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Being a Christian

8/16/2023

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I love this: A Christian is someone who believes in Jesus, puts their faith in Him, knows Him and lives ‘in Christ’. It is also someone who *follows His example*. There is no greater example in human history than the example of Christ. Paul writes, ‘Follow *my* example, as *I follow the example of Christ*’ (1 Corinthians 11:1).
 
It’s not hard but we mess it up and make it hard because of ourselves. God said it was a narrow and difficult road because He knows we are driven by flesh. We make things harder than they should be because of our wants. If we just surrendered our will and said, here I am Lord use me, it would be easy. Look at the world right now: It wants diversity, equity, and inclusion but only the way It wants it. God sending His one and only Son to die is for every person that will ever live. That’s inclusive. And look what it says in 2 Peter 3:8-9 “But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A Day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent.”
 
 Then, diverse in Gods eyes looks like this. Colossians 3:11 NLT “In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.”
 
Then He considers us equal as the body of Christ. There is no one better than the other, we are all used and loved, He has no favorites. 1 Corinthians 12:18, 26-27 NLT “But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.”
 
See, it has nothing to do with what we want and how we feel, it is how God set us up perfectly to be right in His sight by following Jesus. In Christ we have eternal life, living trying to please ourselves we have separation for eternity. This country set the values on Christian morals and we knew if we deviated in that this country would be a mess. Welcome to our mess, we have opened the door to sin and the broad road to hell is wide open. Jesus is the way yet we want our flesh. God loves life and told us to be fruitful and multiply but we want to stop that by killing babies and telling people it’s ok to marry someone of the same sex. Life cannot continue like that, it’s outside of Gods design.
 
Then we want to push gender is whatever you want and that can have the same effect, no more life being born. The Creator of Heaven and Earth would not create us to go extinct. But in our selfishness, we are trying to get that done. God has given us free will and wants us all to benefit from His gift, but He will not make us. He is right there waiting for us to choose His Son and then He has given us the ability to work hard to stand against a fallen world that seeks everything but God. All this murder of babies is not new it’s just pushed as a medical condition. If we did what God set up, we would get rid of 99% of unwanted pregnancies. It wouldn’t be a condition anymore. If we believe God made them male and female, we wouldn’t have all this mental confusion which has led to us pushing a mental disorder as real life. We have no fear of our Creator that we want to change what He did in the womb because we think we are smarter.
 
We think equity is what needs to happen when that’s just not how God made it. Equality is what God wants, there will always be people that are better at things and it will lead to not having equity. The NBA is not equitable but we don’t care. The NFL is not equitable and we don’t care, why, because we want the best out there. Equality is making sure everyone has the same chance knowing some will just be better. Equity is giving something to someone who isn’t fit for that things and it hinders the outcome.
 
Selfish people want equity, God fearing people want equality. Thank you God for having no favorites and giving us all the tools needed for right living and eternal life. Help us to see that Jesus is the only way to make this country great. 
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He is Thrilling !

8/9/2023

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Psalms 92:4 NLT
“You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me! I sing for joy because of what you have done.”
 
Can we get here and live with that awe of what He has done? I am excited that I get to serve the Lord and teach how He can make us grow. Transformation is real to me, and it can be for you if you let go of your desires to follow Him. I went from a fearful person who needed acceptance and needed people to like me to a person that only cared what God thinks. In my early days nothing meant anything but my happiness, I lived for my pleasure and didn’t care about God. I kicked the Christian clubs out of the gym when I was a teacher. Had them removed by the assistant principle and believed the lie of separation of church and state. To leading that same Christian group and sharing with student about the Bible. When you are thrilled with the Lord you will find ways to get things done for Him. I read my Bible at school and left it on my desk opened so when the students can in to talk, my Bible was there, and I shared when they asked me what I was doing. As long as they asked you could talk all day long and answer their questions. I couldn’t stop reading and sharing and God moved me out of teaching to be a pastor.
 
All I did was let that excitement help me live for Him and He has moved me to 4 different churches as adult Pastor, associate Pastor, executive Pastor, and now lead Pastor. All I desire is that people believe that Jesus is real and will make a difference when we surrender ourselves for Him. This takes us constantly needing Him. When we struggle, we keep seeking Him. It means that reading His word for transformation is key and praying is a must. We start to see that faith in Jesus is the only thing that can comfort us in this world and that He want us to be bold and courageous always, when it’s easy and tough. We need to remember He is truth and love. Truth that will set us free from ourselves, and love that will make us obedient to Him. Not a love that keeps us looking at ourselves. Remember to have this verse ready all the time, “you thrill me Lord, with all you have done for me…!” Amen 
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Christianity and the church

8/2/2023

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As we see church attendance decline and the celebrating of sin rise, it makes for a lukewarm lifestyle that is no good for anyone. We are warned in God's word that it will get worse, and the believers should stay strong and not deviate from God's grace which is Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Timothy 3:12-15 says, "Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 13 But evil people and impostors will flourish. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived. 14 But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. 15 You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus."

This warning to Timothy is what we need to remember as this world continues to fight for self-truth, it is His truth that will need to be lived and shared by believers. It's time to not just say we're Christians, it's time to actually be Christians.

The church should push through and stay true to the truth God set forth, in Christ we are saved, in the world we are dead in our sins.

In Christ means we desire His truth, and we seek that reality. In the world means we ok our way of living that contradicts what God says. It's hard to die to self and the churches are feeling the pressures and changing what God says to keep people happy. That is dangerous and what keeps this false narrative going. 

2 Timothy 4:3-4 says, "For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and the chase after myths."

We are warned because it is happening, and churches are more excited to make people feel good than to challenge them to step up to God's standard. The latest Barna study has 28% of people 39-57 attending church in 2023. Before the pandemic it was 41% and in 1999 it was over 70%. What changed? there was the push to close churches and the over celebration of sin and the government's desire to get votes. 

In 2022 and 2023 we have pushed the LGBTQ community and we try and make it the norm, and we have major companies pushing this illness as something that needs to be accepted.  Churches fell into this trap and some denominations disregard the Bible for their belief of inclusion which is biblical exclusion from heaven. 

The free will was given by God and this country is free to believe anything they want. Which will make it get worse like the bible shares. But just as a person believes their truth is truth and we should call them by their pronouns, Christian's should be able to share their beliefs without the backlash that we get. The world wants it their way but no one that disagrees can have their belief. 

I love God and people, but I love God more and believe Jesus came to show us the way to eternal life, and that is only through Him.  Why when Christians share that viewpoint, they are called names and cancelled?  I believe the entire bible shares what is wrong and what to do right. It doesn't care about our feelings it cares about our eternal destination.  We see in Leviticus what not to do in chapter 18 and it is clear when we start to do these things, we desire instead of what God shows us we struggle. 

We get the same warnings to the churches in the New Testament because it is a great big personal struggle that keeps us lost.  The fact that we keep pushing it more as a country shows why we see church attendance declining as it is. Romans 1:24-34 talks about what happens when we live sexually immorally. So does Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 5:3-8, Colossians 3:4-5, 1 Corinthians 6:18, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 1 Timothy 1:10-11. 
These are all books inspired by God and for our good. Jesus is the Word who became flesh, so if it's in the bible Jesus mentioned it. Unbelievers need to be reached but lukewarm Christians are the biggest problem with the numbers declining and I pray that we stand true and push forward in His truth and stop all this sin celebrating. God Bless and God be the glory. Amen 

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