. We should obey this, but not confuse the process of salvation and sanctification. Ephesians 2: 8,9 tells us:

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift-not from works, so that no one can boast.

I really have a desire to serve the Lord, why don't I budge?

I remember when I was a teenager - how diligently I tried to serve God. I tried to dress modest, not curse, pray, read the Bible, pay my tithes, keep my hair short, thank God for everything I ate and drank, go to church whenever possible, even if I was very ill. I remember that clearly. Oh, yeah - I walked around holding my Bible a lot. That was just a habit though, but I remember my sister Cynthia saying that the other church kids looked up to me because of that. I guess I looked holy. Hmmm....but was I?

Truthfully, even though I looked holy on the outside, I was just like the pharisees. Jesus compared them to "whitewashed tombs" in Matthew 23:27.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean."

23 year later, I realize what a wretched sinner I really am. Through studying the Bible I've learned that I will never be able to enter heaven without the blood of Christ that was shed for me.  In other words, no matter what good deeds I may do and no matter how good and holy I seem to be on the outside, I will never be good enough to make it into heaven. We have to be perfect to make it on our own. I (as well as you, more likely than not) have lied, blasphemed, stolen, lusted, dishonored my parents, hated, etc. If God judged me by His standards (the Ten Commandments) I'd be guilty. God is a good and just God and he will judge us:

"Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment"  (Hebrews 9:27)

Where do guilty people go when they die? Hell. Yep, I said it. Where "their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." (Mark 9:48) Let me say it again. Hell. Jesus took all the sins of the world and put them on himself and was sacrificed, conquering sin. We need to cry out to God, repent and put our faith in Him. He will receive us and save us. (By the way, we don't "accept Him", He accepts us!) We're not saved by our own works, like good deeds, or being baptized (though we are commanded to do good deeds and be baptized). So we are not saved by our own "good" because we are not good. We are saved by Jesus' works....and He must get ALL the credit!

Ephesians 2: 8,9 says:

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."

So, why won't you budge? Because you still may need to realize that you are a sinner (like me) and God is the only one who is righteous. You need to realize that we can't do it on our own. Realize that God has already paid the price for our sins, then TRUST in Him. Put your faith in Him. We do this the same way we put our faith in a parachute.

Imagine this: 

You are on a plane. There is a parachute under your seat. The plane's engines go out all of a sudden and it's going down. What do you do? Do you just believe in the parachute, thinking that your saved? Nope. You put it on. You trust it and have faith that your life will be saved by putting it on. If don't put it on, you're doomed. (Thank you, Ray Comfort, for the analogy.)

We need to stop trying to work our way to heaven. We are to trust in God -- that He'll save us. And when we are truly saved, we are given the gift of His Holy Spirit, which guides us. When we are saved we will be given a new heart with a strong desire to serve Him, to obey Him, to live for Him, and to worship Him with our lives. 

Rom. 12: 1.2 says:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

I wasn't truly saved until 5 years ago. When were you saved? Examine yourself. If you are saved, cool! If you are not, get on your knees and let God save you. Remember that we are not going to change over night. It is a process that we go through (sanctification) and it takes time. We repent and the Holy Spirit works in us and guides us, molding us into a model of Jesus. We will sin, yes, but if we do, we will fall into sin as opposed to diving into it like before. We repent daily. If we fail, we get up, dust ourselves off and keep on going. Remember, we don't jump into sin anymore when we're saved. We don't plan it, check to see if anyone's looking, indulge and enjoy it. Nope.

Have you put on the parachute, or just believed in it? Remember that the demons believe in Jesus and tremble at his name. Are they going to heaven?


Made ya think! 


(I hope.)

(Not) The Gospel

If you died tonight.....

If you died tonight, would you go to heaven? Why? Cause you're a good person? OK, let's run through some of the ten commandments.

• Have you ever told a lie?
• Have you ever stolen. No? Come on...you already told me you're a liar!
• Have you ever dishonored your parents? ...by not listening, or talking back...?
• Have you ever looked at someone with lust? Jesus said that this is adultery in the heart.
• Have you ever been mad at someone for no good reason? God considers this murder in the heart.

We’ve only gone through five of the ten commandments. So if God judged you by his standards, would you make it? So how do we get to heaven? By doing good, like everyone thinks? Nope. If that were true, none of us would EVER make it. (Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.) This is why we need a savior. God came to Earth and became a man, lived a sinless life (just like a spotless lamb for the sacrifice in the Old Testament) and took the punishment that WE deserved and died. 1 John 4:10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent us His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.


