Today was a really great day at church. The preaching was really really good. The sermon was from 1 Peter 1:10-12. It's one of those passages that's easily overlooked and read through. Honestly, I've probably read it a few times in my life but quickly read over it and didn't digest it at all. On a side note, one of the best things about the Bible is that you can draw a different lesson or point from the same passage and it be completely in harmony with it's context. I don't know too many other books like that! :-)
What Peter is talking about here is the beauty and magnificence of salvation. See, the prophets from the Old Testament studied about and talked about a time when the Messiah would suffer something terrible and then follow it up with something wonderful and eternal. They didn't really understand, it didn't make sense.
We currently live in the Age of Grace. We are in that time period between Christ's Ascension and His return. This is the period of history where this new religion (Christianity) is growing because more and more are accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior. We are not bound by the old sacrificial system where we have to sacrifice pigeons, cows, etc., to God for attonement of our sin. What does that mean? Well, it means that there must be a payment for our sin. Our Holy God cannot tolerate sin and in order for us to have any fellowship (relationship) with God then our sin must be accounted for. This is the reason Jesus Christ left Heaven to come to earth and be sacrificed for our sin.
It's really tough to get a grip on that sometimes. It is so hard to fathom leaving what He did, coming down and submitting Himself to His own creation! Get this, the Creator allowed the created to beat, scourge, and crucify Him. Why? Well, it's because He loves us. We are His children who have turned their backs on Him. We have voted Him off the island. We don't want Him to have a relationship with us. Yet He still loves us!
We are truly blessed to be living during this age of grace. We know that the Lord is coming back soon. I for one cannot wait! I'm so excited about it. I do know one thing for sure. I am so sin filled that it's not even funny. I wish I was the man I know I should be. I wish I was "slow to anger" and that my life reflected what I know the Lord expects from me. I've failed Him in so many ways that I just don't know anymore. The only thing I have is that I know He still loves me and that I am forgiven for all time for the sins that I've committed. I can't wait for the day when I shed off this sin filled flesh and put on perfection. I look forward to having the strength to persevere and to worship my Lord in truth and grace for eternity.
There are so many today who simply don't see it. I'm thankful that God chose me. I'm thankful that He saw me in eternity and wanted me to be His child. I gladly accept Him as my God and I pray for my friends who do not know Him and who sin against Him. I pray that there is enough time for someone to get through to them. Salvation is a wonderful wonderful thing! You don't want to go to hell for eternity. Jesus talked more about hell than He did heaven. That's because He knew how many would reject him. It's a real place. Don't allow your pride or comfort level to send you to hell. It's an eternal punishment that you don't want any part of.
Your brother in Christ,
Kevin
Coming Soon to a Planet Near You
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Final Thought on Tebow
I know there has been a great deal made about Tim Tebow. Of course I don't know him and probably won't (this side of Heaven anyway). But I'm very curious about him and the attention that surrounds him. I'll start by saying that I only know what I've read and what I've heard. I've listened to his press conferences and have heard the stories of how his Gator teammates did their best to protect him. To me, in this day and age, that's pretty admirable. How many 19-21 year old guys do you know who would do such a thing as worry about another guy's honor?
There are two sides to this coin. On one side is the football ability side and the other is his faith. Can't split the two because there's only one coin. You can't have one without the other. So, let's take a look at the football side. Well, he runs a great 40 yard dash and can throw a football 50 plus yards in the air. He's smart enough to understand the complex defenses he faces and he's tall enough to see over the D-Lineman in front of him. He also has the ability to evade the rush and has that 6th sense about him to know when the pocket is collapsing. Pretty good skills if you ask me. But what I want to know is can he lead and is he a winner? I think we would all agree that those are two characteristics that Tebow possesses.
How about the faith side of the coin? Look, the guy loves Jesus, pure and simple. He doesn't hide what he believes and he prays during a football game off to the side alone. He doesn't waive at the cameraman to film him, he just quietly kneels down and bows his head. Only in today's world would that seem weird or stupid. Of course I don't personally have any problem with what he does whatsoever. It's not as if the guy gives a press conference and then asks the media covering him to repent and turn to Jesus Christ. THAT WOULD TRULY BE NEWS WORTHY!!!!
I don't need to worry about his career and I don't think he worries about it either. I think Tebow has completely offered himself to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I believe Tebow is 100% ok with any other line of work out there as long as it's what Jesus wants him to do. We don't need less star athletes like him to look up to and admire, we need more. Much more!!!!
Please turn to Jesus if you haven't done so. You'll be so happy you did!!!!!
