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What Will Jesus Do For Me If I Have Faith In Him? (Part Four)

Posted by Bobby Bruno on February 7, 2011 at 14:59

Let's continue looking at forgiveness…

Seek the Lord and He will be merciful

Isaiah 55:6-7 says: "Turn to the Lord! He can still be found. Call out to God! He’s near. (7)Give up your crooked ways and your evil thoughts. Return to the Lord our God. He will be merciful and forgive your sins" (Contemporary English Version -- The Promise).

Always remember that God will forgive you of every sin you have ever committed, will ever commit, and haven't yet committed. God knows everything about your life past, present, and future. He is faithful to forgive you. There is nothing you can do to upset God's plans and purposes for your life. To God you are a "Somebody." There are no "nobodies" in God's Kingdom. You were created by God for a special purpose. Finding that purpose begins with confessing your sins to God through Jesus Christ.
As the verse says, the Lord can still be found. A lot of people think that God isn't concerned with us or the world we live in. They believe that once God wound up the universe, He left it to its own devices and ours as well. Many believe that God doesn't care about us anymore. "Why do you think the world is in such bad shape", they say. "If God really cared, He would do something about it." It's amazing: that's the same thing people said during Jesus' ministry on earth. They were looking for a military leader to overtake Rome, who was making life unbearable for the people of Jesus' day. They wanted Him to overthrow the rulers of Rome and to establish peace and right to the earth. They wanted a bold king to rule them without the constrictions that the Romans were putting upon them. What they got was a savior who was more concerned about their spiritual condition more than their physical condition. Sure, Jesus did many physical miracles to show the people just who God is: He fed many, He healed many, even raised a few from the dead. But Jesus cared more about their souls than He did their bodies. Yes, He cares about our physical being, but if our souls don't belong to Him, then our physical bodies won't matter if they will not be in Heaven with Him.
When you think about it, Jesus is in fact also a military leader who will lead an army of saints (those of us who put our faith in Jesus) to overthrow Satan at the appointed time (Revelation 20:10: "And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever" New International Version). But we must put our faith in Him before He cannot be found. There will come a time in the future when God will remove His Holy Spirit from this earth and salvation will no longer be possible for those who have waited too long to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Won't you call out to God right this very minute and secure your place in Heaven with Him for all of eternity, while He can still be found?

What is the first thing that Jesus will do for me after I accept Him into my life?

I will be cleansed and forgiven

In Jeremiah 33:8 we read: "I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. (New International Version)

Again, the Scripture is talking about the Israelites returning to God yet again. When you read the Old Testament, you will find that God called out to his people through the prophets many, many times to return to Him so He could heal them and forgive them. In all of these times God was showing them, and us, that He will not give up on us, that He will keep pursuing us until we have made a definite decision to either accept Jesus or reject Jesus. Until you make a definite decision, God will keep on calling to you because He does not want you to miss out on His love. Satan has no love for you. All he wants to do is destroy you (1 Peter 5:8B: "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (New International Version)) so that God can't get you into His kingdom. As I have said in an earlier post, Satan hates God and anyone who sides with him. For those who walk around this earth saying "God is dead" Satan has already destroyed them spiritually. If Satan can keep you from accepting God's Son as your Savior then he has won a great victory. Satan wants you to keep on sinning, because the more you sin, he believes, the more guilt and condemnation you will feel about them and would never go to God because God could never accept a sinner like you. Please do not believe that for a second. Go to God no matter how you feel. Don't trust your feelings because they will lie to you. God will forgive you.

Here is an example of how much God loves you and will forgive you:

God’s Abundant Forgiveness
Place some sand into a bucket to represent all of humanity since the beginning of time until now. Now think about all the sand left on every beach in the world. This represents God’s love for us. If you don’t think that God will forgive you, or that there is not enough forgiveness from God for everyone, just think about how many grains of sand there are in that bucket and compare it to the amount of sand left on God’s beaches. For every grain of sand in that bucket there are trillions of grains of forgiveness from God for each person who has or will ever live, past, present, and future. Seen in this light, we realize that God’s love for us will never diminish, never run low, and never run out. We as humans can never sin enough to take away every grain of sand on God’s beaches. There are enough grains of sand to cover the sins of all of God’s children forever.

Never say to yourself that God would never forgive someone as bad as you. There is nothing "bad" enough you go ever do to get God to stop loving you, no matter what Satan says. Satan is a liar. Please remember that. If you don't like yourself, if you don't care about your life, if you just want to give it all up and die because the world will get along just fine without you, if you believe that no one cares about you or loves you, or any one of a million thoughts like these, then you must realize that you are being lied to by the master deceiver himself, Satan.
If you read my post "My Life in Christ" you will see how I once believed all of these lies about myself. But if it wasn't for Jesus pursuing me until I realized that I needed Him, then you wouldn't be reading this post from someone who has been where you are at today. God loves you, and I love you, and there is nothing that will ever change that. Believe it with all your heart.
Please, today, answer the call. God is waiting to hear your voice saying His name. Tell Jesus that you want Him in your life and that you need Him. Surrender all that you are to Him and I guarantee that He will make good on His promise to forgive you, cleanse you, love you, and change you into someone who you can be proud of. His love is everlasting, it will never die. If your heart is being tugged and your mind has turned toward Jesus, please respond to His voice. You will know it is His voice because you will feel peaceful perhaps for the first time in your life. Jesus said in Revelation 3:20: “Look! Here I stand at the door and knock. If you hear me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends." (New Living Translation) Jesus is knocking. Answer the call won't you?

What Will Jesus Do For Me If I Have Faith In Him? (Part Three)

Posted by Bobby Bruno on February 7, 2011 at 14:58

In Forgiveness:

Even the prophets knew that Jesus would forgive me if I believe in Him

Hundreds of years before Jesus was even born, prophets (through the Holy Spirit) foretold not only of Jesus’ birth, but also of His miracles, His death and resurrection, and even how He would conduct His Kingdom. Today, I want to focus on forgiveness.
In Acts 10:43 we read, “All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. (New International Version)”
As Israel went through its times of rebellion against God, God would send a prophet to speak for Him, to tell the people that God would lovingly take them back if they would just give up their idols and sinful ways. Unfortunately, they didn’t always listen, so along with a message of hope, God would tell them what would happen if they didn’t listen to him and return to His ways. The prophets would speak of wars and captivity that the Israelites would have to face if they kept on doing things their way, and God was true to His word. You see, God’s word is always true, and whatever He says will come to pass. But you also need to see that God always has our good in mind, as we talked about last time, even if we don’t think so.
The Israelites, as we would say today, talked out of both sides of their mouths. On one hand, they would complain to God that He wasn’t doing enough to get them out of their situation, that He was being too tough on them. With the other hand, they would cry out to God for deliverance from their troubles. Through His prophets, God always told the people what they would have to do if they wanted Him to save them. His solution was always the same: 2 Chronicles 7:14, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Also in Ezekiel 36:25-32, God says, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you. 30I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine. 31Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices. 32I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign LORD. Be ashamed and disgraced for your conduct, O house of Israel!
Yes, no matter how deep their rebellion against God was He would always forgive them their sins and return them back to a state of righteousness and would heal their land. And God says the same thing to us today. If this country would stop doing the evil things it does, and if we will all cry out to God to save our country, our youth, our way of life, and truly mean it, then He will heal our land and make this country great once again.
Even then, God let His people know that one day, He was going to send a Savior to free us from our sins and from ourselves. About 500 years before the birth of Jesus, God told the prophet Isaiah to tell the people about this future Savior, in Isaiah 9:6-7, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this (New International Version).” We hear verse six every Christmas at church. But did you notice who it is who will accomplish this for us? The verse says the ZEAL of the Lord will accomplish this. His Zeal. That means with everything that is within Him, He will forgive and free us if we just believe that He can and will do so. Remember: Faith is believing. If you truly believe that God will do for you what He said He would do, then your faith will be strong and nothing in this world can shake you from that belief.
God has said that if you come to Him and ask Him to forgive you of all your sins, you just have to believe that it’s true. If you don’t believe it fully, then it will not happen. God does not like double-minded people, because they will never be able to make up their minds, and will always doubt whether what they see and hear is true or real. That’s why God doesn’t just save everybody. He wants you to want him. He will not force Himself on you. What kind of relationship does a marriage have in it when two people are forced to marry each other? It would be a marriage without love, just obligation. You see God doesn’t what you to feel obliged to come to Him because He knows that obligations don’t always sit well with us humans. Tell the truth now: How many soccer moms, after the first couple of weeks, really want to take their kids to the field for a game? Or at your job? Or even at church. Obligations are not always fun and do not give us the satisfaction that say a hobby does, since that is something you do because you want to. It is the same with God. If you come to Him freely, because you want to, I can tell you from my own experience, you will have a more satisfying relationship with Him because you are both mutually joined together forever.
Now, let’s take note of that one all-inclusive word that is found in the middle of the verse from Acts. The word is “everyone”. In the Greek, the word means everyone, every way, continually, forever, perfectly, all men, all people, just to name a few (from the New American Standard Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries © 1981, 1999 The Lockman Foundation). Pretty straightforward, isn’t it? God forgives everyone who asks Him to. God will forgive your every sin in every way, no matter what it is or will be. God will continually forgive you of any new sins when you ask Him to forgive you of it. God will forever forgive you, because, when you gave your life to Jesus, you are forgiven for all sins for all time. God forgives perfectly, all the way, not just a part of your sin, but all of your sins. God’s forgiveness is for all men, women, and children. God’s forgiveness is for every human being living on the face of this planet we call Earth.
I call that Good News. Please hear it. Please embrace it. Please make it your own. If God is tugging at your heart at this very minute, then He has just given you all the faith you will ever need to believe in his Son, Jesus. God is telling you that He wants you to join with Him for eternity. Remember: God always gets what He wants, and right now, you’re it. Embrace Jesus. Embrace God. You’re life will never be the same.

What Will Jesus Do For Me If I Have Faith In Him? (PartTwo)

Posted by Bobby Bruno on February 6, 2011 at 14:15

Hello Everybody!!! I pray everyone had a great Christmas and that you took the time to thank Jesus for leaving His throne in Heaven to come here as a human to do what no one else could ever do for us but Him. His birth and life led to the death of our sins and the salvation of our souls. Thank you Jesus for your great love that wouldn't let you have it any other way. You are the greatest!!!

     Let us continue to look at what Jesus will do for us if we have Faith in Him.

My Faith During Prayer Can Heal The Sick

     James 5:15 says: "And their prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make them well. And anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven."
     This Scripture pertains to the elders of the church praying over someone after anointing the sick person's head with oil. The Bible is clear that the elders of the church are the ones to be involved in all healings where needed. But that doesn't mean that we can't pray for the healing of the spiritual and physical problems that people we know are going through.
     Those who don't get healed point to this Scripture and say that Jesus must not be the Son of God since they weren't healed when prayed over. Some would attack the church and its leaders and say that they don't believe enough, or have enough faith to heal anybody. And some people may even believe that it is the elders themselves who affect the healing and that maybe his faith isn't deep enough since the healing didn't occur.
     Here is the biggest problem with the belief that some people have when it comes to this Scripture's message: They believe that everyone who is prayed over for healing should be healed. Yes, the Scripture does say that the prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make them well.  But it is that last phrase where people tend to forget who actually does the healing. What they don't like to hear is, if Jesus is in control of all healings in this world, and if He is in fact God, then why isn't everybody who asks for healing in fact healed? Why does God chose to heal some and not others?
     Before we were born, God chose a plan and a purpose for each one of our lives. That plan includes all the good things and all the bad things that would happen to us during our time here on earth. This does not mean that everything we do, say, or happens to us is by His design. Remember, God did give us the free will to affect our own lives with the decisions we make on our own. Yes, He knows every decision we are going to make long before we make them, but it doesn't mean that He will stop us from making them. That is why it is called free will: We have the freedom to do whatever we want with our lives, good or bad. But no matter what decisions we make, God will work them into the plan and purpose He has for our life. He wishes that we would make good decisions that would affect our lives in positive ways for Him, but He knew what He created in us when He made us in our mother's wombs. Look at Adam and Eve -- at the time of one of the most important decisions they had to make about eating the fruit, they made the wrong one, pushing man into the sinful state that we find ourselves now. But, we all know that this has not stopped God from executing his plans for mankind.
     This is where the second half of the Scripture comes into play. Some illnesses are caused by bad decisions: AIDS, alcohol-related illnesses, drug abuse, and smoking just to name a few. AIDS is caused by unprotected sex that, if sex was kept inside of marriage, where both partners were free of the HIV virus, no one would ever get the disease. If people could find other ways to fill their loneliness, like asking Jesus into their lives, other than excessive drinking and drug use, their bodies wouldn't break down to the point of a bad liver or death. And we all know the dangers of smoking, yet two-thirds of the population of this country smoke at least one to two packs of cigarettes a day, not caring what it is doing to their lungs. The Bible says that nothing should be done to excess. This is why: Too many people die each day because of the wrong decisions they have made about their health. These excesses are sin against our own bodies, and, sometimes, they are a sin against God also. But God, being who He is, will forgive you of those sins, and, if it is within His plan for your life at that moment, and will heal you of the sickness your sin has caused you.
     Some people, especially those who don't know or do not have a relationship with God, do not realize that God not only heals people spiritually, but that He heals them medically as well. There is a reason that we call Jesus the Great Physician. God invented medicine. It is God that gives scientists, researchers, and doctors the revelation of how to make new medicines and vaccines. For those who say that God doesn't do miraculous healings anymore need to talk to those healed of cancer (like me), who's Bipolar Syndrome is stabilized by medications like Lithium (like me), and whose hearing has been restored in a deaf ear (like my wife's). God is healing today in ways we cannot imagine.
     But why does God heal some and not others? Sometimes God uses an illness to bring us closer to Him. You see, sometimes the only way for God to remove pride from our lives is by an illness or medical condition. Even the Apostle Paul asked God to take away a medical condition that he had, but God would not so that Paul could stay humble as he went about the countryside bringing the Gospel to those who wanted to hear it. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10: "Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, "My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness." Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become." The Message) Now, if God chose to let the great Apostle Paul suffer to keep his pride out of the way so he could focus more on God, don't you think that He will do the same for us. Yes, I said "FOR US." Remember, everything God does for us and to us is for our own good and for the purpose of His plans for our life. Repeat that to yourself until the words penetrate your body, soul, heart, and mind. EVERYTHING GOD DOES TO US AND FOR US IS FOR OUR OWN GOOD! God doesn't need or want to hurt us -- we do that pretty well ourselves.
     Like Paul, God will use an illness to make us realize that we can't live independently without Him, using the illness to make us more dependent on Him, because God knows that we can't live our lives properly without Him. That is where faith comes into play. We just have to have the faith that God knows exactly what He is doing with our lives. Then we have to let Him do whatever He needs to do to execute the plan for our lives that He has to do. The decisions that we have to make in our lives should be His decisions. We find those decisions in the Bible and in the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Everything we need to live our lives is found in the pages of the Holy Bible--the living, breathing, Word of God. Just read the Book of Proverbs and you will be reading the greatest wisdom ever known to man (next to Jesus, that is) given to us by God Himself.
     God's plan was once told to me by this example: Have you ever looked at the backside of a piece of needlepoint? All you see are loose ends, some knots, and chaos. But, if you turn it over and look at the other side, you see a beautiful canvas of orderly colors and shapes. In this life, all we ever see are the loose ends, knots, and chaos. Everything we try to do to order our lives without Jesus turns out wrong. We do not have the wisdom of how to run our lives in such a way that we are a blessing to others. We're too busy taking care of ourselves to even think about taking care of others. But God, who loves us all, is working in all of our lives to order them in such a way that we do become a blessing to others. God sees the human race in an ordered way. He sees what we can become, the same as a piece of fabric blesses a seamstress as she turns it into something orderly, useful, and full of beauty. That is what God is doing with our lives. We see the world as through a glass darkly. He sees the whole picture even though He is not done painting it yet.
      Our faith in Him will indeed heal us, even if it takes until we get to Heaven. God will give you the faith to trust Him with your entire life, for good or bad, if you'll just let him.

What Will Jesus Do For Me If I Have Faith In Him? (Part One)

Posted by Bobby Bruno on February 6, 2011 at 14:13

For the next few posts, I will be talking about what having faith means for us in different areas of our lives. What will God do for me if I believe in His Son, Jesus?
   As we all know people are always looking for the benefits of following someone or something, be it celebrities or athletes. One of the most used lines we humans tend to think or say when entering a relationship is usually "What do I get out of this relationship?", "What do I get out of this job?", or even "What's in it for me?". We always want something back. Why is it that we always feel that, when we give, there must be some kind of return on our investment. How many people have done something for someone only to get mad or even if that same person doesn't return the favor at some point in time? How many promises have we broken because we refused to keep it when the person we promised refused us in our time of "need?" I could go on forever with these kinds of questions. I'm sure you have some of your own situations that were like these described above.
     But God is not like that. He will never take back His promise to you. It might seem that way to you when God doesn't answer your prayers the way you thought they should have been answered, but God doesn't work on our timetable. Again, faith is the assurance that things we do not yet see will come true. But in God's timing, not ours.
     Today I want to start at the beginning. What is the first thing that most people do, or should do, when a problem arises that they can't seem to get out of? Pray. God will only answer if you ask. Yes, God already knows what you will be praying for, but will wait until you ask for it. As Jesus said, "You have not, because you ask not."

If I Have Faith And Believe, Then My Prayers Will Be Answered By God

     Matthew 21:21a-22: "I assure you, if you have faith and don't doubt, you can do things like this (anything Jesus has done) and much more. (22)If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
     1 John 5:14-15: "And we can be confident that He will listen to us whenever we ask Him for anything in line with His will. (15)And if we know He is listening when we make our requests, we can be sure that He will give us what we ask for. (Both scripture from the New Living Translation)
     Jesus told this to His disciples just before He sent them out on a trial mission of their own so they could put into practice everything He had taught them up to that point. They wanted to know how they could possibly do the things that He was doing since He was the Son of God, and everything He was doing was from God. By faith they had to trust Him that what He said would be done for them would be done for them. But they had to really believe in their hearts that they could do these things through the Holy Spirit whom God would give them.
Believing is the key to everything Christian. We must believe that God is who He says He is and that He will do everything He promised He would do concerning our salvation and our lives. If we have any doubt at all we short-circuit anything and everything that God has for us as His children, causing us to not grow and mature as believers. For instance, if you doubt that God has forgiven your sins, then you will continue to live your life as a slave to those sins and their consequences. You will remain miserable, fearful, and anxious. You will never get past your past and into the glorious future that God has planned and promised for you. But, if you believe in your heart that God has truly forgiven all of your sins forever, then you will live a joyful life knowing that your past is in the past, and that it can't hurt you anymore.
     In my life, I was sexually abused as a child. Before I asked Jesus to come into my life, I was an angry, miserable person, full of hatred for others and myself. I had a split personality and was always fearful of being abused again, even when I was in my forties. I looked like a grown man on the outside, but, on the inside, I was still a child who didn't know how to cope with life as an adult. My first marriage ended because I couldn't cope with dealing with the grown-up world while still having the mind of a scared child. But, after I gave my life to Jesus, things began to change, maybe not rapidly, but changes were occurring in many areas of my life that needed to be changes if I wanted to live a life free from the damage of the abuse. In my heart I had to believe that Jesus would change my life for the better. If I had doubted Jesus anywhere in the process of His healing me, I would not be here writing this sentence for you to read and to understand just how important faith in Jesus is to a life of freedom and courage.
     As far as believing that all of your prayers will be answered, let me say that God does indeed answer all of your prayers. But let me caution you that He does not always answer them the way you want them answered. God has three answers to your prayers: Yes, No, Maybe. God will answer your prayers if He knows that the answer would be in His best interest, and yours too. God has to know for sure that you are going to use the answer to further His Kingdom here on earth and to help others. For instance: a million dollars. If you pray for a million dollars, and God says "Yes", then He sees that your heart is in the right place spiritually, and that you would use the money to help others, and not to help make yourself richer. Or He may say "No" because He knows that your heart is selfish and that you would give a dime to no one and would squander it on possessions, trips, and other materialistic things, which is why a lot of millionaire lottery winners are broke in a few years after winning. But what if God said "Maybe?" Maybe He sees that your heart is leaning towards helping others, but it still has a little selfish spot that God knows would take control of the money if He gave it to you now. When your heart has truly opened towards others more, then He'll give it to you then.
     What it all comes down to is God wants to answer all of your prayers with a "Yes", but only if they are in line with His will for your life, and His will to grow the Kingdom of God in this universe. For example: Would you give a five-year-old a gun for Christmas if they asked for one. No you wouldn't because you know that they could injure or kill themselves or others with it, and because you know that they are not mature enough to handle the responsibility that comes with it. That is why God does not always say "Yes", because He knows that most of the things we ask Him for will harm us in some way. His "Yes" only comes when He knows that are hearts have changed and we are mature enough in Him to do the right thing with what He has given us. Again, you would not give your child a gun, but you might give a thirty-year-old a gun if you believed that he was nature enough to handle that much power.
     The problem with most peoples is that they get mad at God when He doesn't answer their prayers either the way they want them answered, or not at all. But we all must have faith that God knows what is best for us, and we must live our lives according to that belief. If we do, we will live joyously knowing that our God loves us and cares for our well-being more than we do ourselves.

     Next post we will talk about having faith when it comes to prayers of healing. See you then. Thanks for reading.

How Can I Be Saved By Jesus Christ's Death And Resurrection?

Posted by Bobby Bruno on February 6, 2011 at 14:11

By Confessing My Sins To God

By Accepting Jesus Christ As The Lord Of My Life And Giving Him Control Over It

     As I have said previously: this is the easy part. Remember, Jesus did the hard part by dying for us. The part He left us to do can be done right where you are now, physically, spiritually, mentally. How easy is our part in gaining salvation from Jesus? Read Romans 10:9-13: "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe it in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. (10)For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. (1)As the Scripture says, 'Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.(Isaiah 28:16)" (12)For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile -- the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, (13)for 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'"
     It's amazing how easily we can tell others about their mistakes, something we can do quite loudly at times. Like when we are driving in the morning. Someone cuts you off and you start shouting and screaming at them, as if the driver can hear you, when all he is concerned about is getting to work on time. Or when your spouse doesn't do something you asked them to. Do you gently remind him that you had asked him earlier that it be done? Or do you remind her of all of her faults you've noticed since the day you both met? Yes, it's pretty amazing how we can point out everybody else's faults. But how tight-lipped do we become about confessing our own faults? How defensive go we get when we don't want to hear how bad we are, or how many mistakes we've made in the past? How do you respond to your spouse when she tells you about something she's seen in you that needs to be changed? Do you take the request seriously, or do you lash out in anger and tell her that she's not perfect either?
     Now what if that person was Jesus Christ? What if He told you about all of the mistakes and failures He knows you've had in your life? Would you make the changes then, or would you tell Jesus to let you live your life they way you want to? What if Jesus told you that living your life your own way would bring you nothing but misery and heartache, pain and sorrow, and could mean the difference between life or death, both spiritually and physically? What if Jesus told you that He had a better way for you to live? Would you listen or still insist that your way is better? Well, for starters, Jesus isn't going to tell you to your face all the mistakes and failures you've had or made. But He will tell you that life without Him would be the biggest mistake you could ever make. As I've stated earlier, Jesus loves you very much, and died and was resurrected from the grave so you wouldn't have to live with the stain of all your failures and mistakes. Jesus is the only one who will not forsake you because of your past, or let you suffer any longer because of it. If you want to make the changes in your life that you, and others, see need to be made, then Jesus is the only one through the Holy Spirit who can do it perfectly. But first you have to humble yourself and tell Jesus that your life and future belong to Him, if you want to be free from the guilt and shame from your past. This is called confession.
     You've heard it said before that confession is good for the soul. A more truer statement could not be made than that, for confession is for the purpose of freeing your soul, to be what God intended it to be. Your soul is eternal, so it makes a big difference where it ends up at the end of your life. Everyone who's ever lived on this planet knows that there are only two destinations to choose from (yes it is a choice you will have to make) -- Heaven or Hell. Both are very real and so very different. In Heaven, there is peace and beauty that can never be imagined here on Earth. In Hell, there is pain and misery that will never stop for all of eternity. Let me repeat that again -- for all of eternity; never-ending, never-ceasing, forever. When you die you will experience one of these destinations. Let me convince you throughout the remainder of this blog that Hell is not where you want to choose to go. Getting into Heaven is as easy as opening your mouth and, from your heart, saying a few simple words. God has made it very, very easy for you to be with Him and Jesus in Heaven, where joy unspeakable resides.
     As the Scripture above says, all you have to do is believe in your heart and soul that Jesus is Lord of and over everything. You must believe that He was raised from the dead. That's it! Easy, isn't it! And that's the way God wants it to be. He doesn't want anyone to perish. He wants as many people in Heaven with Him as possible. But He won't force anyone. He leaves the decision entirely up to you. He loves you very much, which is why He won't force you to accept His Son. Would you do anything you were forced to do? Would you be loving your children if you forced them to do the things you yourself would never do? Would you force your children to be with someone you didn't trust? Neither will God. But He does want Heaven to be the most crowded place in the universe. He invites you to join Him. You have God's promise that anyone who calls on the name, Jesus, will saved, and will join Him in Heaven the very second that you leave this planet we call Earth.

