I surrender!

Today I read an interesting statement that is so true and it comes from the book

“The Good News We Almost Forgot” by Kevin Deyoung in it he says:

“The rejection of Jesus Christ is sometimes an intellectual problem and sometimes an ignorance problem, but it is always a surrender problem.”

Saying I surrender is something  we all have a problem with. We want to be in control, we want to matter on our own merits but sometimes in war to live you have to surrender. In life in order to live forever you have to surrender; to Christ. So go ahead and tell Jesus that you surrender to Him and see what happens.

Hebrews 12:9
Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?

From the hymn I surrender all

All to Jesus I surrender;

        all to him I freely give;

        I will ever love and trust him,

        in his presence daily live.

        I surrender all, I surrender all,

        all to thee, my blessed Savior,

        I surrender all.

Writing your own obituary

Over the weekend I went to a funeral and was almost brought to tears even before the thing even began. As I was reading through the little program that was handed to me before I sat down I began to think what will my obituary say? Will it say what I want it to say? And what am I doing so that those who will have to write it will be able to say what I’d like said. Now some may thing this is all morbid, but have you ever stopped to think what will be said about you when you die? Especially to the one that matters most, Jesus.  If my obituary says he loved food that would be a true statement. If it said he loved his family, another true statement. Yet to the one that my obituary matters most will it say he loved Jesus? That’s what I’d like it to say and again I have to ask myself and perhaps you should too. What am I doing right now so that others will know that I do indeed love Jesus? Right now you are in fact writing your obituary whether you know it or not.  

John 21

¹⁵ When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” ¹⁶ He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”

Resistance is futile

Once a person becomes a Christian or as was said yesterday is born again things change. There is a definite change in the way a person lives their life.  They then begin to do good works, they don’t do good works to become a Christian, but they do them because they are a Christian. These good works are not only inevitable but they are immediate. They are immediate because they are a new person, this does not mean they are perfect, but they are changed forever and that change is a continual process. If a person claims to be a Christian and there is no evidence of change in their heart or their life one would have to ask if their claim was genuine. Then on the other side once Jesus gets a hold of you and you are born again. The old person, the old self clings on to whatever it can and goes out kicking and screaming and is not completely gone until a person goes to be with Jesus. That is the reality of the world we live in. But when Jesus gets a hold of you resistance is futile.

 Romans 6:1-4

 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? ² Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? ³ Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? ⁴ For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

I have to be born again?

John 3:3

³ Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again,^[a] you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

What Jesus says here is one of, if not the most important thing He says in the entire Bible, yet many don’t get it and many get it wrong. You have to be born again to get to Heaven. Contrary to popular belief you were not born okay the first time so you have to be born again

If you scroll down I will tell you what can do to be born again and get into Heaven.

Take a good look

As human beings I am not sure if we can really understand the effect that son has on us. You could take the most moral, upstanding, giving, caring, person in the entire world and compared to Jesus they are even dirtier than the picture above. Perhaps you should look around for the dirt in your life? Many people will try and roll up their sleeves and go to work cleaning up their lives all by themselves. But there is nothing they can do on their own to get clean. There is only one way to clean yourself up and it’s Jesus. Once you let him wipe away your sin knowing how dirty you truly were will make you praise Him even more.   

Jeremiah 14:20
LORD, we confess our wickedness and that of our ancestors, too. We all have sinned against you.

Priorities, Are yours correct?

Today I would like to share a line from one of my favorite books of all time and that is the Glory of Christ by John Owen. John really gives us the truth and a challenge with this line when he says:

                      “The chief duty of faith and love is to lead us to prefer Christ above ourselves, and His concerns above our own.”

To prefer Christ above ourselves and His concerns about our own, what a challenge, yet the direction we should be headed. I think another line in the book gives us a good way to start heading in that direction.     

“It is our duty, therefore, constantly to meditate on the glory of Christ. This will fill us with a joy which will in turn, move us to meditate on His glory more and more.”

 Your priorities in life would be something to think about the rest of the week and beyond.  

Who could be worse the Hitler?

