Christmas

Christmas. When you read that word just now, what was the first thing that came to mind? If it wasn't anything to do with God, then something needs to change. Christmas is not presents, trees, lights, food, or a shopping spree. It's the day we choose to celebrate birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. The story of the birth of Jesus Christ is found in Luke 2:1-20,

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. And everyone went to his own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

That is the story of Christmas. But why is it so important? It's because of what He would soon do. He would die to save us all from out sins. John 3:16-17 says,

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

That is why we celebrate the day of Jesus Christ's birth. Because He came down, lived on earth, and then He died on a cross to save us all from our sins. Stop! Take a long moment to think about all the sins you have committed in the past year. You died every time you sinned. And every time He forgave you for it, and saved you from an eternal death. And by doing so, He gave you a one way trip to Heaven. Heaven, an eternity in the greatest world ever made with the God who made you and loves you beyond any comprehension. Those presents and lights look meaningless now don't they? They should. Because we have been given a gift that will last for all eternity.

I say this to everyone, rich or poor right now. Whether you have presents for Christmas, or nothing. Whether you have a great big family, or a small broken family. Be content with what you have.
Jesus the Son of God came down not in a great castle, or the best temple. No, Jesus came down in a stable, and slept in a manger with no one admiring him but poor shepherds. The Son of GOD, came down with nothing as a baby. So, the Son of the God who made the entire universe and beyond came into the world with nothing, lived among sinners, and then died on the cross to save us, who are constantly ungrateful. Even on the day celebrating His birth when we ask for more and more and more stuff that, guess what, is going to rot and rust and whither away. If you haven't already realized it, then I will say it. All material things do not matter! Hebrews 13:5 says,

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

The thing we have that the verse is talking about is not the material items we own. It's the gift God gave us. Salvation through His Son Jesus Christ. Nothing else matters if you have that. Because that tree, those lights, and all those gifts won't mean anything when you're dead. But the gift God gave us goes on for an eternity after our death, in fact, it's the greatest part of it. He GAVE you Life! What else do you need? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!

This is what Christmas is truly about. The birth of the Savior who gave us the greatest gift anyone could ever receive. So, tonight, I ask that you pray to God for forgiveness for your sins, and Thank Him for all you have, most of all, what He did for you. On Christmas Day, before you get up, take a long moment, and think about what it means that you are forgiven for your sins. And thank God for every time He has ever forgiven you. Because without that forgiveness, you would be dead, but because you have it, you are now saved. And one day, you will begin an eternity with Him in Heaven. So thank Him. Thank Jesus Christ for giving you the greatest gift that could ever be given.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen
Merry Christmas

Tunnel By: Third Day

This is the best song for anyone who is currently going through something right now. I urge you to listen to it, as it will give you hope. It has for me.

Losing Loved Ones

I know that this is something that so many people have to deal with in life. Myself included. In fact, I got the idea for this post when I was thinking about my grandfather who died 3 years ago. I started thinking about a lot of different things. I looked to the Bible, received quite a few answers, and had to ask myself a number of questions. As a result of this, this post is half Scripture and half experience. This post will talk about what the Bible says to do when you lose someone, about when you lose someone you love who didn't know Christ, about what to do concerning the person you love who does not know Christ, and how to move on.

The Old Testament tells of a time of mourning that God gave to the people. Deuteronomy 34:8 says,

The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.

God gave His people a period of time to cry over the death of a loved one. Now do not think this means we are only to cry for the 30 days after the death. That is not the case. The 30 days are for crying over the loss of the person, not because we miss them. Remembering a person we love and crying for them because we miss them is in no way wrong. However, if you dwell on the death of the person, you are not doing as God wishes. Dwelling on the death of a loved one brings nothing good. We owe it to God and to the person we lost to get over their death, and move on with our lives. It is good to remember the person. I still remember things about my grandfather every so often, and sometimes I still cry. But, I would not change anything. Not even to gain more time with him. It was his time to go and I accepted that. It was hard to do. My grandfather and I had a special bond. We were very alike, and as I grow, I find myself growing into the same person he was. So it was definitely hard to accept that he was gone. But I did nonetheless. And so can you.

Now, for you Christians who lost a loved one who did not know Christ; I have something to tell you. Do not blame yourself. It is not your fault. Even if you did not go up to them and tell them about Christ. If they knew you were a Christian, they could have come up to you and asked you about Him. However, that is not an excuse to not go up to them and tell them who Jesus is. But if they refuse to listen, end your pursuit there. James 2:1-4 and Matthew 10:14 say,

My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

"If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town."

Let me explain these verses. The person with fine clothes is the person you want to go to heaven very badly because you love them. Like a parent, a sibling, a close friend, etc. The poor man is the stranger who you do not know, but who God is most likely wanting you to talk to instead. We cannot show favoritism among non-believers who we are suppose to talk about God with. If someone does not listen and flat out rejects what you have to say, shake the dust from your feet and move on. However, keep loving and praying for the person, that they may come to Jesus Christ one day.
Now, for those of you who have lost a person who did not know Christ as their Savior, again it is not your fault. Whether you talked to them about Jesus or not. I can't answer the question of why they did not come to know Jesus Christ before they died. I can't. I currently do not know whether or not my grandfather had accepted Jesus into his heart before he died or not. I like to think he did, but if he did not. Honestly I do not like to think about that. But, if he did not, then I have to remember that it was his choice, and I can't change that. Not me, or anyone else. It's another thing, that must be accepted along with the death of the person.