Did Jesus Know Why He Was Sent Here?

He Came To Save Me From The Darkness Of Sin And Evil

     Jesus came into the world as a light to guide us to God the Father. From the beginning of time, God knew that He would need to send Jesus to us to save us from our sins and ourselves. (We all have sinful natures. That makes us all victims to its power and influence, which makes us all the same. When seen in this light, we realize that, though we may all look different, speak different languages, wear different clothes, live in different cultures, whether we are rich or poor, man or woman, black or white, our sinful natures make us all equal in the eyes of God. When we ask Him too, He easily forgives us all, because to Him, our sinful natures are all the same. By this, God's Grace is equally available to all who seek Him, no matter what we have said or done in the past and in the present. Glory to God for His great love towards us, His creations, His children.) God knew that Adam and Eve would fail to listen to His command about not eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thereby issuing sin into the human race, corrupting the holiness that He had initially created in the garden of Eden.
     When the time was right, God sent Jesus to earth in an attempt to bring us back to Him, to be made holy and righteous once more. I say attempt because, no matter how hard He tries to woo us into His arms, we ultimately have to make the decision to accept His free offer of salvation. God will not force Himself on any one who does not want Him in their lives. Sin has plunged us into a darkness we cannot get out by ourselves. But, thanks to His love and mercy, God sent a beacon of light into our world. Jesus came to show us just who God is, and who He always was and always will be.
     Jesus' ministry was to tell people about the love of God, using words (truth) and miracles. In our world we have a phrase that says, "I have seen the light!" But, until you have seen and accepted Jesus into your heart and life, you have literally never seen the light, because the light of this world is truly darkness. If we look deep inside ourselves we would most likely see nothing but misery and pain and, yes, evil. Maybe you've tried everything from sex, drugs, or alcohol to escape the darkness you've seen inside your soul, but they never seem to really take the pain away. The world's answers are really no answers at all. If the world could solve all of its problems, don't you think we would all now be living happy, stress-free lives right this very minute? But, because of the darkness and rule of Satan in this world, it will never, ever, ever happen. Only Jesus can wipe out the darkness in your soul and give you the addiction-free, stress-free life that you've always wanted. Jesus will shine His light inside your soul faster than the light that fills a room just after you hit the light switch. Give Jesus a chance to prove Himself to you. He doesn't mind showing you. Ask Him to bring you into the light of His salvation. Let Him save you from the darkness within you, and then through you, to the world. What do you have to lose other than misery and pain?

Do Small Groups Divide the Church?

Posted by Michael Mack on February 5, 2011 at 21:42

Back in December I blogged that healthy small groups are friends. (See post here.) I'm not sure why, but this has recently become the most popular post on this blog. It was picked up recently by ChurchLeaders.com (here), and Debra commented,

Small groups often divide the church into cliques. The group forms, bonds, and no new people stand a chance of joining them. The more groups there are, the more segregated the church. New people see this right away, feel like an outsider, which they are, and don't go back.

Debra may be right IF a church's small groups have not been taught how to develop groups in healthy ways. I am working on Chapter 5 of my upcoming book 7 Vital Signs of a Healthy Small Group (available from TOUCH this Spring). This chapter is about healthy authentic community. A healthy community is never a closed clique. The marks of healthy community are that is open, inviting, welcoming, outward-focused, missional. Healthy community fulfills all of the Great Commandment by loving God, one another, and our neighbors as ourselves. See my blog, "Healthy Small Groups Are Friends with Non-Christ-followers."

The Best Small Group Leader Ever called his group "friends" (see John 15:12-17). Jesus led a small group and modeled for them how to live in healthy community. He said about himself, "I'm here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders" (Matthew 9:13, The Message). That's what healthy small groups are here for, too!

A description of a healthy community is in Acts 2:42-47. The first five verses describe how these people were committed to Jesus and one another. The last verse shows the result. Their community life had the effect of "enjoying the favor of all the people," and because of this, "the Lord added to their number daily those those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47).

I love the way Richard Peace put this in his classic book, Small Group Evangelism:

In a successful [healthy] small group, love, acceptance and fellowship flow in unusual measure. This is the ideal situation in which to hear about the kingdom of God. In this context the "facts of the gospel" come through not as cold propositions but as living truths visible in the lives of others. In such an atmosphere a person is irresistibly drawn to Christ by his gracious presence.*

Debra described unhealthy small groups as what we might call "holy huddles." The problem is not in the huddle itself, however. Every successful team needs a safe place to huddle to put our arms around one another, catch a short breather, and encourage one another before running the next play to accomplish the team's mission. It breaks my heart to hear that these holy huddles are segregating Debra's church instead of enjoying the favor of all the people. I pray they will become healthy, Christ-centered communities that stop coddling insiders and truly invite outsiders.

Are your small groups closed cliques or healthy, Christ-centered missional communities?

What are you doing to break the holy huddles?

See original blog post at Small Group Leadership.

* Richard Peace, Small Group Evangelism: A Training Program for Reaching Out with the Gospel (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 67, 68.

What Does This Mean For Me As A Sinner?

Posted by Bobby Bruno on February 5, 2011 at 11:54

Jesus Died To Save Me From Eternal Death

     Here is a great scripture full of hope, truth, joy, peace, everything we all want out of life. This scripture contains the words that should make us want to shout in praise to the One who came to us to die. This scripture should awaken the hearts of every man, woman, and child who hears it. These words are the very words of freedom and glory. They are from the pen of Paul to Timothy, a young man who became to Paul as the son he would never have. Paul told Timothy, in 1 Timothy 1:15a: "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance -- Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (New International Version).
     Jesus came to the earth to save sinners. What more needs to be said? Jesus did not come to the earth to condemn it. He did not come to the earth to shake His finger at us and say "bad children". Not once while He was still in Heaven did Jesus ever say "Don't make me come down there". He didn't even come here to tell us that the "party is over, you're all going to Hell, and that is that". No! Jesus came to show us he way back to God. He came to live as one of us to see why we were having such a hard time with temptation. He came here to show us a better way to life. He didn't come to take all of our fun away, not at all. He came to show us a way to live right and have fun doing it. He came to save sinners -- you and me. Saying that Jesus came to save sinners is a promise you can trust with your whole heart and soul. You will never hear a promise like that from anyone here on this earth because we are all sinners. We always break our promises because we always make them with impure motives -- but not Jesus. The only motive He had was love, pure and simple. He loves us so much He died for us so that He could save us from eternal death.
     What is eternal death? It is being physically and spiritually separated from God for all of eternity after we die here on this earth. God's Holy Spirit is still here on the earth keeping mankind from destroying itself before God's plan for us is fulfilled. That is one of the big reasons that we haven't nuked ourselves out of existence yet, and why Israel hasn't been wiped off the face of this planet. Sure, things seem very bad with rapes, murders, wars, and so forth. But, if it weren't for the Holy Spirit's restraining force, we would have killed ourselves over anything that made us mad. Without the Spirit, we would kill our neighbor if his leaves blew over onto our lawn. It is a simple as that.
     So, if eternal death is being separated from God and His Spirit, what is spiritual death? Spiritual death is what people who have never acknowledged Jesus as Lord and Savior are living in right now. Because of their refusal to believe and to recognize that they are sinners in need of a Savior, these people are dead inside to the loving ways of God. A lot of these people think that God is an angry god who doesn't want anyone to be truly happy. They believe that He wants to tell them what to do, and how they should live their lives. They believe that they should be able to live however they want. But, ask yourself, how much are you really enjoying having sex outside of marriage, getting drunk every weekend, taking drugs, and so, so many other things we humans do to try and fill the holes in our souls? Are any of these activities making you truly happy? How many times have you told yourself that you need to stop doing these things before they kill you? Let me advise you that you are already dead if you think any of these things can be a replacement for the love of Jesus Christ.   These things can never be replaced without Jesus' love in your heart. True happiness cannot be found at the bottom of a bottle. It can only be found through the love and sacrifice that Jesus made for you and me when He gave His life up for us on that cross. Won't you tell Jesus that you are tired of living a lie and that you want to know the truth about how to be happy here on this earth? Tell Him that you are tired of going your own way, which has always led to more disappointment and sorrow, instead of happiness and joy. He will hear you and He will respond. Trust Him and not yourself. Become spiritually alive in Christ and I guarantee that He will show you just what true happiness is.

What Does It Mean To Be Saved Or Born Again

     I'm sure that, when you look at this question, you begin to ask yourself, "What do I need to be saved from?" To put it simply: you are being saved from God's wrath and Hell. (Born again means to be reborn spiritually into the family of God) You may now be asking yourself, "What is God mad at me for? Haven't I lived a good, clean life? I've never murdered anybody or robbed a bank. How can God be mad at me?"
     First, let me tell you what God is angry about. First, He is not angry at you personally. You are His creation and He loves you very much. What He is mad at is your sin. You may not have robbed a bank, but have you ever taken a pen from a co-worker's desk knowing that you weren't going to return it? You may never have stabbed or killed anybody, but have you said things to people to tear them down, while pumping yourself up for being so righteous? What God is really trying to save you from is yourself. If we had it our way, we would get rid of everyone else on this planet just so we could be the boss. How many times have you sat in traffic cursing the "idiot" in front of you for not pulling out fast enough when the light turned green? You see, it wasn't the car in front of you that made you mad, it was you who decided to get mad. Did the person in that cat deserve to be cursed out by you, or was it you own inability to control your tongue that caused him to get out of his car to come back and beat the daylights out of you?
     Do you see how much we need to be saved from ourselves and the sinful nature that we carry around from the disobedience of Adam and Eve, and ourselves as well? God knows that we ourselves cannot get ourselves back to the days when there was no sin on the earth. God knows that we are having a very hard time dealing with Satan and all of his lies and deceit. How many times has his voice whispered into your ear to do something you know is wrong, but gets you to do it anyway? You see, we need to be "saved" so that we can have the kind of life that God created us for. God created you for a specific purpose. There is somethings He wants you to do for Him on this earth. You are not here by your parent's choice.: you are here by God's choice. But there is only one way that you can fulfill that destiny, while at the same time, living the kind of life you yourself have always wanted to live -- the life you were created for. And that way is through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Give your life to Him and then watch the transformation that He will begin as He takes you from death to life.

Why Did God Send His Son To Die For Me?

Posted by Bobby Bruno on February 5, 2011 at 11:53

     In His great omnipotence, God knew that we, His Creation, would be a humanity of sinners. He knew that we would eventually want to go our own way without Him. But in His great love for us, His Creation, God already had a plan for how we could be restored into a holy relationship with Him once again. There was only one way to accomplish this, and that way was through His Son, Jesus Christ. On earth, Jesus was God in the flesh who walked around this earth showing His love for His creation in so many ways, from healings to predictions of the future of mankind. Jesus showed us that God wanted to restore us back into a right relationship with Him. Jesus lived a totally sinless life, even though He was tempted in every way that we are every day, maybe more. But He never sinned by giving into those temptations. He loved God, His Father, so much that He obeyed God at every step of His life, especially when it came to hang on a cross for criminals. Only a sinless, blameless man could take upon Himself the sins of the world. When Jesus died and was buried, He took all of our sins with Him forever -- past, present, and future sins -- so that we could be reconciled to God and not have to suffer under sin's power, guilt, and condemnation.