There are two sides to this coin. On one side is the football ability side and the other is his faith. Can't split the two because there's only one coin. You can't have one without the other. So, let's take a look at the football side. Well, he runs a great 40 yard dash and can throw a football 50 plus yards in the air. He's smart enough to understand the complex defenses he faces and he's tall enough to see over the D-Lineman in front of him. He also has the ability to evade the rush and has that 6th sense about him to know when the pocket is collapsing. Pretty good skills if you ask me. But what I want to know is can he lead and is he a winner? I think we would all agree that those are two characteristics that Tebow possesses.
How about the faith side of the coin? Look, the guy loves Jesus, pure and simple. He doesn't hide what he believes and he prays during a football game off to the side alone. He doesn't waive at the cameraman to film him, he just quietly kneels down and bows his head. Only in today's world would that seem weird or stupid. Of course I don't personally have any problem with what he does whatsoever. It's not as if the guy gives a press conference and then asks the media covering him to repent and turn to Jesus Christ. THAT WOULD TRULY BE NEWS WORTHY!!!!
I don't need to worry about his career and I don't think he worries about it either. I think Tebow has completely offered himself to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I believe Tebow is 100% ok with any other line of work out there as long as it's what Jesus wants him to do. We don't need less star athletes like him to look up to and admire, we need more. Much more!!!!
Please turn to Jesus if you haven't done so. You'll be so happy you did!!!!!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Ultimately, it comes down to this.
I was watching the debate last night when my wife said something that got me thinking. She said, "you know this stuff doesn't matter because none of these guys have a chance at beating Obama, espcially if he adds Clinton as his VP." Now I may agree or disagree which isn't really relevant but what she said really got me thinking about this, it is our views on certain fundamental things which guides our thoughts perspectives on everything. For example, you may believe that Mike Brown is the worst owner in professional sports and that everything he touches turns to poison. That line of thinking would preclude you from seeing how special this Bengals season was. Get my point?
Well, the same rationale is true especially when you think about where this country and world is heading. I've had to tell my parents more than once that the damage has been done. This country is so in debt that it doesn't matter who wins the next election. That person may be able to improve things short term but ultimately we've outspent ourselves to such a point that sometime real soon a major correction will have to be made, on a global scale.
I believe in the Word of God, literally. I believe it to be inspired and infallible (when taken in context). It's that fundamental view that totally shapes my views on all things political. You see, I've read the end of the Book without necessarily reading EVERYTHING in the middle (I'm working on it) so I've kinda cheated. I know that this world will not be some stable, happy, and loving place when Jesus Christ comes back for His church. Oh, if you don't think that'll happen then you really are lost. Anyway, the Bible says that the world will be anything but a happy garden. It will be a place of corruption where evil runs amuck (sp?) It will be a place where war can break out at any moment, where people will be focused on pursuing their own self interests, where natural love and affection becomes foreign. Basically, the Bible says that when traditional good becomes bad and bad becomes good then we know the end of near. Are we there yet?
If you believe that the right candidate can be elected and fix all this mess then you sorely mistaken. The place we find ourselves now didn't just happen over night. It's been an ongoing problem and sin has intricately woven itself into our society, our families, and now our churches. It has fundamentally changed our views and turned our sense of right and wrong on its head. Up is now down and down is now up. That's where we are, exactly as God said it would be. If He was right about that then are we really stupid enough to think that He won't come back, remove His church, and judge the lost? He said He would and He's been proven out to be right on everything He's ever said. He has a perfect record!
Don't be foolish and think that you can take the parts of the Bible that you're comfortable with and stop there. Read the whole Book. Know where we're heading, if the end is too harsh for ya then you probably need to get saved. Ask Jesus into your heart and your outlook gets a whole lot better.
I was talking to my buddy John yesterday. I bought him a great book for Christmas. The book's title is Heaven, it's by Randy Alcorn. I highly recommend it!!! Anyway, John and I were talking about this book when he brought up a great point. You see, Alcorn's main example in the book has to do with a woman who swam the English Channel. She started to get really really fatigued, she was surrounded by fog, she didn't think she could make it. Even though there were boats sailing alongside of her with her own mother giving her words of encouragement to keep going she just couldn't do it. Well, they pulled her out of the channel only to have her look up and through the fog she could see that she was approximately 3/4 of a mile from shore!!! She was so close. She went on to say, "that if only she could have seen the shore that she could have made it." That's the same way about Heaven. We don't know enough about it to get excited about it. It's like packing for a vacation that you don't know anything about. You don't know where you're going.
I think if more people knew about Heaven then they could get excited about it. They would be more receptive to the gospel. Sadly, I know that won't happen as I've read the end of the Book. Please take the chance you have right now to accept Christ and avoid judgment. Heaven is much better hell, don't EVER forget that!!!
God Bless You!
