Tag: faith

Object of Your Faith?

Our Faith is no better than the object in which it is placed! Airplanes crash and ships sink! We can trust in our senses and physical body but it will ultimately fail us in death! If we trust anything more than God our Faith will be faulty! Jesus Christ will never fail you because He has promised to raise you from the dead both now and forever! No one else can make this promise unless He were God and Jesus Himself was raised from the dead for you! Source; Andrew Wommack

Do You Have a Meaningless Life? Ecclesiastes 1:1-9

Solomon was a wise man but sometimes not so wise! Starting life off with 1000 wives would not be a good starter? You would have to remember 3 wedding anniversaries everyday! Could he remember all their names? Name tags would help! Solomon seemed to be a cynical old man at times but he did write a book of wisdom! He tries to explain to us not to make the same mistakes! He took an honest look at his life! He was the richest man in the world! He did not spare himself any pleasure! Solomon wished he had asked himself the hard questions! Do you have time to wrestle with your Faith? Take an inventory of your Faith! Why do I believe? Why do I follow Jesus? Do you ask questions about God? Solomon repeated 27 times, “Is there anything new under the sun?” Life can seem burdensome and meaningless at times! I have two teenagers at home. We have on going conversations like when can I get my drivers license? When can I go off to college? I want to go to a college far away from home? Teenager’s want your money and your absence! Do not be in a hurry to grow up! Our daily routines of dishes, laundry, house cleaning repeat everyday with no end in sight! A lot of life is routine! You may hate your job and is just a paycheck? Sometimes we can lose our passion for life! Like Solomon we are looking for the right things in the wrong places! We are looking for something to give life meaning! In 1st Kings we see Solomon was a great builder! He built palaces and Houses of Worship! Today in 2015 people are not sparing themselves any pleasure! We have hundreds of options! We have all the electronic gadgets to amuse ourselves! We have drugs and alcohol to drown our meaningless in! Solomon arrived at emptiness! Is your tank on empty? When we reach the point of our limitations collapse can come! What can we turn too? Our need for completeness comes from outside of ourselves! Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus said come unto me! Those that are laboring and overburdened! To those that are carrying a heavy load! Jesus promised to those that receive His invitation He will give rest! Yes! Rest and refresh. You will find completion in Christ! How do you know you are doing well? Solomon had everything but was not doing well? Jesus said, “Come to me.” Solomon did not have the revelation of Christ we have today! True worship is to come to Jesus! Jesus did not come to promote Himself but to promote you! The Old Testament Books point to the Cross! People without Christ come to despair! You may have lost a key relationship? Husband or wife? Son or daughter? You may have lost a job or business failure? A sickness or accident may have taken your ability away to provide for your family? Internal failure requires and external rescue! When we learn we cannot make it own our own then we discover the only one who can give us rest! We discover Christ’s yoke is easy and His burden is light! A yoke is designed for two! Let Jesus come along side you and lift you out of your troubles! Rest in Him! Talk with Him! Walk with Him! Think on Him! Discover in Him! Love in Him! Plan in Him! Win in Him! Stand in Him! Trust in Him! Faith in Him and He will never leave nor forsake you! Source; Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Who is God? Daniel 12:3

A very good question! There are a lot of different answers to this question. Some people say, “There is no God.” Your answer to this question will determine how you treat other people and where you will spend eternity! Our belief about who God is will also determine whether we worship God or worship ourselves. If we love God then we will love people! We have three major religions in this world. They are opposite each other, therefore they cannot be all true! Let me explain; 1. Christianity says, “That God died for man.”  2. Islam says, “That man must die for God.”  3. Hinduism says,  “That God is who you make Him to be in your mind.”  4. Christianity says, “That God made man.” Islam= Self-worship  Hinduism= Self-worship  Christianity= God’s grace  Self-worship is you trying to do for God what God has already done for you!  Grace is God doing for you what you cannot do for yourself!  By grace you are saved by faith and not of yourselves! See Ephesians 2:8  We all make mistakes! My worst mistake was rejecting Jesus Christ! My best decision was accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior! Jesus asked Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” Who do you say Jesus Christ is? See Matthew 16:16. How you answer the most important question in your life will determine your past, present and future life! Who do you say that He is? Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Forgive! Why? When? Where? Matthew 18:21

