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