If you were to stop and think about the one person who has brought the most pain and suffering to this earth, who do you think of? For a lot of people the first person to come to mind would be Adolf Hitler. He did in fact cause a terrible amount of pain and suffering. Now the truth is there is someone, when it comes to pain, suffering and death that Hitler does not even come close. If you’re asking who could be worse that Hitler, the answer is Adam. It was Adam who by his disobedience unleashed pain, suffering and death on the earth. Prior to eating the fruit those things never even existed. You may say it’s not fair but to this day we are all paying for Adam’s sin because when he sinned it caused all of mankind to have a sinful nature. This is called in theological terms imputation. Perhaps the simplest way to think of imputation would be to look at it as hereditary. We all come from Adam and sin is like a bad gene that has been passed down from generation to generation. The reason we sin has been passed down to us. It’s not fair but neither are any other bad genes that are passed down. There has been much work done in gene therapy to fix those bad genes that cause disease and illness in us, however the first successful gene therapy was done by Jesus himself. His death on the cross made it possible for those He chooses to be saved from the results of sin which is death. So Adam and not Hitler has had the most adverse effect on mankind. The good news is that Jesus came to fix it all.

Romans 5:12  

¹² When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

All but one has fallen

We have all heard the phrase the Jesus was the only perfect person to ever walk the earth. That is true but we forget at least for a little while Adam was perfect as well. Now we don’t know how long but for a time Adam did not sin. He had a perfect communion with God. I mean they hung out together. But his run of perfectness ended when he and Eve disobeyed God and took from the tree of life. From what we are told that was the only law (rule) they had and they failed. On the other hand when Jesus came to this earth there were many laws, many temptations and he obeyed God and did not sin. Thus it is true that Jesus was the only perfect person to walk the earth. When you think that Adam only had one temptation and failed and Jesus had many and obeyed perhaps you should stop and think about what an accomplishment that was, because in the history of the world all but one has fallen. Obedience has a price that no human can afford; it’s out of our budget. They only one who could afford it was God and he bought it with the blood of His son. Adam gave us our sinful nature and Jesus gave us salvation from it. Thank you Jesus.   

Romans 5:15

¹⁵ But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.

Prepare to be beaten

For some reason I have just wasted some very valuable time reading some blogs posted by a pastor who was attacking a successful pastor. The funny thing about this is that the way I found this was by someone else who posted the pastor’s blog as if it were “official” or something. I mean I have been writing a blog for over a year now and if I were to say that X from city Y said Z; that people would believe it and it would be reported as such. That is what happens today. Now I by no means read all of this guys blogs only about a dozen or so and in none of them was scripture quoted not even out of context to try and prove his point. People are very funny creatures, if they hear something they want to believe they will believe it even if it is false. If they hear the truth and don’t believe it they will attack the messenger in a heartbeat. We live in such an instant society today people do not want to study or even think for themselves. They instead will google until they find a blogger that says what they to hear and say see its right there, it must be true. Just keep in mind anyone pastor or not who is having success in the war with Satan will be attacked. So if you are working for Christ prepare to be beaten. If you’re doing nothing why should the enemy even bother when you are no threat to him?  

John 8:44-46

⁴⁴ For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me!

Thanks for nothing

Do you ever pray “thank you Lord for the things you have given me?” I have and I’m going to try and stop. Not that I am ungrateful, but if you really want to be honest God has given you nothing. That’s right I said God has given you nothing, not your family, not your house, none of the stuff you have is ever really yours.
It all belongs to God and God has in a sense only entrusted you with His stuff while you are here on this earth and not given it to you. When I borrow a tool or something from a friend I am always extra careful with it because I know it’s not mine. Should I not have the same mentality with all of the stuff that God entrusted to me like His family that lives with me, His house that he lets me live in and His 04 white Silverado pickup he lets me put gas in. Have you come to the realization that your stuff is not really yours, but actually His. And don’t forget you are not even yours, you are His as well.  

