Bad stuff.....it happens

Bad stuff will happen in our lives. A question I get about faith in God, if God is all knowing, all powerful, why would he allow bad stuff to happen? I wish I had answer for why bad stuff happens, it would be a lot easier to talk to people about faith. At the same time, could you imagine life if nothing bad ever happened? How would life look if nothing bad ever happened? Sports would stink, would we ever have an ending in sports? Not that I ever want bad things to happen, what would happen if only good stuff would happen?

Paul spent a chunk of 1 Thessalonians talking about the end times and what would happen in these times. The Thessalonians were new in faith. They weren’t sure and were nervous about the end times/when Jesus would comeback. Paul spent the majority of chapter 4 and half of chapter 5 talking about these end times. One of the last verses of this section of scripture was 1 Thessalonians 5:9…

“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

God is not sitting up in heaven like a kid with a magnifying glass at ants lighting them on fire. God want to bring comfort to the people. Whenever then end times happen, people do not need to be wondering what is going to happen. There is no need to worry when you have faith in Jesus.

Put it this way. Where are you with your relationship with Jesus? Do you worry about what would happen in the end times? Do you worry what would happen if you past away suddenly and where you would go? What about your family/friends/loved ones? If you are worried, know that the only answer is Jesus. If you are wondering what this entails, talk to me or someone you know that follows Jesus. We can explain what it truly means to follow Jesus.

Have a great day.

Dying sucks, but it doesn't have too

Dying sucks, but it doesn’t have too

A death sometimes isn’t a death. Death sometimes feels like it’s all around us. We have lost people close to us, some expected and some unexpected. From my 35 years of life on earth, there is a major difference going to funerals. The difference is when I go to a Christian funeral compared to a (lack of a better term) normal funeral.

Now if you have lost someone close to you, I am so sorry, but please let me explain the difference between the two.

Paul shares these two verses in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14: “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” There is a difference in death.

This was shared in the Bible Knowledge Commentary, “Paul wanted the Thessalonians to be neither ignorant nor grieving like the rest of men, that is, like unbelievers, over the death of fellow believers. Christians do grieve over the loss of loved ones; this is a normal human experience which even Jesus shared (John 11:35). But the grief of Christians differs from that of unbelievers, for the latter have no hope of bodily resurrection to glory with Christ (1 Thes. 4:16). Two reasons why Christians should not grieve like unbelievers are that Christians have a revelation from God that gives them hope and they have a glorious future with Christ. Just as certainly as Jesus died and was resurrected by the Father, so God will unite the resurrected dead in Christ with their Savior at His coming.^[1]

Hope. It’s a completely different feeling when you are certain the person passing away is a Christian, the room has a calming presents that it’s hard to explain. The grief is more a feeling of joy then anything else. If you have someone that has passed away and you feel like they were far away from Jesus. I am sorry for that, but know that you have the opportunity to come close to Jesus today. Eternal life is avavliable through everyone who gives their life over to Jesus. You can have hope that you never had before with faith in Jesus. Don’t be afraid to ask someone what it takes to have faith in Jesus or what faith in Jesus is all about. If you do have faith in Jesus, be free to share this message with others today.

Have a great day.

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^[1] Thomas L. Constable, “1 Thessalonians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 703–704.

Good people can go to hell

There are plenty of good people that are headed for Hell. Maybe not today or tomorrow but later on down the road because of wrong ideas of what gets you to Heaven. I was going to be one of them.

I grew up Catholic and was made sure that we attended Church at least on Easter and Christmas (We did attend a lot more and I went to Catechism until fourth grade). After elementary school we attended church at everything from a Catholic church to a predominantly black pentecostal church. I knew who Jesus and God were but I gave up on Church mentally. I thought everyone was a hypocrite, lived one way on Sunday and different the rest of the week. I believed in Jesus, but didn't go much further then that.

I thought faith was so much more then believing in Jesus. I figured there was a scale that mattered. If I did more good deeds then bad deeds, not only would that show up the people that claimed faith, it would gain favor in the eyes of God. So in high school, I rarely drank, never smoked, never had sex and tried to be nice and a good person to everyone. I didn't think I had any enemies and never tried to make enemies. Certainly I was way ahead of some of my so called Christian friends that partied, tried to have sex with everyone, drank like a fish and smoked anything they could get their hands on. I was better then them. Man was I wrong.

God tells us this in Romans 10:1-4...
"Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.  For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."

We can think we know what gets us to heaven, but it could be our own understanding. The Scripture above tells us the people of Israel at the time were zealous, "the God intoxicated people." They might have been for God but not for God. They thought they had their understanding of faith and it was not right. The majority of them did not believe in Christ. Therefore they thought the good things they were doing and the rules they were following (Obeying the 600+ rules God/Pharisees gave) were the way to live. They were wrong.

Faith in Jesus gets you to heaven and it's the only way. Israel did not submit to God and acknowledge who Jesus was. The result would be a tough pill to swallow at death, Hell. This is one of the biggest lies today and a lie I believed for a long time. Just because you are a good person doesn't mean you will go to heaven. If you think you are going to Heaven because you know of Jesus, shoot, the devil knew who Jesus was and what he did, yet he won't be in Heaven. A lot of peole in Israel missed this, but you don't have too.

A drinker, smoker and someone who had a ton of pre-martial sex changed my thinking on faith. This friend was a Christian and went to church every week when I didn't. He told me Church is about worshipping God and Jesus. Everyone who goes to Church is messed up in one way or another because we all sin. He told me God expects us to be perfect. I couldn't grasp this. We aren't perfect people I told him. Exactly he responded. He went on to tell me this is was Jesus did, he died on the Cross for you and your sins/mistakes, when you have faith in Jesus you accept who Jesus is as your personal Lord and Savior he covers the area you fall short and as a result you get to go to heaven. I remember telling them, "I'm a good person." He told me, "Not good enough."

It took a little while before this sank in. Finally on November 5, 2000. I finally got the point and was baptized. I realized something a lot of Israelites didn't, Jesus paid the price for my sins on the cross and he was my savior. He died for me. Recognizing this and having faith in him allowed me to go to Heaven. No matter what good things you have done, it's not good enough, God wants to see perfection when you have your one on one meeting with him after your earthly life ends.

Faith isn't about doing more good deeds then bad deeds, it's about a relationship with Jesus.  What is your relationship with Jesus? Who is he to you? Christ wants to take you in, but you have to make the decision. The ball is in your court, what are you going to do with it? If you never made that decision, find someone you can talk to about this. If you have friends that have struggled with this, maybe God intended you to be the person they would talk to about this.

Have a great day.

I’m going to kill you Lloyd!

You had two pairs of gloves?

Yeah…

It’s the Rockies.

Thus the reason Harry wanted to kill Lloyd in Dumb and Dumber. (Super excited for the sequel).

I have had a lot of people try to do things to me or get me to do things…

·         Tried to eat food I wouldn’t normally eat
·         Tried to get me on rollercoasters that I wouldn’t dare go on
·         Tried and sometimes very successfully prank me
·         Tried to get me fired from a job.

I have been through some stuff, chances are some of the things you have been through are like this maybe a little easier maybe a lot harder.

There is one thing I have yet to face, someone trying to kill me (That I know of).

This was something Paul in the book of Acts had to go through.

Acts 23:14…

“They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul.”

Dude.

I have never had anyone have a threat like this.

Paul went through whatever it took to follow Jesus with his message.

People weren’t happy with that.

Death was something he faced multiple times in his life.

If you feel like today isn’t going great or you had a bad couple of months remember, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

Paul faced death numerous times.

Sometimes it’s going through the hard times to go in the right direction.

If you are struggling, hang on, you can make it through.

Jesus loves you and wants the best for you.

Faith in Jesus can  and will get you through so much.

Sometimes life is not easy, but Jesus can help you through it.

Hang on.

Have a great day.

Would you want to know how you would die?

Weird question but interesting.

I don’t know if I would like to know how I would die.

Not when but how you would die.

It’s like knowing when the Lions are going to win the Super Bowl.

They will win it this year but past this year, who knows.

If I find out they wouldn’t win another Super Bowl till 2035, would I pay attention?

Would the thrill be gone?

That’s football, this is death.

I don’t think I would want to know how I would die.

Yet, this is what Jesus tells Peter in the final section of John.

Chapter 21:18-19…

“I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.  Then he said to him, “Follow Me.”

Stretch out your hand was another way of saying, crucifixion.

If you don’t know what crucifixion is (According to Wikipedia)….

Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead. The length of time required to reach death could range from hours to days depending on method, the victim's health, and the environment. Death could result from any combination of causes, including blood loss resulting in hypovolemic shock, sepsis following infection due to the wounds caused by the nails or by the scourging that sometimes preceded the crucifixion, or eventual dehydration.

I couldn’t imagine being told this was how I was going to die.

Yet this is what Jesus told Peter and Peter still followed him.

He believed in Christ and his mission.

This trumped the painful death he knew he would know receive.

Would you still follow a person if he said you are going to die a painful death by following me?

Peter did.

How can I believe Jesus was real and worth following?

Peter.

Peter came through and died in a horrible way for a cause he believed in.

People suffered painful, agonizing deaths because of their faith in Jesus.

Why do I believe in Christ?

These people were told you can live good lives if you lie about Jesus, him being raised from the dead and his miracles.

They choose the painful deaths.

Jesus brings good news to those without any hope.

He did for me and he does for you.

We know he did this because people gave their lives for the mission of Christ.

What would you give your life for?

Have a great day.

Final moment

A moment comes when life ends for us all.

I feel like talking about death has main my main focus lately.

With the students at Union Christian we have went through two series, Hell and Heaven.

Through this I have focused a lot of my study time focusing on scripture with these two focuses along with reading a couple of books…

Heaven is For Real

Erasing Hell
90 Minutes in Heaven

As I wrap up this series I have been reading through the end time of Christ.

It’s sad to read through and hear all of the pain he went through.

At the end there was a special Sabbath, so they tried to speed up the killings on the cross.

In order to do this, they broke the legs of the people.

They broke the first two legs of the people, when they came to Jesus, this was written in John 19:33-35…

“But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.  The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true.  He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.”

Jesus died.

This is huge because certain people/religions claim it wasn’t Jesus or he wasn’t killed.

In order to make sure Jesus was dead, they pierced his side.

This went along with scripture written much earlier (Exodus 12:46, Num. 9:12 and Psalm 34:20) about a sacrifice in which Jesus was for each one of us.

Death is crazy and interesting.

I mourn a little every time I ready the crucifixion and death story of Jesus.

I believe it to be true and make be a little sad with the fact he died and was a sacrifice for my sins and struggles.

How many people would die for you?

Maybe some family and friends would step up.

In Jesus’ case, he died for each and every one of us, suffered a painful death for our sins.

Reading through scripture on death, Heaven and Hell, open me up to perspective.

Jesus died for me and he died for you.

First thought in my mind is why would Jesus die for someone unworthy as myself?

This is where grace steps in.

Even though we make a ton of mistakes, Jesus forgives and loves us.

He did this by dying on the cross.

When we recognizes this have faith and live our lives for Jesus we are given eternal life.

What a gift for some unworthy people.

As much as I mourn and feel guilt for Jesus dying for a sinner like me, I rejoice and praise God.

I know I am going to heaven because of Jesus, that is such a relief.

Do you know if are going?

Do you know that Jesus died for you?

Have a great day.

When grandma and grandpa die we get the cottage

There are things I said in the past I question what I said now.

My brother Zach and I were 11 and 13.

We were spending the whole week at our grandpa and grandmas cottage.

We were hanging out and having a good time, but once every while grandpa would tick us off.

One day he started working on an addition to the cottage.

My brother and I didn’t have any experience with that kind of stuff so we just tried to stay out of the way.

We were playing hockey or football when he yelled at us, “You stay at our place all week, eat all our food and enjoy everything we have but you can’t even help me out with this project.”

My grandpa was ticked and even after we started to help him out, he was a jerk to us.

As young kids often do, we were mad back at him and were pretty ticked.

So after a while we were driving off somewhere and Zach and I were talking in the back seat.

We decided to speak up to our grandpa in this way…

“Grandpa and grandma, we decided that when you die and we get the cottage, we are going to tear apart what you are building right now and most likely put up a ramp for us to skate on.  We are going to tear up your flower bed and most likely put a pool there because you never take care of your beach in front of your cottage.  We are going to make this place sweet.”

Other than sweet my grandmas jaw drop, my grandpa commented, “What makes you think you will get this place?”

We commented back, “We you will give it to our parents and eventually they will give it to us, but we want to make sure you know that what you have built we are just going to tear down about 15 years after you die.”

I really don’t remember what happen after that or what was said.  I know I did not get backhanded for what I said though.

We felt at the time we made peace with the situation and were fine with it.

Looking back at it now, I can’t believe our grandpa didn’t just beat the snot out of us.

Sometimes what we do and say look really bad when we look back with some perspective.

There was some interesting perspective with Jesus dying on the cross.

The people were dividing his clothes while he was alive.

John 19:23-24…

“When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining.  This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decided by lot who will get it.”
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said,
“They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”
So this is what the soldiers did.”

They divided up peoples clothes before he was even dead.

Man, I thought was I said was messed up and I look at this.

Not only does it go in detail what they are doing in front of a dying man, it fulfilled scripture in the book of Psalm written hundreds of years earlier.

This was pretty harsh what they did to Jesus at this time.

What my brother and I said to our grandma and grandpa was pretty harsh.

Sometimes we do things and not even realize what we do.

The Bible predict Jesus would get treated like this.

Sometimes we get treated bad and wonder why God would allow us to get treated like this?

We all face pain and trouble at times.

What makes us is not what we do in those situation but how we respond.

I couldn’t imagine what happened to Jesus happening to me.

Jesus sacrificed a lot for us.

He teaches me that there are times I have been very mean and wrong in the past and that influences me to show grace and forgiveness to people today.

Jesus did the same for us.

I am glad my grandparents showed me grace when I was younger otherwise I could really regret saying those things to someone I love.

How about you?

You ever say or do something you regret in the past and has that change who you are today?

Have a great day.

"There is nothing like an odor to stir memories" -William McFee

If smells could kill, this would take the cake.

There are things that just smell awful.

For the longest time, I never realized how bad my hockey equipment smelled.

I know, pretty surprising right?

It smelled awful and there was nothing I can do about it.

Some hockey equipment you just can’t wash, and a spray was the only thing to knock out the smell.

Sometimes that is the way it goes.

I loved hockey and never minded the smell.

There are things that just smell bad that you have to deal with.

As a parent I would have to deal with changing dirty diapers and sometimes that was just plain brutal, Esp. formula diapers.

When you think of bad smells, what do you think of?

What are some bad smells to you (comment with them)?

From the last section, I wrote about Jesus talking with Mary and Martha after their brother Lazarus died.

He has been dead for days and was in a tomb covered in front by a rock.

Jesus told them to move the rock away.

They tried to tell him how bad it was going to smell.

I couldn’t grasp how bad this smell would have been.

They didn’t know why Jesus wanted this done.

Jesus told them this before and after they moved the stone in John 11:40-42…

“Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”  So they took away the stone.  Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

If you would believe, you can see some amazing things. 

Jesus then prays, no matter how much we know or don’t know our father in heaven he still listens to us.

Lazarus was dead for four days and Jesus said this line, “Lazarus, come out!”

Lazarus got up and walked out.

I couldn’t have imagined how bad he would have smelled, but after seeing a man dead for four days walk out of a grave, I don’t think they cared.

Sometimes in life we go through bad situations that are just awful just like that awful smell you think of.

My kids are amazing, I love them to death.

I dealt with changing dirty diapers for something that gives me so much joy laughter and teaches me how to be a better person.

The ladies had faith in Jesus and that brought them out of a bad situation that smelled really bad.

Jesus delivers us, through the worst for something truly great.

What do you put up with?

Why do you put up with it?

Is it worth it in the end?

Through all the good and the bad, through the best and the worst, faith in Jesus is worth it all.

What do you think?

Have a great day.

Become what you believe

Actions and words don’t always go hand and hand.

We are often people that like to say our actions represent the words that we say.

It isn’t always the truth.

Facebook and Twitter are full of people spouting off of the mouth and recanting what they say.

Sometimes our words our justified and respected.

Other times, we speak what we believe is right and some people speak bad about that view.

Sometimes we say things we regret and take off later.

What is worth standing up for?

Certain views are accepted and other views are not.

What’s ok with you?

For me being a Christian, one question that pops in my head when hearing subject of gay marriage, funding for different organizations like CPC or Planned Parenthood etc is the question is this Biblical?

If I am trying to live out my faith and what I claim to be true, is what is say what I believe.

Become what you believe (Matthew 9:29 in The Message Bible).

The message Jesus portrays is done in a loving way, but also is very blunt.

Jesus gives a tough teaching point in John 6:25-59.

Afterwards those close to him said this in verse 60, “This is a hard teaching.  Who can accept it?”

Jesus replies in verses 61-64…

“Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.  The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.  Yet there are some of you who do not believe.”

If you have faith in Jesus, this is hard to grasp.

Is what you believe and say a representation of your faith?

What’s your view on…

·         Capital punishment
·         Abortion
·         Gay marriage
·         Sex before marriage
·         Politics
·         Jesus being risen from the dead

If we claim faith in Jesus, our views can and hopefully do represent what Christ thinks.

Sometimes what we say with our faith represents the good behind the world.

Sometimes what we say and represent with our words is harsh and mean spirited.

This doesn’t give us right to be mean and say harsh things, but we have to in a way keep it real.

Sometimes our views and thoughts are wrong and said not in a loving way.

Some of the harshest lessons in my life were things that need to be said that I 100 percent opposed at the time.

What side you do take?

Become what you believe.

Have a great day.

Is Osama as dead as Elvis?

Are they alive or dead…
Elvis?
Tupac?
Hitler?
Jim Morrison?
Andy Kaufman?
Osama Bin Laden?
Jesus?

Facebook and twitter had been blown out of proportions with this revelation.

Osama is dead, and people’s different reactions to it.

How do we know he died?

I was watching TV last night when it got interrupted with news on Laden dying.

I heard he was shot in the head.

Did I see this happen….no.

I don’t have DNA proof it was Osama.

I haven’t seen a body yet, but I trust the news sources.

What do we believe?

Who do we choose to believe?

This goes beyond Osama dying.

Some people believe that Elvis is still alive and kicking.

People hosted a party for Andy Kaufman at the 20 year anniversary of his death, because he always wanted to stage his own death.

Everyone has their own opinion on Osama dying and whether this is a good thing or not.

Baseball crowds starting yelling USA! USA! USA! When the crowd found out.

Everyone dies.

It’s a fact of life, even those who are rumored to have lived past their death die.

Except one.

Jesus.

Jesus had eye witnessed account that he was dead and three days later he was alive again.

Nobody…

Nobody has been able to do this.

People were shocked, a cover up was in place saying Jesus was dead, but people showed he was alive again.

Not only is Jesus the only one who came back after dying, he tells us this in John 6:40…

“For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

What do you believe?

Is Elvis or Osama dead?

Jesus was proven to be alive after he was physically dead.

This is what Christianity and my faith is based on.

I believe there are enough credible sources to prove Osama is dead, I believe the same with Jesus.

Through Jesus being raised from the dead, and living my life for my live for him in faith, I will have eternal life.

What do you choose to believe?

What would happen if you were wrong?

While all the people at the top of the list are proven dead, Jesus is not.

Do you trust this?

Have a great day.