Tag: John 3:16

Jesus Walked Among Us

Yes, It’s Real: Jesus Walked Among Us

If you want to think about something truly amazing, how about the fact that Jesus walked among us?

That is, in earlier Biblical times, God’s only Son walked along the same ground as humanity.

It’s almost incomprehensible.

Jesus walked among us

A view of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives

Here, from the book of John, is perhaps the most well-known verse from Scripture.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. – John 3:16, (NASB).1

Jesus, both God and man, is the ultimate expression of the depths of God’s love for us.

Who are we to deserve such a gift?

His sacrifice on the cross exemplifies the ultimate act of love.

Through no works of our own, He offers believers a path of free grace which leads to our salvation.

He didn’t die for Himself. He took sin upon Himself. He died for those who did not deserve it. When we put our faith into who He is, Jesus Christ, the God-man, and we put our faith into what He did for us, then righteousness, His righteousness, is now written to our account. You cannot be righteous in yourself. To think that you can earn your way into heaven is to put yourself on equality with God, and you cannot do it. The only man who ever did it was the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, putting our faith into Him. Then His righteousness and His life come to live in us. Now He can produce through us what we could have never done ourselves. – Precept Austin commentary.2

Jesus Walked Among Us: He is Real

We know from the Bible that when Jesus walked among the people, He showed them great love and compassion.

He comforted the brokenhearted.

Why would we think He would be any different today?

He hears your prayers and mine.

As of this writing, Jesus has not yet returned, but He is coming!

In the meantime, set your sights on His victorious return.

I hope the following poem will encourage you as it did me.

Look To The Cross
By Catherine Pulsifer

In the stillness of the night, you hear the call,
Jesus beckons, He invites one and all.
Up high in heaven, God’s Son does reside,
Yet on earth, His love for you does abide.

Look up to the cross, where Jesus bled,
For you, for me, His precious blood shed.
In simple faith, just believe and see,
The saving grace He offers for free.

No need to search in distant skies,
For Jesus is near, He hears your cries.
He walked amongst us, in human form,
To guide us through life’s tempest and storm.

God’s love is so deep, it knows no end,
His mercy and grace, they always mend.
So come to Jesus, with a heart open wide,
In Him, true peace and joy abide.

Through His word, a message so clear,
Jesus, our Savior, always near.
So heed the call, don’t hesitate,
In Jesus, find your eternal fate.

# # #

1 Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

2 Dr. Wayne A. Barber quotation is from the Romans 10:1-10 Commentary, [2015] Courtesy of Precept Austin, Web. Accessed 9 August, 2024.

3 Poetry courtesy of Catherine Pulsifer. “Look To The Cross.” [online post]. From stresslesscountry.com, ©Catherine Pulsifer, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, n.d. Web. Accessed August 5, 2024. Look To The Cross

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How Much God Loves You and Me

How Much God Loves You and Me – A Divine Blessing

A few weeks ago, my husband and I purchased a new car.

We bought an SUV that has backup cameras – suhweet!

Of course I wanted to test those out before hitting the open road. After driving around a bit, we went to a nearby vacant school parking lot.

I practiced over and over pulling in and out of those thin parking spaces.

My husband was very patient during this test drive although I think he may have pressed his “air breaks” a few times. Lol.

While we were there at the school, we watched another car pull in doing the same thing we were. It was a father and his teenage daughter.

She was behind the wheel and we could see him patiently coaching her. After a few times, they drove off into a nearby neighborhood and then came back so she could practice parking again.

It was a sweet moment and brought back fond memories of my own dad teaching me how to drive.

The love of a father for his child – it’s a beautiful thing to see.

Have you ever stopped to think how much God loves you and me?

I’m reminded me of the beloved verse, John 3:16.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. – John 3:16, (NASB).

Just how much does He love you?

He sent us His only Son to die on the Cross for our sins.

Jesus paid our penalty so that by, accepting Him as Savior, we can have eternal life in the presence of our Holy God.

For that incomprehensible gift of salvation, we should spend our lives in a way that honors and glorifies Him.

In the midst of life’s storms, we can hold fast to God’s promises.

He is always with us, guiding us, and loving us with a love that surpasses all understanding.

