The Cross Of Jesus

Greetings My Friends

All through my growing up years, and a large part of my adult years, I never gave much thought to the crucifixion of Jesus. Naturally I heard of it, but I either didn't pay much attention to it, or it was never really explained to me.

I think most people today, only know the Hollywood version. So when you look at a movie, and combine it with lack of real knowledge, it is easy to see why so many people didn't give a second thought to what Jesus did.

We can't place all of the blame on churches. First, you have to actually go and pay attention. In my own life, it seems to me that churches in my childhood, were a lot different than churches today. And I thank God for the churches we have today.

When I was growing up, we sure didn't get Bible instruction in church. We heard a few verses, and that was it. Every Sunday the same thing. I didn't know if there were Bible studies or not, no one ever mentioned studying the Bible on our own, so we didn't even think about it.

A number of years ago, I heard a preacher talk about Jesus and the cross. He actually explained what it meant in detail. I was amazed. I started checking out other preachers, and they all said the same thing. One day one of the preachers said, when it comes to the Bible, don't take my word for it or anyone else's. He said, it is your responsibility to verify for yourself, using the Bible.

Isaiah chapter 53 tells the story in gruesome detail. A pretty good picture of what Jesus endured. You don't get that from a Hollywood movie.

To make the story of what He accomplished for us short and to the point. . By His stripes we were healed of all infirmities and afflictions. The stripes were severe lacerations from the scourging. By His blood our sins were all forgiven, past, present, and future. By His resurrection He conquered death, thereby giving us eternal life, if we choose to accept.

He went through all of this for us. We are saved and entitled to all He did for us, just by acknowledging Him as our Savior and what He did for us.

We should all be so grateful that we walk around with joy in our hearts, and never ask for another thing. God knows we are human and can't do that. But because we accept Jesus and what He did, God wants us to have all good things and the desires of our hearts.

Praise the Lord Jesus Christ, for making the ultimate sacrifice for us.

Remember Jesus Loves You

Prayer of Salvation

Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you did on the cross for me. Your blood washed away my sins, by your stripes I was healed, your death and resurrection brought salvation. Please forgive my sins, and come into my heart as my personal Savior.

Finding Peace

Greetings My Friends

I am starting this message with an honest question. If you are totally honest with yourself, it will undoubtedly help you at times.

Have you ever felt lost? Felt like a cork on the ocean? Empty inside? Couldn't put your finger on the problem? I have.

The last time I felt that way, I kept telling myself that I had no reason to feel that way. A small voice in my heart told me to take a good long look at what I am doing, or not doing.

Over the years, I have developed a kind of routine for my day. While a large part of my day is flexible, one part is not. The first part belongs to the Lord. It includes private time with the Lord, the Bible, morning prayer and communion with my wife, and these messages.

I do this because I feel I need it. It is like eating when you are hungry. I do not do it out of any attempt to bribe God. I do it in order to know Him better.

Okay, back to the voice. I look at my day, and there are times for whatever reason, I don't quite measure up to my idea of fulfillment. Maybe I didn't spend as much time as I wanted to for whatever reason. Maybe I missed communion for a day or two because I got involved with other things. I know God doesn't judge me that way, but I guess I am hungry for the closeness I feel I need.

I never did like written prayers, the exception is the Lord's prayer. I always liked the idea of talking to the Lord. It seemed more real. Every day I talk to the Lord, as I would to my most loved person in this world. It gives me a warm feeling, and helps me realize that he loves me. I use words from my spirit, not just words.

When you have a hard time like I described earlier, talk to your heavenly father. Make sure He is part of your life you cannot do without. You don't have to spend hours a day trying to be holy. Just give Him the first part of your day, and treat it as the most important part of your day. Any day you follow this plan, you will have a much smaller possibility of getting that empty feeling. Even a little time with the Lord at the beginning of the day, will put peace in your heart. It works every time. I very seldom have days like I described, since I realized what was wrong.

Remember Jesus Loves You

Prayer of Salvation

Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you did on the cross for me. Your blood washed away my sins, by your stripes I was healed, your death and resurrection brought salvation. Please forgive my sins, and come into my heart as my personal Savior.

Find Your Place in God's Plan

Greetings My Friends

If you have been reading some of my messages over the past year, you have probably noticed that I use some of my own experiences as examples. Today is no exception.

Watching preachers on TV, can be very inspiring, but they can also discourage you, if you don't look at the entire picture. Some of them have what I will call healing ministries. They talk about how prayer for healing by a believer with faith, can produce results. That is all true. By Jesus stripes, and crucifixion, we were healed.

Now comes the tough part, at least it was for me. I wanted to be able to see people healed so much, I was starting to be obsessed by the idea. I honestly had good motives in my heart. I wanted to help people and bring them to God. I did not want personal rewards, other than that I would be serving God.

I prayed about it daily. I told God that I am His and to use me. I felt that since my reasons were pure, and the fact that other people said the same thing, and were called by God, why not me?

