Being good isn't good enough

In high school, I didn’t sleep around, spend time partying all the time and doing other illegal things some high school kids did, but I was far from innocent. I cussed non stop, was very inappropriate with my language and often went for jokes that easily crossed the line. While I wasn’t horrible, I was far from being a saint.

I felt like I was a good person, wrong. I still did things daily that were sins. Even though I thought daily my good outweighed my bad, it wasn’t good enough in God’s eyes. It never is good in God’s eyes without Jesus.

Colossians 2:13-14…

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”

The cross was a game changer. No matter what, we are bad in God’s eyes. The only way that is corrected is with Jesus. All of our sins, mistakes, false steps and failures are all washed away when we give our life to Jesus. This is what it takes to get to heaven.

No matter how good we think we are, it’s not good enough. Jesus is an eternal life changer, but only when we give everything over to him.

Where are you with Jesus? What steps do you need to make to be closer to him?

Have a great day.

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.

You think you’re better than me

Who rules? O’Doyle rules! O’Doyle rules! O’Doyle rules! If you have no idea what I am talking about…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsNgRmsx-14

A family thought they had it best, sadly their run came to a tragic end. You could say, that’s not me. I never did anything like that. While it’s just a movie, there is enough bullying you have experience in one of three ways, as the bully, the bullied or the stand by guy (Person who just watches but doesn’t do anything about it). Who is at fault more, the bully or the one who stands by and doesn’t nothing about it? Either way, it’s still wrong.

What makes one wrong better then another one? Paul talks a lot in chapter 3 of Romans about sin and how we all sin. I am not perfect. I am not Jesus, yet I live my life for him. Christians have a tendency to struggle with different sins and yet are completely judgmental against other sins. We pick and choose what is the deeper sin. Some might say…

·         I might smoke but I never watch rated R movies
·         I get drunk once every while but I have never done drugs
·         I look at porn but I didn’t have sex before marriage
·         I lie and gossip but I always encourage people when I see them face to face

Hypocrisy can look different in someone else’s eyes. This is a point Paul brings up in Romans 3:19ish-20 (The Message), “And it’s clear enough, isn’t it, that we’re sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin.”

Just because you claim God and Jesus doesn’t mean you are perfect. Christians should never come across as perfect. One of the sad stories you hear is when a couple with kids goes to get divorced or live in a sham of a marriage and nobody has a clue. People are shocked and have no clue. Why? With all of the Sunday School, small groups, life groups, c groups and whatever else groups Church’s come up with, if you’re not honest, it doesn’t create true community. People put on a show that they have it all together, I noticed the one’s that think they have it all together are usually the opposite when people aren’t around.

There is a book for parents with young kids Everyone Poops, there could be one titled Everyone Sins. Paul makes sure we understand this from the greatest to the least, everyone sins. If you think you are better than anyone else, you are wrong. If you’re a Christian you are still a sinner. Shoot, Christians are attacked more because you know some things you do are sins.

Just like a bully, you can be wrong for being a bully and wrong for not doing anything to stop a bully. Generally, no one sin in greater than any other. You are not a greater person then your neighbor. So get of the judgmental horse and have a huge piece of humble pie. Rather than being so quick to judge others, what are ways you can improve as a person? Maybe it’s time to be honest with someone, or to quit judging and focus on getting something that is wrong with you right. You can’t expect others to improve when you aren’t even willing to improve yourself. You are a sinner just like everyone else, so there are still things in life you can improve. Don’t judge, just focus on what you can improve in.

Have a great day.

Facebook, homosexuality, gay marriage, judgmental Christians, who are we trying to represent?

It’s just not fair.

Facebook has been an interesting place lately.

It seems like it can be ok to be friends with someone until you say something they disagree with.

My friend David Vang put a saying up on Facebook, “Yes I am a Christian. No, I don’t think that makes me better than anyone.”

With politics, Chick-Fil-A, gay marriage and any other hot topic subject, sharing your view might not be accepted and you could be considered judgmental.

A couple of times I have shared on these subjects and some of the responses I get back aren’t positive.

It happens.

What the problem is, if people don’t share your exact view, you’re not ok with them.

I have seen where Christians have been bold with this and say, “I am just sharing the truth of God and I don’t care what other people think, God needs to be lifted up.”

While there is truth to this, it’s not always done in love.

I have heard people say Christians just persecute me for my views.

Don’t forget, Christians are the number 1 persecuted group in the world.

Just for wearing a cross or admitting you’re a Christian can be instant cause for death.

I am extremely sorry if you feel that Christians just persecute you.

Not all Christians are like that.

Sometimes you might miss the point of what we/Christians are trying to say.

Sometimes we say things in the wrong way.

This happens throughout history.

I shared yesterday about Paul being beat and people beating him without knowing why.

In Acts 21:38, we find out what they think of Paul…

“Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the desert some time ago?”

In other words, they had no idea who Paul was and what he represented.

Yet they still felt the needed to beat him up and they thought he was a different person.

Paul represented Jesus, and tried to share the message of Jesus with everyone.

Yet they thought he started a revolt and led 4,000 terrorist?

They didn’t know who Paul was.

Sometimes we don’t understand people and we are misunderstood.

As a Christian, I am sometimes misunderstood for what I represent.

This is who I am….

A sinner, full of mistakes, a father, husband to a (smoking hot wife), Christian, hypocrite, depressed, sad, happy, mellow, laid-back, goofy and  not perfect.

As a Christian, I live by the Bible.

I would love to say that everyone gets to go to heaven and no matter how good or bad you have been. I will see you in heaven.

That is me, but I have to submit to what the Bible says.

The Bible says the only way to heaven is through faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

As a Christian we follow the Bible and try to let that lead our lives.

We are not always the best at communicating that.

According to the Bible, homosexuality is a sin, just like masturbation with lust, looking at porn, adultery, lust and every other sexual sin.

This does not mean I don’t want to be friends or we can’t still show love to each other.

Our first commandment is to show love to everyone, no matter what their views are or how they vote.

If I did not hang out with people because they sinned, I couldn’t even hang out with myself.

I am full of errors and sin.

I believe living for Jesus, is not living for my view on the world but his.

What do you think?

Who or what do you live for?

Have a great day.

At the Car Wash

I have a hidden and weird desire.

It’s to wash my car.

For the life of me I can’t figure out why I love to get my car washed.

If I could, I would get it washed every week.

It’s really too bad I can’t.

We usually get our vehicles washed about twice a year.

There is just something about having a clean car that looks nice to me.

It’s great to get all the dirt away and look nice and shiny.

Even when it’s a town and country minivan with 210,000 miles on it.

It’s nice when it’s a vehicle but it’s even nicer when we get clean.

I am talking about more than a shower or cleaning dirt off.

There are sins and mistakes that we are bathed in.

We are people that struggle, continue to make the same mistakes over and over again and move forward.

Peter told this to the people that doubted in the man that was healed in the first section of Acts 3 and how they were full of mistakes.

Just like us today, they were people that were stuck making mistakes.

This is what Peter said to the people in Acts 3:19…

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that ties of refreshing may come from the Lord.”

Sins being wiped out.

It makes me think about a windshield wiper cleaning off a ton of bugs on the windshield.

Sometimes it takes three or four times of spraying and wiping before that bug is not there.

Imagine if it just took one cleaning in order to be clean.

This is what Jesus offers us.

Repent is turning away from sin and those previous mistakes.

Turn to God, focus on him instead of the problem.

Sins are then wiped away.

Now you are free.

Faith can be so complex sometimes but this is pretty clear.

Turn away from your problem, turn towards God, problems in the past are gone and live a new live.

There isn’t that many people that have a standing offer to change you for the better if you just accept them.

Jesus offers that opportunity.

I would like to get my car wash.

More importantly, I would like to clean up my life to make it better.

What about you?

Could you use a second chance?

A chance to make things right?

To improve and not hold guilt in?

Today is a beautiful day.

Carpe diem.

Stubborn as a mule

We are stubborn.

We often have the abilities to make lives better and happier but we choose not to.

Why?

Because we are mad, angry and not so forgiving.

We could be, but we aren’t sometimes.

Why do we have trouble forgiving other people?

We feel hurt, angry and mad.

Sometimes we just have trouble to forgive other people.

Some of the hardest times of my life weren’t what I went through, but forgiving people that have hurt me deeply.

I grew up in a house with abuse going on, witnessing my parents getting in a fist fight in front of us (My siblings and I).

One time, they were arguing in the kitchen while I was sweeping the kitchen floor.

My mom was angry and yelled at my dad, “Why don’t you just have another beer that always seems to cure all your problems!”

My dad backhanded the beer and it was going right at me.

I ducked and the bottle that was going right at me hit off the wall broke and splash beer and broken pieces all around me.

I didn’t know what to do, I started to swept it up and my mom yells, “Joel, don’t clean that up, make your father!”

My father yells, “No go ahead and clean it up!”

I am confused.

Finally they both said, Joel leave us and go upstairs.

There was a lot of hate, hostility and anger in the household and it rubs off on you.

One of the hardest yet easiest things in life was forgiving my parents.

They made some mistakes and I thank God for getting us through a situation that today CPS would have probably been called for.

I have forgiven my parents for the abuse and the situations my brothers and sister grew up in.

I can forgive people because of one name, Jesus.

Yet could the forgiveness be because of me.

When Jesus first appeared to the disciples after coming back from the dead, he breathed on them and told them this in John 20:22-23…

“Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

We/I have the ability to forgive because of Jesus.

In the Bible Knowledge Commentary it said, “Forgiveness of sins is one of the major benefits of the death of Jesus….Jesus was giving the apostles (and by extension, the church) the privilege of announcing heaven’s terms on how a person can receive forgiveness. If one believes in Jesus, then a Christian has the right to announce his forgiveness. If a person rejects Jesus’ sacrifice, then a Christian can announce that that person is not forgiven.”

Bold statement, forgiveness is and can be in our hands.

We have the ability to forgive people.

Those who have done us wrong, those who are struggling with past sins and mistakes, we can forgive.

We can forgive because of Jesus.

The only reason I do not have hatred towards my parents is because of Jesus.

Jesus forgave me for my sins and I can forgive others because there is one who forgave me.

Who do you need to forgive, show grace too?

Today is a great day to get that hate, anger and hostility out of your system.

Forgiveness is so easy, just do it.

You will be amazed at how the burdens can come off your chest when you forgive.

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.

Does a pregnant women going into labor show there is pleasure in pain?

Pleasure in pain.

Not exactly something I think about all the time.

Can you experience pain and pleasure at the same time?

I think about knee surgeries I have went through, the pain they have caused.

I did not think there was any pleasure in that.

Those who know me during that time, know that my surgery was not supposed to affect me that much.

My first knee surgery was supposed to be a scope and a lateral release, I would be out from playing hockey 4-6 weeks.

It ended up being a more extensive procedure and I was out 3 months from walking without a brace and six months before I touched the ice.

There was not pleasure in that pain.

Not often I think about this happening, pain in pleasure.

Jesus tells us this in John 16:21…

“A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.”

I think about the joys of each of our kids.

Nevaeh – such a sweet girl and is so compassionate for other people.  She told me today that she wanted to use her birthday money to buy Connor a pillow pet because he wanted one.  Yesterday her teacher told Hailee that she had Nevaeh do an assignment first because she was a lock to do great on it and it made the teacher feel good about teaching.

Connor – Is such a funny kid.  He makes me laugh every single day.  He picks up on my saying and says them at the most random times.  The other day we were having a conversation and I told him he needed to clean up his room before he could have a snack.  He told me something like, “Chill out chill out, it will be done.”  So much laughter and love in that boy.

Ty – That is my buddy.  If I am laying on the ground with a pillow, he will come right up to be and do exactly what I am doing.  If I am unloading the dishwasher he comes right up beside me to help me out, such an awesome kid.

God has blessed Hailee and I with some great kids, better kids then we deserve.

I would love to have one more kid if that was in the cards, but there is one thing that is huge, I am not giving birth.

Through all this, all the joys my kids give me would be nothing without the sacrifice Hailee made by going through 10 months of pregnancy and giving birth.

Jesus mentions about this in the scripture above.

There is pain in having kids for women, but that joy when you can see your baby can be worth it.

Jeuss gives this analogy to tell his disciple that there is time of grief in the world but there will be a time of joy.

Jesus soon after this speech, will be arrested and taken to be put to death.

He did this for them.

He did this for you.

Jesus went through on of the most painful deaths humans could endure for you.

To die for your sins.

That no matter how big of an idiot and messed up you feel, Jesus did this for you.

He finishes this section of scripture in verse 33…

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

People will tear you down, make fun of you, think less of you as a person.

Jesus does not.

He values you.

He loves you in a way nobody could.

Even when you feel like your whole world is coming down, take heart knowing he is still there for you and what you are going through.

There can be pleasure in pain.

I thank Hailee for all the pain and difficulty of going through pregnancy for some amazing kids.

Without her sacrifice, we wouldn’t have three amazing children.

Without the sacrifice of Jesus, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.

I am still a sinner but I am accepted.

Because as a sinner I believe Jesus is the Christ, son of the living God and accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and savior I will be in heaven.  I have eternal life.

The pain and the suffering Jesus did on the cross was for me (Even if I don’t feel worthy of it).

It was done for you too.

Jesus loves you and wants you to accept him to have eternal life.

Now’s a great time to make that decision.

There is pleasure in pain, pregnant women going the labor process show us this and so does Jesus.

Have a great day.