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Disrespect For Life

Disrespect For Life

Sometimes I think we’re living in bizarro world.

Are you a biological “machine?”

disrespect for life

Are your kids just simple “products,” or are they little boys or girls created by God?

“Products?”

No way.

“Biological machines?”

I didn’t think so. 

Are you outraged at this popular thinking? Because you should be.

Created by God

The fact that we are created by God offends many people. We must be compassionate and pray for them, but at the same time, never compromise our convictions.

God created the heavens and the earth

There are schools across the United States that teach evolution as THE explanation of how the world was created.

We might just as well have “evolved” from a rock.

But, Christians know better.

Jesus died for our sins.

His incomprehensible love is beyond our imaginations, it is that deep.

Don’t tell me His death on the Cross was for nothing.

The world doesn’t like our beliefs, but praise God, this world is not our final home.

If you reject God and His Word, then anything goes—there’s no absolute standard on which to base your thinking. In this view, children are just biological machines, the product of millions of years of evolution. They aren’t given to parents—they are just a “choice” parents made. – Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis,1

We are not products.

We are not biological machines.

It’s absurd thinking, but sadly people are buying into this.

In the Image of God

We live in a world where the majority of our nation’s leaders have no problem with women terminating pregnancies in the womb for convenience – a so-called “choice.”

With that destructive brand of thinking, how can we expect younger generations who are “lucky” enough that their parents let them be born, be expected to, in turn, “value” anything?

The ungodly have such a disrespect for life. We see the results of this on the news every night.

Is it too late to tear down the ideologies meant to degrade us, reduce us to simple “products”, and separate us?

I believe there is still time to change some minds, but not much time.

We have to face the facts.

The Enemy wants to capture the hearts and minds of your children . . . of all ages.

Taking A Stand

Defending the faith (apologetics) is vital teaching as your children get ready to face a hostile world.

This will mean a dedicated commitment of your time to invest in the Christian education of your loved ones while they’re at home.

It’s what God wants us to do.  

Think about your sons and daughters right now.

Do they recognize that God created the heavens and the earth?

Can your children (or teens) defend their faith (respectfully) to an authority figure? 

They desperately need your guidance.

Do you talk about Jesus with them?

Once or twice isn’t enough.

If you don’t teach them about Jesus, worldly agendas being forced on every aspect of our society will lead them astray. If you’re not sure how serious this is, research the growing attacks on Christians all over the world.

When the family is strong, the church is strong. And when the church is strong, the nation is strong. But when the family breaks down, the nation breaks down with it. I believe there’s a full-throated, all-out attack on the family in our nation today. It’s time for moms and dads to be the spiritual leaders in the home. And it’s time for grandparents to be spiritual leaders too. – Pastor Greg Laurie, Bible teacher and author.2

Disrespect For Life Culture

How can parents and grandparents protect their kids in this spiritual fight for their minds and hearts?

Besides prayer, it’s important to establish a foundation of faith early on in your home.

Read the Bible to your children.

Let them see YOU reading it.

You can even take something like a child’s favorite hobby and bring even that back to God’s wonderful provision.

child hobbies brought back to God

I like the way Pastor James Kaddis puts it . . .

That father says you know God gave you the talent to put that thing together kiddo. You want another one. Let’s pray to God. Let’s ask God to provide it for us.  And every single time father and son get together to do that very thing, it’s used as a lesson for the goodness of God in that kid’s life.
Let me tell you something. The next time that that kid goes and runs towards that hobby that he’s learned to do as a kid, he’s always going to bring the Lord into it.  And when he’s raising his generation up, he’s raising his children up, you know what he’s going to do? He’s going to teach his (own) children to associate the wonders and the goodness of God with the things that they love the most in life.  And thus, God is associated with that which is wonderful. – Senior Pastor James Kaddis, Calvary Chapel, Signal Hill.3

Christians – there’s still time until Jesus calls us home.