If I Believe In Jesus I Will Have Eternal Life

     The most famous verse in all of the Bible is the most quoted and seen verse in all the world. Go to any sporting event and you can't miss it. At least one fan has it written on a sign. Even though he only writes down the Bible book, chapter, and verse on the sign, most people know what the verse says. It is the one verse that most Christians will point you to when you ask about eternal life and why we as Christians believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. Jesus is the only man to ever say anything like this. He was bold in His statement that He is the only way to God.
     John 3:16-17: "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. (17)For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him" (New International Version).
     John 3:16-17 is the scripture that all the world needs to hear. To this day, people believe that there are many ways to God and Heaven. Many will argue that every "religion" is correct and that it is presumptuous for anyone to say that there is only one way to God. I won't go into any debate here about who is right or wrong, but for me and a 2 billion other people, the Bible is the Word of God and is therefore the only true source about anything God, Jesus, Heaven, or Hell.
     Also, many people believe that God is a tyrant who doesn't want anyone on earth to have anything good -- especially a good time. Some believe that God is mad at us and wants nothing more than to do away with us. If that were true, I wouldn't be here writing these words, and you wouldn't be reading them, for He would have smited us a long, long time ago.
     Some believe that God a grandfatherly figure who will forgive all of our sins and let us all -- the entirety of humanity -- into Heaven at the end of the world. They say that He knows that we are sinners and that it's not our fault that Adam and Eve messed up and brought all of this sin into the world. We're just trying to deal with the consequences of their sin. Why should I be held responsible for what they did thousands of years ago?
     That's just a couple of the ways that people see God. But, for our purposes here, we are going to look at God in the way that He really is, and how He wants to be seen -- and that is as a God of love who cares very much about His creation, and the people He has placed in it. "For God so loved the world" means the entire universe and everything in it. Every little atom is loved by God, the same as you would love your child, or even a painted that you had created by your own hand. God loves Jesus as much as He loves you and me, yet He let Jesus die on the cross so that He could restore our relationship with Him. A relationship that was damaged by the sin of Adam and Eve, and, yes, our own continuing sin, as well.
     Jesus did the hard part when He allowed Himself to be crucified and hung on a cross by nails in His hands and feet. God did all the work to restore us back to righteousness and left us the easy part. All we need to do is to believe that Jesus was sent by God, to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, to believe that Jesus is the only true Savior of the World, to believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven, to believe that only Jesus can forgive us our sins, and to believe that we cannot do anything ourselves to gain any of this on our own.
     God sent Jesus here to save the world, not condemn it. God did that once with the flood in Noah's day, but is something He promised He would never do again (see below).
     God loves you so much that He will pursue you until He has you back in the family where you belong. Can you feel Him chasing you know?

God Sent Jesus To Be My Sacrifice So I Could Be Reconciled Back To Him

     Romans 3:25-26 tells us that "God sent Christ to be our sacrifice. Christ offered his life's blood, so that by faith in Him we could come to God. And God did this to show that in the past He was right to be patient and forgive sinners. (26)This also shows that God is right when He accepts people who have faith in Jesus" (Contemporary English Version -- The Promise).
     When the scripture says that God "sent" Jesus to be our sacrifice, He did not send Jesus against His will. Jesus came willingly, leaving His Heavenly throne and all the trappings of a King, and was willing to come and die for us long before we were even created. The word "sent" here means that God sent Jesus at the right and proper time for Him to come. God had already planned to send Jesus before we were created because God knew that He was going to give us free will, and that we would abuse that free will and would disobey Him in sin. But God had a time and place picked out for when Jesus would make the biggest impact on humanity. Sure, it seemed as if Jesus died alone and that His mission had failed, but because of the sacrifice of His life at the proper time in history, we today can see the impact He had on humanity. 2000 years later, we still celebrate and worship Jesus as the Son of God.
     When Jesus willingly shed His blood, He made a way for us to come to God, and through faith in His Son, Jesus, be forgiven of our sins. In the past, even today, people everywhere are crying out for justice from God. They wish that He would destroy anyone who does evil, but, since that is all of us, God would have to destroy us all. He did it once with a flood, but promised never to do it again. As it says in Genesis 9:11-16: "I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” (12)And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: (13)I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. (14)Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, (15)I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. (16)Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth”(New International Version).
     Now imagine if God did that, how would you feel if you asked God for one more chance and He said "No?" What if God said that we were all going to Hell and there was no way to change His mind? We would think that He was unjust and cruel. But God is very just and loving. By sending Jesus to take on Himself all of our sins and then to die on a cross taking all of our sins with Him to the grave, God showed us that He has the right to wait as long as He wants to, to say enough is enough. His patience knows no boundaries. It is because of His great patience that we are all still alive, and the Earth is still floating in space. It is because of His great patience that we stiill have a chance to accept Jesus as His Son (but God will not wait forever). God wants to forgive everybody, but as we saw in John 3:16-17, we have to ask for His forgiveness and believe that Jesus in His Son and our Savior from death.

     Next time we will discuss what Jesus' death means for sinners.
     Please let me know how any of this is having an impact on your life. Comments are most welcome. Don't be shy. Tell me what you really think. Testimonies are especially welcomed. See Ya!

Why Do I Need To Have Faith In Jesus Christ?

Posted by Bobby Bruno on February 5, 2011 at 11:51

     I want to talk about why we need to have faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus means that we can trust that when He saves us, He saves us for all time. We can believe with our whole hearts that Jesus has our best interests in His heart. But why do we need to believe in Jesus Christ, and why do I need Him in my life? Galatians 3:23-24 says that, "Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. (24)So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith."
Only By Faith Can I Be Justified In God's Eyes
     Justification is an act by God in which we sinners are declared free from the guilt and condemnation of our sins. We are declared "not guilty" through Jesus' death and resurrection. Before being saved, even if you do not feel the guilt and shame of your sins, they are still present in your soul. After being saved, they are removed when you confess with your mouth that you agree with God that you have committed a sin. When you ask, God will forgive you, and cleanse your soul of the stain that the guilt and shame had placed there when you sinned. This is one of the ways God frees our souls for His and our benefit.
     The Scripture above tells us that "we were held prisoners by the law". What is this law? The law is the Ten Commandments. Each commandment tells us the right way to live and was created by God to protect us from ourselves, and from sinning against Him. Some people believe that the Ten Commandments should not be shown in public places because they want everything of God removed from our society today. Why is this? Is it because they don't want to be told what they can and cannot do with their own lives? Is it because they believe that Christianity is not the only way to God, and that by the showing of the Ten Commandments is an insult to those other religions that believe there are many ways to God? The answers to these questions, and more, is a resounding NO!
     When those who don't know Jesus read the Ten Commandments, they are instantly convicted of their sins, even if they do not realize that it is happening. They are held prisoner by their sins until they ask God to forgive them through Jesus Christ. They feel uncomfortable about this conviction, if they are honest about it. Therefore, instead of asking for forgiveness, they bury the guilty feeling deep down inside. Instead of going to Jesus about their sins (as the Scripture above says they should do) they feel the only way to escape the uncomfortable feeling is by removing the one thing that is making them feel uncomfortable. However, what they don't realize is that the guilt and shame will eat at them like a cancer, causing them to "die" in their sins by remaining unrepentent of those sins.
     The Bible calls this dying "spiritual death". Sometimes it can even cause physical death by illness: depression, alcoholism, drug addiction to name a few. The only way to find "spiritual life" is by having the faith to believe that, if you confess your sins to God, ask for His Son, Jesus, to come into your life to "save" you, and ask for His forgiveness He will do what He promised you He would do. Once you have done that, Jesus' light will shine in the darkness of your soul, cleansing you of sin and its stain, and begin the process of removing and healing every thing in your life that led you toward spiritual death in the first place. However, Jesus will need your cooperation, for He will only change what you want Him to change. He cannot change the parts of your life that you continue to hold onto. If you surrender every part of your life to Jesus, then He will begin to repair your soul and give you His great peace and joy that can only come from a relationship with Him. Surrender all things and He will change all things, giving you a freedom you once only dreamed about.

Jesus Christ's Death Brought Me Justification

     "Not guilty!" are the words every criminal wants to hear from the head juror as he or she reads the verdict. If you are truly an innocent person that phrase will bring you great joy. If you are truly guilty you still would find no joy whatsoever in hearing those words.
     When an innocent person is set free from the courtroom, he finds joy in knowing that the justice system does sometimes work. He can return to his home with a peace that he can honestly feel inside his heart, knowing that he did nothing wrong. He can continue enjoying the freedoms that all human beings need to feel to be secure in themselves.
     When a guilty person is set free there can be no peace at all in his heart because he knows that he still committed the crime, and knows that it will, someday, catch up to him. All this person feels, even if they do not realize it, is a sense of dread, shame, and fear. From this moment on, he will continually be looking behind his back, waiting for the moment when the truth of his guilt is discovered, and he is once more facing the judge. At that time, the odds will be against him that he will be set free a second time. Until he is able to humble himself and confess that he did indeed do the crime, he will not find peace, and will never know the joys of truly being a free man.
     That is exactly how those who have not put their faith in Jesus Christ go about their everday lives. They live with the same dread, guilt, and shame as the criminal described above. Every time they do something they know deep in their hearts is wrong, like stealing a pen from the office, there is always guilt and shame attached to the crime.
     The Bible calls these crimes sin. As long as these sins go unconfessed, they remain a cancer of the soul until humility sets in and you find yourself desperate for a way out. That's where faith comes in.
     Romans 5:18-19 says," Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. (19)For just as through disobedience of the one man many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous" (New International Version).
     One man's simple act of disobedience is all it took to condemn humanity to sin, thereby making us all sinners. That one act of disobedience has caused us so much trouble that we believe there is no way out of it. All kinds of impurities run rampant in our world: sexual imorality, addictions, and pornography to name a few. Murders are increasing, as are rapes and sexual child abuse. War after war has decimated country after country, as they fight for real estate that is not even theirs. Terrorism has sent our world into a panic. All kinds of horrors fill this earth causing many to live in a constant state of anxiety, fearing for their lives. Because of one man's sin, we now live in a world of chaos that is continually getting worse.
     However, one man's simple act of obedience is all it took to free humanity from the consequenses of its sinful nature. His great love for us would not let Him disobey His Father in Heaven. Where Adam disobeyed God by eating the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Jesus' death and resurrection back to life have made many righteous. Who are the righteous ones? They are those individuals who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Doing so has saved them from being over-powered by their sinful natures, thereby setting them free from condemnation forever. Where Adam made us captives to sin, Jesus freed us from our sins.

I Can Defeat Satan At Every Step

     Ephesians 6:16 says, "In every battle you will need faith as your sheld to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan" (New Living Translation).
     How strong is your faith? Is it strong enough to win a battle against the temptation brought on by Satan, or one of his demons? Will you be able to withstand the immense tugging of your flesh as it wants to do what Satan is telling you to do, something you know you shouldn't do, culminating into a sin? Is your flesh stronger than your faith in Jesus? If it is, you will have a very hard time overcoming the devil and his wants and desire for you. We know that God Himself has His own desires for you. But if you continually give into the tugging of your flesh to do wrong things, then God may not give you the desires He has for your life at the moment He wants to give it to you.
     But where do we get the faith we need to stop the fiery arrows (temptations) that Satan has aimed at our hearts? What is this shield we need to cover our hearts so that the arrows do not penetrate them? Only the Holy Spirit can give us this saving faith and shield. On the day that you give your life to Jesus, or on the day that you gave Jesus your life, it was the Holy Spirit who gave you the faith to even see Jesus as the Messiah. When Satan throws temptation at you, all you need to do is to call upon Jesus through God's Holy Spirit. If your heart feels like it is being tugged towards Jesus, then that is the Holy Spirit giving you the faith you need to call on Jesus and to make Him Lord of your life.
     Jesus Christ came to overcome the world and to defeat Satan. That makes Him the strongest man to ever walk the earth. To conquer Satan, you need to pray to Jesus to take away the temptation that is plaguing you and to strengthed you until the temptation has passed. Some temptations will be easier than others to defeat (sexual temptations are among the very hardest). But don't ever think that you can overcome the temptation all by yourself. If you do, you will fall into it every single time. Defeat can't be had without the power of Jesus in your life. Jesus is called Savior because He saves us from our bondage to sin. Jesus will continually be Savior in every aspect of our lives, as He saves us again and again, each time Satan tempts us to do wrong. Justification means "just as if I had never sinned."

     Please give Jesus a chance to show you just how much He loves you and wants you free from the bondage to sin. Next time, we'll look at how faith helps us in our lives.

The Word Alive in Us

Posted by Federico Aguelo on February 4, 2011 at 10:16

”Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds

from the mouth of ADONAI.”

-Matt 4:4

The human body cannot live on GOD’s reality without spiritual food for the spirit; for we cannot separate the spirit from the body unless one is dead. Whatever is active in the spirit by faith is ultimately translated in the body. It is the spirit of man born from above that possesses the divine nature of YESHUA. Therefore, if man’s spirit is led by the HOLY SPIRIT, it will naturally long for its spiritual food which is the word of ADONAI (1 Pet 2:2). Each Christian must understand that since ADONAI ELOHIM created all things by His spoken word and sustains all things by the word of His power(Heb 1:3), man, who is created in His image and likeness, can only live an abundant life by His holy word.

YESHUA is the Word and He holds all things together. All the fullness of GOD’s deity dwells in Him (Col 1:17,19). Since YESHUA is the Word that ADONAI ELOHIM spoke during creation, He instructed us not to add nor subtract anything from it or suffer dire consequences (Dt 4:2; Rev 22:18,19). In the Old Testament, ADONAI spoke to us through the prophets but in these last days, He spoke to us through His SON, YESHUA, who expressed His very character and essence while on earth (Heb 1:1). He took pains to record His precious revelation in the Scriptures and has kept it intact and safe throughout history.

ADONAI continues to reveal to us what is to come through the HOLY SPIRIT by His Word as we partake of it daily. Like manna, it becomes alive in our spirits and we learn to trust GOD more. With the Word in us, we are made whole and complete in YESHUA. Without it, we become sick both spiritually and physically because the Word of ADONAI is the lifeblood of every believer. The Word transforms our lives as it embeds YESHUA’s DNA in us and we become GOD’s kind.

The Scriptures tell us that ADONAI created order and every living thing according to its kind. When we surrender our lives to YESHUA and believed in Him, we become born from above and ADONAI gives us His divine nature. At that moment, we are adopted as sons of ADONAI. All of this takes place in fulfillment of the mystery that has been kept hidden in ages past (Ez 36:27; Joel 2:28).

Students of Bible prophecy are watching recent events all over the world and discern that they are in fulfillment of Scriptures. As Israel is being surrounded by Arab nations undergoing political upheavels by Islamic militants, we are reminded that it is prophesied that Israel will be left alone to battle the enemies of ADONAI from the East, North and South. There will be no rescue from its ally from the West since the United States is losing its power base and its economy is in shambles.

In all these occurrences, the sons of ADONAI remember that our GOD reigns and He is LORD of history.

Thus says ADONAI, your Redeemer, and the one

Who formed you from the womb.

“I, ADONAI, am the maker of all things,

Stretching out the heavens by Myself

And spreading out the earth all alone,

Causing the omens of boasters to fail,

Making fools out of diviners,

Causing wise men to draw back

And turning their knowledge into foolishness,

Confirming the word of His servant

And performing the purpose of His messengers…”

-Isaiah 44:24-26a)

With all current events happening around us, all sons of ADONAI should all the more strive to lead holy lives and evermore proclaim the Gospel to all who will listen. We are privileged to be alive in these last days and perhaps to witness the coming our LORD YESHUA. As YESHUA himself said, “When you see these things happening, look up for your liberation is at hand!”

מלאך

How Do I Obtain Faith In Jesus Christ?

Posted by Bobby Bruno on February 4, 2011 at 7:45

By Reading And Studying God's Word In The Bible

Romans 10:17 tells us that, "Consequently, faith comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word Of Christ" (New International Version).
The Holy Bible. The Word of God. The Word of Christ. The Holy Scriptures. The Word. However you want to name them , we are talking about the words of God in the Old Testament, and the words of Jesus in the New Testament, and the words the Holy Spirit gave to those whom God had called to spread His message of hope to a dying humanity. The Bible contains everything you need to know about how to live the life of a Christian. The words will teach you right from wrong, and how to live a right kind of life that is pleasing to God. The words will show you your sin, and then will tell you how to have your sins forgiven through Jesus Christ. The words will show you the lives of many people who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and what happens to those who do not. The most important subject the Word talks about is are the promises of God. A wonderful thing about our God is that He does not break His promises.
Now what do these words have to do with faith? The above scripture says that faith comes by hearing the message, which comes by hearing the Words of Christ. There are many ways to hear the Words of Christ. Going to a church that teaches directly from the Bible is one way to hear the message given through someone that Jesus has appointed to teach it. Church is the best place to learn what God would have us know about Him and His many ways. There are also many, many books written by men and women also appointed by Jesus to proclaim His message. Of course, there are the messages on TV from churches who are able to broadcast their services on a weekly basis.
The more you read the Bible, the more often you go to church to hear the words of God, then the more you will absorb the Word into your heart and mind, until you begin to believe what is being said through the help of the Holy Spirit. And while you are reading and hearing it, God's Holy Spirit is softening up your heart towards Jesus so that you will accept Him as Lord and Savior of your life. That is where your faith in what you are reading grows stronger. Soon you will know in your heart that what you are learning is true.

By Trusting In Jesus Christ

John 20:30-31 explains that, "Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. (31)But these are written that you may believe that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name" (New International Version). The Message Bible says it this way: "Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. These are written down so that you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way He personally revealed it."
The miracles that Jesus performed were not so that we would see how powerful He was, or how much He wanted to reveal His own glory on earth. No, the miracles that Jesus performed were to point us to God the Father and His Glory. They were made to show us God's love for us and how He and He alone can heal the world of all its troubles. Also, as the scripture says, Jesus performed these miracles so that we would know that He is the Son of God, and was sent from God to the earth so that we might know who God really is.
A lot of people think of God as an angry grandfather in the sky who can't wait to zap us whenever we do something wrong. Most non-Christians believe that God will take away all of their worldly fun if they give their lives to Him. But none of that is true. God is a very loving God who wants to take away the things that harm us, which as humans, is most of the wrong thins we do to find fulfillment for our lives without Him.
By sending Jesus to us, God wanted to show us that He exists, and that, through His Son, we might come to know Him and be granted eternal life through Jesus' death and resurrection from the grave. Eternal life in Heaven far away from Hell, a literal place according to the Bible. Through Jesus, God wants to take us out of the eternal damnation we all face without Him due to our unforgiven sins, and give us eternal life, to live with Jesus forever and ever in Heaven. But, first, as the scripture above says, we must know that Jesus is the Son of God. God gives us the faith to believe it is so through the miracles that Jesus performed then and the ones He still performs today. Only someone sent from God could do all the miraculous healings that Jesus did during His time here on the earth.

How Does Having Faith Help Me?

Posted by Bobby Bruno on February 4, 2011 at 7:44

Christians Live By Faith, Not By Sight

Second Corinthians 5:7 tells us that, "We live by faith, and not by sight. It's what we trust in but don't yet see that keeps us going" (The Message).
As we discussed earlier, faith is the hope for things not yet seen. When you pray, you are accessing the power of faith, because you want what you are praying for to come true. When you pray you can't see the answer, but you will when God decides that it is time for you to have the answer. Then you can see what you've prayed for. As we'll learn in the next section, Hope, with faith, as the Message verse says, helps us trust in the things we don't see that helps us walk into the future knowing that we are secure in Jesus' love and power.
Let's look at the human body. The only part of the body we can see the most is our flesh. Beneath our flesh are all of our organs, blood, and bones. We cannot see them, but they are there. If you are, at this moment, alive and breathing, then you know that all of your body parts are working to keep you interacting with the world. It is faith in your body that it will keep on working for many years to come.
But what happens when a part of your body begins to break down? Or you break a bone and are in a lot of pain? You've been to the doctor, and he has just told you that you have cancer and might not live for very much longer. With the broken bone, you have faith in the body's healing power that it should mend back to its original shape again. In your mind, you just "know" without a doubt that the bone will heal. But how do you know this? Sometimes broken bones do not always heal well, and stay in your body the way it did heal. Sometimes, it may take surgery and plates and pins to put the bone back together again.If your broken bone does not require surgery, but only a cast, how do you know that it will definately heal itself? You know because you have faith that your body will indeed heal that bone back to normal again.
But what about having been told that you have cancer, and that you will not live out the year? What do you do then? They tell you that you will need chemptherapy to, hopefully, get rid of the tumor and any cancer surrounding it. Where do you get the trust and faith that you will be healed from a disease that most people die from? You can't wish the cancer away. You can't go on a new cancer reducing diet plan to rid yourself of that little ball of out-of-control cells. Face it, you have cancer and are going to die.
Unless...
Unless you know someone who can cure all the diseases of man. That someone is Jesus Christ. The Bible is replete with the many times Jesus cured a sick person. Leprosy, cancer, bleeding problems -- death. There is no disease known to man that Jesus has not cured. When Jesus cured simeone, or raised them from the dead, their faith in Him skyrocketed, and also the faith of those who were watching Jesus as He did the healing.
I have a friend from church that had cancer. For four months, every other week, he endured the chemotherapy treatments. The treatments would exhaust him to where he couldn't get out of bed for three days at a time. He had a nauseous feeling that wouldn't go away. He grew fatigued at the smallest of movements. For four months, he put up with the aftereffects because he knew that he must if he wanted to get rid of the cancer. About a week later, I heard that he had been prayed over for healing of the cancer and was completely healed, astonishing even the doctors that were taing care of him. It was his faith in Jesus' ability to heal him that did heal him. It was his faith in things not seen that cured him. He couldn't "see" Jesus; he couldn't see the cancer either, but he knew that they were both there. But he had the faith in Jesus Christ to know that he could be and was healed.
We as Christians know that there are things about ourselves that need changing. Things like our attitudes toward God; our behavior, especially toward other people; our mouths; our thoughts, and many other ways we misuse our lives. With Jesus in control of our lives, we can't always see what needs to be changed. But Jesus sees everything about us, whether we believe in Him or not. Our faith in Jesus allows Him to heal and change what needs to be healed and changed. Even our sicknesses and dieases.
But keep in mind, as far as your sicknesses and diseases, Jesus alone decides who He will heal or will not heal. Jeus doesn't heal everyone. Some He leaves sick, and some of those people die. Why? This is where this verse has its power. We, as Christians, have the faith that Jesus knows what He is doing. We know that He has a purpose for everything that happens in this world, good or bad. Jesus has a very good reason for not healing you; a purpose that is far greater than anything we could possibly think or imagine. If he heals me, there is a reason why he healed me. If He doesn't heal me, then there is a reason for that too. But I have enough faith in Jesus to trust His will for my life. So, since I can't see the rest of my life, which I have given over to Jesus for His purposes, I truly have to live by faith and not by sight, trusting that Jesus will do good things with my life until I reach Heaven, where I will finally be where He is forever.
We do not need to see Jesus in the flesh or with our own eyes. He is here with us at all times. It is through faith in Him that He will reveal Himself in the changes He makes in our lives through the Holy Spirit.

I Am More Blessed By Not Seeing And Still Believing

John 20:29 says, "Then Jesus told him (Doubting Thomas), 'Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen yet have believed.'" (New International Version). The Message says, "Jesus said, 'So, you believe because you've seen with you own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing.'"
Do you have trouble believing in something you can't see? For example: when someone says they've seen a ghost, do you believe them? Of course, ghost aren't real, are they? Do you believe in angels, even though you cannot see them? Do you believe that angels are all around us at this very moment, every day, 24/7? What if I had proof that they were? Would you even believe me with proof, even though you can't see them all around you right now?
Let's put aside the topic of angels for the minute and talk about someone more important. Someone you may have never seen but have heard so much about. He walked this earth about 2,000 years ago. Many people saw Him when He was alive. But would you believe me if I told you that many, many other people saw Him walking around town three days after He was buried? If you've never put your trust in this man, you probably don't believe me.
But, then again, neither did Thomas, one of Jesus' closest disciples. He watched and walked with Jesus for the entire three years of Jesus' ministry. He listened and hung on every word Jesus said during those three years. He saw all the miracles that Jesus had performed, right in front of his eyes. He even heard Jesus talk about His resurrecting from the dead in three days long before His burial. But, most important of all, when Jesus had been resurrected, Thomas hadn't yet see Jesus that day as the other disciples had. Thomas verbally said that he would not believe that Jesus rose from the dead unless he saw Jesus and the nail holes in Jesus' hands and the wound in His side. Here's the whole story about what happened: (24)Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. (25)So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he (Thomas) said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe it." (26) A week later His disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" (27)Then He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." (28)Thomas said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" (29)Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:24-29/ New International Version)
We have all been, or still are, where Thomas had once been. When he didn't see, he did not believe. But once Jesus was standing right in front of him, with His hands spread palm-out, and His side showing where the spear had pierced it, Thomas instantly believed that Jesus was the Lord. Now look at what Jesus told Thomas, "Because toy have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen yet believed."
Who are those who have not seen yet believe that Jesus is still alive. We are called Christians, Children of God. We are those who have laid down their lives and given them to Jesus for His use and purpose. We are those whose many sins have been forgiven by Jesus forever. We are those to whom Jesus has given His Holy Spirit. And now, because of the Holy Spirit's influence in our lives, we can "see" God working in our lives to better them and to get them ready for Heaven. Now we can "see" the works of the angels around us. Now if we believe that we've seen a 'ghost', it probably was an angel sent by God to help us through a current situation.
Would you like to be able to see God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the angels of God? Would you like to be blessed by God for believing in Him even when you have not yet seen Him? Then all you have to do is ask Jesus to come into your life, to forgive you of your many sins, to change your life His way since your way doesn't work, and to give you the Holy Spirit to guide your life down God's path for you. It's that simple. Just talk to Jesus and be blessed by not seeing.

