At the Last Trump

There has not been a blog written here in a long time, but that is because I have not really felt the urge to write, that is until now. I really have something I have to share with everyone, especially as this world is falling to pieces all around. Friends I want you to know that you do have hope. This hope cannot be found in anything this world has to offer, but instead in what Jesus has to offer. Right now the swine flu is in full swing, and people are getting sick from it left and right. Now I know I live kind of far away from all of that, but what do I do if it hits me? So many people are afraid, and maybe you are right now yourself. I know at first I was afraid too. It's kind of hard to not be afraid when you hear it being splashed all over the internet and the news. Every time I get onto MSN it is another update on the swine flu, and even some of my friends are worried that they might have it. I know, things look pretty black right now for this world, yet we have a friend who promised us that they would get black, but He promised us this so that we would not be worried. Fear and worry does not help us in this life. Let's take hold of the One who holds this world in place. Let's go to Him with our worries, and friends, I promise you that He will calm your fears and give you the assurance that you are so desperately seeking. Friends, read your Bible! There is no better time to get in touch with the King of the universe than now. Please, please, get to know Jesus, He loves you, and He wants to be with you. Jesus says "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world." Right now we are having trouble. There is the swine flu, economic crisis, families breaking apart, people killing each other, and wars. We have had terrible earth quakes. I believe it is time that we wake up, and come to Jesus, while there is still time! Go to Him friend, there is hope for you, there is hope for me to! Let's hang on to Him, because He promises to bring us through this time of trouble. There is a verse that has really helped me in my fear of death and worry:

Romans 8: 31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."l]" class="footnote">[l] 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,m]" class="footnote">[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Take that fear and death! Jesus is king, and nothing can pull us apart from Him or His love for us. Don't be afraid of what's to come, Jesus is already there! He's also in the future too! He's the Alpha and Omega! Don't be afraid. Jesus promised us in Matthew:

Mat 28:19

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Mat 28:20

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

Don't worry friend, Jesus is with you, always, to the end of the age, turn to Him now and ask for His peace that passes all understanding, and ask for His yoke, because it is easy and His burden is light. He will come and rescue us, let's not loose heart:)


Rev 22:20

What a Friend we have in Jesus!

Hi, well I know it has been a very long time since I have last written on the blog. But something has happened to me, that I cannot keep silent about. It happened to me tonight, as I got down on my knees and gave my heart back to Jesus. I had a wonderful conversation with the King of the Universe Himself. There were so many things in my life that had fallen to pieces. The first thing to fall apart, was my prayer life. Friends! I cannot stress this enough. It is so important that we make time for Jesus. He loves us and wants what is best for us, but if we are not willing to spend time talking to Him and surrendering to Him how can He help us. As I prayed tonight about surrendering something that was very difficult a story came to my mind that had been told at an evangelistic series. The story was about a little boy who would not shake a man's hand because he had a marble clenched in his own hand. The hand he would not shake was Dwight Moody's hand. Finally the fingers were opened, and the marble was taken. So many times in life, we have things that we just don't want to give to God. We end up holding onto them like that little marble, and won't let them go. I was no different. So tonight I prayed that if Jesus wanted me to give up the marble, or the thing I was holding onto in my life, that He would take it, because I did not have the strength to give it, and do you know what He told me! He told me that He would take care of it! You see friends, we do not go about our lives looking at all the things we are or are not doing right. No! That is not the right place to start. Instead the right place to start is by coming to Jesus and talking to Him. My life was falling apart, and my actions were following accordingly, and the reason for that was a struggle that I was facing inside, of something I did not have the strength to give up, and I knew it. Yet the amazing thing is that God works in us. Our only duty friends is to spend time with Jesus. We must talk to Him, and share our burdens with Him, and then we must read His Word, and then once again ask Him to do the things that we cannot do. I cannot tell you how many times Jesus has come to my rescue and been there for me. He will do the same for you too! Why don't you ask Him to come into your life. It doesn't matter what you have done, or may be doing. Come to Jesus!. The following verse is a verse we went over in my Revelation class. I found it to be very encouraging, and I just want you to know that Jesus message to me, goes for you too!
17The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

Single and Satisfied

This morning I woke up to the foggy day. Today is a momentous day for me! I deleted my adventist singles account today. I am going to leave the whole girl friend thing in God's hands, because He is big enough to handle that problem. I am going to learn to be satisfied with the life that He has given me. I am so thankful to God for everything that He has done. Even though I do not have a girl friend, I praise God for the opportunity to learn contentment in Him. Afterall that is where true contentment comes from. Maybe you are struggling in your life right now, well, friend, God wants you to know that He loves you, and you can be content with the life that He has given you, I am learning that it is best to be in God's hands rather than the worlds. I know that God has that perfect person out there for me, it is just a matter of waiting on His timing, so that is what I am doing, or am learning to do. Instead of working on putting my energy in having a girl friend, I am going to put that energy into enjoying the present, and what God has for me here and now.
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Hebrews 13:5

It Finally Snowed

When it snows, it does not snow that much down here. Yet yesterday morning as we drove to the church, the landscape became white with snow flakes. As the vehicle moved down the road, the snow hit the front of the windshield of the car. The road was blanketed in white, and the van made tracks on the new fallen snow. We were on our way to church and the snow steadily got worse and worse. As we turned onto Highway 50 the snow began to increase in intensity. We were only able to drive about 35 mph. Finally when we arrived at the church we had to actually get out of the van and push it up the hill. I must admit that Sabbath shoes are not the best thing to try and push a van up a hill in. I don't think I helped too much, but we got the van up the hill anyway. After we parked the van the snow began to pick up in intensity. As we went inside the church, there were members there who greeted us with smiles, and hugs. The snow was amazing, but it did not last that long. Yet I am still thankful for the snow that we did get. Even as I sit looking outside the window from my bed, I can see snow on the ground from the storm. Which is a real blessing. We even got a small ice storm. My friend Jonathan noticed that the ice was starting to pile up on the trees, and sure enough, the clear coating of ice could be seen around the branches of the trees. However the ice did not last that long, and soon it turned to just plain rain as the temperature rose about 32 degrees Fahrenheit. That night we had rice crispy treats, with chocolate on top, and they were really good. The next day was Sunday, and I must say that I did not do too much yesterday. I basically sat around and typed on the computer, and talked to friends on the phone. If I were going to pick out a lesson from all of this, it would definitely have to be the beauty of life. Sometimes there are lots of things to be thankful for, and I must say that I have a whole bunch to be thankful for. The first thing that I am thankful for is that it snowed. Secondly I am thankful that I got to walk out in the snow. Thirdly I got to listen to Adventures in Odyssey. Fourthly I got a 1992 Buick Century. The fifth thing that I am thankful for, is a nice warm bed to sleep in, and the solitude and silence of having my own room. The sixth thing I am thankful for is that I have had good meals to fill my belly. The seventh thing I am thankful for, and probably the most important thing that I am thankful for, is the fact that I have Jesus as a personal friend. Well I guess that is about all the writing that I am going to do for today, but what about you? What are you thankful for?

Rain

Yesterday was full of lots and lots of rain, and today appears to be the same. My friend Jonathan and I went to walmart, and we looked at the different things they had. I decided that I was going to get a computer game, so we went ahead and bought one. I also got one of those headsets for the phone I have, and it works very nicely. The only thing about that is the cost for talking to people during the day. Yet there is an interesting paralell here between talking on the cell phone, and talking to God. As much as I enjoy talking on the cell phone, I need to be careful because I could go over the minutes allowed. Yet there is one relationship where I do not have to be careful. It's always free to talk to God, no matter what time of the day it is, and you can have both hands free when you do as well. Why don't we talk to God more? As I sit here on my bed and look out my window at the rainy afternoon, I am reminded that God is always there, and will never leave us or forsake us.

Psalms 139:7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
Psalms 139:8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
Psalms 139:9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Psalms 139:10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
Psalms 139:11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,"
Psalms 139:12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

Learning to Co-Operate with God:)

Ok, I am writing this blog, because I have learned a very valuable lesson. Everybody has an opinion, and we should take those opinions into account, but ultimately it is going to be us who make the final decision. Jesus died on the cross to give you and I a choice, and that is how much He values our decision. The ultimate decision that a person will make should depend on God, but it is ultimately going to be our decision in the end. When we make a decision we need to be willing to live with the consequences of that decision. Instead of being stuck in the valley of indecision we should make a decision. God can work with us, when we finally make a decision, but the indecision in our lives ruins us. Today I got up this morning, and I learned a very valuable lesson. Once we make a decision, if that decision is against what God wants for us, then we don't have to keep that decision, and we should go back on our word in that case. It is best not to allow everyone around us to make our decisions for us. The Bible is full of different texts on making your own decision.

Jos 24:15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

Jesus is the Way :)

Hi Everyone:)
This morning I woke up to a ground that was partially covered in white, which tells me that we got snow last night. I didn't stay up all night like I was planning to, but I went to bed. I slept for most of this day, and it was not until about 1:47 pm that I woke up and started working. What was I working on you may ask? The sermon for next week of course. I decided to do the sermon on Proverbs 4:14-18 Right now I am in my ministry partners car, and we were de-icing his car window, and now we are driving down the road, and I can't see that well out of my side of the window, but now it is clearing more so that I can see out it. Somewhere in the middle of my sermon preparation, I came to the text of John 14 1-6. Thomas wanted to know the way. And Jesus told him that He was the way the truth and the life. It is in following Jesus that we truly live our lives. It is in following Him that we experience true Happiness and peace of mind.




John 14:5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.