Does God condemn us…….No he does not. Author James Bryan Smith writes, “God has chosen to accept what we regard as unacceptable.” Now that is good news. Even if we feel condemned by our own hearts, God is greater than our hearts. Thus Bryan Smith writes, ” if God does not condemn us, then who are we to condemn ourselves? Are we greater than God? Is our insight greater than God’s?” Of course not! His acceptance should lead us to self-acceptance. If God accepts us just as we are, then it is ours to do the same for ourselves. And that’s the Truth!

1 John 3:20 – God is greater than our hearts and He knows everything.

Self-Salvation is impossible. I believe churches today lead people to believe that if they live a good moral life and do the right things they can achieve self-salvation. But if this is true we will not believe in the one who sacrificed his life for our sins. The one who is the way and the truth. The one and only God. The great I AM…….Jesus Christ. Writer Tullian Tchividjian put this in perspective when he writes, “I wish I could say I do everything for God’s glory. I can’t. Neither can you. I wish I could say Jesus fully satisfies me. I can’t. Neither can you. What I can say is Jesus fully satisfied God for me. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves, not just acting in a righteous way, but being righteousness himself. So that we might become the Righteousness of God.” How can we not love a God like this?

2 Corinthians 5:21 – For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Do you ever feel like people are always judging you like your friends, parents, employers, etc. Even the church is pretty good at judging and condemning people although they claim they are not. Well, here is the good news, there is no condemnation in Jesus Christ. He came to save us, not to judge or condemn us. When he was crucified and died on the cross, his last words were “it is finished”. These words ushered in the New Covenant. The Gospel of Jesus Christ which is salvation, redemption, unconditional love, forgiveness, grace–These words describe the purpose of Jesus’s epic death and resurrection. It may sound to good to be true, but it is true, very true. Jesus is the living God. The Way and the Truth. All who believe are saved by his gift of grace. He is not your judge, but your loving Father in heaven. His is a rescue mission. Now that is Good News!

Romans 8:1 – Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus Christ.

God Bless you as we begin a new year……….

Its 2024 and our communities and world are in turmoil. Our leaders are not leading, the families are fractured and in general we are in serious moral decay. As we look for solutions, the one place our leadership and people do not look is to JESUS. He is our only hope and we turn away from him. I believe what God told Israel thousands of years ago is true today..”God said, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from Heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.”   2Chronicles 7:14.

We all need to pay attention…..AMEN

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.