Linn Street Cafe followup

This will not be a full review but some additional thoughts from our second trip to the Linn Street Café.  They overcooked my Beef tenderloin again, however everything else was excellent. Their mashed potatoes are the best I’ve ever had. I usually don’t do desert at any restaurant unless it’s a frosty at Wendy’s but the highlight of the entire visit to Linn Street was the made from scratch bread pudding served with homemade vanilla ice-cream. I don’t even know where to begin it was that good. I am by no means a bread pudding fan but this was awesome. It was so good in fact that it was the special of the night so we ordered it without know the price, that made me nervous. Due to the prices of everything else on the menu I did not hold out much hope, even to the degree I did not take a picture of it. When it was all said and done the value I placed on it was $10, I thought it was worth that. As it turned out it was (I can’t believe I’m say this) only $7. It made the whole visit worthwhile. Too bad it’s not on the menu.

I hate my enemies

"I hate my enemies" can't you just see this child saying that here? Hating your enemies is very easy to do, but before you do consider that Jesus said love your enemies. Why would he ever say such a thing? I’m sure all of the “good” Christian people who read this blog would say because Jesus said so, or it is the right thing to do, among other reasons which in essence are correct. However did you ever consider the reason Jesus said to love your enemies as a lesson in grace? Because at one time as a sinner, you were an enemy of God and He loved you any way. All Jesus asks of us is to turn the other cheek to an enemy or to give them your shirt when they ask for your coat when He sent His son from Heaven to earth to die an agonizing death on the cross for those that have nothing to do with Him, that hate Him, or who are His bitter enemies.

The lesson in grace is that you have to see yourself as a sinner, an enemy of God until He saved you and not by anything you did. We think our enemies don’t deserve our love and the truth is they probably don’t. But neither did we, there is your lesson in grace.  

Luke 6:

 ²⁷ “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. ²⁸ Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. ³⁰ Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back.

Hello my name is __________

I think a lot of people would consider themselves a victim of sin. When the truth is we are not victims of sin we actually peruse it. Ever since Eve took the apple mankind in a sense has been addicted to sin it’s something we actually chase after just like an addict chases after whatever it is they are addicted to. I chewed tobacco for well over 20 years and was so addicted I would start to get nervous when I was down to half a can. For the addictions we are used to there are 12 step plans for some of them however for our addition to sin it is a one step plan and that is trust in Jesus. Trusting in Him is the only way to break the addiction to sin, yes you will still sin from time to time but when you trust in Jesus, ask for forgiveness and repent you will not be addicted, because true repentance calls for a hatred of sin. So to break the addiction to sin sit down and say Father my name is _________ and I am a sinner, I ask for the forgiveness of my sins, I repent of them, and I place all my trust in you and go from there.

Romans 5:

⁸ But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. ⁹ And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. ¹⁰ For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.

Time to think

Yesterday I spent the day in a hospital as my Dad got both knees replaced. It makes for a long day however long days make for a time of reflection. Here are a few things I took away from the day.

One, the reading material listed the side effects of the surgery and the last one was loss of life. Even in a so called elective surgery there is that chance a person could die. Which also brings to mind none of us knows when our number will come up and are we ready for that? Some may think it is weird but I do not fear death at all and am looking forward to it. Not the process of death but the outcome and only because I trust in Christ. As I looked around the hospital yesterday I wondered about the spiritual health of all of patients, family members, visitors and staff. Then I asked myself what if anything am I going to do about it.

Then when the surgery was over and they took my dad up to his room as he laid there coming out of the anesthesia which as anyone knows can be quite entertaining. He was helpless all he wanted to do was to move his knees and could not because they had immobilizers on them along with some kind of nerve block. This reminded me of how helpless all humans are and how sin immobilized us, and it will not be until we die or Jesus’ returns that we will be free from sin.

Then when the physical therapist came in to talk to us I realized what a long road and hard work was ahead of him before he could go home. This in the Christians life is called sanctification and there is much work to be done on ourselves before we go home as well.  

I also thought about those on the staff who were the most helpful and how much better they made things. I had to ask myself am I that person for those in this world who not just need help but need the cure for their problems in this life and that cure is the gospel message.

So all in all it was a good day and it was fun to see Rachel in her element as she works in surgery every day, plus she got me a discount on some bacon and a donut.

Get off the couch

In the last blog I tried to establish the fact that just going to church does not make you a Christian and that if you are a Christian you should want to go to church. But what about the Christian that does go to church what then? Is it about showing up just minutes before or perhaps even late? Is it about sprinting to the car as soon as you think it’s over? Is it about coming on a Sunday morning and seeing what you can get? No no no no no! I have heard people say “I did not get anything out of church.” My question would be what did you put into it? I have also heard some say “I’ve done that now it’s someone else’s turn.” That’s not church. If a person comes to church expecting to be served sooner or later they will be disappointed. But if they come to church wanting to serve it will not take long at all to be rewarded. Now there is a difference between serving and wanting to serve. If you just write your name down on a signup sheet because you feel obligated there is no reward in that. However when you serve willingly as Jesus did it won’t take very long at all to see the benefits of serving.  I have been a part of a small without a building church for some time now and it takes a lot to “do church”. Church is like a family and it takes everyone pulling together for a common cause to make it what it needs to be. Don’t be that family member that just sits on the couch and is oblivious to what’s going on around them. Get involved, go to church to serve, not to be served, a church with more consumers than producers quickly dies. Look around your church and see what can be done. Not everyone can fill the communion cups, but there are many other things to do. My always told me when it comes to work that he shouldn’t have to tell me what to do that I should be able to see what needs to be done. The same thing can be said for church, don’t wait to be told what needs to be done, learn to see what needs to be done.  There is so much to do in a church besides the obvious like teaching, nursery, and the like. It could simply be attending the things that don’t happen on Sunday, encouraging others, providing food for someone going through a rough patch; the list could go on and on. One last important thing don’t do these things for yourself, or for the church. If you want the things you do to have value do them for Jesus. In other words get off the couch and get into Jesus.

Like minded

There are two phrases about being a Christian that I find very interesting. One I like the other, not so much and we’ll start with that one. The phrase I hear from some that just makes me cringe in “you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.” I usually translate that as I’m not a Christian. However technically that is a correct statement especially when I share the other phrase which is “Going to church no more makes you a Christian than sitting in a garage makes you a car.” There are many who go to church every Sunday that are no more Christian than the one that’s never been. It’s all about heart and motive, if you are a Christian you should want to go to church for many reasons. One is being to be with other Christians, it’s kind of like if you were a Hawkeye fan would you want to watch the Iowa - Iowa State game with a bunch of Clones? (sorry Cyclone fans) no, you would want to be with like minded Hawkeye fans. Then on the other side just because you happen to be at the game does not necessarily make you a fan of either side perhaps you were just drug there by someone else. So church has nothing to do with being a Christian but being a Christian should make you want to go to church. The determining factor in all of this is of course Jesus.

Who wants to say grace?

I am under the impression that the most misunderstood word in a Christian’s vocabulary is grace. This word has been so watered down over time that at dinner tables all over the world the question is asked “who wants to say grace” you don’t say grace you pray. I knew it was bad but when I did a little study for this blog I didn’t know how bad it was. There was so much watered down stuff out there that I would not know where to begin. Even the dictionary said something about assisting humans in salvation.  There is no assistance in grace even though some tend to think there is. Time for a big word, it’s called prevenient grace (I’m glad my spell check does not recognize that word) It basically says that God’s grace it out there and humans can choose to accept it or deny it. The problem with that is that it puts humans in control and not God, it’s wrong and scary. When it comes to truly understanding grace it is virtually impossible for us as humans to comprehend. However no definition of grace can go without the words undeserved favor and that is why I think we as humans have trouble getting it, because we all think we deserve it, or that we are entitled. To first understand grace you have to understand how sinful, depraved, dirty, and unworthy you really are. And that only by the blood of Jesus Christ and the grace he showed you when he willingly died on the cross for those he chose, only then will you get a glimpse of grace. Now who wants to say grace?

Romans 11:5-8

⁵ It is the same today, for a few of the people of Israel^[c] have remained faithful because of God’s grace—his undeserved kindness in choosing them. ⁶ And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved. ⁷ So this is the situation: Most of the people of Israel have not found the favor of God they are looking for so earnestly. A few have—the ones God has chosen—but the hearts of the rest were hardened. ⁸ As the Scriptures say, “God has put them into a deep sleep. To this day he has shut their eyes so they do not see, and closed their ears so they do not hear.”^[d]

One last gift

Christmas came and went but I want to ask did you leave a gift under the tree? I have praying since Christmas for God to show me what he wants me to focus on at this point in my life and just the other day he made it clear to me and I was embarrassed when He gave me the answer because it was so simple and one that I should have known. He made it clear that I was supposed to focus on the spiritual gift that He gave me and not worry about anything else. A few years ago I went to a seminar on determining your spiritual gifts and it was an eye opening experience because I went into it thinking I knew what my gift was. However when I went through the class and took the final test I actually argued with the results until they were explained to me, then I went oh yea. I wish I could remember the name of the material but I don’t. My question to you is did you leave your spiritual gift under the tree un-opened? I think it would be a good idea to go check. When you determine what your gift is and then utilize it there is nothing more satisfying. The world will try and confuse you into wanting a different gift and when you pursue that you will not be successful or satisfied.

Here is a link to a quick 35 question survey to help you determine what your spiritual gift is. It does not go into much detail however when I took it the results were the same as my two session course.

http://mintools.com/spiritual-gifts-test

 Romans 12:6-8 lists the spiritual gifts that God has left for all of His children consider them, open them and use them and just see what happens.

 ⁶ In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. ⁷ If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. ⁸ If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

The most asked question in the world

What is the one question that is asked more than any other in our society today? It's not when does McDonalds open. I think it is how are you? Just stop and think about how many times you are asked that question every day. For that matter stop and think about how many times you ask that question every day. In theory it is a very caring and deep question but it seems like it has become something like a shield which is thrown up when you causally meet someone. Stop and think about it when someone that you know meets you in passing and you just happen to make eye contact what are they most likely to say? How are you? And most people can do it without even breaking stride. How many times do you think that you have been lied to or even lied yourself and said “good” more than you can count
I’ll bet. I really think that the biggest percentage of people who ask this question are really not expecting anything other than that response. In fact most would be mortified if someone stopped and actually told them what was going on in their lives. When I’m feeling ornery my response is usually “Better than I look” that really throws people off. So today I was thinking why not take the opportunity of taking the question you will most likely be asked today and turn it into an opportunity? Try at the very least to answer the question “how are you” by saying I am blessed and see where it goes. It may lead to an opportunity right there on the spot or it may just plant a seed. On the other side if you ask that question look and see what that person is telling you and not just listen to them. They may be throwing up that shield hoping that you will not break your stride when in fact they are hurting and could really use the Gospel Message. In any situation when either asking or being asked think of 1 Peter 3:15
Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.

Tim Tebow a snap shot of Christanity

I have in some sense become a Denver Broncos fan this year. Like a lot of people I like to root for the underdog and they sure have been an underdog. I have actually been a Tim Tebow fan for some time now, going back to his college days. I’m not a band wagon jumper. What he has accomplished this year has not changed him one bit he is still the same person he was at Florida. Tim is a great snap shot of what it means to be a Christian and I’m not talking about all of the good things. When anyone famous or un-famous openly shares their faith there will be those who automatically will persecute them. I was at a gathering no to long ago when a friendly Bears, Packers discussion broke out. Not sure what the Bears fan had to stand on. Then someone threw in how about those Broncos and Tim Tebow. Tebow was immediately attacked not on his quarterbacking skills but was accused of being a horrible person and they only thing they knew about him was that he was a Christian. Speaking of his quarterbacking skills they are really not the best technically. However that is another thing about why he is a great snap shot of what it means to be a Christian. Technically we all are not very good either there is someone better and that’s Jesus. However if we rely and trust in Him we too can become successful. When we do this we don’t have to rely on ourselves. I remember watching a show on Tim Tebow that documented his time from his last college game until draft day and no one was going to out work him and when he wasn’t working out he was giving back, yet another good model of what it means to be a Christian. If I remember right the Broncos were like 1-5 when Tebow took over and had that miracle run then he went and lost 3 in a row and heading into yesterday’s game there were headlines saying that he could be benched, then even at half time most if not all the announcers said this can’t happen and the Steelers will come back and win when Denver was up 20- 6. The same can be said in your walk with Christ. The world will tell you, you can’t win, it won’t work, you may or should I say will be persecuted as well. But if you continue to trust in Christ you will win. Also was it just a coincidence that for a guy who can’t pass threw for 3:16 yards in his first playoff game. Now if the Broncos beat New England on Saturday we will have to look into divine intervention.

John 3:16

¹⁶ “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Is that a threat or a promise?

I am a list person, I love to make lists, to do lists, eating places, books, movies, tv shows the list of lists goes on and on. If I were asked to make a list of the top 5 promises in the Bible that would be very hard. However I am sure that the very last words that Jesus spoke in the entire Bible would have to make my top 5. The last words He left us with in the scriptures are recorded in Revelation 22: 20

²⁰ He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

That is a promise that you can take to the bank. It will happen it’s just a matter of when. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying is that a threat or a promise. Just like today’s picture depending on which side you a fully loaded F-18 is viewed as either a threat or a promise. To Jesus’ words here it depends on whether or not you trust in Jesus. If you do it’s a promise, if you don’t it’s a threat. Be ready because it will happen, you just don’t know when.

Book Review "Locked On" by Tom Clancy

I just hate it when I read a fiction book and all it does it make me fuming mad. That’s just what Tom Clancy’s Locked On did. Tom Clancy has a unique way of taking everything that goes on in the world and turning it into a novel. In his latest novel Clancy brings back almost all of his greatest characters in a hard to put down thriller. Everything that happens in this book probably has or will take place that is what makes me mad. Without giving away to much, what people will do to save themselves at the expense of the United States of America and the brave men and women who defend it just makes me ill. As well as how much the liberal establishment (yes I said liberal) actually hate everything America stands for. The only thing I will say that Locked On makes a strong case for trying terrorists as enemy combatants and intelligence it intelligent. Another must read from Clancy.  

The point of no return

Revelation 22:11

11 Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.”

It is always very important not to just read the Bible, but to study it and find other things that go along with it. Usually when I study the Bible my first resources is the ESV study Bible.The notes that come with it are extremely helpful. When reading today’s verse it was these notes that really put this verse into perspective for me. Here is what they said:

Patterns of behavior, whether controlled by unbelief or by faith, will eventually be irreversible.

This really hit home for me today because when we think of Christianity and being saved we always think there is a chance, which is true. However at some point there is a point of no return at which from then on it will be too late. There will be no going back, no do over’s and each will be left to their own. At some point the ones who are evil will just be evil and there won’t be a thing you can do about it. The real sobering part is at some point, at death or the return of Jesus even prayer will not help. Make sure you are in the right place before coming to the point of no return.

Hey look, they left the vault open.

In today’s society complete with lying, cheating, stealing that seems to be getting worse can you imagine a day to come where there will be no need for locks, safes, or even doors? That day is coming the day when even the most valuable thing imaginable can be left out in the open and never worried about. It would be like Fort Knox closing up for the night and leaving all of the vault doors open. It’s going to be that good.

Revelation 21
²⁵ Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. ²⁶ And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city. ²⁷ Nothing evil^[f] will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Here comes the Son

There is a lot of stuff in the Bible that is quite frankly hard to comprehend especially when it starts talking about what Heaven will be like. The Bible speaks of many things that we aren’t really able to picture like walls made of jasper and the like. But its verse 23 of Revelation 21 that I really want to witness for myself it goes

 Revelation 21

²³ And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. ²⁴ The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory.

 

To imagine not needing the sun because the Son is so bright, that the glory of God through Jesus will be enough to illuminate the entire city. For me that is just really hard to understand and I can’t wait to experience it myself. Because then it will all make sense. Just think about here on earth the difference the sun makes in how people feel. Without it, it can get downright depressing. The same can be said of the Son I can’t imagine living without it.