God gives each of us a measure of faith, and the Holy Spirit. A few people are anointed to lead a life like an evangelist, or to have a healing ministry. They are led by and listen to the Holy Spirit. Their lives are totally dedicated to the Lord. God picked these people for what they do, just the way He chose the prophets.

So what about the rest of us? It is written that we all experience gifts from the Holy Spirit as needed. On several occasions I prayed for my healing, as well as for a couple of other people. I prayed because I felt in my heart that I should. When that feeling comes to me, I pray and believe, and healing has happened a number of times. There have been some occasions where I believe miracles happen. These were not healing s, but impossible things that turned out right. All of this showed me that what is written is true.

I started looking at my place in the Lord's plan. Picture the Lord as the master artist of all time. Picture His plan as a work of art. Now picture the masterpiece that He painted cut into thousands of pieces. Each one of us is one of the pieces. As this puzzle starts to be put together, it is a matter of time, until our piece is needed. We don't get to decide where we fit, we only decide that we want to be part of the picture. Each of us is vital to the picture, in order for it to be a masterpiece. Remember I am comparing the painting to God's plan.

If the Mona Lisa had only a part of the upper left, would it be a world-famous masterpiece, or would it be just one more incomplete work? We are all important to God, and no matter how small a piece we are, he still needs us to complete the painting.

So when I put all this in the proper perspective, and realize that I am not the creator, but the created, I can have total peace by realizing, that God is in control, and I don't have to figure anything out or worry about it.

Remember Jesus Loves You

Prayer of Salvation

Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you did on the cross for me. Your blood washed away my sins, and by your stripes I was healed, and your death and resurrection brought salvation. Please forgive my sins, and come into my heart as my personal Savior. Thank you Lord. Amen.

Physical and Spiritual Exercise

Greetings My Friends

I suppose not too many people, including myself, ever considered the similarities between physical, and spiritual exercise.

It dawned on me a couple of weeks ago. Being retired, it is much easier to get out of shape physically. Since I don't want to fall apart, I looked for an exercise that was befitting my age, and general condition. Riding a bicycle seemed to be a good way to accomplish my goal.

I bought a nice bike, and found a scenic bike trail. We all know how boring exercise can be, so I figured I found the perfect answer. I also planned to ride as far as I could go physically, and the time of day I would go. I reasoned that I had to treat it like a job. If I didn't, I would miss for any number of reasons. This was too important to have a casual attitude.

Well day one came, and I followed my plan. I road a total of 3 miles, and my legs were really sore. The next time I went four miles, and felt like I couldn't go another 10 feet. I consoled myself with the old "no pain, no gain."

Later that day I was having my coffee and thinking about how out of shape I had become. Common excuses came to mind. Boring, no time, lazy. Then the benefits of exercise, and proper diet, seemed like a no-brainer in order to feel good, energetic, and enjoy good health, it took some effort.

At that point, that little voice in my heart, asked me if I realized the similarities with faith. Well, I started to follow the guidance. I must admit I never looked at faith and spiritual life that way.

If you ask a typical Christian if they read the Bible, you usually hear, "I don't have time, I am so busy". Asked them if they pray regularly, and a large percentage of them start making excuses. We won't even get into whether or not they ever mentioned Jesus to anyone.

If you go through life eating the wrong things, and follow a couch potato life, you will probably live anyway, but the quality of life will not be very good. More than likely your future will be plenty of doctors, depression, unable to get out and enjoy the things that people in good shape can do.

By the same token, if you don't regard your spiritual life as worthy, you will miss out on a lot. If you really are saved, heaven is probably your eventual destination. If you don't make some time for God, you can't build a real relationship with Him.

If you don't work at your faith, by reading the word of God, and putting it into practice, you are like the person that does not exercise and has a bad diet. You will probably miss out on many answered prayers. You will undoubtedly make bad decisions without Him, and run the chance of some really bad ones. Healing will probably not happen, because you don't even know that you were healed on the cross. True peace, happiness and joy only comes through God.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. If you value your spiritual life, your physical life will follow. In the physical you build a healthy body, in the spiritual you build a relationship with God. Both require effort, persistence, at times some discomfort, and keeping your eye on the prize. Always find time for God, and talk to Him every chance you get. If your life is so busy that you don't have time for God, you're making the biggest mistake of your life. If you have to, lose a little sleep, but put God number one.

Remember Jesus Loves You

Prayer of Salvation

Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you did on the cross for me. Your blood washed away my sins, by your stripes I was healed, and your death and resurrection brought salvation. Please forgive my sins, and come into my heart as my personal Savior.

God Needs You

Greetings My Friends

When Jesus was on this earth, he performed many signs and miracles. He taught people what the Scriptures meant. He explained what God expected from each of us. He showed us how to live by His example.

God has a plan for each person's life. He wants each of us, to have a perfect life now, and to be with Him in heaven for all eternity. He gave us the Holy Spirit to help us.

The Holy Spirit guides us, with a small voice in our hearts. He not only teaches us, but gives us understanding. He gives us the right way to go about God's plan. He helps us adjust to circumstances, and helps us get out of whatever trouble we get ourselves into.