We cannot understand why the people we love have to die, knowing or not knowing what Jesus did for them. His plans and His love are beyond our knowledge. Romans 11:34 and Ephesians 3:19 say,

"Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"

To know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

God's love and mind surpass our knowledge. Therefore, we cannot understand why things happen the way they happen. This is why we find ourselves angry at God and yelling at Him. Because He took the person we loved away from us, and gave us no reason for it.
I warn you that what I'm about to say might anger you, but it is true. When we yell at God for taking away someone we love, it is the same as when we are a 2 or 3 year old and our parents take away our blanket or bottle and we cry and yell at them because we do not know why they are taking away the things we are used to. They do it so that we might grow and mature. If a child is kept on the bottle too long, then they could end up with bad teeth when they are older. It is done to help the child grow up properly. It is done to help them later on in life. Jeremiah 29:11 says,

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

If you lost someone recently, you're probably angry at me and think I am an idiot right now. If you lost someone a while ago like me, you most likely understand what I mean. When we lose someone, it affects us and our relationship with God.
When my grandfather died, I was not on the right path. But his death helped begin pushing me into a greater period of my life. It helped me grow in my faith in the long run. It led to starting this blog, and put me on the path I'm on now to entering into Theology. Even if you do not know the reason now, one day you will.

If you have lost someone and you still miss that person right now, do not think it is wrong to be yelling at God, or crying with God. God is our Father who loves us greatly, and who wants a relationship with us. He loves you and will always be with you. Luke 17:21 says,

"Nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."

God's kingdom is in you, and he resides in you. God is always with you. God can bring you Joy in facing the death of a loved one, and He can help you persevere through it if you ask Him to. James 1:2-3, and Mark 11:24 and James 1:6 say,

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

Ask God, with no doubt within you mind and heart, to give you Joy, in knowing that when all is said and done you will not have anymore pain, and to give you perseverance in this hard time; and He will gladly give it to you. And not only that, but He will make you stronger in the face of future trials in life. I tell you now that nothing is impossible with God. Matthew 19:26 says,

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Getting through the pain of losing a loved one is far from impossible with God. That is a fact I have experienced myself. You will get through it.

Everyone has had the experience of losing a loved one at one point in their life. But the day where we will not have to experience the pain of loss is at hand. Revelation 21:4 says,

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the older order of things has passed away."

So look forward to that day. But until that day, remember that God is always with you, and loves you. That everything happens for a reason, to help you grow along your journey to be with Him in Heaven. Remember not to dwell on the loss, but do remember the person and everything that you loved them for. Pray for those whom you want to experience Jesus Christ, and love them as much as you possibly can. Know that you are not the only one who loses loved ones, and their are people who know what you are going through, and that will help you through this. Have Joy in God's love and know that one day, one day! you will not have to experience pain any more for the rest of eternity! Because God will take away all the pain! Because He Loves You! Never forget that!

Footprints

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he
was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For
each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in
the sand; one belonged to him, and the other to
the Lord.

When the last scene of his life flashed before
him, he looked back at the footprints in the
sand. He noticed that many times along the
path of his life there was only one set of foot-
prints. He also noticed that it happened at the
very lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he questioned the
Lord about it. "Lord, you said that once I
decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all
the way. But I have noticed that during the
most troublesome times in my life, there is only
one set of footprints. I don't understand why
when I needed you the most you would leave me."

The Lord replied, "My precious, precious
child, I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering, when
you see only one set of footprints, it was then
that I carried you."

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Equality of Man

Equality is something that is spoken of everywhere you go. Now more than ever. And yet, the way it is expressed and used could not be further from what it is suppose to be. Everyone can understand that to treat people equally is to treat them all the same. But, here is where the difference comes in. The types of treatment that we are taught in our lives. The way I have seen it is that the world teaches one kind of equality, and the Bible teaches another. There are huge differences in the types of equality that both teach. We will look at both, and then we will look at which teaching people follow. Including people in the church. We'll start with the equality that the world teaches.

The equality that the world teaches is not really equality at all. In fact it's more of the opposite. The world teaches to treat everyone differently. It tells you to treat people differently depending on the events of the world, whether dealing with famous people, religious actions, or the actions of a race of people. It also teaches to treat others differently depending on what I think to be a massive version of the high school popularity scale. It largely takes into account the amount of money you have, but also the way you look, the things you have, the family you are a part of, how many people know you, the things you have done in your life, etc. The world takes both of these things and teaches people to judge others. To think of them of them better or worse than yourself because of something they did, or what color their skin is, or who their parents are. The world teaches people to judge everyone else. Whether younger, older, richer, poorer, because of any difference at all. It tells you to love someone because they can sing better than someone else, even if they would sooner throw you out of a moving car than say hello to you. Or to favor a person that has a lot of money but a horrible attitude, over a poor man who would be the most kind person you will ever meet in your life. It teaches you to think horribly of those who do things that you don't agree with, to hate those who have different thoughts than you. It also teaches you to tell the other person what you think of them. Even if it is good or bad. Even if it will hurt them.
It teaches to do all of this, and not have a second thought about it. To not even care what it could do. The world teaches us to look at the outside appearance and actions, and judge accordingly. This couldn't be further from what the Bible teaches.

Now what the Bible teaches can not be summed up so easily as what the world teaches. It teaches how people are not equal in some ways, but equal in the most important of ways; how to treat them; and how to place yourself among them. We'll start with how the Bible tells us how we are not equal, but also equal. Confusing sounding yes, but confusing it is not.

We are not equal because it is obvious how we all have different qualities and gifts. And it tells us to recognize these these differences. Romans 12:4-8 says:

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

We all have different gifts to use to help others, and to praise God with. We are all different from one another, and the Bible does tell us to recognize these differences. However, the Bible also tells us that we are all equal in a very important way. We have all sinned, and brought death on ourselves. James 2:8-11 and Romans 6:23 say:

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

No one can say that they have kept the entire law. The only man to ever claim that was Jesus Christ himself. But all of us have committed sin in our lives, no matter who we are. However, we are all equal in another aspect. We can all equally receive the gift of Christ Jesus our savior.
John 3:16 says:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

"...that whoever believes in him..." Anyone can believe in Christ, for that is the free will within a person to control what they believe.
So everyone may differ in their gifts and qualities; but we are all equal when it comes to being dead sinners, and people saved in Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Bible tells us how to treat everyone equally. It tells us what we should not do, and what we should do. The Bible mentions not to do one thing that would solve most of the bad we do to each other, and that is to not judge each other. James 4:11-12 and James 2:12-13 say:

Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you-who are you to judge your neighbor?

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

God is the Lawgiver and Judge. So it is not our place to judge others for their actions, or for anything in fact. If we are not suppose to judge someone on their actions, which is the number one thing people judge others on in my experience, why then should we judge others on minor things like the way they look or the money they have. If we are not to judge others, how then should we treat them? With mercy. But do not just stop at being merciful and not judging them for their actions. Go farther than that and love them, no matter who they are. James 2:1-4, Leviticus 19:18, and Luke 6:27-36 say:

My brother, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing the fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

" 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.' "

"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on the cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

Love is like a higher form of mercy. And instead of showing favoritism and judging others, we must treat them all equally with a merciful Love like that of our Father in heaven. If we do this, it is impossible to judge others or treat them badly. However this is not it. We must also see where our place is in this. Luke 14:7-11 says:

When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

So the Bible tells us to humble ourselves and take the lowest place. And to give our honor and best to others. So we must not love and treat everyone equally Less than ourselves, but treat them all equally Better than ourselves with sacrificing Love and Mercy.

Now the question is, which one do we follow in our lives at school, work, home, and church? The equality that the world teaches? Or the equality that the Bible teaches? The answer for most people today is that we follow the teachings of the world. I see the judging of others in public, at schools, in my home, and I am sorry to say, at my church. We allow ourselves to be swayed to judge others so easily now that it disturbs me. I even found myself doing it today while working on what to say in this post! It is a major problem, but it has such an easy solution. Just Loving one another! That is the ultimate solution.

I must say that judging others is one of the most common of sins in the world. No matter how poor or rich or important or unheard of you are, you have judged and most likely still judge others. If you read this post, I urge you now, do what I'm going to do and do everything you can to keep from judging others. And instead, love them and pray for them, whether they are an enemy or close friend or complete stranger. Reach out and love them and say what you can to bring them up instead of knocking them down. Because in this way, you are doing what God wants you to do. And also, maybe bringing them closer to Jesus Christ, so that they can experience the same Love that you are sharing with them.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Repentance

Out of all my posts I think I have only mentioned the word "Repent" maybe once or twice. When it should be mentioned in a lot more of my posts. More like every single one that mentions Christ's gift of forgiveness. But what is true repentance? Why do we have to repent? How often do we have to repent? Here is why.

Without repentance, the Gift of Christ does not matter. Why is that? The dictionary defines repentance as feeling sorrow for having done wrong. The Bible supports this meaning in James 4:9-10 and 2 Peter 3:9. They read:

Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Repentance means to not laugh, but to recognize what we've done, and that is sin. And everyone from the dawn of time till now, and for the rest of time has sinned except for Jesus Christ. For Proverbs 20:9 says:

Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin"?

And because we all have sinned we must all repent. By mourning for our lives that we have put to death. By humbling ourselves before the Lord, through our mourning, we ask Him to forgive us for our sins by accepting Jesus into our hearts. But, if we are forgiven anyways, why do we have to repent? Because only through repentance can we receive the Gift. You can not be forgiven if you do not say you're sorry first. You must recognize that you have sentenced yourself to death first. That is why the verse from 2 Peter says that He is patient and wants everyone to come to repentance. Because only through repentance can we be forgiven.

But there is a mistake we all make. It is the thought that if we repent once when we accept Jesus into our hearts, we don't have to do it again. We soon learn that this is not the case. After a while we begin to sin repeatedly, and at this point God flips our world upside down to show us what we're doing. And after we see it, we repent and beg for forgiveness. However, this is the wrong way to live. The Israelites did this repeatedly. Judges 2:16-23 says:

Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord's commands. Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them. But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and said, "Because this nation has violated the covenant that I laid down for their forefathers and has not listened to me, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their forefathers did." The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.

This was right after the death of Joshua, who had led the Israelites. But after all the people who followed closely the ways of God had died, the new more sinful generation took over. They did not repent, and because of it, they were oppressed by the other nations. And then they began to groan and asked God for deliverance from their bondage, to forgive them. So God sent a Judge to deliver them. But after the judge died they turned to worse way than before. The Israelites repeated this 12 times with 12 judges.
The time of Joshua can represent the time we accept Jesus into our hearts, and the amount of time we act like a Christian should. The moments when the Israelite start to do wrong and get put into bondage represent when we commit sin over and over, and when God flips our world because of it. The time of the judge is the time we repent and act like we should again. However, just like the Israelites, we repeat the pattern over and over again. Way more times than the Israelites.

This is the wrong way to repent, and to live. How then should we live and repent? For this we look to Paul as our example. Before I explain we must observe Acts 22:4 and 1 Timothy 1:12-17. They say:

I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison.

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundently, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and recieve eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen

Paul knew what he did, and he repented for his sins every moment of his Christian life. From speaking in public, to a letter, to his speaking with God. He humbled himself before God every moment because he knew just what the gift God gave him was. Forgiveness. Paul called himself the worst of sinners. He killed people of our same faith. If we lived in that time, and Paul was in front of usas a persecutor, he would have arrested or killed us on the spot. He did this to many Christians. And because of it, he repented all his life after Jesus came into his heart and he was forgiven. But do not think that he was the worst for killing Christians, for all wages of sin is death. You and I are just as deserving of the fate Paul would have recieved if he had not turned to Christ Jesus. He repented for his sins of past and present. Because of his constant repentance, he kept himself "in-check". He lived a righteous life of serving God, and God blessed him.
We must take the example of Paul and repent at all times. Constantly asking God for forgiveness for our sins. More than everytime He flips our world, more than weekly, more than daily. No we must do it constantly! Every chance we get we must mourn for our souls and beg God for forgiveness. And we can trust that God will forgive us for our sins. For God will never leave us. Job 16:20-21 says:

My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend.