Well, the same rationale is true especially when you think about where this country and world is heading. I've had to tell my parents more than once that the damage has been done. This country is so in debt that it doesn't matter who wins the next election. That person may be able to improve things short term but ultimately we've outspent ourselves to such a point that sometime real soon a major correction will have to be made, on a global scale.
I believe in the Word of God, literally. I believe it to be inspired and infallible (when taken in context). It's that fundamental view that totally shapes my views on all things political. You see, I've read the end of the Book without necessarily reading EVERYTHING in the middle (I'm working on it) so I've kinda cheated. I know that this world will not be some stable, happy, and loving place when Jesus Christ comes back for His church. Oh, if you don't think that'll happen then you really are lost. Anyway, the Bible says that the world will be anything but a happy garden. It will be a place of corruption where evil runs amuck (sp?) It will be a place where war can break out at any moment, where people will be focused on pursuing their own self interests, where natural love and affection becomes foreign. Basically, the Bible says that when traditional good becomes bad and bad becomes good then we know the end of near. Are we there yet?
If you believe that the right candidate can be elected and fix all this mess then you sorely mistaken. The place we find ourselves now didn't just happen over night. It's been an ongoing problem and sin has intricately woven itself into our society, our families, and now our churches. It has fundamentally changed our views and turned our sense of right and wrong on its head. Up is now down and down is now up. That's where we are, exactly as God said it would be. If He was right about that then are we really stupid enough to think that He won't come back, remove His church, and judge the lost? He said He would and He's been proven out to be right on everything He's ever said. He has a perfect record!
Don't be foolish and think that you can take the parts of the Bible that you're comfortable with and stop there. Read the whole Book. Know where we're heading, if the end is too harsh for ya then you probably need to get saved. Ask Jesus into your heart and your outlook gets a whole lot better.
I was talking to my buddy John yesterday. I bought him a great book for Christmas. The book's title is Heaven, it's by Randy Alcorn. I highly recommend it!!! Anyway, John and I were talking about this book when he brought up a great point. You see, Alcorn's main example in the book has to do with a woman who swam the English Channel. She started to get really really fatigued, she was surrounded by fog, she didn't think she could make it. Even though there were boats sailing alongside of her with her own mother giving her words of encouragement to keep going she just couldn't do it. Well, they pulled her out of the channel only to have her look up and through the fog she could see that she was approximately 3/4 of a mile from shore!!! She was so close. She went on to say, "that if only she could have seen the shore that she could have made it." That's the same way about Heaven. We don't know enough about it to get excited about it. It's like packing for a vacation that you don't know anything about. You don't know where you're going.
I think if more people knew about Heaven then they could get excited about it. They would be more receptive to the gospel. Sadly, I know that won't happen as I've read the end of the Book. Please take the chance you have right now to accept Christ and avoid judgment. Heaven is much better hell, don't EVER forget that!!!
God Bless You!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
New Commitment
It's really hard to maintain the level of intensity for this subject that I feel is required to carry on a "ministry" like this. It's not that I love the subject matter less it's just that it's been difficult to process everything that's happening in the world and then try to share my thoughts and feelings about it. My fear is twofold, I don't want to sound like a broken record and I don't want to say something wrong Biblically speaking. I guess I always need to be clear about what is MY opinion and what God has to say on the topic.
It's kinda funny how a town in Arkansas has seen approximately 5000 black birds fall from the sky last night. Does this sound familiar? It should because I wrote on this very same phenomena last year when the same thing happened.
I can't explain why this has happened or how this fits into prophecy. What I can do though, is to comment on the symptom. That's basically all we do, right? We comment on the event and then examine it's relevance to the Word of God. This is simply another birth pang that Jesus spoke about in His sermon on the mount in Matthew 24. The Bible says that creation groans because of Adam's sin. Does this event fall under that category? Yes, of course it does. There are so many things happening in the world right now. They're happening with such frequency that it becomes extremely difficult to catalog and keep track. In a way it reminds me of golf. Huh? Well, my dad and I were just talking about it the other day. If you've ever played golf then you'll understand the analogy. In order to hit a golf ball perfectly you have to remember to do approximately 35 things at once. What we're seeing today is pretty similar. There are so many events happening (global economic issues, natural disasters, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, diseases, famines, etc).
Did you know that 2011 was one of the worst years on record with natural distasters? It's true. Well, you may be wandering what makes it so special if it's not the worst year ever on record? The answer is simple, what makes it worse is when you ALSO consider the other birth pangs (i.e. wars and rumors of wars, societal breakdowns, global economic crisis, Israel). So many people really don't understand how significant Israel really is to prophecy.