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1 Ken Ham quotation, courtesy of Answers in Genesis.org, “Who ‘Owns’ Children.” August 26, 2021. Retrieved from https://answersingenesis.org/family/who-owns-children/

2 Pastor Greg Laurie Daily Devotions, courtesy of oneplace.com., “It’s Time To Step Up”. August 23, 2021. para. 4. Retrieved from https://www.oneplace.com/devotionals/greg-laurie-daily-devotions/its-time-to-step-up-greg-laurie-devotion-august-23-2021-11848809.html

3 From Kaddis, Pastor James, “Which Way Will You Go, Part 2.” Courtesy of oneplace.com. Podcast, [18:31-19:12]. August 18, 2021. Web. Retrieved from: https://www.oneplace.com/ministries/light-on-the-hill/listen/which-way-will-you-go-part-2-899676.html

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Don’t Bury The Lead

Don't bury the lead

A lot has changed for the better in my life since my former career as a TV reporter, but I still miss that adrenaline rush.

I learned so much about writing. The biggest lesson of all – don’t bury the lead!

In other words, don’t put the “leading” information in a news story way down at the bottom of the report.

Can that relate to sharing our faith as well?

I believe it can.

Don’t Bury The Lead

The “lead” is the most important fact of the story, followed by the supporting details after that.

Here’s an example of “burying the lead”:

“A terrible car crash tied up traffic on North Central today. State troopers think that today’s stormy weather played a big part in the collision. The massive car pileup backed up traffic for several miles. People living nearby heard the crash and described it as a loud bang. One man died when his car careened off the shoulder.”

See what happened there?

A poor soul lost his life, and the mention of his death is at the end of our example. Our fictitious reporter “buried the lead.”

It’s a good lesson for a lot of things in life.

Don’t bury the lead.

Don’t beat around the bush.

Get to the point!

Sharing Our Faith and The Good News

As Christians, we’re not supposed to dwell on the bad news in the world, because we can lose sight of the Good.

And there is Good News, Praise the Lord!

We see mere glimpses of it in our lifetime, but as Bible-believing Christians, we can also have what is Eternally Good forever.

So why aren’t we reaching out more?

teaching about sin and salvation

Why do so many church leaders today feel too intimidated to preach the truth about sin and salvation?

The younger generation, (or so I’ve read) says they don’t want pastors preaching to them anymore. A growing number of these folks, although not all of them, want to change the crux of what the Bible teaches, so it’s less convicting. They only want the good works of a social gospel and don’t want to hear about sin, forgiveness, salvation, or the End Times.

Say, what?

If someone you cared about was driving towards a dangerous cliff, would you warn them?

Of course, you would!

Why are so many Christians pressured to bury the “lead” of the Gospel because it makes some people (of any age) uncomfortable?

Does this mean absolute truth now has to take a back seat to popular culture?

Lord, have mercy.

Whosoever Believeth In Him

The absolute truth of the spiritual battle we’re in is revealed throughout the pages of Scripture

Please see John 3:16, for example.

I bet you have it memorized.

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.  – John 3:16, KJV, public domain

God is real.

Heaven is real.

Satan is real.

Hell is real.

“Should not perish,” and, some will perish. This is why, once we have a connection building with a lost person, we must talk to them about sin and salvation through Christ alone. There are lives at stake.

The Battle Is Real

There’s a spiritual battle going on right now.

Don’t let popular culture, (Hollywood, etc.) dictate to you what to think about God. (“The Shack,” movie, anyone?). Nor, should we allow the culture to define or interpret the Bible.

God is most definitely our loving and merciful Father.

ongoing spiritual battle

But, God is also a Righteous Judge.

He will judge unrepentant sinners.

That means people that you love, who are living life with no concern for God or salvation, are in trouble, if they continue on their present course of apathy.

Here’s where we come in:

If they don’t know Christ, they are your mission field.

Invite them to church and share the Good News.

Please know that the road will not be easy. As Christians, we were never promised that, but peace in Christ can sustain us.

*No joy can excel that of the soldier of Christ: Jesus reveals Himself so graciously and gives such sweet refreshment that the warrior feels more calm and peace in his daily strife than others in their hours of rest. – Alistair Begg, Christian Pastor.

God bless

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*Begg, Alistair, “Outside the Camp.”  Crosswalk.com. 06 April 2017, Web Access 06 April 2017. Copyright Truth For Life. Used with Permission.

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