Your friends of this world, not just the people but your family and the things that are in this world that you have trusted in, may scourn you; but God is your eternal friend who accepts you with open arms and forgives you. He will listen to your cries, and catch your tears. Why then would you turn to the world and commit sin? Instead, turn to God and repent. For when you repent, God forgives you and lifts the burden the sin creates off of your shoulders.

Repentance is recognizing what we have done by humbling ourselves in front of and apologizing to God, and asking Him to forgive our sins. And because we know that God forgives us every time, we take joy in this forgiveness. For joy comes from knowing that we have a place in Heaven after death. But we cannot recieve that place in Heaven if we have not repented and asked for the forgiveness God offers first. So when you repent and have that joy, no matter who you are, you feel the want to serve God and live a righteous life. Only through repentance can we truly accept God's Gift of freedom from our sin, and go to Heaven to spend an etenitly with Him.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

God's Mind and Love

I have spoken on both God's Love and God's Mind, but this time I speak on something that ties them together and shows what I think to be a deeper look into the Fatherly nature of God.

I was wondering what to read in the Bible and decided to read one of the Prophets. When I opened it to the part of the Bible with the Prophets, it opened to Jonah. I thought I already know this story, but God always teaches you something new every time you read the Bible. So I read the book of Jonah. But when I read the last couple of chapters, I noticed that I did not remember it. It was after Jonah had been spat out by the great fish, and told the people of Nineveh about what God would do. Jonah 3:1-10 says:

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."
Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city-a visit required three days. On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: Forty more days and the city of Nineveh will be overturned." The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his thrown, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:

"By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish."

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion on them and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

When Jonah finally came and told the people of Nineveh the words of the Lord, they listened to it right away and stopped their evil ways. And because of this, God took compassion on them and spared them. But Jonah became angry at the Lord for this. He felt that the Lord made Him go through all of what he went through for no reason. Because God sent him to tell the people that He would destroy them. But when they heard the Words of the Lord they accepted them right away, and repented for their evil ways. And were saved instead of being destroyed. Jonah 4:1-11 says:

But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the Lord, "O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents fro sending calamity. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."
But the Lord replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"
Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head and ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."
But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."
But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

I have had to think about this from the moment I read it till a few minutes before I started writing this post. First, do not think the vine represents the people of Nineveh. It is an example of Jonah's needless anger. He did not tend or grow the vine, it was not his own posession. It was only there for a day, and yet he grew angry about it. However, he also grew angry about God putting him through all He did, and end up not killing the people of Nineveh. How ridiculous does his anger seem. But Jonah did not realize something. If he had not gone to tell them of what God had said, a whole people who God cared for and who would have so readily loved God, would have been destroyed. And even if he had realized this, he probably would have said, "Why couldn't God send someone else in my stead?"

The truth, is that we are all a big bunch of Jonahs. We are all commanded to go and tell people in our lives (our Nineveh) about God's saving Grace. Many of whom are ready to accept it, but may never hear of it, and instead be destroyed. We say, "Why does it have to be me only? Why does God not just take care of it with someone else, or on His own?" As I thought about that question, another question came into my head that I have had so many people say to me. "Why does God not just remove all evil from the world and make it so that we all already love Him?" I thought about it for a long time. And my answer was ultimately, We do not know. For who can know what God's plan is? Romans 11:33-34 says:

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"

We cannot know what God wants us to do, for it is His plan. I was given a piece of logic that states, "It is impossible to know the mind of the Lord, because to know the mind of the Lord means to be equal on that plain with the Lord. This is impossible, for man can in no way, be equal to God." We do not know why God does the things He does. Why sin is still in the world?, Why we do not already know of God's greatness when we are born?, Why it is up to us to tell others of God's Son Jesus? But, we can have Faith in God, just like we have faith that He sent His Holy Son to die on the cross to save us from our sins, that whatever He does, it is done for a greater purpose.

As I was talking to a friend from church about what I was going to be talking about in this post, I thought of a theory, as to why He lets us choose to sin or love Him. I ended up asking the question:
"Why do mothers and fathers choose to have children, even though they know that they could turn around and hate them?"
I feel that the answer to this question, is also the same answer to why God does what he does. The answer is that they wanted something that they could love, and who would Choose to love them. Not be forced to love them. For if that was the case, we would be nothing more than an animal with an instinct to love God. If this is the right answer, then it just goes that much farther to show the Fatherly nature of God. For He created us, so that He could love us. And that is proven all the more with the sacrifice of His one and only Perfect Son on the cross, so that we might be saved and go spend an eternity with Him in Heaven.

I do not know if my theory is true or not, for no one knows the mind of the Lord our God. However, it is what I believe to be the reason. But even if it is or if it isn't, I know that I will always have a Father, who will do anything for me, till the day I die, and beyond that. And that He wants me, and all of you, to Love Him and others with all our hearts, and to share God's life saving Word with all of the people in this World. Praise be to the Father!

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Showing God In Our Lives

I'm sure that almost every person reading this has had this preached to them before. And I bid you to listen to this one as well. Fore God will always teach you something new about what you think you know.
How many of you can say that you are a Christian, and that your friends would agree completely with that statement from only seeing your actions? From my experience, that number is too small. So often I hear this, and it is usually followed by the question, "What is it suppose to look like?" As always, the Bible has every answer. It tells us of 3 forms, which all come under one law. The first deals with humility, the second is sharing, and the third is service.