Start your day everyday by saying, “I am forgiven!” Therefore, I forgive you! This truth needs to be reverberating around the world! Go into all the world and preach! Most things Jesus said we agree with. However, it is difficult to live out everyday! Forgive? Seven times? Seventy seven times? We are always forgiven! So why keep score every time you are offended? There are some misconceptions about forgiveness. Some pretend nothing has happened? It is called living on the Egyptian River of denial! Part of the healing process is talking about hurts and pains especially in marriage. Why bring up the past? Maybe so we can talk about it so it does not happen again! Not to shame us but remind us of our failures and need to forgive! Dynamite is compressed tightly together so you get a big bang with very little of it! If we compress our hurts inside of us one day we will explode! The explosion could destroy your marriage! The pain of not talking about it is far worse than everyone knowing about it! It is medicinal to talk about it. Years ago I had a Pastor who was very good from the pulpit but very different away from the pulpit! He was abusive to us and we thought about getting out of the ministry! We left the church and moved to Texas. Forgiving him was difficult and we were counseled to write a letter to him in detail and ask God to Bless his life and ministry! I did write the letter several times and tore the letter up and threw in the trash several times! As I wrote the letter several times the pain within me began to be released! After we forgive do we need to trust again? Violation of trust is a big deal! It is painful! It has harmed us and we want to retaliate! Forgiveness and trust is different. We wish the best for the offender but to trust again? Can trust be earned back? It is very difficult! To earn trust back we must do the right things for the right reasons for a very long time! Here is a visual example. Trust is earned one drop at a time but can be spilled out in one bucket. Don’t kick the bucket over! It takes a long time to fill again! We forgive and do not want bitterness towards someone. They do not owe us! The debt has been cancelled! We tore up the judgments! We do not expect an apology! We have torn up the bill of sale! Acts 7:59-60 Stephen was stoned! Since Colorado has legalized pot some young new members of our church got the wrong idea when I said stoned? I got nods and approval from them then realized the problem! I explained the stoned is a rock! Forgive us our debts and forgive our debtors. Father forgive them was one of those seven sayings Jesus said on the Cross. Stephen said forgive and receive my spirit! How could he say this? Stephen knew he was forgiven! Do not hold sin against others! They do not owe you anything! This is the beautiful explanation of the Remarkable Christian Faith! This sets Christianity apart from every other religion! No Jihad here! We express forgiveness! Christianity has broken through the dark clouds of war! If you forgive much much is forgiven! People who hold judgments forget they are forgiven! We can never forgive more than God does! They do not owe me anything but not an excuse for bad behavior! When we forgive then they do not own us! 1 Peter 2:23-24 Retaliation? They said something about us that was not true? When their ownership of you gets released you get free space in your brain! You now have more capacity! Fill up the spare room with the mind of Christ! Our response shows us whether we have forgiven or not? Deism is one of the oldest religions around. Deism says God exists but is not active in the earth. A big God is not interested in what is going on. So since God is inactive I must act and do His job for Him! God understands who I am and do not have to defend myself! No one owns me or owes me! Leave space for God! Let God set things right! Do you trust God to leave it to Him? If you wrestle with schemes in your mind to defend yourself then they own you! How do I know our dog belongs to us? When you call him by name he responds! If you are owned by someone then they push your buttons to get a response! If God has forgiven you then who can accuse you? Jesus did not retaliate! It is so hard to wait to be seated in a nice restaurant! They hand you this buzzer and you wait and watch people sip tea and enter into senseless conversations while you are starving! They came in the same door some enjoying the good food and others suffering waiting to be served! The same door that allows God’s forgiveness into our heart is the same door that allows un-forgiveness out! Do not be a hostage to un-forgiveness! The tables are filled with people you may not like! Accept the invitation from Jesus at His table as you share God’s mercy with others who are forgiven just like you! Spend the rest of your life serving others! Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Christian Martyrdom Doubled in 2013, Persecution Growing!

The number of Christians murdered for their faith almost doubled in 2013 over the previous year, according to an annual survey by Open Doors, a non-denominational ministry that monitors the persecution of believers and supports persecuted Christians worldwide. Hardline Islamist regimes and Islamic terrorists—many funded by the Obama administration and other western governments—were behind most of the slaughter. However, for the 12th year in a row, the autocracy lording over North Korea was ranked as the number one persecutor of Christians in the world. According to the organization’s findings in it’s open doors World Watch List, released last week. Christians are still by far the most persecuted demographic on earth–and the trends are getting worse. In 2012, the group’s annual report documented the martyrdom of more than 1200 Christian’s. Last year there were more than that martyred just in Syria, where the Obama administration and a coalition of it’s allies–mostly European governments and Sunni Arab dictators–have been arming and funding jihadist rebel groups. Overall, the report documented 2123 murders of Christians for their faith in 2013. An estimated 100 million believers in Christ, meanwhile, still suffer from ruthless persecution around the globe, Open Doors has found. Among the other atrocities carried out against Christians for their faith; imprisonment, torture, rape, execution, forced labor, and more. Christians are persecuted in more than 65 countries around the world, with a vast majority in Africa and Asia–and especially in the middle east, where Islamist rulers often purport to make faith in Christ a crime. Source; Alex Newman, January 16, 2014.