Next time we'll talk about how to obtain the faith to believe.

Why Do I Need Faith In Jesus Christ?

Posted by Bobby Bruno on February 4, 2011 at 7:42

I Was Born A Sinner

Romans 3:23-24 gives us one of the most truthful statements that God has ever spoken concerning not only how He sees us , but also how much He loves us. The scripture says that, "All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. (24)But God treats us much better than we deserve, and because of Christ Jesus, He freely accepts us and sets us free from our sins" (Contemporary English Version -- The Promise).
What do you think the response would be if you were told verse 23 to someone who doesn't know Jesus as their Savior? Do you think they would agree with you? Or would you be met with, "Me! A Sinner! No way!" But whether we agree or not, God Himself says that we are all sinners! Most do not realize this fact. They may believe that we Christians are saying this to put a guilt trip on them to get them to see God "our" way and not the way of the world. Then there are those who would agree with you, who would say that they know they sin, but not bad enough to be kept out of Heaven. Which side are you on? God's truth, or the world's deceptions?
Verse 23 is 100% correct when it says that we are all sinners, and have been that way since Adam and Eve disobeyed God. When Adam and Eve bit into the fruit that they knew came from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, something they were forbidden to do by God's direct command, they brought sin into the world because of their disobedience. From that time on, we became full-time sinners whether we wanted to or not, because Adam's and Eve's sin was passed down to us through birth. There is nothing you or I can do to make ourselves stop sinning. Nothing! Unless we go to the One who can free us from this trap we've gotten ourselves in, we can never escape sin's power over our lives. Sin's power is too strong for us to break out of. How many times have we tried to break a bad habit? How many times have we failed? Have we ever succeeded once in trying to do so? Have you ever wished that you could find a way out of your sins? Well, God has provided The Way, The Truth, and The Life!
Why would God provide us a way out when all we do is slam the door in His face because we like to sin and want to continue doing so because it's "fun"? Isn't God mad at us to the point of wanting to destroy us? Isn't His Wrath so great that He gave up on us a long time ago? Isn't He the rule-maker and we are the rule-breakers? Isn't God trying to take away all of our fun? The answer to these questions is a resounding NO, NO, NO!
As verse 24 says, God treats us much better than we deserve. Don't forget that God did destroy humanity once with a flood because men's and women's hearts were continually evil all the time. He also destroyed Sodom And Gomorrah because of their great sins against Him. So God has shown His wrath against His creation's disobedience in the past. That was never His plan from the beginning. His plan was for His creation to live in harmony with Him. God gave those places and people He destroyed many chances to reconcile with Him, but they refused Him and His forgiveness. And since God cannot look upon sin because He is Holy, He destroyed them and started over.
And then He sent Jesus to let us know that He loves us and wants us to be reconciled with Him, so that He and we could enjoy the greatest relationship humans could ever have. God came down to earth, wrapped Himself in flesh, and called Himself Jesus. Jesus came to show us who God is and to die for our sins on the cross so that we may be freed from sin's power from the past and for the present, and the future. When we ask Jesus to come into our lives as Lord and Savior, He will cleanse us from all of our sins forever and give us His righteousness (right standing with God). He then freely accepts us a newly born people. We now have gained Heaven. Now Jesus can help us break our bad habits, help us live better, more fruitful lives. He will help us become the kind of person we always wished and dreamed we could be, and into the kind of person He wants us to be, what He created us to be. We all want to be somebody. When we give our lives to Jesus, we are his somebody, and that is all that matters to Him.

I Am Lying To Myself If I Say That I Am Without Sin

1 John 1:8-10: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9)If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (10)If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives" (New International Version).
These verses are the entire Gospel in a nutshell. It was because of our sins that Jesus had to die on the cross. It wasn't until Jesus took all of our sins forever upon Himself, shed His own blood, and died for us on the cross, did man have any hope of being forgiven and right again with God. Because of Jesus' act of humility and sacrifice, we are able to be forgiven of all of our sins forever. But the verses above make it perfectly clear that we are fooling ourselves if, for one second, we say that we have no sin, or do not sin at all. That is a lie of Satan. Satan will do whatever he can to get us to continually do acts and deeds that we know in our hearts are wrong. He will lie to us and tell us that what we are about to do is okay -- no one will get hurt, no one will ever find out. Satan wants us not to have all that God wants for us because Satan wants everything of God for himself. In Isaiah 14:13-14 Satan said his famous "I" statements: "I will Ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the starts of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. (14)I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High" (New International Version). Do you see any here that you might have said to yourself at one time or another? Have you ever said that I don't need Jesus, I can run my own life? Have you ever told God that the throne you're sitting on right now (which could be any part of your life where you are in control thinking that you do not need any body's help to overcome) is higher than his throne in Heaven? Again, as stated above, if you say that you don't sin then you are not telling the truth, neither to God, nor to yourself. Still, God already knows the truth about your sin and is ready to forgive you of all of it, if you ask Him.
What we need to do is to confess our sins to God and He will faithfully forgive them. How do you know that God will be faithful? Because God never lies. If He has made you a promise, you can be absolutely, positively sure that He will fulfill it! He will forgive you and then purify your heart and soul. What does it mean to be purified? It means that God will return our hearts and souls back to the state it was as if we had never sinned at all. But from then on, we must confess every sin that we commit, so that God can return us back to that state again. He will be faithful to forgive us every time. no matter what, and He will remember them no more.
Since God calls everything we do that is against His will a sin, then it is a sin. There is no way around it-- you sin, I sin, because that is our nature. Therefore, if we say that we are not sinners, then we are calling God a liar. If He says it is a sin to have sex outside of marriage, then it is a sin, whether it be any combination of male or female. Being a good person does not absolve you of being a sinner. There is nothing you can do to make yourself any less a sinner. That's why Jesus had to die for us, and He did it willingly, because He loves us. But if you say you are without sin, then you call God a liar, and are saying that Jesus died for nothing, because you call yourself an honest person who never hurt anybody. (Do you think that you are hurting your spouse every time you look at pornography even if he/she doesn't know you are? ) But that is not the way it truly is. When we say these things, we are telling God that we don't need Him, which tells Him that we believe that His Word (Jesus) has no place in our lives. We believe that we can go on just as we are day after day and give no thought to our eternal destiny. If you are not forgiven by God, then you are still living in your sins. Every sin you have ever committed is still with you, staining your soul, bringing you closer to a spiritual death. When you die, your spirit is going to go somewhere. The Bible says that, if you die in your sins, then you will go to Hell, a literal place that is not a fantasy of someone's imagination. But if you ask God to forgive you of all those sins, then you are telling God that you need Him after all. Then you will be born again spiritually, and, when you die, your spirit will go to Heaven to be with Jesus forever and ever.
Today, won't you admit that you are a sinner and confess to God that you no longer want to be the god of your life. God loves you very much and will instantly and happily take over the reigns of your live and bring you freedom from your sins. If you do you will be calling Satan a liar, and that's okay, because Satan already knows that he is a liar, and you can tell him that face to face once you have given God your sins and your life.

Next time, we will talk about why Jesus had to die for us. See you then!!

What Is Faith?

Posted by Bobby Bruno on February 3, 2011 at 7:30

     The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:1 that faith, "is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see" (New Living Translation). In other words, it means that we have a belief that in the future events that the Bible says will happen will indeed happen.
     Only with faith from God can we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and is the only One who can save us from our sins; that He died on a cross (Good Friday) taking all of our sins (past, present and future) with Him to the grave; that He arose from the grave three days later (Easter) and ascended into Heaven to sit at the right hand of God; that with Him in control of our lives we can live to the full potential that God, our Father created in us before we were physically born.
     We can't conjure up faith for ourselves because we as humans don't seek God -- God seeks us out, and then gives us the smallest amount of faith needed to believe that Jesus is the Son of God Who takes away the sins we have committed in our lives while we went out own way without Him.
     Faith was explained to me this way. If you lean the chair you are sitting on back against the wall, you do it with the faith that the wall will hold the chair up, that the back legs won't slip out from under you or break due to your weight, and that the chair itself can stand the strain of being used improperly. When you do this with the chair, you don't even think that it is by faith that you do so with confidence, you just "know" that the chair won't fall.
     That's the way it is with Jesus Christ. Faith in Him means that you don't have to think about Him fulfilling His promises to you, you just know with confidence that he will do the things for you that He said He would do. First you must tell Jesus that you want Him in your life and to save you from your sins. Then you must ask Him to come into your life and take control of the things you yourself cannot control or change about yourself, which is everything about your life. You must tell Him that you want Him to be your Lord and Savior, and want Him to take control of your life so that He can show you the right way to live.
     I will let the Word of God, Scripture from the Bible, answer the questions about what it means to have faith, hope and love in Jesus Christ, and why, so that you can make an informed decision as to whether you want to live your life as Jesus asks you to, or whether you want to keep going your own way, relying on yourself, falling in and out of situations that you yourself can never fix and can never get away from.
    Only Jesus Christ can save you from the mistakes you have made and will continue to make in your life. Only He can help you overcome your own sinful nature and all of the things that Satan throws your way.
     The choice is yours and yours alone to make. Jesus will never drag you into something that you don't want. He will never come to you and say, "Love me, or else." All He is saying to you right now is, "I love you more than you can know, and I want to change the things that are wrong with your life and make them all work out for your good and My Glory. I want you to come just as you are, right now, and tell me that you want your life to have meaning. I will send you My Holy Spirit to live inside of your heart and who will guide you into the plans for which I have created you. My Spirit will help you fulfill them and to bring you into the wonderful, spectacular future I have had in place for you to live since before the day you were born. All I as is for you to come."

     The first question you may be asking yourself is, "Why do I need to have faith in Jesus Christ?" Hebrews 11:6 says, "So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that there is a God and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him" (New Living Translation).

                     It Is The Only Way I Can Be Right With God
     When Adam and Eve (Who were real people by the way) were in the Garden of Eden, they had a right standing with God; they were without sin, as was Jesus Christ. They had no concept of sin since God created them holy and pure. They had no concept of right or wrong. When God promised them that He would fulfill all of their needs, He was faithful and delivered on His promises. Therefore, Adam and Eve obeyed His every word, and had a very intimate relationship with the God who created and cared for them. They knew that they could trust God with their very lives.
     Then came along Satan (who is also a real person), who, at this time, was already a fallen angel cast out of Heaven for proclaiming that he could could be just like God and could do a better job than God (sound familiar?), who convinced Adam and Eve to disobey God and eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Once they took a bite from its fruit, their relationship was forever stained with sin.
     Then, as today, Satan sets out to destroy our relationship with God, because God would not let him claim God's throne to do his evil desires. We are the same way towards God today: we want to control our own lives, to do what we want without any interference from anybody; especially God Himself whom we believe will take away our evil fun.
     Isaiah 14:13-14 tells the words Satan himself said to God as Satan was in full rebellion against God: "(13)You said to yourself, 'I'll climb to heaven. I'll set my throne over the stars of God. I'll run the assembly of angels that meets on sacred Mount Zaphon. (14)I'll climb to the top of the clouds. I'll take over as King of the Universe'" (The Message). (Oh, how many "I" statements we could add to Satan's list: I can rule my own life better than God; I don't need anyone to tell me what I can or cannot do; I am successful because of my own sweat and perseverance... The list is endless.) Satan believed that he could rule the universe better than God. Since a pure, holy, and just God cannot let evil go unpunished, Satan, and those angels who rebelled with him, were banished from Heaven and were cast down to the Earth.
     So what has Satan been doing for the last six thousand years? As it reads in Job 2:2, "And the Lord said to Satan, 'Where have you come from?' Satan answered the Lord, 'From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.'" In 1 Peter 5:8, "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (Emphasis mine/ Both from New International Version.) He has been attempting, and is sometimes successful, in keeping you and me from knowing God intimately. Tempting us through our five senses (Biblically called the "flesh") Satan tries to get us to do wrong things through our own evil desires, which, without Jesus Christ in our lives, we will fall into repeatedly. Therefore, like Adam and Eve, we disobey God's good plans for us just to follow our own evil ways just because we want to. If we just put our faith in God they way we put our faith in everything else, and just as strongly, we would follow God's ways and realize that His ways are truly the right ways. This in turn would please Him immensely the way a child pleases his parents by obeying the house rules, which are put in place for the child's own good and protection.
     All our lives since Adam and Eve, we have followed an evil devil, and have put our faith in him instead of the One who always has good in mind for us. However, when you put your faith in Jesus Christ -- which comes from God if we are really seeking Him -- believing that He exists, and believing that Jesus is who He says He is, that He has done what He said He would do, asking Him into our hearts and putting Him in control of every aspect of our lives, then, only then, can we please God and have a right standing with He who created us, and who had planned out our entire lives thousands of years before we were born.