First, what does it mean to be humble? The dictionary defines it as, A lowering of pride, to lower the rank, and expressing a sense of selflessness, meekness, modesty, etc. That definition, describes exactly what it means to be humble in the eyes of God. In order to show God in your life you need to humble yourself before God. Fore James 4:6-7 says:

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

If you humble yourself before God and resist the devil, which gets easier to do if you humble yourself, then you throw away your pride. Now throwing away your pride and humbling yourself means more than you might think. It means you submit all control of everything in your life to God. Your health, your family, your friends, your things, your money, your health, everything! And, that you no longer hold onto the image you have made for yourself. The image that those who know you and that those who don't see. Only in this way can you truly do what God asks you to do. Because if you hold onto that pride, it will stir up doubt, and worry in the face of what He will ask of you.
This is shown in 2 Samuel 6. When King David is moving the Tabernacle from Obed-Edom's house, where it was placed on it's way to the City of David. It says in 2 Samuel 6:12-23 says:

Now King David was told, "The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the Ark of God." So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.
They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. After he had finished sacrifice the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.
When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"
David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord's people Israel-I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor."
And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

Before I speak on what was just read, the linen ephod, that the king of the greatest nation at the time wore, was a scrap of clothing. Like that of a loin cloth. David wore a scrap of clothing and danced in front of his entire nation, because he felt that it was what God wanted of him at that moment. Every person had their thoughts of him. And it wasn't just Michal who thought of David in that manner, many people thought in the same way. Others laughed, or cursed, or thought ill of him in some manner. But he did not care. He said proudly that he would become even more undignified for God. When you have humility, you do not care about what others think. If God wants you to do it, you do it without a second thought. So, first you must have humility, so that you may do whatever work God asks you to do without a second thought on what others have to say. That means to follow the way of life set for you when you are at church, at home, and especially around your friends. Let them see that you serve God and that despite thier words of mockery and cursing, you heed no attention and are focused only on what God wants you to do.

Next is the second, which is on the sharing of God with others. In Acts chapter 13 Paul is in Pisidian Antioch speaking to the people there. Acts 13:26-52 says:

"Brothers, children of Abraham, and you God fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.
"We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:

"'You are my Son; today I have become your Father.'

The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words:

"'I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.'

So it is stated elsewhere:

"'You will not let your Holy One see decay.'

"For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.
"Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the Law of Moses. Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:

"'Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.'"

As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.
On the next Sabbath almost the entire city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying.
Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: "We had to speak the the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us:

"'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'"

When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Yes that was a big piece of Scripture, and so is the meaning behind it. Paul and Barnabas Shared God's Word with the people in Pisidian Antioch. Not afraid of what others would say or think of them, or even what they might do to them. At this time, just like when Paul was still a persecuter of the faith he now proclaimed, they could have hunted him down and tried to kill him if they wanted to. But, still he went, for it was what God wanted them to do. There were many who listened to what they had to say, and there were also people who cursed them and spoke against them. In the same way, God asks us to tell others about Jesus Christ, no matter what. There will be people who listen to what you have to say, and there will be people who will persecute you for your faith. But, if you humble yourself, and trust God with everything, God will take care of you. He will make the persecution seem minor in the wake of His great love for you, as you follow His instructions.
I shared on telling others about God in my post on Discipleship. Telling others about God is a very great way of showing others God in your life, and Loving others. But, before I get into Love we need to look at the third form of showing God in your life. It is through service. James 2:14-19 says:

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical need, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder.

And Provierbs 16:3 says:

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

If you humble yourself and do what God says, you will absolutely go into some form of serving others. And when you serve them for God and not self gain, they will see that the Lord is working in you. That you are a servant of God, and full of His Love and Joy. If you are humble in the Lord, then you are committing what you are doing to the Lord, because you are doing what He is asking you to do without excuse or reward. If you are doing something for God, it will complete the task it was planned to do. Even though it might not seem like it to you, God is timeless and knows all that will happen.

These three forms of showing God in your life all come together in 1 Commandment, which is called the Greatest Commandment. Luke 10:25-27 says:

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to Jesus. 'Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your strength and with all your mind'; and 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

If you think about it, if you obey this Commandment to its fullest you end up showing God in your life. If you love God with everything you have, then you would gladly do whatever He asks you to do, regardless of what others think and do to you for it. All you care about is God, and what He wants. And if you love others as well, then you tell them of God. For like I have said before, "If you truly love a person, then you would tell them of the one who would give them eternal life." And you would also serve them and help them in any way you can.

If you were to only follow this Commandment for the rest of your life, you would do everything God wants you to do in life. However, it is also the most broken Commandment. For every time you sin, you break this Commandment. For sin is not what God wants from you. Everyone has broken the most important Commandment God gave us, and is therefore worthy of only death. But God sent His Son to earth to die on the cross a guiltless death to save us. But do not let that be an excuse to not obey this Commandment. Instead, let it be the reason for you to strive for it. Let God's Love and Greatness be revealed to all around you, through you.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Lust

This post is a part 2 of the previous post Why Do You Dress Like That? This post is directed to both girls and to guys. The first section will be to girls and the second to guys. I will explain just what it is that lust really is. This will be a PG-13 post.

Girls, from all I have seen and experienced I can say one thing with full confidence, most of you do not know the meaning of lust form a guy's point of view. Because if you did, you would not wear many of the things you do.
Matthew 5:27-28 says,

"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a women lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

