humans

September 10, 2017

Spirit and Life

even-smaller-bug-light1 63 The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.  ​ – John 6:63 NLT


Many of the people who had followed Jesus and had become His disciples were offended at the words of Jesus when He said you must eat my flesh and drink my blood. They complained that His words were too hard to understand. In today’s society, we have the same thing happening. There are people who go to church, hear the Gospel of Jesus and leave offended. Because they don’t understand, they think that Christianity is a negative, bloody religion. It is only when the Holy Spirit calls us and we come to Jesus and believe His words that we can understand the message. The Spirit leads us into all truth and gives life to the words of Jesus. It is then that we can understand that the spoken words become the living Word, Jesus.

14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.—John 1:14 (NLT)


Once we accept this truth, we become the Children of the Living God.

We are Spirit-bred, John 3:5

We are Spirit-led  John 16:13

We are Spirit-fed John 21:15-17


“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 09-10-2017

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June 11, 2017

The Desires of Our Heart

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17 Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! ​ – James 5:17 NLT

James 5:13- 18 NLT​


Of course, we know that God already knows our needs and our situation, but He has instructed us to ask and keep on asking. Jesus told the story of the persistent woman and the unjust judge. She kept pestering the judge until he gave her what she was requesting. God does not always give us what we ask, because sometimes we ask for things that we don’t need. Psalm 37:4 tells us that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts. Have you ever noticed that sometimes, when you pray fervently that what you end up asking from God is not what you were thinking about when you first started praying? That is when you can know that “the desires of your heart” have aligned with God’s Word and His will. Then the answer is always yes. But, if our desires don’t line up, then we often get a “no” or “wait”. Some people say that it is a cop out to pray “nevertheless not my will, but Yours be done”. But that is what Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. So, if He set the example, it is a good pattern to follow.


“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 06-11-2017

April 17, 2017

No Other Name

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2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe.  — Hebrews 1:2 NLT
Hebrews 1:1-5 NLT


In the Old Testament, God spoke to His people through prophets, Theophanies, angels, and, at least, once through an animal. In the New Testament, He sent angels to specific people and also spoke to His people through John the Baptist. But, after Jesus was born, God the Father spoke to humans through God the Son. Jesus was present at the creation. He is the exact likeness of God and He is the reflection of God’s glory.. Once he had been obedient to the cross and completed His earthly mission, He was exalted to His present position, which is next to God in heaven. He intercedes for us there. He is greater than all the angels and His Name is superior to all other names. His Name is the only Name in heaven and on earth or under the seas, whereby we can receive eternal salvation.


“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 04-17-2017

October 25, 2016

Money, Money, Money!

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17 Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. — 1 Timothy 6:17 NLT
1 Timothy 6:17-21 NLT
God revealed Himself to us using different names.  One of those names is Jehovah- Jireh, which means that He is our provider.  We usually think of that in terms of physical needs and God does provide for our physical needs here on earth.  But it is more than that. our greatest needs are spiritual and He provides for those needs in abundance.  We look around us and we see all kinds of needs going unmet and we wonder why God doesn’t fulfill every need in the world.  We know He is capable of doing so and we know that He has the resources. Whether we like it or not, whether we agree or disagree with His plan, the first step in trying to understand those unmet needs is to understand that God’s promises are to His children.  The next step is to understand that if we are deliberately living a life of disobedience, He is not obligated to do anything for us.  The next step might be that He uses humans to carry out His plans and we know that we are not always reliable.  Sometimes, perhaps, we keep more of what He has blessed with than He wanted us to, so someone doesn’t get their need fulfilled.  The first two steps are His and we can’t change them.  The third step is ours and that is where we need to focus.  Are we doing all we can do to alleviate needs in our corner of the world?  Are we using God’s abundance to fulfill our wants instead of meeting the needs of those around us?  We need money for our journey here on earth but we also need to use as much as possible of the money God gives us to do good and lay up eternal treasures in heaven.
 
Matthew 6: 19-21 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

October 20, 2016

Above My Head

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8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.    “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.— Isaiah 55:8 NLT

It is impossible for humans to know all of God’s thoughts and plans.  Just as He created the whole universe by His spoken Word, He holds it all together by the power of His Word.  How could our finite, human minds even begin to understand the intricate details of how nature works?  Our scientists fit a little piece here and a little piece there, but they can’t put it all together.  Just as the people of Babel thought they would build a tower to the heavens, we may think that we can figure it all out.  But just as God confused their language and made it impossible for them to work together, He will confound our human plans. The wisdom of humans is foolishness when compared to the wisdom of God.  As Job could not answer God about the intricacies of nature, neither can we answer Him.  We, as Job did, can come to only one conclusion and that is this: “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. Job 19:25 (NLT)  Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  The question is not “Will I do this?” The question is “When will I do this?”

Accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord today and enjoy spending an eternity with
Him.  He is the One who made it all possible  by dying on a cross for our sins.
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September 15, 2016

People Get Ready!

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42 “So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. — Matthew 24:42 NLT

Matt. 24:42-51 NLT

Trying to figure out what day Jesus is coming back is futile.  He didn’t come back yesterday and so far, He hasn’t come back today.  There are three things that we can know for sure.  Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not promised but we have this very moment.  When Moses asked God, “Who shall I say sent me?”  God said “I AM”.  Not “I was” or not “I will be” but simply “I AM”.  When God says “I AM”, our response should be a simple “YOU ARE”.   When we reach that point of understanding that “HE IS” means that He is everything we need then and only then will we start to understand that “when He is coming back” should be of little or no concern to us.  The important thing is that “HE IS” and He is coming back. Our concern is “to be” ready.  God did not call us “human doers”, He called us “human beings” because He wanted us to understand that “being” is more important than doing.  What we do, our external actions, are only a small part of who we are.  Our words and our actions are a result of how we have spent our time up until now.  Do they show that we have spent our time being in His presence?  If so, we will be ready when He comes back.  

22 If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed.

Our Lord, come!

23 May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

24 My love to all of you in Christ Jesus.

— 1 Cor. 16:22-24 NLT
Post 09-15-2016
April 2, 2016

I Love to Tell the Story

even-smaller-bug-light117 “Friends, I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance. 18 But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold about the Messiah—that he must suffer these things. 19 Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. 20 Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. — Acts 3:17-20 NLT         Acts 3:1-20

Except for Jesus, all humans were born with a sinful nature.  We, including Jesus, were brought into a sinful world.  Before the death and resurrection of Jesus, most of the people could use the excuse of ignorarnce of that fact as a reason not to accept His story.  Even in today’s world of high tech and instant communications, there are still some who can legitmately say that they have never heard the name of Jesus.  Although the Gospel has been preached in every country, it is believed that there are more than 6550 people groups that have never heard the gospel.  There are even more groups who have heard the Gospel but don’t have established Christian organizations to witness to each and every one of the people. Even in our own country and in a lot of our own neighborhoods, there are those who may have heard the name of Jesus but have little or no idea of His story of eternal life. In 2014, the Pew Research Center survey determined that at least 37% of Americans are not “absolutely sure” that God exists. If you are not absolutely sure that God exists, it would be hard to say that you are a Christian. Could one of these 37% be our neighbor? There is a 1 in 3 chance that we have a neighbor who doesn’t know Jesus.
The fields are white with harvest!  Pray that the Lord will send laborers into the fields.
John 4:35-38
Post 04-02-2016