                    Only With Faith Can We Believe In Jesus Christ
     Do you know that it takes more faith to believe that your car is going to start in the morning than it does to believe in Jesus Christ? Each and every morning you go out and turn the ignition key and expect the car to start on the first try. So much so that, after a while, you don't even think about it anymore -- you get in, start the car, and go! Now, that requires a great amount of faith to believe in. However, where Jesus Christ is concerned, it only takes a small amount of faith to believe in Him and what He did on the cross.
     In the Bible, Jesus tells His disciples in the Book of Matthew, chapter 17, verse 20, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you" (New International Version).
    What Jesus is saying to us here is: "If you have even the smallest amount of faith that I died on the cross to take away the sins of the world; was buried and arose again three days later as I said I would; and when you ask me to come into your life, I will come and forgive you for all the sins you have committed past, present, and future. Once you invite me in, you can ask me to move the mountains of guilt and shame out of your life when you begin to follow me and listen to and obey my words found in your Bible. I will do it when you ask in my Name."

     Again, please feel free to ask questions. There are no stupid questions. If I can't answer your question right away then I will tell you the three words many people have so much trouble saying -- I don't know. If I don't know, I will tell you. But I will pray and do whatever I can to get you the answer. You see, your questions help me too. I consider myself a chronic learner. I love to learning all I can about Jesus Christ and God's place in my life. Every time I learn something new that opens my eyes and heart up to God, the more I enjoy my life with Him. Remember, any revelation you may have about God comes from God Himself through His Spirit. Anything I write in this blog about Him comes directly from His revelation into my life. I can tell you from my heart that when God sees that you want to know Him intimately and want to know Him more, He will stop at nothing to give you all of himself in all the smallest details. I haven't learned everything yet, and I won't know everything about God this side of Heaven. As the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:12, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Have a great day!

My Life In Christ

Posted by Bobby Bruno on February 2, 2011 at 14:00

     This post is not about me. This post is about Jesus and what He has done and is currently doing in my life. It is my hope to show you how Jesus can take your life and make it into the kind of life you have always been yearning to live. Some of the things I talk about in this current post and in others in the future may be hard to hear, hard to believe, and hard to stomach. But these things will have to be talked about, especially when we get to talk about why things in this world are the way they are and why God isn't stopping any of it in the way we think He should.
     I realize that family and friends may be reading this blog and may hear things about myself that they have never heard before or have known in little detail. But that will not stop me from saying what needs to be said. I will say what I need to say and leave it up to God to decide how to use my words and how to affect people with them. Since I have given my life to Jesus I have become what is called a transparent person. Ask anyone who has heard about my history and they will tell you that I am brutally honest when it comes to talking about my past. There are some things that I will talk about that even my children have never heard. I pray that this post will help them understand the father they, honestly, never really knew since the man I am now is in so many ways a completely and far better man that I was in the past. With that said, let me tell you who I was.
     I was born on July 31, 1958. As I grew older, I thought that the life I was living was normal. I thought that my temper, working as much as I could to be away from home, my spending habits, constant arguing with my ex-wife, and many other habits were what it meant to be a man. In 1997, I attempted suicide twice, but something always seemed to stop me. In November of that year I began having breakdowns and crying spells that I did not understand. "What is wrong with me," I kept asking myself. Then, in January of 1998, I started having flashbacks and dreams that scared me and I became very depressed over all of it. I remembered a couple of dreams that I knew I had been having for most of my life. Dreams of a monster at my bedroom window saying, "I'm coming to get you"; and the dream on running naked through my neighborhood being chased by something scary.
     My sister, Judy, saw what was happening to me and gave me a couple of books on sexual child abuse. When I read those books, I was reading my life story. I was devastated. One day, after I had an argument with my then wife on the phone about who knows what, I drove home angry. Up ahead I saw a wide tree on a small hill and drove my car straight for it. But, suddenly, something turned the wheel and put the car back on the road. I swear I missed that tree by only a paint's-width of the car. I simply went home and resumed my life. And then something happened that changed my life -- not right away -- but changed it nonetheless.
     On April 19th 1998, I had another breakdown, which scared my then-wife to the point where she got mad at me for acting the way I was. During her "concern", I ran upstairs to the bedroom and lay on the bed crying as I had never cried before. I didn't know what was happening to me. I didn't know how to stop it. All I knew was that I couldn't take it anymore. As I lay there, my ex-wife came into the room, stood on the bed straddling me, and jumped up and down all the while asking me what was wrong with me, why was I acting this way. I was lying on the bed facing the window. As she continued jumping, I focused on the window and kept telling myself that I couldn't take it anymore. The window was closed and had paned glass in it. As I stared at the window, I felt that, even if I didn't make it out the window, then maybe I could impale my self on the glass and die that way. I didn't care -- anything was better than this. As my ex-wife tired out, she collapsed on top of me and cried, emotionally spent.
     And then the miracle happened. And it is something that I will never forget for the rest of my life; and it is what I first tell people when they want to know how Jesus has changed my life. As I lay there contemplating leaving this world, I decided that jumping was the only course of action I had left. I was done with life. I wanted out -- now. So, I gently pushed my ex-wife off of me and began to stand up to kill myself. Just as I was about to make that last muscle push that would sail me out of the closed window, something invisible, or someone, gently grabbed me by the back of my neck, stood me up the rest of the way, gently turned me towards the phone, and said, "Your time is not through here yet. I need you here. Go call your sister." And then I was released with a gentle push towards the phone. I knew as I reached for the phone that the voice meant my sister, Judy. That night she took me to one of the many psych. hospital visits that I would make over the next eight years.
     For the next few months I was questioned by family members about the abuse I had told them I rediscovered. Like most young children when they tell an adult that they were bring "touched" or abused, I was not believed. I realized later on that some of the questions were phrased in an accusational way, as if I had abused their children. I have never abused any child in or out of my care!!!! That August, after a summer of questions whose answers were still not believed, I came home from work one day exhausted both mentally and physically. I couldn't take the accusations and mocking anymore. So, I went upstairs to take a nap. My ex-wife came up a couple of hours later to wake me for dinner. When she couldn't wake me, she went back downstairs. She came back about a half an hour later and tried again. When she still couldn't wake me, she began to panic. I could hear her clearly both times but I couldn't seem to wake up. As much as I tried I could open my eyes. My children heard her yelling to wake me and came into the room to find out what was wrong. When she told the kids that she couldn't wake me --these next memories still break my heart today -- my two kids went to their bedrooms and brought back something to sound in my ears. My daughter brought a whistle, and my son brought a Liberty Bell he had just gotten on a recent school trip. As hard as they could, they blew and rang. Believe me, I heard it very strongly. All this time I was screaming, "I want to open my eyes! Why can't I open my eyes!" My daughter call my sister, Susan, to come over to help. Believe it or not, my sister Judy, who lived 15 minutes away got there in five minutes; Susan lived only two. My sister tried to find the pulse in my neck but felt down too low, and said she couldn't find one.
     This next part of the history is a part I will never, ever forget. It is deeply ingrained in my sole for all time. And it is something that I pray I will never have to hear ever again, and that I will, prayerfully, never put anyone I love through ever again.
When my sister told my ex-wife and my children that she thought I was dead, all I could hear were the tears and despair that they were feeling. It was breaking my heart in a way that I cannot explain. All I know is that I was still there, alive, but why couldn't I open my eyes? I had to stop their belief. I was not dead! Whenever I think of that time, it brings tears to my eyes; and it still breaks my heart to remember the sound of my children believing I was gone.
     The paramedics came, tapped on my sternum, hard, five times, and brought me out of the fugue state that I was in. Unfortunately, my family's belief that I was gone eventually came true. In the emergency room, with members from both families standing around me, I declared that I wasn't coming home. I needed to get away and find out who I was, because I didn't know, and I needed to know for my life's sake. I had to leave to save my life. So, I left it all behind to save myself. Unfortunately, it was believed that I left home because I was having an affair. I will state here for all time and for all the world to hear (Jesus already knows the truth) that I was not then nor ever had an affair on my first wife. Never! And anyone who believes that I was is hearing lies from Satan himself. I have forgiven those who have approached me with that belief and who have tarnished my name in believing so. As I said, Jesus knows my life and my heart, and I will stand before Him with a clean conscience and a clean heart in that matter. Enough said.
     That December 1998, I went to a Parents Without Partners meeting to find something to do other than play video games and sit at home marking time. Went to a Christmas dance and had a little fun. In February 1999, PWP had a beginner's class (3 classes over 3 weeks). I wasn't there to meet anyone, it was just something else to do. Little did I know that Jesus was about to strike again! The day after the last class, I got a phone call from one of the women I met there named Rita. Rita told me that she never calls guys she didn't know, but something had prompted her to call and ask me out to lunch the next day. At lunch, (March 7th) we talked about our lives. I was a cheap date and only ordered fries and a coke. And then Rita said the Name Jesus. From that moment on --about an hour and a half -- the Spirit of God took over the conversation so much that Rita and I will tell you that we have no idea what was said for that entire time. On my way to the restaurant I had listened to Amy Grant's "All I Ever Have To Be" twice (Let me backtrack: In 1992 I had bladder cancer. I was not a Christian then but went out and bought all the Amy Grant tapes I could find only because she had appeared on a Peter Cetera solo album. That song struck a chord with me, and every time I played it I played it twice. It speaks about the fact that all we ever have to be is what God has made us to be.) Was it coincidence that it was the last thing I had heard before getting out of my car?
     As I drove home after saying goodbye, I listened to the song at least nine times. When I got home, I sat on my love seat for about two hours thinking about my life and the direction it was headed in, which was nowhere fast. On March 7th 1999, at 6:58 P.M., while Amy's song was playing over and over in my head, I began to sing it out loud. Within seconds, I hit the floor crying uncontrollably, and told Jesus to come into my life and to help me live it the way He wanted me to live it. I told Him that I was just a baby. Because the abuse had never let me grow up, I felt like a baby, and that He would have to tell me how to be an adult and a man. (Would you give a baby a mortgage, a job, children, a wife, etc...???) I had no idea how to do it. As I lay there giving my life over to Jesus, a wonderful, warm feeling started at the soles of my feet and slowly filled my body to the tip of my head. It was then that I knew that I had been forgiven and that the Holy Spirit had taken up residence in my heart, soul, and body.
     I got up off the floor a new creature, but not yet a man. Jesus and I are still working on that.
      I didn't write all of this so that you would look at Bobby and say, "Wow! What a struggle his life has been." I wrote this so that you can see where Jesus is in your life right now. He is there, right now, waiting for you to say the words. If your life is not where you want it to be; if your life has no peace; if your life is confusing and falling apart, then you need Jesus. If it had not been for Jesus pursuing me my whole life before I even knew He was there, I would be dead -- completely and finally dead. He and I want you to live, because life is worth living. But only if Jesus is in control of it. The Bible says that you have a choice -- death or life. The choice is up to you. I prefer that you chose Life.
     Thanks for listening.

     Remember, if you have any questions about my life or Jesus' work in it, I want you to ask. As I said, I am a transparent person. There is nothing I won't talk about. There is nothing to sensitive or too negative for me to talk about. As they say, "Been there, done that!" Wait until I start talking about childhood sexual abuse and you will see just how transparent I can be. It is possibly the hardest topic for people to talk about and one of the most devastating things that could ever happen to a person, let alone a child.
     See you next time.

What Are You Seeking?

Posted by Bobby Bruno on February 2, 2011 at 13:30

     You've been seeking fulfillment all of your life. Nothing on this Earth is satisfying to you anymore. You've searched and searched for years, bouncing between one thing after another: a material thing (car, house, clothes, job, etc...); pornography; a relationship with people you know you shouldn't get involved with (a married man or woman, for instance). The list is endless. Never in this world will you ever fully satisfy that empty place in your soul that you are longing to fill. Never!
     There is only one way to fulfill the greatest need that your heart has been longing for, and, believe it or not, it is the easiest thing you will ever be able to obtain in the entire universe. You don't have to work for it! You can't earn it! You won't have to struggle in any way to get it! You don't have to beg for it! You can't steal it! Why is this thing so easy to get into your life? Because all you have to do is simply ask for it. That's all! When you do you will receive it instantaneously -- even before you finish the asking! Nowhere will you ever find a treasure that is so easy to obtain in this world.
     Do you know that the Person you need to ask is standing right next to you eagerly awaiting for you to say the words? Do you know that He has been standing right beside you since the day you were born, and that He even knew what your birth date was going to be because He is the One who had it all planned? Who is this One who can ease (not eliminate) your wordly struggles, bring you great peace, and show you how to love everyone you know, including your enemies? Who is this One who will fill you with the faith and courage to ask for what He so wants to give you at this moment?
     Once you receive what this One wants to freely give you, your life will surely be filled with hope for the best future you could ever have, and give to you His love of which there is none greater anywhere in the universe, and then teach you how to love the whole world regardless of the chaos in it.
     His Name is Jesus Christ, Immanuel (God With Us), and Wonderful Counselor. In fact, there are two hundred and fifty-six names given to Jesus in the Bible. He is everything to everyone. He is God in the flesh who came to this Earth from His lofty position in Heaven to save everyone who would call on His name and seek His forgiveness and accept Him as their personal Lord and Savior.
     That's why obtaining God's gift of Salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ, is so easy! All you have to do is ask Him to come into your life and save you from your sins, and He will forgive of them all: past, present, and future.
     In this blog we will learn why we need Jesus Christ in our lives and why the world, or other people, cannot satisfy our need for true love and honest relationships. This can only come through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Only with Him will you find true lasting peace and forgiveness for your every sin. Only through Him will you find your needs met in a way you never once dreamed possible.
     First, we will look at Faith and why it is important in obtaining all Jesus wants to give us. Second, we will look at Hope and why our only real hope for peace and everlasting life can only be found in Jesus. And then, we will look at Love and why we can never know what true love is without having Jesus' love in us.
     It is my hope and prayer that you will stay with this blog so that you can know, as I do, what it really means to have life in abundance. I will share with you my testimony and experience of my life without and with Jesus. It is also my hope that you will the realization that you can't do life on your own in a world that looks out for number one.
     In my next post, I will tell you about myself, my life, and how Jesus came into it and turned it around where now I truly have peace in my life. I know that from my experiences with childhood sexual abuse, post-traumatic stress syndrome, bipolar syndrome and just plain old life that will find a freedom that you never thought you could have. It is a freedom that only Jesus can give you. He is alive! He is real. And He wants you to know Him. Let's find out together, shall we?

Are You Building Walls or People

Posted by Michael Mack on February 1, 2011 at 17:33

Are you being a good steward of your small group (or church, ministry, family, business ...)?

I've written about this before in reference to how you are discipling and shepherding the group God has put under your care (1 Peter 5:2). That's vital to leading a healthy small group or anything else. But there's even more to it than that.

How are you using all the gifts and abilities and passions of the people entrusted to you?

Today I went back and looked again at Nehemiah 3, which tells about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah's leadership. This whole chapter is a list of all the groups and individuals who worked on the walls and the gates. Nehemiah demonstrated his leadership by his ability to get people involved in the work. We do not know exactly how he "recruited" all these people, but we can see that he inspired them by the meaningfulness of the work. He got a wide variety of people involved: men and women, people of all ages, people who had a variety of skills and experiences. He involved priests and other religious and civic leaders. Nehemiah had a strategy: he had people working specific parts of the wall and gates, often right in front of their own homes. This was wise stewardship of their time, but it also gave them ownership of their parts of the wall.

Nehemiah had a task of building a wall, but his most important responsibility was to build up the people in the process.

If the walls of Jerusalem were that important, how much more significant is the work we do of making disciples of all nations?

Are you using the gifts and abilities and passions of the people in your small group, or are you trying to do all the work yourself?

How are you building up the people in your group, family, ministry, church, business?

See original blog post at http://smallgroupleadership.blogspot.com/2011/02/are-you-building-walls-or-people.html.

Ready for the Road Ahead 2-6-11

Posted by Ann H. LeFevre on February 1, 2011 at 11:54

Ready for the Road Ahead

I came across a sad confession the other day as I read through the postings of my friends on Facebook. A young father wrote of his feelings of failure in this life. I sensed his feelings were due to that measuring stick we call "The American Dream". A man is supposed to find himself a good job that pays well and allows him to acquire all the material pleasures of the good life- a home, a car, and of course, a big screen tv. It is a common feature of life in these United States. People are valuable if they own things of value.

What things are considered valuable today? The most valuable athlete in the world is Tiger Woods who has amassed $110 million over 13 years through his winnings, endorsements and business ventures. The most valuable home, owned by Mukesh Ambani, is a $1 billion skyscraper mansion called "Antilla" in Mumbai, India. The first 6 floors are a parking garage. The remainder of the 27 story building houses Mukesh, his wife, 3 children and 600 servants. The most valuable gem is a flawless, blue diamond estimated to be worth $4 million. The most valuable car (which can still be driven legally on the street) is a Bugatti Veyron. It costs only $1,700,000.

The psalmist warns us in Psalm 49 (vv. 16-20) to remember that wealth accumulated on this earth cannot be taken with us when we die. Our sense of value and accomplishment must be taken from a different criteria than that of the world. Oddly enough, the story of Cinderella illustrates what the Bible teaches. Cinderella's father had married a proud and haughty woman, who relegated Cinderella to servitude after he died. The "wicked" stepmother repeatedly told Cinderella that she was "common" and of little value. But when the prince enters the story, all that changes. The extent of the prince's love for Cinderella compels him to search the kingdom high and low until he finds her. His love demonstrates her value and he goes to great lengths to be reunited with her.

Jesus told a parable about the same kind of love in Luke 15 (vv.3-7). A shepherd with a large flock has lost one of his sheep. Rather than leave it in the wilderness to succumb to the elements, the shepherd searches out the lost sheep and brings the little wanderer back to the fold. This is a picture of God's love. He has gone to great lengths in expressing His love for us and demonstrating our value to Him (see Phil. 2:5-8).

Perhaps in these times of economic uncertainty it becomes easy to fall prey to calculating our value in terms of our earthly possessions and accomplishments as my friend on Facebook did. Maybe you have been having similar feelings. If those doubts should arise, remember, God so loved you, that He sent His Son to save you. The world and its value system may lead you to believe that you are common. That is not true! The prince has traveled throughout the kingdom to find you. The Shepherd has searched the wilderness to bring you home. There is no greater value than that.

Ready For the Road Ahead 1-30-2011

Posted by Ann H. LeFevre on February 1, 2011 at 11:52

Our church lists daily Bible readings on the back of our bulletin for those who want to read the Bible through the year. The pastor also preaches from one of these passages. This month we have begun Lamentations, which for many in our congregation, will be the first time they've read it. The following insert is designed to help them understand Hebrew poetry and to gain some insight on the background of this beautiful book.

If you've been following the Daily Bible Readings on the back of our bulletin, you may have noticed that we are alternating between Old and New Testament books. I know when I first began reading the Old Testament some books were easier to understand than others. I was drawn to books like Genesis, Jonah and Ruth because they contained stories about people that I could relate to. Books like Deuteronomy, Leviticus and Lamentations were less appealing because they were harder to understand. Perhaps you have encountered the same feelings. Don't give up! Here are some helpful points to take along on your journey through Lamentations*:

~ Other Ancient Near East writings lament the destruction of great cities. But unlike the Bible, these literary pieces attribute the loss of property, loved ones and income to capricious gods who temporarily lost interest in protecting the city. In contrast, the prophet Jeremiah sees that Judah's disregard of God's Law is what brought about its destruction. As you read through Lamentations notice how many times Jeremiah links the two.

~ Many times we place the Bible on a "spiritual bookshelf" all by itself. But like many great books, the Bible is literature. God has chosen to communicate His Word through the conventions of language. Therefore the Bible contains many genres of writing. Lamentations is a poetic book. Hebrew poetry is quite beautiful but sometimes hard to capture in English. It doesn't rhyme, rather, it builds concept upon concept, image upon image. So as you're reading, look for repeated ideas and images which are usually repeated in double or triple lines.

~ A lament is a specific type of poem. It reflects on deep, personal suffering as well as spiritual agony. The prophet Jeremiah probably wrote this lament shortly after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B. C. Although Jeremiah understands God's justice in carrying out His judgment on Jerusalem, he still mourns the loss of his beloved home. As you read, notice that Jeremiah might be intensely sorrowful, but he is not hopeless. He understands that hope lies in God's character alone.

~ Jeremiah is not the only person ever to encounter sorrow. Yet while his beautiful poetry speaks of an event that is foreign to most of us, the depth of his emotion speaks to anyone who has mourned over a tragic loss; a loved one, innocence, a job, a home, a piece of oneself. As you read through Jeremiah, keep in mind its immediate context, but let the poetry speak to the loss in your own heart. Remember, like Jeremiah, that hope lies in the character of God. He is the One who will console you in your time of sorrow.

* A great resource for anyone who wants to learn more about the books of the Bible is How to Read the Bible Book by Book by Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart, c.2002, Zondervan

Kingdom Conflict

Posted by Federico Aguelo on February 1, 2011 at 6:06

“If you make the tree good, its fruit will be good; and if you make a tree bad,

its fruit will be bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.”

-Matt 12:33

I never really studied this verse carefully. I was struck why its says “make the tree…” How can one make a tree good or bad? Obviously, the LORD YESHUA was not talking about a tree but alluding to a tree like a person. If so, He is saying that a third party can influence a person to go bad or good. Ultimately, you will know who influenced him by his lifestyle.

What is good and what is bad? Sounds like such a simple question but you might be surprised how many people today are hazy about the concept of good and bad. According to the LORD YESHUA, you will know what is good and what is bad by determining who influenced the character trait in the first place. The dead giveaway is the fruit of his mouth and his actions.

In the world, there are only two influencers that really matter. First, we have the infamous old Serpent popularly known as Satan. The LORD YESHUA called him the father of all liars and a murderer. When he speaks, he speaks from his very nature – evil. He is also known as the Accuser of the brethren. He imitates the practices of the Kingdom of GOD and turns it upside down. In the kingdom of darkness, the citizens are motivated by fear and live in bondage. They practice deceit and are very clever in devising wicked plans to foster their wickedness. They claim earth as their own and all its treasures. Satan even had the audacity to lie to the LORD YESHUA by claiming that all the kingdoms of the world and all its glory belong to him (Matt 4:8,9). The enemy is very fond of using the Scriptures, adulterate it with a lie; and offer it to people, especially believers, to deceive them to a mutually beneficial relationship. All who believe the devil will never get any eternal benefit but only temporary. The devil is especially expert in inflicting pain and calamity, making it look like it was GOD who did it.

The second influencer and only transformer is the HOLY SPIRIT. The LORD YESHUA said, “…no one is good except GOD alone!” (Mk 10:18). The third Person of the GODHEAD will only teach what is good and righteous and perfect. He is holy and will never lead anyone to anything that will defile them. Where the SPIRIT is, there is freedom - freedom to do the will of GOD and prosper. His ways are gentle and meek and He will take us by the hand so we will not stumble and will never let go. He guides us to walk by faith working through love. He teaches and reveals the Scriptures to us so that the Word becomes reality in our lives as we practice it. He highlights the promises of GOD that we need for the day as we meditate on the Scriptures so that we may be partakers of His divine nature through trusting in His faithfulness. He takes us through trials, providing the strength through hope and joy so that we do not become weary but go from strength to strength. He teaches us the Truth so that we will be set free to love ADONAI ELOHIM. He makes us know that “heaven belongs to ADONAI, but the earth He has given to humankind” (Ps 115:16). BUT most of all, the HOLY SPIRIT points our focus on the only true GOD, YHWH, to whom all the honor, glory and dominion belongs!

Whose voice do you listen to? Do you know Him enough to know which spirit or SPIRIT is talking to you? The LORD YESHUA said, “By their fruit you shall know them.” When the disciples of John the Baptist asked YESHUA, “Are you the Messiah or shall we look for another one?” He replied, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind received sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them” (Matt 11:3-5). The badge of Truth always comes with the power of ADONAI ELOHIM to deliver those who are in bondage, physically and spiritually.

When you hear the Truth, it shall set you free!

מלאך

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