But what does it mean to lust in his heart? Clearly not what you all think it means. I'm not a girl, so I don't have any idea what it means to lust after someone in a girl's mind, but it is not the same in a guy's. When a guy lusts after a girl, he mentally strips off her clothes, and imagines himself having sex with her. That is lust in a guy's mind. And when you dress in skimpy swim suits, belly shirts, mini skirts, and so on, you make it just that much easier to do it. The more we see of you, the less we have to imagine, and the harder it gets for us.
Yes, I did just say that you wearing less makes our lives harder. Because it is a Christian's goal to stop sinning, and the sin we have the hardest time with is Lust. If that does not make sense, remember, you all think on an emotional scale, while we guys think on a physical scale.
I myself have struggled and fought against this sin for years! I am still fighting, every single day! Because wherever I look it's there. School, public, TV and internet, and sadly even at church; you find women wearing near to nothing. You girls are not making it any easier for us guys to fight this sin! I'm not persecuting you right now, for it is not my place to do so. But I want you to realize that you are not helping us with this.
We hate the way this sin makes us feel with a passion! When we commit this sin, we feel like the lowest scum of the earth. Because when we have committed it we realize 2 things of what we just did. We realize that the person we just thought about like that was someone's daughter, probably someone's sibling, had a life of her own. And, that we just dissed God in a major way. When we think about those 2 things, we feel destroyed on the inside. We feel like crawling into a deep hole and dying there. We hate feeling that way, and that is why we fight it as hard as we can! And if you think there are people who do enjoy it, they don't! They just turn it into a major addiction by doing it non-stop to prolong that feeling. Or they use other addictions to hide it as well. But they all do it unsuccessfully.
When you all dress like you do, you make it that much harder to fight it off. And especially at church! The last thing we want is to be picturing our friends from church like that! If there is anything that I can say that will stress this point more it's this. When you dress like that, you are literally helping Satan! Because when you wear less, you make it easier to picture you in our heads, and harder to fight our sin. And if you make it harder to fight the sin, then you are helping cause it. Therefore, you help Satan spread his evil influence. So I ask you for myself, my friends from my church, and for all the guys of this world, dress modestly. Because this sin never goes away for guys. It haunts us from our teens till we're dead. It never goes away! It just gets easier to fight over time. So please help us fight it! Help us with destroying this sin in our lives!

Guys, now it's your turn. Stop looking! That is the best advice I could give you. Not all girls in the world are suddenly going to see this post or other things and dress better. So if you see a girl walk by who makes you feel that certain way, keep looking forward! Do not turn your head!
Remember, there is a difference between apreciating the beauty of God's creation, and having perverse thoughts of it. It's a fine line between the two, so try your hardest to stay away from the line. Don't even go near it! If you feel the urge coming, do whatever you can to take your mind off it. The best thing you can do is read your Bible and pray to God about it. You might have slip ups down the road, but you will get there! I still struggle with it now! But keep praying to God for strength to fight it, and He will grant it! Keep fighting the Lust as hard as you can! If there is something in your life that is making it that much harder to fight it, cut it out of your life. Matthew 5:29-30 says,

"If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

You should remember this from a couple posts ago. It means that if anything causes you to sin, remove it from your life. Fight as hard as you can! And remember that you are not the only one in the world who struggles with this sin, it just feels like you are. There are others, including myself, who deal with this sin. If your struggling, ask you pastor, the other guys from your church, you can even ask me. My e-mail is in a previous post. Just know that you are not the only one fighting this fight, and that there are many others who can help you with it. God gave you an army of help around you, you just have to ask for help!

I pray that my words did not offend, but brought awareness of the situation that plagues this world. So I ask: Girls, help us by dressing modestly, because that is all it takes to help us, a change of clothes. And guys, keep fighting as hard as you can and remember that you are not alone.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Discipleship

The past week I've been at Hume Lake Christian Camp in California. It was there that I was humbled and showed that I haven't even come close to doing what I have suppose to have been doing. I heard the call to discipleship that week, and I learned that it calls out to everyone.
We studied Matthew 5:13-16 that week. It says,

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

We Christians are the salt and the light. Do not lose your saltiness. Do not lose your passion and your want of God. You need to want more of Him, more than water and life. You can't share what you do not have. You need to have a love of God that is so great and prevalent in your life that it shows in the way you live to the people around you. The people around need to see that your a Christian in the way you live, that they can see what God has done for you. They need to see that you love God, and that you love them. If they don't and you try to tell them how great and awesome God is, they'll ask "What makes Him so great and special? You're no different than me." No. That is not how it is supposed to be.
So, ask yourself. When the people around you look at you, do they say, "What makes them so different? How could I have the joy they have?" Do they say that when they look at you? Do they? If they don't, then you are doing something wrong! There is no way around it, you are not doing something right! I know I haven't. Because if you asked my neighbors if I was Christian, they would say no. In fact, they would ask who you were talking about, because I haven't even begun to reach out to them. That's not even close to what should be by now.
It says not to hide the light under a bowl, but put it on a stand to shine light on all in the house. I thought that reading my Bible a few hours a day and writing on this blog was enough. I was completely wrong! I've been hiding my light under a bowl when instead, I should be shining this light on my neighbors and the other people in my life. By showing them who God is and what He can do for them.
That is changing now. I am going to start ministering to my neighbors, and I call you to do the same with the people in your lives. Now here is probably where you think I'll give you an easy trick to make it easier. Sorry, it's not easy! You will have what-ifs, you will have worries and fears, you might be worried about ruining a relationship you've had for years, well there is no getting around them! The best thing you can do is pray to God to remove those things from your heart. God will do what needs to be done. There is a way that can make it go more smoothly than just going up to the person and saying, "You're going to hell unless you listen to me."
Begin making a relationship with that person, and remember to show in your life that you are a Christian. And everyone has a story. You have a story no matter who you are. Share your story with the person and what God has done for you in your life. The person will either want to know more and maybe begin chasing God, or they will flat out ignore everything you just said. If they come to God; show them God's word, take them to church, and love them as they grow. But if they don't accept God, just keep loving them. Because you need to remember that God is the one who changes the people, not you. And He will change them on His own time. The speaker at the camp told us about a guy he new who did not come to God for years, and then suddenly moved to Africa and now serves the people there in God's name. Just keep loving the person. We can only point the person in the right direction, it's up to God to change the person.

God wants us to share His saving Law of freedom with the world. It will be hard, and you will be persecuted, so give up your life to God, your physical things, the people in your life, your own body. Give it all to God and trust Him with it all, and share Him with the people around you. Ask God to take away your worries and fears and the what-ifs that cause them and all the distractions of this world. Pray that God shows you the sins you have committed and the He forgives you for them, and that He helps you forgive yourself for them. Pray with all your heart, and God will do so. James 5:16 says

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Pray with all you have and God will answer. For I can tell you with a promise on God that God has never left a prayer of mine unanswered. But, why do you have to forgive yourself? If you hold on to the sins, and pains they leave, your light won't be pure. How can impure light shine on those around it, likewise, how can someone who doesn't let go of their sin and pain help other people with theirs? You can't.

