Category Archives: the gospel

Freedom or Chains

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I wanted to be careful about how I wrote this. But then the Lord reminded me, “Every word of God can be misused”. So I’ll just write what I saw and let be what will be.  

It is not the size of our sin that condemns us to hell. It is the size of our faith to receive his desired gift of forgiveness.  


We were dead in our trespasses. We can’t possibly know the grandeur of that death. Likewise, with his forgiveness we are offered eternal life. We can’t possibly know the grandeur of what he holds in his hand.  


But what if someone holds onto remorse and shame, thus spitting into the hand who offers life? Hiding in the shadows, not daring to draw near.  


Do you believe? Then take his joy. Take his strength. Take his fearless abandon. Take his dedication. Take his wisdom. Take his godly and never ending love.  


Aren’t those the things that are spawned by the forgiveness he offers? For by those things we approach the throne of the living God with confidence. There we learn things we did not know. There we are strengthened by the touch of his hand or the smile on his face. But without forgiveness, God remains no more than a religion. And the shadow of death is our closest friend.  

Penniless for Eternity

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What is mankind like?

He is like a tiny town nestled in the valley of the mountains.  


He plants a vineyard and a crop is yielded.  


He wakes, come the day of the harvest, and excitedly runs to reap his crop.  


He gives no thanks or honor to God. His busy fingers rape the vine, making sure not to leave even a 10th on the ground.  


He and his friends praise one another for the good work they have done. They think they have accomplished the meaning of their life.  


Greatly pleased with their reward, they repeat these things over and over until they lay in the grave.  


When their soul is wakened to give account, even then they are surprised.  


Ever harvesting but never gaining. Ever diligent but the poorest of all creatures.  

Do You Worship Chaos?

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Thought process:  Warning, the following may be tough on your brain.  

Sitting all night in Chicago. Yeah in Chicago. The O’Hare oasis as a matter fact. The Lord brought me to a parking spot just before rush-hour. Unless you’ve tried to do that with a 53ft trailer, you have no idea what a miracle it is. Thank you Lord Jesus.  


Why would anyone seriously choose to live here. I break it down to the elemental things, it has to do with distractions. They prefer a busily entertained life to following cows around in the pasture.  

Warning leap of thought:

God is not a distraction.  


(That would be the reason why most of the billboards around Chicago have to do with sex, luxury, gambling or alcohol. Oh yeah, there is the occasional “make you feel guilty” billboard. Hospitals, oh yeah, hospitals are a Big thing. And I can’t leave out the governmental mandates to be happy. Apparently God’s not allowed to be the God of Chicago. It beats me to death to figure out how a city, that has to be so well organized, can worship chaos.)


He himself, in Jesus, is life. Religions are distractions. But Jesus is the center of every religion.  (just leaping from one rock of thought to another.  Following me this morning takes a little bit of agility.)


This is not to say that every religion recognizes or worships the living God’s holy son. But Jesus provides life. Man’s interpretation of Christ’s sustaining is called religion.  


A thought I had earlier:


You can tell someone that Jesus is the son of the living God. They might nod, meaning they understand. But learn to spend quality and dedicated time in prayer with him and the meaing changes exponentially.  He is no longer just an invisible figurehead, he becomes the source of your very life. Gladly our personal religion gets tossed out the window. In its place comes a living faith.  


(here’s a bit of a rub for you: The living faith I’m talking about is not based on opinion. It is based on the words of the Bible and constantly compared to those holy words. If it weren’t, it would be no different than any other religion; filled with opinions of Man.)


There are fanatics of every distraction, from religions about God to football 🏈 🙃, and every conceivable aspect of life in between. But the true fanatics of Jesus know what I’m talking about. Once he touches your soul personally, you never forget it. You don’t have to memorize a personal religion anymore. You’ve arrived at the place that surpasses them all.  


Sorry if this is disjointed. I didn’t intend to write a 300 page book. But to explain all this would surely take at least 300 pages. The mind can put things together in a much smaller space.  


Happy assembling.  

In God We Trust

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“In God we trust.” I know what that means. You know what that means. Our minds understand the definition. But our lives will prove something greatly less.  

In the history of Man, only Jesus could say it fully; “In God I trust”. Everyone else holds something in reserve to themselves.  


It is because of our living definition (the proof of our choices) that we find so much tragedy in this world. Every single place we reserve the right for judgment, wisdom, righteousness, and doings, we add to the chaos of this world. Everyplace we deny him the right to be our God, we frustrate his desire.    


You want a New Year’s resolution? Improve your intent to trust God. Strive to let Jesus be your master more and more this year.  


It was said that when Jesus knew his time was near he set his face like flint toward Jerusalem. As we employ that same attitude we can refine our definition of trust in the living God.  


May God grant us eyes to see and ears to hear that he may have what rightfully belongs to him.  


Amen.  

Differences All the Same

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I thought provoking question of the day.  

Are you able to explain the gospel. I mean, if someone was to ask you could you tell them what the gospel is?


This seems like a straightforward question. But add the following to it.  


A musician writes a song about the blue sky. The color and texture of his music is related to blue skies. He writes another song about mud. Agreeably the color and texture of that music will be different. He writes other songs. He writes about marriage, divorce, death, birth, roles in life, troubles galore, Freedom and joy. And every song is slightly different because of the material he deals with. If he only use the notes to “Mary had a little lamb”, the impact just wouldn’t be the same.  


So when I ask can you share the nature of the gospel of Christ, I’m talking about delivering it in a variety of ways depending on the person you’re sharing it with. Now that gets thought-provoking.  

Christmas?

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OK, it caught my interest. I went looking at the news this morning. I looked at world news. I looked at national news. I looked at local news in various places. I looked at politics. I looked at storms. Yeah I know, I was pretty bored.  

But I come away with something very interesting. I found out how to be incredibly offensive. I’ll try to describe it in very few words.  


The petty nature of human interest is astounding. And it seems to be a year long tragedy. I always expect, stupidly I will admit, that the Christmas season will heighten the people’s regard for the living God and his holy son. But it really doesn’t. Instead of pondering the beautiful things of heaven and eternity, the people focus on Christmas lights, presents, good works, good stories, and so on. Their interest is solely human.  


I’m interested in this because I realize that pointing this out is offensive to almost everybody. Really? How offended would you be if you intended to give good things to someone in need and they just turned away from you as if you didn’t exist? That’s what humanity does to God. And I see them do it all year long. Worse than that, they ignore the giver and praise their personal holiday about him!!!!!!!!!!


End of post.  


A billion thoughts about this are swarming around my head. But apparently the majority of people don’t have to worry about being swarmed by thoughts of holiness. If they did, surely the news media would pick it up.