You might be telling yourself, that you know all of this. Possibly you didn't. One thing an awful lot of people don't realize, is that God needs us to accomplish His big plans. He doesn't just make people do this or that. God needs us. We are his eyes, ears, mouth, hands and feet. We are the body of Christ.

Some of us preach, some of us heal in Jesus name, some of us evangelize. Most of us are ordinary people, among other ordinary people. We are in the trenches, passing on what we hear from the Holy Spirit. By words and actions we are to help others find God.

The work the Lord gives us to do, is based on how well we know Him, and how we handle our present assignment. It's like "just because you know how to handle a hammer, it doesn't mean you are a carpenter".

Train for the next step in your journey. The word of God will guide you, and God will give you what you need to fulfill His plan. God needs you!

Remember Jesus Loves You

Prayer of Salvation

Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you did on the cross for me. Your blood washed away my sins, by your stripes I was healed, your death and resurrection brought salvation. Please forgive my sins, and come into my heart as my personal Savior. Thank you Lord. Amen.

Faith Works

Greetings My Friends

Have you ever really noticed how many people you meet are depressed, discouraged, and just plain miserable?

A large part of the population leads a life that can be described as mediocre, boring, and generally unhappy.

There are a number of reasons for both of these conditions, and for these two groups to feel the way they do. One of the reasons, is the words they use routinely. They are negative, destructive words. I don't know why, but a very high percentage of these people deny that they are negative. I guess they are so used to it, they can't tell the difference.

Maybe some of these people prayed for something, and didn't receive their answer. Could be lack of faith, praying for the wrong thing, such as something someone else has, a lack of patience, or even not recognizing the answer, because it wasn't what they expected.

Then of course you have the people who lead what I will call lukewarm lives. Neither good nor bad. Many like it that way. They are comfortable that way, because they don't have to worry about being disappointed in ambitions that don't turn out, or for answers to prayer. They are in a sort of prison, of their own making, but at least they get by, so everything is okay.

What do you suppose all of these people have in common? They gave up. They put limits on themselves. They have generally been led by satan, and don't know it. You can be led by satan, even though you commit no crimes or illegal acts of any kind.

satan does not want you to have God in your life. He plants despair, depression, hopelessness, in someone's life so that they will blame God for everything, and fall into his ( satan) hands. He wants you to doubt God, and he gets great enjoyment from your misery.

The answer to freedom is God. Call out to Him and tell Him everything. Ask Him to help you and forgive you. He will. You will have true peace, and be led in a happy life. It is written "cast all your cares, for He cares for you". Take charge of your life and live by faith, and that will make a big difference in the quality of your life. It will amaze you.

Remember Jesus Loves You

Prayer of Salvation

Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you did on the cross for me. Your blood has washed away my sins, by your stripes I was healed, your death and resurrection brought salvation. Please forgive my sins, and come into my heart as my personal Savior. Thank you Lord. Amen.

Salvation Plus

Greetings My Friends

Just recently I have heard a few preachers talking about people who have accepted Jesus, and kind of fell away. They said that a substantial number of new Christians, lost some of what they got when they were saved. The biggest reason for this, was lack of follow-up teaching.

All of the statements made an impression on me, because that is exactly what happened to me. As I said in the past, I witnessed a light that was so bright, that there is nothing I can compare it to. It happened when in desperation, I cried out to God to show me if he was real.

Up until that time I had never gone to church or thought about God. I gave up on religion when I was about 10 years old. Actually I had to go to church while I was in a religious grammar school. I believed in God, but something about the religion turned me off even at that early age.

The problem I had following the light experience, was that I didn't know what to do next. As far as I knew, there were very few preachers on TV 50 years ago. No cable. And I must admit, I didn't try very hard to grow in faith.

There are now a number of ministries that give booklets about what to do next, to people who are saved. I don't know how many people read these booklets and follow the advice, but they really should.

I guess some people look at statements like "study the Word" as if it were a law, and are turned off. It is true that if you are truly saved, even a lazy Christian will go to heaven. Jesus still loves you, but I'm sure He is sad, because if you don't know what He has for you, you can't receive.

Most of us are average people. God has a plan for each of us. If we do all we can to form a relationship with Him, He will take the next step. I missed a lot of years, and all of the blessings that could have been mine. I was lazy,had a pride problem, and you might say worshiped some idols. He still forgave me.

God will meet you where you are, if you let Him. Use your heart and brains, and follow Him. Since I woke up, the grace and favor of God in my life has been overwhelming. It can be for you too. I guess by now, you have probably figured out, that in order to get anything from the Lord, you have to know what He has for you. The answer is in the Word. Praise the Lord. Amen.

Remember Jesus Loves You

Prayer of Salvation

Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you did on the cross for me. Your blood washed away my sins, by your stripes I was healed, your death and resurrection brought salvation. Please forgive my sins, and come into my heart as my personal Savior. Praise the Lord. Amen.