Now think about the person you love most, who does not know God. I tell you now that you do not love that person. Because if you did love that person, at all, then you would care if they went to hell or not! Would you not? If you truly love someone then you should do everything in your power to lead that person to Jesus Christ! Until they do accept Him!
But then God asks us to love our neighbor, who is everyone in this world. So if you want to truly love anyone in this world, you Need to share God with them! You need to show them what God can do for them! I am yelling these words to you! If you do not share Jesus Christ with someone then you do not love them, and you are not following one of the only things God wants us to do! If you are hiding this light then you are lying! You are lying to the people around you! You are lying to yourself! And you are lying to God! Do not be a liar of a Christian! Love the people around you and tell them about Jesus Christ. That He can save them! We know we are going to heaven, but them, they don't have that light! They don't have that hope and joy that we do! Show Them!! Show them God! It brings tears to my eyes to think of how empty my life would be if I didn't have God! That there are people who don't have Him in their lives! It needs to end! We need to stop lying! Go! Go and share this Light with the world! For in Romans 13:11-12 says,

And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Share God's saving Law now, for the time of Christ's return grows closer with every passing day! So we must save as many people as we can before that time comes!

I cannot say these things enough to you! But, I have saved the first step for last. Spend more time with God! Pray, read His Word, ask Him to teach you and speak to you! People say you can't hear God's voice, but they just haven't truly trusted that God will answer them! Like I said in the last post, rid your life of what keeps you from God! Separate the things in your life that glorify God and what does not. Remove what does not and keep what does. Trust God with all aspects of your life, and then share Him with the people around you! Become a Disciple!

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Idolatry Today

Idolatry is a direct sin towards God. It is mentioned in the Bible 666 times. But what is idolatry, and what does it have to do with today? When people think of idolatry, they think of people making wooden idols and performing ceremonies of worship to them. However, it is much more than that. Anything can become an idol. Work, TV, your computer, a game, work, sports, and even other people. An idol is anything that takes away time that should be spent on God, and usually become the focus of your life. In essence, it becomes your god.
The first time God warns against idolatry is in Exodus 20:4-6. It says,

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them of worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing children for the sin of their fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."

In order to fully understand this, we must look at James4:4-5. It says,

You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the Spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?

The world can easily become an idol. I'm not saying we should not make time to have fun, but a lot of the time, we start making more and more time for that thing. Eventually we give all our free time over to it. I know this from experience.

In February, I began playing an on-line game I had downloaded. I played probably 4 to 8 hours a day. It began consuming my life. I neglected my chores. My school work suffered, and showed in my grades. I began acting disrespectful to my mother and father. I rarely spent time with my family, or even talking with them. And worst of all, I almost completely stopped reading my Bible, and if I did, it was maybe 20 minutes for the entire day. It was to a point where I had a form of battle going on inside of me. Every time I played, that little voice in my head kept telling me to pick up my Bible, which was always arms length from where I was sitting. But I kept ignoring it. I made the game an idol. I wasn't "spending" time I was "devoting" time to the game. In the Old Testament, it describes devoting objects and things as the irrevocable giving over of things to the Lord. But instead of the Lord, my time was being devoted to the game.
My mom and dad told me all of this a week ago. And I settled the battle within me. The game was deleted off of my computer, along with anything else that I felt was keeping me from spending time with God. And I'm glad I did. I have spent hours reading the Bible this past week. And I have learned so much! I'm so joyful, and yet I'm sad at the same time. I think of all the time I devoted to the game, and what I could have read and learned in that time.
I ask you now, "What is your idol?" Just think about that. Do you have it? If you do, Matthew 18:8-9 says,

If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands and two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fires of hell.

Whatever causes you to sin must be cut off and thrown away. Whatever is your idol, it is taking away time that should be given over to God, and is therefore causing you to sin. Throw it away! Rid your life of it, and give the stolen time over to God to use to teach you, to have you pray, to have you serve, to use in what ever way His plan calls for!
And think before you begin starting a new hobby, or getting that new piece of technology, or signing up for unneeded overtime, or deciding your ready for that relationship. Think about whether you can still keep Most of the time of each day devoted to God. Think about whether God still has something to teach you about the new thing you're going to introduce to your life.
If it still seems fine to continue pursuing, Pray About It! And if it does start taking up that time, then it is not what God wants. So you must remove it from your life. It might not be easy to do so. Like I said, I had an inner battle within me that lasted for 6 months. It took the words out of my mother's mouth, that I was hurting her with the way I treated her, to make my decision.
Ask God to give you strength to remove it, and He will provide.

Idolatry has been and is a great problem in the world. It takes away what was meant to be devoted to God. Don't make the world an idol, and end up losing the time God gave you to use! Make God your world! Worship Him, and read His Word and serve Him! You'll be amazed at what He will do!

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

All the Books of the Bible Are Important

I've been reading the Bible all the way through. And I've began noticing that the Scripture written in the Old Testament can relate to the New Testament. Deuteronomy 6 proves this point quite well. I will break it down into each paragraph. Deuteronomy 6:1-3 says,

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you.

Moses is the one speaking in this passage of the Bible. He is giving his last words to the people of Israel before they cross the Jordan into the land of the Canaanites. He could not go with them because of the rebellion 40 years earlier, in which he did not listen to the words of God.
He is telling them to obey these laws that he has given them so that they may be blessed and not end up as the people who rebelled before them, so that they may gain the land promised to them by God.
This is something that can relate to the New Testament. The promise. I have spoken on this before, and I shall do it again. Hebrews 6:13-20 says,

When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, "I will surely bless you and give you many descendants." And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his promise very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

This is basically saying that God's promise is always fulfilled for the ones He made the promise to. When God promised the land to the forefathers of the people Moses is speaking to in Deuteronomy, He gave His unbreakable, undeniable, unbending word to them to give them the land of the Canaanites. And nothing would change it.
Continuing on in the passage, Deuteronomy 6:4-9 says,

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

This paragraph relates to two passages from the New Testament. The first is also something I've spoken of before. Romans 12:9-21 says,

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at piece with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for as it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, this you will heap burning coals on his head."
Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.