Then he arose from the dead, which was God saying he approved of the sacrifice. Imagine Jesus taking all of your sins, every single one and putting them on his back right before the Roman soldiers started whipping at it with a cat of nine tails, with pieces of glass, etc. until his intestines started to protrude. This is why Jesus is love. Not because if we follow him, we'll be able to make the next car payment, but because he loved us so much he died for us. Romans 5:8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

If we do not repent and put our faith in Jesus Christ, we won't make it. It's the plain truth. We are sinful and headed for hell. That's the bad news. Jesus paid the price for us, and it's there if we ask him to accept us, and live for him. That's the good news, or "gospel" as the Bible calls it. If we repent and put our trust in Jesus (like we trust a parachute to save our life when we jump out of a plane), God will give us a new heart with new desires, granting us the gift of repentance (Acts 5:31).

Think about what I said about how to get to heaven. I don't know if you're saved. You and God only know. So, if you don't think you are, pray about it.

I'm only telling you this cause I care for you and I want to make sure I see you in heaven. I'm not pointing fingers. Believe me, I'm a much bigger sinner than the likes of ya. Remember that we only get to heaven because of what HE did. If we depend on our own good works, we're headed for the oven. Ephesians 2:8,9 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift - not from works, so that no one can boast.

It makes you think, doesn’t it?

Take Up Your Cross

Luke 9:23 says, “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” What does this mean? Well, let's take a look. First off, what Jesus says here is addressed to ALL, not just the Twelve Apostles. When he says “Come after me”, he means that we are to become his disciple. A disciple of Jesus must deny himself, not just deny himself certain things, but total personal control of his life. We need to make a commitment that may in fact lead to hardship and even death. Here in America, we think we are persecuted when someone reads our “Christian” T-shirt and throws the F-bomb at us. Yeah, OK. There are people in Sudan getting tortured and killed this minute because they are Christians. That's persecution. Jesus then says, “follow me”. We must follow Jesus' example of how to live 100% for the glory of God. Everything we do MUST be for him, and we must thank him for all things, good or bad.

Luke 14:27 says, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” This condition of discipleship is critical, in that if we have not done this, then we must ask ourselves whether we are a true Christian. Jesus commanded us to repent and put our faith in Him. If we continue to live primarily to satisfy our own fleshly desires, have we really repented? Have we really put ALL of our faith in Him? I think not.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “...I die daily”. This is what he's talking about. We don't feed the desires of the beast (or ourselves, the flesh) but rather live totally for God, killing the flesh, in other words. We need to stop living to please ourselves. Everything – every single thing we do must be for the glory of God! We need to embrace God's will, no matter what the cost is. We must not feed the flesh, but give it all up and turn towards God. Have you been feeding the beast?

By the way, what are you doing for God? Have you witnessed to anyone lately? Passed out a Bible tract or two? Given a copy of “Hell's Best Kept Secret” to someone at the park? Called up a family member to share the good news of the Gospel (because you care that he is on his way to hell, and do not care if they get angry with you, if it could mean he'll get saved)?

Pull out your drivers license and check the birth date on it. Subtract your age from, let's say, 80 years. Note how much time you might have to live. Look in the mirror and ask yourself, “What have I done for God so far? How many years have I foolishly wasted?” Use every single minute of your life to do something that glorifies God.

About 150,000 people die every day in this world. How many are dying without Christ this very minute and are on their journey to hell? Don't spend your time “feeding the beast”, but rather use this time for God's work. Well, what are you waiting for?

Temptation - Do We Have a Winning Chance?

We all are tempted by sin at one point or another. Truthfully, because of our sinful nature, it occurs far more often then we'd like. There are many different types of temptation that come our way - temptation to gossip, take something that isn't ours, temptation to lust, coveting something that we can't (or shouldn't) have, temptation to "stretch" the truth, etc.

Reality has demonstrated to us that we will be battling these things for as long as we live in this flesh. We will only completely be relieved of this struggle when we are with Jesus in heaven. According to the Word, we go through the sanctification process and even though we don't ever stop sinning while here on Earth, as we go through this process, we sin less and less and less.

But how do we deal with this in the meantime? Should we pray, spend time every day in the Word and memorize scripture? Psalm 119:9-11 says, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping Your word. I have sought you with all my heart; don't let me wander from Your commands.  I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you."