Do you know that until 1948 the Jewish people were dispersed around the world? AD 70 the Roman army sacked Jerusalem and removed the Jewish people their home. Until that time Israel had been the Jewish peoples' homeland for well over 1000 years. God had warned the Jews that if they turned away from Him (which of course they did) that He would judge them. God is ALWAYS true to His word. But, He also said that in the last days He would return them to their homeland which He did in 1948. From AD70 to 1948 the land of Israel was mostly under Turkish control. It was essentially a wasteland, a dump. That is, until, Muhammed started his religion and it spread across the Middle East. They claimed Jerusalem, built their mosque, and there you have it until 1948.
Following WWII the Jewish people crawled out of the concentration camps and work camps and decided to go home. Instictively, collectively, they started their way back to their home, Israel, from all parts of the earth. On May 14, 1948 the US officially recognized the Jewish State of Israel. This was the first time in almost 2000 years that the Jews had a land of their own. This started the end. Catch the significance? See how important it is? Well, our Lord had something very important to say about this. He said, that the generation which saw that happen will not all sleep before the end. What does that mean? Well, it means that the generation that saw the rebirth of Israel won't all die before the Lord comes back to set up His Kingdom. A person born on that day would be approaching their 65th birthday. Now, add a 7 year buffer to that (I'll explain in a later post) and really puts that person's real age at 72.
If you're reading this and you don't know Jesus as your Savior I pray that you'll seek Him out. I'm going to set a modest goal of one post per week on this blog. I must stay vigilant as time is truly running out. I know I must sound like the boy who cried wolf but you must listen. Prepare yourself. Study God's Word. Find a Bible believing, Bible preaching church. Do not be afraid or confused because God is not of those things.
Talk to ya next week (hopefully)
kevin
It's kinda funny how a town in Arkansas has seen approximately 5000 black birds fall from the sky last night. Does this sound familiar? It should because I wrote on this very same phenomena last year when the same thing happened.
I can't explain why this has happened or how this fits into prophecy. What I can do though, is to comment on the symptom. That's basically all we do, right? We comment on the event and then examine it's relevance to the Word of God. This is simply another birth pang that Jesus spoke about in His sermon on the mount in Matthew 24. The Bible says that creation groans because of Adam's sin. Does this event fall under that category? Yes, of course it does. There are so many things happening in the world right now. They're happening with such frequency that it becomes extremely difficult to catalog and keep track. In a way it reminds me of golf. Huh? Well, my dad and I were just talking about it the other day. If you've ever played golf then you'll understand the analogy. In order to hit a golf ball perfectly you have to remember to do approximately 35 things at once. What we're seeing today is pretty similar. There are so many events happening (global economic issues, natural disasters, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, diseases, famines, etc).
Did you know that 2011 was one of the worst years on record with natural distasters? It's true. Well, you may be wandering what makes it so special if it's not the worst year ever on record? The answer is simple, what makes it worse is when you ALSO consider the other birth pangs (i.e. wars and rumors of wars, societal breakdowns, global economic crisis, Israel). So many people really don't understand how significant Israel really is to prophecy.
Do you know that until 1948 the Jewish people were dispersed around the world? AD 70 the Roman army sacked Jerusalem and removed the Jewish people their home. Until that time Israel had been the Jewish peoples' homeland for well over 1000 years. God had warned the Jews that if they turned away from Him (which of course they did) that He would judge them. God is ALWAYS true to His word. But, He also said that in the last days He would return them to their homeland which He did in 1948. From AD70 to 1948 the land of Israel was mostly under Turkish control. It was essentially a wasteland, a dump. That is, until, Muhammed started his religion and it spread across the Middle East. They claimed Jerusalem, built their mosque, and there you have it until 1948.
Following WWII the Jewish people crawled out of the concentration camps and work camps and decided to go home. Instictively, collectively, they started their way back to their home, Israel, from all parts of the earth. On May 14, 1948 the US officially recognized the Jewish State of Israel. This was the first time in almost 2000 years that the Jews had a land of their own. This started the end. Catch the significance? See how important it is? Well, our Lord had something very important to say about this. He said, that the generation which saw that happen will not all sleep before the end. What does that mean? Well, it means that the generation that saw the rebirth of Israel won't all die before the Lord comes back to set up His Kingdom. A person born on that day would be approaching their 65th birthday. Now, add a 7 year buffer to that (I'll explain in a later post) and really puts that person's real age at 72.
If you're reading this and you don't know Jesus as your Savior I pray that you'll seek Him out. I'm going to set a modest goal of one post per week on this blog. I must stay vigilant as time is truly running out. I know I must sound like the boy who cried wolf but you must listen. Prepare yourself. Study God's Word. Find a Bible believing, Bible preaching church. Do not be afraid or confused because God is not of those things.
Talk to ya next week (hopefully)
kevin
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