And another passage goes with this one. It's 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, and it says,

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

When it says to love God in Deuteronomy, it means all these things. It means to trust God, be kind to Him, be patient with the life He made for you, to always put your hope in Him, to persevere in the hard times, and to serve Him in any way you can. A huge part of loving someone is sacrificing for them. Time you were going to spend doing something for yourself, things you were going to get, it is the most major part of loving someone. You can't love someone without giving up your selfishness. It's not possible.
The second part of the paragraph can be related to James 1:22-27. It says,

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror and, after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does.
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

In Deuteronomy, it says to talk about the laws to everyone, and everywhere; and to show them to the world. In the same way, we are to read God's Word and talk about it with and show it to everyone we possibly can. To tell them of our faith, and to show them our faith with actions.
So we must love our God by doing His commands and serving Him in any ways we can, and we must talk about and show people who God is.
The next paragraph is Deuteronomy 6:10-12. It says,

When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you-a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant-then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

Moses mentioned God's promise again in this paragraph. Reminding the people of Israel of what God said He will do, and that He will do it. So that they not forget the Lord when He rewards them. Likewise, we should not forget the Lord when something wonderful happens in our lives. In fact, we should never forget the Lord no matter what happens to us in our lives.
Also, just like the Israelites were going to receive a new land they did not toil to build, we too shall receive a new land we did not toil to make. 2 Corinthians 5:1 says,

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

They received a land they did not build when they were set free from their bonds of slavery, and we will receive a land not even built by humans, but built by God. After we are freed from our bonds of sin.
The next paragraph, Deuteronomy 6:13-19, says,

Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the Lord your God who is around you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. Do not test the Lord your God as you did at Massah. Be sure to the keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. Do what is right and good in the Lord's sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers, thrusting out your enemies before you, as the Lord said.

Fear the Lord. But you should not fear Him as we do the dark or what we don't know, for we know the Lord, and that He loves us. Fear Him in a way of respect for His power and majesty and wisdom. For if you fear Him he will teach you.
Take your oaths in His name, fore God is the highest person to swear an oath upon. So that if you do swear an oath, you are bound by God to keep it.
Part of this paragraph can relate to many parts of the Bible, but the original location is
Exodus 20:3-6. It says,

"You shall have no other gods before me.
"You shall not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who have my and keep my commandments."

Do not follow any other gods and do not make an idol. These are not always some statue made of gold or wood. They can be your computer, your TV, sports, your spouse, your girlfriend/boyfriend, your ipod, school, family, work, other books, video games, idols take many forms. You can still do these things, but you just have to make sure that God is at the top of the list. These acts will not go unpunished, for God is jealous. James 4:4-6 says,

You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensly? But he gave us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

Be humble and do not desire the world or trust it. Instead, trust God and make Him your WHOLE world! Because God is bigger, and more forgiving than this world! Therefore, it would make much more sense to follow Him, than it would to follow an idol.
The next part can relate to Galations 6:7-10. It says,

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, espeacially to those who belong to the family of believers.

The Israelites did what was right and good in the sight of the Lord, and they recieved the land God promised with long lives. If we do what is good in the Lord's sight, we will be rewarded with riches in heaven.
Moses also mentions God promise once again at the end of the paragraph, and that God will keep it with them.
The last paragraph is Deuteronomy 6:20-25. It says,

In the future, when your son asks you, "What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord your God commanded you?" tell him: "We were slaves of Pharoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Before our eyes the Lord sent miraculous signs and wonders-great and terrible-upon Egypt and Pharoh and his whole household. But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our forefathers. The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness."

Just like the Israelites were told to tell their children that God freed them from slavery in Egypt, we are to tell others of how Jesus died on the cross to free us from our sin. Ephesians 2:1-5 says,

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.

We were once slaves to our sins, but Jesus died on the cross and freed us.
The paragraph continues to mention God's promise to the Israelites again. I will get back to this.
The Israelites were given laws to obey so that they may live long and thrive in the land promised to them. This would be their righteousness. However that was before Jesus died on the cross. Galations 3:15-25 says,

Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and his seed. The Scripture does not say, "and to the seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
What, then, was the pupose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise reffered had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a midiator. A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.
Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law has been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.

What does all this mean? It means the promise made to Israel to receive the land would and could not be changed by the law. But also that the other part of the promise (made directly to Abraham) , that his seed would become a great nation, was actually talking about Jesus. Jesus is the seed that, when he died on the cross to save us from our sins, made a nation of all the people who believed in Him! That nation is the invisible Church of all the Christians of the world!
The law was completely separate of the promise made to Israel. In Israel's time, the laws were rules set up to be followed by the people. They didn't have a savior yet. However we do! But that doesn't mean the Law doesn't have anymore meaning. It tells us how God wants us to act for Him. It also shows us what sins we commit and need to be saved from. So when we see the sins we commit, we go to Christ and ask for forgiveness, and strength, wisdom, and knowledge to not commit them again!
This is why God's promise was mentioned 4 times in the passage. When the Israelites heard it, they were reminded of when God freed them from Egypt! And when we read it, we are reminded of Christ dying on the cross to free us from our sins!

The Old Testament is regarded as a bunch of stories that aren't worth reading most of the time by many of the people I know, as well as some books in the New Testament. But that is wrong! Every book in the Bible can have a deep meaning! You can see it if you keep reading your Bible! Eventually you can relate multiple books in the Bible to just one! And come out with a completely new meaning than with just the single books alone! God had the Bible written in the way it is for a reason! If you read it all the way, read it again, and again, and again! You will realize new things every time you read it!

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen