Faith?

Ponder this... How many of you when boarding a plane are frozen with overwhelming terror? The answer most would say is "I'm fine flying. It is more dangerous to drive a car than to fly." The fact of the matter is we all put our trust and faith in the pilots ability to deliver us to our destination safely. It is the same with Jesus Christ. He promises that if you put your trust and FAITH in Him, He will deliver you from eternal death and damnation. Jesus is the only One to overcome death and the grave. He loves you so much that He willingly went to the cross to endure excruciating pain and humiliation for YOU. In fact the word "excruciating" come from the word crucifixion. It means pain beyond human endurance. Most people would become unconscious at that level of pain. But because Jesus is God in the flesh, He was able to remain conscious and feel every bit of God the Father's wrath. This is the measure of Love He has for you. He died for you... don't you think you should live for Him?

The beauty of the Gospel

So here it is... the God of the universe, of all that was created, the seen and unseen, the known and unknown did not consider it too high a price for Him to lower Himself a little below the angels so that some might be saved. Who needs to be saved you ask? All of us! You seen we are all sinners and fall short of the Glory of God. Because we are sinners, and God is Perfect and Holy, He cannot and will not allow imperfection and unholy people and things in His presence. Hence, mankind needs a Savior.

That Savior is Jesus Christ. God in the flesh. The only Perfect One that could possible pay for the sins of all mankind through His sacrificial death on the cross. It pleased God the Father to take His wrath out on His own Son so that we may have eternal life. Now our Heavenly Father no longer looks at us as we truly are but through the sacrificial atoning Blood of His only Son Jesus Christ. Here's the catch, we can only be saved from eternal torment and punishment if we accept Jesus Christ as our Master and Savior. Then we must repent  (turn away) from our sins and turn to Christ Jesus. We are already slaves. We are slaves to our fleshly lusts, worldly desires and satan.

We are exchanging one Master for another, and Jesus says He will set us free. We will no longer be called servants, but friends. Once we see how truly debased and wicked we really are in our present state, and our eyes have been opened, repentance comes easily. It is a gift from God. Once we repent we MUST be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, then Jesus promises we will have eternal LIFE!

BUT... if we don't then we are stuck in our sins, and the requirement for payment of those sins is eternal torment.

I beg all of those reading this that don't know Jesus Christ and what He has to offer PLEASE... PLEASE read a Bible! Search out to see if what I'm saying is true. Don't just trust me, trust Him
Ask Him to prove Himself to you. HE WILL! You have nothing to lose accept maybe a little time reading and talking to others, but you if what I'm saying is True then you have everything to gain i.e. ETERNAL LIFE AND JOY or everything to lose if you don't believe i.e. your eternal soul (the second death).

Seek Him while He may be found!

There is a time coming in the near future when mankind will no longer accept God's grace and free gift of salvation. There will be a great falling away in the church and many who claimed to have known Christ will reject Him. Seek out the real Jesus Christ while He still may be found. Read the Bible. Start in the New Testament. Find out who this Jesus is and what He's all about. You have nothing to lose and eternal life to gain!

Innocent until proven guilty?

“I will not let the Patriot Act, the most unpatriotic of acts, go unchallenged. At the very least, we should debate. We should debate whether or not we are going to relinquish our rights, or whether or not we are going to have a full and able debate over whether or not we can live within the Constitution, or whether or not we have to go around the Constitution.” ~Rand Paul - NSA Filibuster

“We have to decide whether our fear is going to get the better of us.  Once upon a time we had a standard in our country that was ‘innocent  until proven guilty.’ We’ve given up on so much. Now, people are talking  about a standard that is ‘if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing  to fear.’ Think about it. Is that the standard we’re willing to live  under?” ~Rand Paul - NSA Filibuster

U2's Bono - "America is an idea"

"It's not a left/right issue. It's a right/wrong issue, and America has constantly been on the side of what's right. America is an idea, That's how we see you around the world: As one of the greatest ideas in human history... The idea is that you and me are created equal... If we have dignity, if we have justice, then leave it to us. We'll do the rest... This country was the first to claw its way out of darkness and  put that on paper." ~Bono (U2 frontman)

Square Peg In A Round Hole

I recently heard the preacher Alistair Begg say that Christians are a "peculiar" in comparison to the world. We are different and the world sees us as different, even strange. This concept is not new to me, I've heard or read it in the Bible before. It comes from the King James Bible 1 Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a PECULIAR people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light". As I was listening to Alistair's sermon it came to me that I have lived a very sorrowful, even heartbreaking life. A life that oftentimes felt as if I couldn't be loved by others. I've tried desperately to fit in to what the world called "normal". But I always fell short. I was never the best at anything I did or tried. In school, I always wanted to be "that guy". You know the one, the one that everyone loved. The one that had "that girl". The girl all the guys dreamt and drooled over. I wasn't him though. I was the guy that was the class clown, the one people mocked and made fun of. I started running away from home at 13 because it was unbearable to live in my house. I put myself in extremely dangerous circumstances because living out there was better than living at home. But through all this I just wanted to fit in.

As an adult I tried many different careers. I was a decent network engineer, but not the best. I was a decent barber, but not the best. I've known people in these fields that excelled, but I could only attain mediocraty. This encompassed all areas of my life. I've never had a successful relationship with the women I've been involved with including a marriage thirty years ago. My relationship with my daughter is strained at best and almost non-existent.
All my life I felt like a loser... but as I was listening to Alistair talk I realized that I've been trying to fit in where I was never intended to fit in. I'm the square peg trying to fit into a round hole. God made me to be a peculiar person so that I could see the glory of His Love and Mercy. Jesus said "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you" ~John 15:18-19 (NASB). If I had all the things that people have, a great wife, a good relationship with my child, the perfect job that I was great at and successes that the world seeks, then I may have never known my desperate need for a Savior.

You see I am MORE fortunate than the wealthiest or most loved and revered people in the world. I have been chosen by a King to be His son. I am the adopted son of the Most High God. I do not have to seek riches and adulation from the world because I have the Love from God that the world cannot understand. 1 John 4:8 says "The one who does not love does not know God, for GOD IS LOVE." So. if God is the very definition of Love then it stands to reason that I have the very best kind of Love.

This gift from God is not just for me, but for all people seeking more. This world will never give you enough. You'll constantly starve and strive for more. Only Jesus Christ can give you all you need. He will wipe away every tear and tell you in your heart "I Love You". If you are a square peg trying to fit into a round hole, then ask Jesus Christ to be the Master of your life. Believe on Him that He was crucified, died and and rose from the dead, defeating death and the grave and is seated at the Right Hand of God. Believe also that there is nothing He can't do for you according to His will and mercy. There is no pit you are to far down that He can't reach down and pick you up. Then REPENT of your sins, see them as He sees them... vile and dirty. It is only then that He can clean you up. When you realize you need to be cleaned up. A child that has never seen or been to Disney World does not know what he/she is missing. So when the parent says "Come in so I can clean you up and take you to Disney, they refuse. They are content playing in the mud making mud pies. However, once they see what Disney is like they are excited to come in and get cleaned up! We need to see how filthy we really are before we can come to Jesus and ask Him to clean us up.

Life on this Earth with Christ will be difficult, maybe more so than the difficulties you are going through right now, but He will give you a peace that surpasses all understanding. ~Philippians 4:7. He will give you strength and courage to take on whatever this world throws at you and you too will know that you are a son or daughter of the Most High God, the prince or princess of a KING! HALLELUJAH!!! AMEN!!!