Truth or Not?

I've been told I preach hard, a friend of mine likes to tell me I'll never have crowds following me to hear me preach. And to be honest that's okay with me, my concern isn't with whether people are going to like what I say, or if they will come back but with whether what I say is in line with scripture. I believe, truth is truth, and when we listen to someone preaching or teaching the question we have to ask ourselves is this, "does what they are saying line up with God's word?" and if it doesn't reject it, if it does then if we are truly His disciples the only choice we have is to listen and obey it, not because some preacher said so but because Gods word said so. I want to be, and I want everyone who ever listens to me to be like the Bereans who Scripture says "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." (Acts 17:11) way to often we go to church and listen to a sermon, maybe even say amen to it, but then leave church and forget all about it, sadly we even do this when reading Gods word. Even worse many people don't even open there bibles accept on rare occasions and at church (if there churches don't have PowerPoint, otherwise they don't even open them at church). Now most of us who call ourselves Christians would say we love Jesus but He says John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. (see also John 14:21, 1 John 2:4, 1John 5:3) yet many people don't even know what His commandment are or worse know them but don't think He meant them. Jesus said "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46) I think Jesus would ask most of us the same question, I know it is a question He has been asking me a lot lately. And yes He does tell us to study scripture 2 Timothy 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." or Psalm 1:1-2 "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." so today I want to challenge you, have you been spending time in God's word are you hiding God's word in your heart (Psalm 119:11) are you allowing God's word to be the light for your path (Psalm 119:35) when you hear someone talk about the things of God, do you ask "does scripture support this?" and if it does do you take it as if God said it, or do you shrug it off as something some preacher or fellow Christian said?

Living In The Days Ahead

There is a song that has really been challenging and encouraging me a lot lately, it's by a group called 33 Miles and the song is "What Could Be Better" if you haven't heard it yet I encourage you to go to YouTube and check it out. (33 Miles - What Could Be Better) for the past two weeks I've been reading and re-reading Philippians and there have been a few things God has been teaching. I heard this song for the first time in the car a few weeks ago and I knew God was speaking to me that I needed to start living in the days ahead, that I need to live with a eternal mindset. And then as I was reading Philippians 3:18-19 "(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)" look at who the Holy Spirit says are enemies of the cross those "who mind earthly things". As I read Philippians these words seemed to jump off the page at me and instantly God brought Colosians 3:1-3 "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." to mind. There are times when you read Gods word and something catches your attention, a answer to a question or confirmation and there are times God shows you something and we give our assent to it but it stops there as head knowledge, but then there are times when God just has you keep reading and re-reading the same thing. (at least for me) As I kept reading these verses something happened it went from a head knowledge to heart knowledge, as I read it the first few times I was nodding my head and thinking this is so true, but as I kept reading it became more than a simple truth to be agreed with it was as if this truth flooded my heart. My treasure is in heaven, and it's the greatest treasure in the world, yet so many times I have put my affections on the things of this world. I have chased the American dream "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" so many times instead of chasing the high calling of Christ Jesus. We make jokes about Christians looking like they sucked on a pickle or drank lemon juice for communion because there is so many Christians without joy, and i believe a big reason for this is our affections are in the wrong place. When our treasure is Knowing Jesus (Jeremiah 9:24) when we look forward with earnest expectation to the day we will see Him face to face what joy should fill our soul. Jesus put it this way Matthew 6:19-21 "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.". So many times we struggle to give up the cares of this world, the movies or music we like, the unforgiveness or anger we hold unto, the fear that keeps us from obedience. All because we have put our affections on our popularity, our money, our comfort, and our pleasure, but when we have truly put our affections on Jesus we can give up anything for Him and feel like we are making a good deal. And this is precisely where many of us miss it we give stuff up for Jesus but we don't really believe we made a good deal and so it's hard to have a real joy about it. Matthew 13:44 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." So from now on I'm living in the days ahead, and I can't stop celebrating in my soul, nothing on earth could ever compare, I can't wait for the day I get there, when I see Jesus face to face, tell me WHAT COULD BE BETTER!!!!!!

My Son's Testimony

If you have been reading my blog you know that God has been dealing with me a lot on the issue of trusting Him, especially with my family. Last Wednesday the kids were down for the night, when all of a sudden my son started crying and I mean really crying, we ran to his room to see what was the matter and all he would say was he hurt, as he sat on my lap I tried to get him to tell me what hurt, and all he would do is cry. Thinking it was probably a upset stomach I ran out to get him some Seven-Up, when I got back he was still crying, my wife said she thought his stomach felt really hard and thought maybe it was appendicitis, as I sat on the chair holing him and praying, I'll be honest there was a real battle going on in my head, was it appendicitis or just a tummy ache, I kept trying to get him to tell me what hurt but his eyes seemed a little glassy and he just couldn't seem to focus enough to answer he just kept crying. As I rocked him and prayed for him after about thirty minutes he dozed off but he wasn't asleep for more than five minutes before he was up crying again over and over this went on fifteen to thirty minutes of crying, a few minutes of sleep. A few times his breathing got really raspy like he was having a asthma attack. By midnight I was really struggling I can't explain all that I was feeling but when your holding your son knowing something is wrong, but no idea what, your mind begins to work overtime. And as I prayed for him, a battle raged in my mind, should I take him to the hospital, or trust God totally for his healing. I'll be honest that this should probably be a easy question, but in light of the churches (myself included) track record it wasn't. I kept thinking we prayed for mom, we prayed for Malachi, and yet they were not healed. as this battle was going on in my head another one was going on in my heart, for the last few weeks I had been studying the story of Abraham and Isaac, and how Abraham so totally trusted God with his son. What I was going through was nothing like what God asked of Abraham but let me tell you the battle inside me over whether or not I would trust God with my son was still intense. Would I trust God with my son no matter what happened, would I choose to love God and follow Him even if the unthinkable happened. I know this all probably sounds crazy, I didn't even know there was something seriously wrong with my son so why I was even thinking thoughts like this I'm not sure, but what I know was that at two in the morning these thoughts were very real. As I prayed I began to pour my heart out to God, I told Him I loved Him that I would choose to trust Him no matter what, that I believed He was the Lord our healer, that I knew the fear wasn't from Him but it was still very real for me. I told Him how much I loved and needed my son and that I really wanted to believe, I asked Him to increase my faith to help me with my unbelief. I told Him that I knew He was not only able to heal my son but willing to heal him and that even though I didn't have all the answers for why mom and Malachi were not healed, I trusted His Word. I have no idea what was wrong with my son, all I know was he spent most of the night crying, that he would go from burning up to being cold, that one minute he wanted to be held and the next minute he didn't want anything touching him, that at times he sounded like he was having a asthma attack and sometimes it was a struggle to get him to focus when I asked him a question. I have no idea if it was something very serious or not, but this is what I know I have never been as scared for my family as I was that night, and what I know is that in those hours between midnight and four in the morning, my son needed a healing and I needed God and He gave us both exactly what we needed! Praise God we both fell asleep sometime after four and the next day my son was tired but all the symptoms were gone, whether it was something serious or not doesn't matter to me, but as for me and my family we will continue to praise God because we are forever grateful for God's healing touch big or small. THANK YOU JESUS !!!!