I believe that parents and adults should expose their kids to Jesus so that their kids have some knowledge of who Jesus is so that they can choose at some point in their life to accept or reject Jesus as their God, Lord and Savior. This knowledge doesn’t need to be crammed down their throats in a sunday school class, but needs to be taught to them in an honest, civil way according to the teachings of the Holy Bible. The world we live in today overexposes kids to sexuality, drugs, alcohol, profanity;, etc. etc. Parents use the excuse consistently that kids are just experimenting with the above and will be alright. How about encouraging kids to experiment with Jesus and his teachings. Teach kids who Jesus is and what he can mean to their life. In the end they will have to choose. Everyone comes to the point that it is all on them to accept or reject Jesus at some point in their life. I cannot choose for my children….Period! Give them a chance, that’s all I am saying.

John 1:1 – In the beginning was the Word (Jesus) and the Word (Jesus) was with God, and the Word (Jesus) was God.

May God Bless you and have a great week.

If we want the Peace of God, we must first have peace with God. He is our only Hope. All He wants from us is for us to love Him and to believe in Him. For us to believe in His Son who died for us. What does He require from us? NOTHING. There is nothing we can do to earn His love or favor. He loves unconditionally. His grace is for everyone. The Bible says in the scripture Philippians 4:7 – “And the Peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”. Jesus goes on to say in verse 9, “Whatever your have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me….Put it into practice. And the God of Peace will be with you.”

PRAISE AND HONOR AND GLORY BE TO GOD.

Philippians 4:7 – Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the Peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Be honest about who you are. Author James Bryan Smith writes, “in order for us to begin the process of self-acceptance we will have to acknowledge our true selves….we have to realistic and accept that we are imperfect” He further writes, ” Pretending that we are righteous simply keeps God at bay and delays our healing”. I don’t know about you but this rings true in my life. In my early years I was not very honest about who I was. I did a lot of pretending and still do at times. Today I am different. I know I am a sinner and fall way short of the illusion of perfection. I try to remind myself daily of God’s unconditional love and endless grace. I feel God’s love and acceptance. I remind myself that God is the vine and I am the brach and apart from God I will wither and die. Still, the world we live in is very hard on me. I would rather be in God’s Kingdom. In the meantime, I will try to follow the words of Jesus, ” Be still and know that I am God”.

Psalm 46:10 – ‘Be Still and know that I Am God’.

Does this sound familiar? In Romans 1:22-32 the Bible talks about mankind’s fall into their foolish ways. It talks about mankind’s hearts being darkened. God says, “…although they claimed to be wise, they became fools…” The Bible talks about degrading their bodies and sexual impurity and exchanging the truth of God for a lie. It talks about mankind being full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, God-haters, arrogance, faithless, heartless, ruthless and inventing ways of doing evil. ( sound familiar) What makes all this crazier is that we oppose Jesus and the truth even though we know that the truth will set us free. God Help us!

Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Truth will set you free…..

In everyone’s life I believe we all come to a fork in the road of life. One road leads to truth and a life of purpose, meaning, and eternal joy and happiness. The other road leads to death and destruction. The choice as to what road to take seems obvious, but it is both a simple and hard choice. We are broken people and are quite prone to stumbling often. But in the end we need to choose life, no matter how often we fail or stumble when we come to that fork. We need to choose truth. And if you feel that you are on the wrong road get off it and on to the road to truth. Its called redemption and Jesus’s arms are always wide open to those who truly believe in him.

John 14:6 – I am the Way, the Truth and the Life……..

Deuteronomy 30:19 – ” Today I (God) have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.

Christian writer Max Lucado put the importance of Christmas in perspective when he wrote the following words….

When it comes to goodies and candy, rosy cheeks and red noses, go to the North Pole. But when it comes to ETERNITY…FORGIVENESS…PURPOSE…AND TRUTH…go to the manger, kneel with the shepherds and worship the God who dared to do what man dared not dream. Heaven opened itself and placed its most precious one in a human womb….GOD BECAME MAN…THE CREATOR OF LIFE WAS CREATED.

God Bless You and Merry Christmas.

Author N.T. Wright says the following, “God’s new world of justice and joy, of hope for the whole earth, was launched when Jesus came out of the tomb on Easter Morning, and I know that He calls His followers to live in him and by the power of the Spirit and so to be new-creation people here and now…”

So what does all of the above mean? Well obviously things changed for us as part of God’s Creation. We, as sinners, have been redeemed by Jesus’s death on the cross and offered eternal life thru His Resurrection. Many of us shy away from this because we don’t believe it is possible or real. Basically we just don’t believe in God. 

Well the good news is that IF God created the universe (and He did) then everything is possible. Amen and God Bless You.

James Bryan Smith

Jesus loves me with all my imperfections. He loves me just as I am, not as I should be. I know there is a lot of things that I do (sin) that are wrong. There are things in my life that I need to change. There are things I don’t like about myself. Jesus is teaching me to re-think my life, look forward, and let him help me stay on the road to redemptio;n. I know that he is not finished with me yet. I know that I am loved. The road is broken, But I thank Jesus for the broken road that leads me to him.

Philippians 1:6 – being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus