In Jesus Name

My preacher got me to thinking this past Sunday about this and it is true if you pay attention to politicians and public speakers and Clergy who say they are proud to be Christians. Why can’t they just say Jesus? It’s like they believe if you call out the name Jesus you’re a public outcast of some kind which may be true in this day and time and it’s a shame. If you’re a true Christian the name Jesus should be everything to you and you should not be embarrassed to say it even if it does make you different. In fact that’s the point a Christian should be different they should stand out in a crowd they should be proud to shout the name Jesus. There is no power in any Church without Jesus no matter what any preacher or pastor or politician says you have to have Jesus you have to call on his name for salvation. It is also politically correct today to pray to God and never mention Jesus because it makes it universal, it makes a prayer sound good to every religion it also makes it mean absolutely nothing. To say a real prayer and have it heard by God and actually mean something it has to be said by a saved person a real Christian or a person asking for salvation and it has to be said in Jesus name. I have harked on this subject plenty of times before and I’m sure I will continue to but if saying Jesus upsets someone or some group of people maybe they need to be upset. We need to stop catering to political correctness and other false religions and just give them Jesus after all that’s all we have to give. That’s all this lost and dyeing world needs is to believe and to call on Jesus. There is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood and that blood was shed by Jesus on the cross of Calvary. It will wash away all sin there is nothing Jesus can’t handle or doesn’t have the answer to, just call out his name and you will see. We all need to understand that the Bible is the true written word of God there no other source except the Bible no matter what anyone says. We all sin and fall short of the Glory of God and all we have to do is believe in Jesus name.

Philippians 2
9Therefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven and things on earth and things under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Who has blind faith? Not Me!

Blind Faith: belief without true understanding, perception, or discrimination

Most of the lost people of this world say this is what a Christian has. That we believe in something that we can’t see or touch or feel and don’t have any proof of. That we can’t see the truth or that we are just too silly, clinging to our religion and our guns, to see the true world that we live in. But I ask what do they believe in? That we came from an ameba and evolved over millions of years and this ameba came from a big bang. A bang with force so unimaginable that it started a chain reaction that led to life as we know it. So where did this big bang come from and who saw it who has proof of it, can any scientist reproduce any type of force that creates life from nothing? What other explanations do people have? That we have just always been here that the earth is billions of years old and life has just always been and our finite minds will never comprehend this, and that explanation is not an explanation at all. Or one of my favorites there are greater powers that we don’t know and understand but it’s not the God that Christians believe in. Oh and another good one is the God that is nature and the natural harmony of nature bla bla bla. In my opinion all these are a worship of the creation, I worship the Creator. Most people will ask so where is your proof. I like to start with actual written history starting with the Bible which only continues to be proven the greatest written history of all. I have seen and heard of scientist and historians that set out to prove the Bible to be fiction and only end up supporting Biblical history and finding clue after clue to support the great stories of the Bible. There are also ancient non Biblical writings that support the people and stories of the Bible. Wow actual written records you say. Well what about something you have actually seen for yourself? OK, Have you ever known someone who was just bad I mean bad to the bone always in trouble or doing something stupid. Someone who just always seemed to be headed down the wrong road and then one day they start going to church and get saved and their life does a total 180. They may not be perfect but far from where they were before and getting better every day. Or have you ever seen a newborn baby and seen the joy in a new mother or father’s eyes? I don’t care who you are a child is a miracle of God there is no other explanation as far as I am concerned. Me personally I have felt the touch of God in my life since the day I got saved I don’t even really know how to explain it, it’s amazing and powerful. Have you ever been just really bad off and had your mom or dad just wrap their arms around you and say I love you and everything is going to be ok. It’s like that except 24/7 and it can never be taken away. It’s the most awesome and powerful thing that has ever happened to me. It changed my life and only for the better. I could really go on for days about the things I have seen and felt in the short time I have been a Christian. Praise Jesus!! He died for my sins and for yours and whether you want to believe or not, He is there and somewhere in everyone’s soul there is that need to understand a greater power. That power is Jesus and he is waiting for you to come to the foot of that old rugged cross and say, I believe, please help me, please save me. The good Lord is giving you the proof everyday you just have to choose to see it.

Luke 16:15
And He said unto them, "Ye are they who justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

A Christian?

A Christian is not all ways a good person. A Christian is not always right. A Christian is not perfect and does not know the answers to all life’s problems. A Christian has hard times and bad times. A Christian can be mean, rude, and angry. A Christian is not always supposed to be happy and cheerful. A Christian does not always want to do the right thing or be with the right people. A Christian can be stubborn, ignorant, and foolish. A Christian is not always a winner or popular. A Christian doesn’t have to be physically beautiful. A Christian is not always rich and prosperous. A Christian is not always honest. In fact the one and only difference between a lost sinner and a saved one is the blood of Jesus Christ. After you are washed in the Blood of Jesus and Gods grace has filled your heart you want to be different. Doesn’t mean that you always are different, it means that the Love of Jesus is always there and you know right from wrong, you know good from bad. Your heart is convicted of your sins and you pray you pray so hard for forgiveness and for God’s blessings on your life and that you be led in his way. You want to hear and learn the word of God and fellowship with other Christians. You want to work for the Lord so lost people can gain what you have. So maybe just one less person goes to an eternity in Hell because you were open to Gods will for your life. So for those who are saved listen to God he is there all you have to do is listen and for those who are not saved don’t try to look into the life of a Christian and pinpoint every flaw look into you own heart, are you seeing clearly, have you been washed in the Blood of Jesus?

Reality?

Have you ever had reality just slap you right in the mouth? I know, I know your saying “reality slaps me every day”, but I mean the true reality of this world or maybe just this country or just the town you live in. I had a rude awakening this week and I’m not really going to elaborate but let’s just say it slapped me right upside the head and the mouth. I get up every morning and unless I don’t turn on the TV or the radio or get on the internet or have a conversation with anybody. I don’t hear anything bad about the economy or someone losing their job or being sick and tired or having some type or tragedy in their lives and honestly it all just brings me closer to God and lets me have more appreciation for Jesus and what he did for me. Times like these should remind us all of Job the Lord had blessed Job in many ways he was a very wealthy man that had everything a man could want. He had what we would call a huge farm with many animals and many servants many Sons and Daughters and most of all he feared God and turned away from evil and yet God allowed Satan to test him in every way imaginable. Job lost everything all his animals most of his servants, his children, his health everything gone in the blink of an eye. Yet we can all learn a valuable lesson from Job for he did not blame God he blamed himself. Why you ask, because even though he feared God he had not raised his children to fear God he had not appreciated all the things that God had blessed him with and he knew it. He had let his children run wild and let them party and drink and run head on into evil. His farm was so large and his greed so blinding that he most likely didn’t even know what he possessed. Then when it was all taken away he didn’t blame God, he knew who was to blame, Himself. In fact the Bible says he refused to curse God but cursed the day of his own birth. I think that this relates very well to the times we are in right now in this country. This country has a whole has refused to see God’s blessing on or lives refused to see all we have been given, we have not taught our children to fear God and see what Jesus did for them. We have run into some hard times and it’s our own fault because we sit idly by and watch the people of this country loss faith in Jesus or even forget who Jesus is. It is our own ignorance and greed that is the problem we are only getting what we ask for in my opinion, we have put our faith in man instead of God. I have already stated before that we can’t even always trust ourselves much less other men. My good old gospel preacher said it well he said “Job may have cursed the day he was born but there is one day you won’t curse that is the day your reborn”. I am going to keep saying this until someone listens, learn who Jesus is, get saved, witness to someone, work for the lord, blame your own stupid decisions that you made without the good Lord in your life on yourself. Remember God will give you what you ask for so my question is what are you asking for?

What Are You Doing?

There are people in this country this morning who have lost their jobs after 20 years of employment. There are mothers and fathers who are going hungry to feed their children. There are thousands of homeless, drug addicts, drunks, and thieves. There are probably people living within a couple of miles of your home right now that don’t have power or running water. There are disabled people living on their own barley able to feed themselves. There are people so wealthy that they lose billions of dollars and have to adjust their lives to live with only millions and yet don’t feel any need to give a few hundred dollars to help any of these people. There are also people working hard living comfortably in middle class America who feel no need to go out of their way to give or to help. There are people who think it’s alright to kill babies because they do it with medical precision. There are people who think the government is responsible for taking other peoples hard earned money and giving it to them for absolutely no reason except they were raised to feel entitled to it. I think you get the point I am trying to make here and my belief is there is one answer to all these things. JESUS!! So my question for you and myself this morning is what are you doing? Do you know Jesus and if so what are you doing to witness to these people and show them the love and salvation that has been given freely to this lost and dyeing world. All any of these people need is Jesus and Christian fellowship. Good moral people are dying and going to hell every minute of every day and most of us have the answer sitting right in front of us and are to lazy to get up and spread to word.
John 3:16"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
So for you and myself get up get out and do something that matters God has already given us the answer all we have to do is believe and want his will to be done in our lives.

TRUE HEROES!!!

True Heroes I believe are those who will lay their lives on the line for others or for a greater cause. Those who without even knowing become a hero and who are humbled by the things they have seen and work they have done to keep this country free. I am talking about the men and women of our armed forces everyone from your home town police officer to the soldiers in Iraq as I write this. They are all heroes and have my upmost respect. For a few hundred years now men and women have been fighting and dying for this country to give you and I the rights that we have this very day. Unfortunately we often take those rights for granted we abuse them we break the laws of our country on a daily basis and laugh about it. When there are men and women in harm’s way this very hour and if they break the rules they may lose there lives or put others in grave danger and when they laugh it is to try to get away from the horrible realities of war. Yet there are people in this country who will speak out against these heroes and say things like they are just to ignorant to realize what they are fighting for that our country has brain washed them and they don’t know any better . Nope quite frankly just the opposite I believe that the people who say these things are the ignorant ones who don’t realize the reason they have the right to say whatever pours out of there facetiously brilliant mind is the exact people who they are speaking against. I also believe that anybody no matter what your political beliefs or religion or gender or overall view of this country is, if you get up and speak against the people that are giving you these rights you are a TRATOR and you should be treated as such you should be put under the jail. God has blessed this country, each and every citizen of this country with freedom and civil rights unknown to the rest of this world and given this country heroes that are fighting for us this very hour, and whether or not you believe in the specific war they are fighting you should still feel blessed. I pray that God puts a hedge of protection around every man and women in harm’s way this morning fighting for us here on home soil and in foreign lands. I also say a special prayer for those who are lost and don’t know Jesus and free pardon from sin, who don’t see these brave men and women for what they are True Heroes.

I dedicate this to the heroes in my own family Jeremy Gibson of the US ARMY and Aaron Joseph of the US NAVY . GOD BLESS

One Year Ago

I'm not even sure how to start this except by saying God is good! One year ago yesterday my life changed forever for that mater my whole family's life changed forever. My Dad oh my crazy Dad his moto is if your not living on the edge your taking up to much space. So he lives on the edge loving life, living life, enjoying life. A few years back he started paragliding/powered paragliding and ended up being very good at it and running his own school teaching others. Until one year ago yesterday he likes to say he was flying along and the earth jumped up in front of him. It was probably the scariest day of my life my Mom called and said "your Dad has crashed" and that's all I remember hearing some how later that day I ended up at Grady Memorial Hospital trying to find out what had happened and how bad of shape my Dad was in. After about 5 or 6 or 10 hours of emergency surgery it seemed like. The doctors came out and pretty much said he was in very bad shape and the next 24 hours would tell the story. He had broken both his legs one exposed compound fracture, both his arms one of them also exposed compound fracture, his hip and lost more blood than a human even has in their body and on top of that he had fractured bones in his face and had a very significant brain injury. So...... we were all this time praying and crying and pleading with God for miracles of any kind. We all moved up to the ICU floor and that's where the real bad news stared coming a little guy in scrubs, I'll never forget his face as long as I live, comes out and wants to talk to my sister and I about what is going on and what will happen next. He looks me in the eye and says your Dad has no brain function except for what keeps his heart beating and I think my heart stopped for a minute or 2, that or it was beating so fast that it just felt like one continuous beat. The doctor said that he would wait an hour and re evaluate him and let us know something then. Then I realize I've got to go tell my family what the doctor just told me so after a few minutes of crying and praying harder than I probably ever had I finally got it out. I don't even remember the reaction of everybody else I was so lost. I remember thinking I have to get everybody I can think of praying I started calling people I'm not even sure who I called and I'm pretty sure all I could get out was please pray for my Dad. That was a long hour but when the doctor came back out he said that my Dads brain activity was coming back Praise Jesus!! but he needed to drill a whole in his head and put in a monitor so they could try to control the pressure on his brain. During this time we also got to go back and see him for the first time he (my Dad) was so swollen all over he was almost unrecognizable there was tubes and hoses and needles and monitors everywhere it was quit possibly the worst real life situation I have ever been in. I was signing papers left and right it was a blurry few weeks of watching waiting, surgeries and ups and downs, left and right and round and round. Confusion and anger and love and sadness and you name it every emotion in the human vocabulary but all that time I knew that God was there I didn't know what his plan was but he was there. I prayed and cried and prayed and cried and before we knew it he was stable, still unconscious but stable and needed to move to another hospital. The doctors were telling us they didn't know how his recovery would progress that he was just lucky to be alive. We get to the second of seven hospitals yes I said seven and my dad starts to wake up very slowly but surly wake up no communication no real movement but his eyes would open he was still on a ventilator some what breathing on his own some of the time. It seems now like one day he just snapped out of it and started communicating little by little the lord was bringing him back to us. He remembered everybody and started trying to talk more and more it was miraculous to say the least. He had some memory/confusion problems and he still could not eat on his own but he was healing and getting stronger day by day. Every hospital was another step closer to home. The doctors kept telling us there were still no promises that he would ever be close to his normal self again that it might be 2 or 3 years before my Dad was even able to understand what had happened and be able to go home without round the clock medical care. Undoubtedly they had no clue who my Dad was or that a great and powerful God was at work. After a few set backs here and there and months of not being able to eat or even move his self around at all. We were finally released to go home what a day what a day it was awesome to be told he may not live, he may never be the person you knew before he may never be able to do anything without assistance again or just a plain we don't know what is going to happen, to miraculously healthy and on the way home. He can do most things on his own and is getting stronger everyday he can walk some with a walker for short periods of time and has a positive attitude that he is going to get back to a normal life again soon. All that said the real blessing that came from this thing that most people would say is a tragedy is that my family my Dad everybody that knows my Dad every person that has heard his story has a renewed appreciation for life and family and for Gods blessing on our lives. My family is closer now than we have been ever I think we appreciate the time we have with each other we actually communicate an a regular basis. So I think hidden in this was a God telling us look at the beautiful family you have. look at all the things that you believe are more important that will never be. look at all the things that I have blessed your life with that you are taking for granted. I would also like to say that God blessed us with just the right doctors at just the right times just the right therapist, just the right hospitals just the right everything to go through this and only come out stronger and feeling his blessing more than ever before. I love and appreciate every person that the good Lord put in our paths on the journey of the last year. I pray all the time that God blesses each person that has prayed for or work with or even indirectly had any effect on my Dads recovery in a very special way that they may have the appreciation and love for his glory and blessings on their lives that I now have. God never puts you in a situation that you can't handle or that wont make you stronger in the end. I thank God for my family for my Friends for my Dad, all whom I love very much and for this trial that has only made us stronger.