Which side are you on?

So many times we need to be reminded that in the end we win, Jesus to be exact. However if you are on His team you too win. I'm not sure why anyone would want to play on a team that they know that in the end will lose especially when the stakes are so high. But there are many that do, in reality those on the losing side just don’t know that they are going to lose and Satan hates God so much and is so filled with pride he just keeps on fighting and will do his darnedest to take as many as he can with him.

So in whatever you are going through if you trust in Jesus, just remember that in the end your team wins. If you’re not on the team yet just ask Jesus into your life, repent of your sins and trust in Him so that you too can be on the winning team. Revelation 20:7-10 gives the play by play of the end of the game.

 Revelation 20

⁷ When the thousand years come to an end, Satan will be let out of his prison. ⁸ He will go out to deceive the nations—called Gog and Magog—in every corner of the earth. He will gather them together for battle—a mighty army, as numberless as sand along the seashore. ⁹ And I saw them as they went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded God’s people and the beloved city. But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and consumed them. ¹⁰ Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Take me to your leader

The phrase take me to your leader always conjures up strange images of what that leader will look like. I’m afraid if someone asked a Christian what their leader looked like it would be a far cry from the truth. The image of Jesus portrayed in today’s society is that of quite frankly a wuss.  Mark Driscoll in his book Vintage Jesus said it like this

“The Jesus I was told about could easily have passed for one of the kids in the ghetto daycare near my house who were pumped so full of Nyquil they would sit quietly and drool on themselves while watching cartoons until their moms came to pick them up after work.”

 If you’re honest with yourself that’s not too far from how Jesus is portrayed, and Satan just loves that. However my Jesus, my leader is better described in Revelation 19 and it goes like this:

 ¹¹ Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. ¹² His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. ¹³ He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. ¹⁴ The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. ¹⁵ From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. ¹⁶ On his robe at his thigh^[e] was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords.

 Yes God is love but he also has the power to protect those He loves and I am oh so thankful for that. So please don’t think of Jesus as a sissy think of him as your father who has the power to protect you from any and everything.

Not a resolution but a focus for 2012

I have never made a New Year’s resolution and don’t plan on starting now. However the beginning of a new year is always a time to reflect back and look forward. Where I work we do yearly performance evaluations which is a time to look back at what you did in the previous year and more importantly to look forward to the next year. I am a believer in goals so over the past few weeks I have been trying to decide on my own personal goals for 2012. I have come up with what is I guess a goal, definitely not a resolution. More realistically I would call it a focus for 2012. I have decided to be focused on enjoying Christ even more. Enjoying something sounds very easy and you may think what kind of focus is that? That doesn’t sound too tough.  Enjoying Christ even more is not going to be that easy.

To enjoy Christ more is going to require giving up, or at the very least cutting back on a lot of things. To really enjoy Christ, those things in your life that do not involve Him have to be made less and less and He has to be made more and more. To enjoy Christ even more I am going to have to serve Him even more. To serve someone does not sound like enjoyment. But when it’s Christ you’re serving there is no greater enjoyment. I may have to give up a TV show, or personal time to do something for the church, a neighbor, a friend, or perhaps a complete stranger. To enjoy Christ a person must determine what gifts He has given them and actually use them. I cannot think of a better way to enjoy one’s self than to determine what your spiritual gift is and use it.

I’m not saying that I need to spend 12 hours a day in a Bible study, 6 hours a day in prayer, 8 hours a day in service because that adds up to more than 24. What I am saying however is in everything that I do, no matter what it is do it as if I was working for the Lord. He needs to be at the center of everything I do. I don’t know about you but sometimes I like to put myself in the center of some of the things I do and if I’m honest with myself I’m not a good center. Christ needs to be at the center of everything we do.

Here are a couple verses to go with my focus for the year, enjoy them and consider enjoying Christ more this year too.

Ephesians 6

⁷ Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

1 Peter 4:10

¹⁰ God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.