You can run but you can't hide

Jonah 1
¹ The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: ² “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

 ³ But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

 ⁴ Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. ⁵ All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.

   But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. ⁶ The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”

 ⁷ Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”

 ⁹ He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

 ¹⁰ This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)

 ¹¹ The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”

 ¹² “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”

 ¹³ Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. ¹⁴ Then they cried out to the LORD, “Please, LORD, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, LORD, have done as you pleased.” ¹⁵Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. ¹⁶ At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.

 ¹⁷ Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

I love how God works.  This story is very close to my heart because I feel like most of my life I was acting like Jonah did when God called him.  Basically God had a very important task for Jonah to do, but Jonah decided he wasn't the man for the job and ran away.  God wanted him to go to Ninevah to preach on how unGodly the city had become.


As you read in the story, instead of Ninevah Jonah heads to Tarshish by ship.  God makes a great wind that tosses the ship around.  The people on the ship know that Jonah is running from doing God's will so they throw him overboard where God has a great fish waiting to swallow him.  It says Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days, my guess is to re-examine the whole going to Ninevah thing.  Of course to fast forward he does go to Ninevah and do what God said and blessings ensued upon the city.


Now, I don't think I have been called to preach to a particular city on repentance, but I do believe God has called me to preach to people who think they are saved but may not be.  


I ran from God most of my life.  Even when I was doing work in churches with Youth I was running.  Of course I wasn't saved when most of this work was going on.  The truth is though, I remember coming home from a church camp when I was 17 and telling my parents that I felt like God had called me to preach.  Kids come back from church camps fired up for God all of the time, but I bet not many come back with that kind of revelation.  This goes back to what I said in the past; i believe I could feel God pulling me into the ministry even before I was actually saved.


I love the Jonah story, because I firmly believe this is what God kind of did to me. Praise the Lord!  He let me think I was running from him, but all the while I was learning about Him; then when the time was right he convicted me of my sins and I repented.  Things haven't been the same since.  Now I will tell you that no matter how much money you make, or how good your job is; if you aren't doing what God wants you to do then nothing will feel right or work out.  I am definitely speaking from experience here!


Long story short--Ninevah was Jonah's purpose, teaching about repentance is my purpose, what is your purpose?  Pray that God will reveal His will for your life to you and he will.  If you are not in His will, then I bet you probably already know it.


As the title says, "you can run but you can't hide"!

Why does Christianity seem to be foolish to some?

1 Cor. 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Have you ever tried to preach to talk to someone about Jesus, and just don't seem to get anywhere.  Then there are those who at least act like they may be interested or know that you are probably telling the truth.  What's the difference?  This message may be a little more in depth than others so bare with me.

Since this is my blog, I am allowed to make some personal comments on what I think the bible means.  At least that is what I am telling myself. ha ha.

OK, First let's understand that All who believe on the name of Jesus as the son of God and repent of their sins will be forgiven.  That statement in itself will nullify alot of people.  Our verse very plainly states that the teaching of the cross "salvation" is foolishness to them that perish.  Perish here has to mean the unsaved people, and if you don't think that is true just talk to a few of them.  Most of the people I have come into contact with that won't acknowledge anything in the bible are just hard core atheist, whether they realize it or not.  Why would an unsaved person not acknowledge anything in the bible?  I mean what is the deep down root of their problem with Christianity? 

I have found it to be a little old thing called selfishness. Alot of times you find that unsaved people actually worship themselves in one way or another.  They don't want to hear about what Jesus did for them or about the ten commandments because then they may have to realize that there is a higher power in control. Alot of them don't believe in Satan either, which is no surprise.  I have heard and agree with the fact that the best thing Satan ever did to keep people from believing in God was to convince them that there is no devil either. Why?  You can't have one without the other.  Although we will have only God in the distant future, but thats for another blog.

As I have said on a number of occasions, unless you are ready and willing to accept the fact that you are a wretched sinner deserving of hell, then you can't be saved.  Now do you think someone who is hellbound wants to hear that?  That's why this new age candy filled teaching in all of the churches now adays isn't helping to truly convict anyone.   We are to preaching a message that is designed not to offend anyone, and consequently there are alot of people who think they are saved and are not.  That's sad.  I was one of those people who only heard about the love and kindness of God, but never the judgement.  It's all in there and should be taught.  God had a wonderful plan of how to teach the gospel.  Just look at what the commandments do to our soul when we are not saved, they convince us of our need for a saviour, then the preaching of Jesus on the cross isn't follishness to them anymore.  Remember, we cant save anyone!  Only Jesus!  But don't stop praying for the lost, because God can bring anyone to true repentance.

If you have never really felt bad about your sins and now do, then just tell God you are sorry for you sinful life and thank Him for sending Jesus to die on that cross for YOU!  Turn away from your sinful life and ask God what He wants you to do for Him.  Read your bible and pray for guidance.  You are now a child of God and your whole purpose in life has now changed from your own will to God's will for your life.

"Amazing Grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me"!

Does Jesus dying on the cross seem like foolishness to you?

What if David had been too scared to fight. REPOST

1 Samuel 17:48-50
When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.  And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead.  The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

I'm sure all of you have heard the story in the verses above.  David was merely a child and went and battled a physical giant.  He never let fear control any of his actions.  It says David ran quickly toward the battle line, which tells me he was ready to roll.  I'm sure half of the people didn't expect David to even go to the battle, and the other half thought he would die for sure.  Can you imagine what they thought when David ran to the fight and systematically pulled out a stone and flung it at the head of the philistine, laying him out.

I want to talk about these verses today, because I think christians today have become scared to fight for God.  When we here that our local school is going to start teaching on alternative lifestyles that are contrary to what the word of God says, we try and pretend that it's not happening.  We don't want to get involved because we would hate for everyone to think we were a radical.  Isn't it ashame that we live in a day and age where just doing the right thing, or just standing for what is right is considered radical.  What does it say about our culture when good and right are radical.  I'll tell you what it says, it says that Satan is in control of this country. 

But guess what, we know how this story ends.  We know that Satan will lose.  Knowing that, why don't we stand up for what's right?  Not only should we as christians start voicing our opinions more , but we should do it with the zeal that David did when running to fight the Philistine.  If you are a saved by the blood of Jesus christian, perk up, speak up, run to the fights!  I personally believe we will be raptured soon, but if we are not then we have to fight for our kids future.  The point to all of this is, God never said for us to be push overs.  He did tell us to turn the other cheek, if we were hit, but not when it comes to telling others about what he did on the cross.  Let them persecute us, but don't let them force us into silence.  I personally believe that there are more conservative God fearing people out there than we know of, but we (they) don't speak up. 

Challenge:  During the upcoming Presidential Election, I challenge you to run to the polls and vote as if you were David running to fight the Philistine.  God never wants us to give up, we have no reason to.  Picture this, we are in the 4th quarter and are getting beat by Satan and his team by 50 points.  They are taunting you, saying you stink, spitting on you and your family.  Meanwhile you are smiling at them and they can't figure out why.  It makes them very angry then nervous.  Why are we smiling?  Because we just heard from our head coach (God) that our star QB (Jesus) has just entered the game unexpectedly.  The cheers are so loud that you can't hear Satan and his team taunting anymore.  We score TD after TD, and as the buzzer sounds Satan and his team are defeated for good. 

You see, no matter how you say it, it gives you chills.  We, as christians are on the winning team.  Our war has already been won,we are just waiting on the buzzer.  Praise the Lord!

I felt the need to write this tonight, so I did.  I've learned to do what God leads me to.  If there is anyone reading this who is really confused about getting saved, please just pray and ask God to convict you of your sins.  Read the ten commandments.  Understand that by God's law, if you broke any of them, you will have to be judged by God and will go to hell!  But in order for that not to happen, Jesus came and physically took your punishment from God so you wouldn't have to spend an eternity in hell.  Ask God to forgive you of your sinful life, then leave it behind.  Turn from it (Repent).  Read your bible and pray that God will reveal His will to you for your life.

Do you worry?

Matthew 6:25
"For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious about your life, inquiring what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body, inquiring what you shall wear.  Is not your life more than its food, and your body more than its clothing?"

This is definitely something that I as well as most other people struggle with.  The point Jesus was making here was that there is no need to worry about anything.  I think He was also telling us that our worries sometimes, aren't even what we should be worrying about.  I know that's confusing, but lets look at it.  He says don't worry about food because food isn't all you need in life.  Don't worry about clothing because that is so small of a thing when measured up to His work and His will for your life.

For me I worry about those that will not make the rapture.  Now I know people in today's times think, oh well if there is a rapture, then I will get saved then because at that point I will know that God is real.  I know you've heard or even thought like that.  It's simple though.  If you won't turn your life over to God now when all you may have to put up with is some mocking, then do you really think you will turn your life over to God when you will die for your choice???  Definitely something to think about.

Anyway back to the worry thing.  I also worry about this blog and its message.  I just finished my first book ever and literally just submitted my files to the publisher a few minutes ago.  I worry that I will sound unintelligent and maybe look foolish, but I guess if I really look at today's passage I will see that If I were to worry about anything it should be that I have a message and am not getting it out.

 Isn't it amazing how clear things look when you just read your bible and pray that God will help you put things in perspective?  The awesome thing about God's word is that it is living.  As you read it, God talks to you through the words.  This is why it causes us to think different things when we may all be reading the same verse.

Pray for the publishing of my book and for this ministry to thrive and be able to get the message out.

If you have a worry on your mind right now, just pray that God will put it in its proper perspective for you.  Remember, we are to be fishers of men. This alone should take up so much of our time that we have less time to worry about things that really don't matter.

God Bless!

Are you comin? Repeat

1 Thessalonians 4:17 -- Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

What better way to start the new year than with an "end times" message. First, let me say that I am not a "doomsdayer", on the contrary, I am a "rapture sayer". If you are saved then there is nothing gloomy or dark about the rapture. I've heard people say that they are saved, but don't really like thinking about stuff like the rapture. It may be a little concerning, but shouldn't be scary. If you are saved, and the rapture occurs in your lifetime, you will escape all the persecution that accompanies the end times.

Now, let's look at the verse. If you read a few verses before this, you will see that the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are left will go to meet Jesus in the air. There is alot of speculation and disagreement about "the dead in Christ", but I personally believe the bodies of the dead in Christ will go first. We know there souls are already in heaven mainly because of when Jesus told the thief on the cross that today he would be with Jesus in paradise.

That's about as deep as I am going to get into the subject today. There is alot of studying that should be done on the matter from everyone. Read the bible and ask God to reveal it's meaning to you.

I do believe we are in the end of days, I mean, all you have to do is read Revelation and then watch the news. For those of us who are saved, we can look forward to being "caught up" to meet Jesus in the clouds. After that we can look forward to an eternity of perfection, instead of an eternity away from God.

The descriptions I see about hell are pretty vivid and dark. Matthew 13:42 The Son of man will send His angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Everyone goes to spend an eternity somewhere. No matter what you hear or think differently about it, you will spend eternity either in Heaven or Hell.

As for me, I'm saved by the blood of Jesus. I repented ( was sorry) for my sins and have made Jesus the Lord of my life. At the sound of the trumpet when Jesus is in the air, I'm going up to meet him.

ARE YOU COMIN?

Are you hated?

Why are christians hated?

Matthew 24:9  Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.

Ever really sat back and wondered why christians are hated throughout the world so severely.  I mean, are christians prone to gang robberies and murders?  Are christians known to force people to believe in Jesus?  How many christians do you know who have taken up arms and gone out to hurt people who are not christians?  The truth is folks, none of these are a real problem.  As it says in today's verse, you will be hated for my name's sake.

Now with that being said, why would someone hate you just because you are a christian?  Let's be realistic here, I gather to say that most of the charities helping people today are run by christian organizations of some kind.  Is helping people a reason to be hated?  The fact of the matter is that satan is at the heart of all of this hatred.  His whole goal is to keep as many people as possible from knowing about Jesus and what He did on the cross for them.  I've noticed even in talking to people who go to church that as long as we are talking about things like sunday school trips and church organizations, there is never any problem or awkwardness.  Now start talking about Jesus dying on the cross and how His blood shed allows us to receive God's grace, then things just seem to make people uncomfortable.

Have you ever noticed that those people who say there is no God seem to get so angry when they talk about this God and His Son who they say doesn't even exist?  I have.  The truth is, this world wide hatred for Christians should be the best evidence there is for whether God is real or not.  Why would you hate something that isn't real?  

If Jesus isn't real, then why does it make so many people angry when kids pray in school?  If Jesus isn't real, then why are we as a country taking away all things like prayer and the ten commandments which is what our country was founded on?  The fact is Jesus is real!  The fact is Satan is real!  The fact is Satan is in control one way or the other of anyone who isn't saved.  We know that there are a lot of folks who aren't saved, so it's not really a stretch to see that Satan is basically in control of our country and most of our citizens.  

Christians are already hated and being persecuted around the world.  If you really start living for God, you will probably be persecuted even here in the US.  If you are not persecuted though, you will be hated.  

I say all of this to let you know that we are promised hatred, but we are also promised eternal peace and joy.  It's our job right now, to get up off of our chairs, couches, ect… and spread the gospel to any and everyone we come into contact with.  

Will you be persecuted for Him who died for you?  Are you hated by others for what you stand for?

Remember this, for a christian this world is just a quick bus ride to eternal peace and joy!  If you want to be a part of this eternal joy, and feel bad about your sinful life, then just tell God you are sorry.  Tell him thanks for sending His only Son to die on that cross for YOU!  Ask Him to forgive you for your sins.  Pray daily for guidance.  Ask Him what He wants you to accomplish in life.  Read your bible because he talks to you through His living word and Prayer.  Now tell others!!!

Are You Saved?

Conviction

As the bible means--Sense of guilt and shame leading to repentance.  The Hebrew word yakah gives us the idea of conviction.  It means "to argue with" "to prove" and "to correct".

Repentance

As the bible means-- Change of mind, and can also refer to regret accompanying an awakening that wrong has been done in one's life.

These two ideas are more important than any I can think of for a person who doesn't know if they are saved.  They are very important for the person who said a prayer at some point in their life, but never really felt sorry for their life and turned ownership of their future over to God.  I can't impress upon you enough that just saying a prayer won't get you into heaven.  You have to feel conviction and repent.

Matthew 3:2  REPENT, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  

Mark 1:4  John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of REPENTANCE for the FORGIVENESS of sins.

Luke 3:8  Bear fruits in keeping with REPENTANCE.  And do not begin to say to yourselves, "we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for abraham.

Mark 1;15  And saying "the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, REPENT and believe in the gospel.

As i said earlier, these two ideas are of the utmost importance for someone who can't really decide if they are saved or not.  Now sometimes the devil will find ways to put doubt in our lives about our future, but he can't take our peace about our eternity because if we have been convicted of our sinful life and repented, then we are saved and should have a peace about our eternity.

I will always talk about true repentance in my messages because like I have said before, I went for years assuming that I was saved.  Now deep down, I knew i wasn't, but I had people tell me "Steve you are just over thinking this"  "Do you believe in God and Jesus?"  "then you are saved"  Please, I implore you, DONT listen to anyone else tell you that you are saved.  Eternity is too long to base it on what someone else says who can't see your heart.  You know if you are really saved.

One of the main ways to let us gauge our relationship with God is found in Luke 3:8.  It says to bear fruits in keeping with repentance.   Meaning do the things that the Holy Spirit tells you to do.  Tell others about Jesus.  Find some way to evangelize.  It doesn't have to be from a pulpit.  I remember a christian play I watched one time that had an awesome illustration of what we are to do for God.  A football player that got saved said "football used to be my god, now it's my pulpit"  We should use any chance we are given to tell the lost about Jesus and what he did on the cross.  

I may have gotten a little long winded today, but I just got to writing and couldn't stop.  If you don't feel saved right now and are feeling like your life has been wretched and sinful, then you may be being convicted.  Tell God you are sorry for your life.  Thank Him for sending Jesus to sacrifice Himself on the cross for YOU.  Turn your life over to God.  Ask for guidance through prayer and reading His word.  If you just did this then Welcome to the family of God.  Shoot me an email and let me know, I just love hearing about changed lives. sedwardn92@yahoo.com

God Bless!

Personal Note

Luke 15:7 & 10  7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

In my case on June 16, 2008 when I finally repented and was saved, I bet the angels were saying "it's about time he figured it out".  J/K  I've gone through many phases in my christian journey.  I had my first encounter with God in 2nd grade, when I raised my hand because I didn't want to go to hell when I died.  I do remember though, the first time I felt called by God to preach and teach the word of God.  I thinkI was about 15, and I was at summer camp.  For some reason this young man from Rolling Fork, MS who was in my group, would only talk to me about his salvation.  It really threw me for a loop, but I went with it and it felt more natural than anything I had done to that point.

Now, your probably asking yourself how God can call someone to preach who really wasn't even saved.  I asked myself that for a long time, and it caused me a lot of grief.  After prayer and study I realized, Time was created by God, so He is not bound to it.  In other words, God knew I was going to be saved and teach people about His word even when I was 15.  So it really isn't a stretch to see that I felt called even before I was saved.  This subject could get a little involved so let's just leave it for now.

Now I tell you all of this so I can bring up my next topic.  I am working on several projects right now, all of which I feel called to do.  I am working on a years worth of devotionals to publish in book form.  Basically I've received such a good response from the blog that I see devotionals for the regular ole Joe seem to be what a lot of people are needing.  As you know, my messages are no frills and to the point.  I believe that is what I have been called to do--Tell the truth about what the bible says about God and His Son Jesus in a very straight forward way.

The next project is the website.  Now the blog is ok, but I really feel it is a little too simple for what I need to do.  I want to have audio and video clips.  I want to record actual sermons and interviews with local pastors.  Then someone who missed church on Sunday could listen or watch a message.  It may end up being the only church that some people listen to.  I believe there are a lot of people who could be served by an "internet church", and that is what I want the site to be like.  I am trying to figure out how to get it set up as non profit and stuff like that also.

What I need from everyone:

Pray that God continues to Bless this Ministry.  Pray that His will be done with it.  If anyone wants to help me with any of this, just email me  at sedwardn92@yahoo.com.

Ask God to supply me with the funds needed to get all of this going.  This is definitely going to be a leap of faith, as I have already started working on the new website.  It's web address will be www.thoughtsfromconviction.com.  It's under construction but feel free to check it out.

As always, If you feel convicted (sorry) for your sinful life and understand that Jesus is the Son of God who sacrificed himself on the cross for YOU, then just tell Him you are sorry.  Ask Him to be the Lord and main focus of your life.  Read the Bible.  Pray for direction.  Tell others what he has done for you.

God Bless!

Lukewarm or Cold--Any Difference?

  Rev 3:15-17
 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot!
So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth!
Because you say, "I am rich and have acquired great wealth, and need nothing," but do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,




This is actually the message to the church in Laodicea from God, but it can and should be used to measure our lives by today.  The verses are pretty self explanatory, this church is just kind of blending into society almost.  Not really doing anything for or against God, so they are probably like some of todays professing christians.

I always hear people say things like " Well, I haven't told anyone about Jesus but I am a good person.  I don't rob banks or murder, so I'm ok"  and " I know I shouldn't watch this or listen to this, but I don't do anything else wrong so I must be OK"  I assume this is what the people in the church were acting like at Laodicea.  The scary thing about a person who doesn't see that they are a sinner, is that deep down the truth is hidden from them by Satan.  Good people will go to Hell too, along with the bad people.  The plain truth is there are no good and bad people, only wretched sinners.  Out of those wretched sinner's some repent and become saved wretched sinners, while others are unsaved.  The difference is, the saved will inherit the Kingdon of God in eternal peace and joy, while the unsaved will be cast into the lake of fire in eternal separation from God.

One of my continuous convictions from God, is that I should have more of a broken heart for the lost.  I admit, sometimes I come across as rather too judgemental.  You have to look at it from my point of view though.  I get frustrated because I see the "cliff" people are going to fall off, and I know what they need to do to be safe from the "cliff", but all I can do is tell the lost what God has laid on my heart.  I can't force anyone to be saved.  We all have free will.  I do think though, alot of unsaved people are still unsaved right now because they do not want to deal with their own eternity.  It's coming folks!  I heard someone tell me once that they really didn't believe in Jesus so they were going to get to heaven another way.  I explained that if you are standing in the middle of the interstate saying " i dont believe in vehicles, i don't believe in vehicles", does that mean a vehicle won't splat you down?  No !  Jesus is real! He is also the only way to eternal life with God in heaven.

We, (me) should all strive to know Him better than we know anyone on this earth.  We can do this by reading His word and praying to Him.  As we learn about Him and get to Know HIm better we will see how sad it is for the unsaved in the world.  Once saved and telling others about Him and what He did for Us on the cross, then we will know we are not LUKEWARM! 

Are you a fisherman?

Mat 4: 17-19  From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" 18 While walking by the sea of galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.  19  And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fisher's of men.

Why are we called to be fishers of men?  Most people in today's society, after having some type of spiritual experience, or maybe even after getting saved, seem to sink back into the background of the world.  It's like we think OK now I'm saved and won't go to hell, so that is one less thing I have to worry about.

People, that is not what we are called to do.  We are not all going to be preachers, but all who have been saved by the blood of Jesus should tell others as much as possible.  

The world thinks if we tell others about Jesus and renounce certain lifestyles, then we are hateful and judgemental.  Actually, we are called to tell people the truth and on the contrary we are hateful when we don't tell people about Jesus--Let me explain with an example that came to me this morning.

Let's say we all live right beside a steep cliff and let's say that we are all born with blindfolds on.  Now as we get saved our blindfolds come off.  Now, everyone who is not saved, are still living blindfolded and unaware of where the steep cliff is.  Some of them even ride bicycles and motorcycles right on the edge of the cliff.  Would we be hateful or loving to tell the blindfolded people about the cliff's edge, and what happens if they fall off?  We would naturally be loving by telling them the truth.  If we just lived our lives and allowed these people who can't see the cliff to fall, then in my opinion we are being hateful.

Same thing with what we are called to do as christians.  People who don't accept the truth about God and what Jesus did on the cross are heading for the cliff of eternal separation from God.  It's our job as true christians to tell others about Jesus and what He did for all of us.

One thing to note about the verses today is that Jesus told the people to repent.  We have to repent and be sorry for our sins before we feel obligated to tell others about Jesus.  Do you fell obligated to tell others about Jesus and what He did for you?

Have YOU caught any fish lately?  Have you even been fishing?  It's definitely something I'm being convicted of.

God Bless!

Do you know God, or just Know about Him?

Philippians 4:4,11

Always be full of joy in the Lord.  I say it again--rejoice!  Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.

  As I was pondering what God wanted me to write in todays blog, I kept thinking about our relationship with Him.  Right after I finished praying, I opened my devotional program on my computer and in bold print were the words,"Just how well do you know God?"  I guess that answered my question--It's amazing how God works!

The verses are from Paul when he was literally chained to a wall in prison waiting to be executed.  It's safe to say, he had a good relationship with God.  We go through a lot of troubles in this life, I mean just pick one or any of the following issues we have to deal with: debt, divorce, murder, child abuse, abortion, and the list goes on and on.  Being a martyr though isn't something many of us deal with here in the US.  Paul was waiting to be killed for being a christian and all he could write about was rejoicing in the Lord!

I long for that kind of a relationship with God.  I know as I have grown as a christian my faith has also grown stronger, but I still am a long way from where I want to be.

You know, a lot of todays christians claim to know the Lord, but we don't see evidence in their daily lives.  I'm not judgeing, just trying to make a point.  Before I was truly saved, I knew all about God and what Jesus did on the cross, but I didn't know Him personally.  I mean, I never really pictured Him as a real person until I finally was convicted by the Holy Spirit and repented. (Praise the Lord for that!)  Think about your spouse, or best friend.  Could they be your spouse or best friend without you learning about them, and investing in your relationship with them?  No.  Same thing goes for your relationship with Jesus, we need to invest in knowing Him on a personal basis, not just on a historical basis.

As our relationship grows with Him, our faith will grow stronger and will allow us to have more peace in times of trouble--like Paul.  So, here's the question you should ask yourself.......Do you know Him or just know about Him?  That is the most important question you will ever ask yourself!

As always, if you feel convicted (sorry) for you sinful life, and know Jesus to be the Son of God who died on the cross for YOUR sins, then just ask Him to forgive you.  Tell him you are sorry for your sinful life.  Ask Him to be the Lord over your life, then learn about Him.  Finally, tell others about what He did for you.

To God be the glory! Great things He hath done!

Does God have an answer for stress?

Philippians 4: 8-9

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy---think about these things. 9  The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

This is going to be a hard one.  If you are like me, you find it hard to focus on the good things in the world because of hearing and seeing all of the bad things in the world.  Let's face it, turning on the news will kill a good mood in less than 5 seconds.  Our culture has decided that people want to hear the bad news more than the good.
 When is the last time you turned on the news and heard something that turned your bad mood into a good one?Now, when is the last time the news turned your good mood into a bad one?  If your like me, it happens all too much.  The great thing is, God has some helpful tips for us in the matter of stress.  As we read the above verses we see that God is telling us what we should focus our lives on?  I think He is telling us here that instead of weighing ourselves down with worry about things that may or may not happen, He is saying to focus our energy on positive things.  More than that He wants us to meditate on these positives.

Even in the non-christian culture, they have figured out that focusing on positive will greatly impact your life for the better.  All of the self-help books your read basically use this philosophy.  Why?  Because it works!

 As usual my posts come from my convictions.  Christmas is over and now everything is sliding back to normal--it's cold-get's dark earlier--just seems a little gloomier than even 2 weeks ago.  I bet though, if instead of focusing on what Iran is talking about in the news, and focusing more on what Jesus did for us on the cross our outlook may be a little more positive.  I mean, can you imagine having to deal with this world and then have to wonder what happens to you when you die?  I can't imagine how stressful it would be if I thought this life was it.  The Great News is this life is only the beginning of our eternity!

Look, I get stressed and depressed too.   I think we should all pray and ask God to help us keep focused on His Way and not the worlds way.  So, God's answer for stress---try and reprogram our gloomy minds by focusing on Him and His good works.

  If you have never focused your life on God, and have never been saved from your sins:  don't put it off any longer.  Ask Him to forgive you for your sinful life--Thank God for sending Jesus to die on the cross for you so you wouldn't have to spend an eternity in Hell--Turn your life over to Him--Read your bible and Pray for guidance.

I appreciate those of you who have been reading this blog.  Tell someone who is not saved to check it out.

ARE YOU COMING?

1 Thessalonians 4:17  -- Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

What better way to start the new year than with an "end times" message.  First, let me say that I am not a "doomsdayer", on the contrary, I am a "rapture sayer".  If you are saved then there is nothing gloomy or dark about the rapture.  I've heard people say that they are saved, but don't really like thinking about stuff like the rapture.  It may be a little concerning, but shouldn't be scary.  If you are saved, and the rapture occurs in your lifetime, you will escape all the persecution that accompanies the end times.

Now, let's look at the verse.  If you read a few verses before this, you will see that the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are left will go to meet Jesus in the air.  There is alot of speculation and disagreement about "the dead in Christ", but I personally believe the bodies of the dead in Christ will go first.  We know there souls are already in heaven mainly because of when Jesus told the thief on the cross that today he would be with Jesus in paradise.

That's about as deep as I am going to get into the subject today.  There is alot of studying that should be done on the matter from everyone.  Read the bible and ask God to reveal it's meaning to you.

I do believe we are in the end of days, I mean, all you have to do is read Revelation and then watch the news.  For those of us who are saved, we can look forward to being "caught up" to meet Jesus in the clouds.  After that we can look forward to an eternity of perfection, instead of an eternity away from God. 

The descriptions I see about hell are pretty vivid and dark.  Matthew 13:42  The Son of man will send His angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace.  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Everyone goes to spend an eternity somewhere.  No matter what you hear or think differently about it, you will spend eternity either in Heaven or Hell.

As for me, I'm saved by the blood of Jesus.  I repented ( was sorry) for my sins and have made Jesus the Lord of my life.  At the sound of the trumpet when Jesus is in the air, I'm going up to meet him.

ARE YOU COMIN?