john 16:33

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  ~ John 16:33 NIV

Jesus spoke these things to His disciples, just before going to the garden, where He would be betrayed by Judas, led to the court of Pilate, and given to the Romans for crucifixion.  He knew what was to come, for Himself, for His disciples, for the world.  His thoughts were on us, to comfort us in our turmoil, even as His was to begin.

Jesus died, was risen, and reigns forevermore.  We can trust Him; He alone knows what is and what is to come, for all of us, for each of us.

If Jesus is your Lord, trust Him, lean on Him, seek peace and joy in Him.  Praise God.

If you have not yet trusted in Jesus, not yet received Him as the Lord of your life, He's waiting for you now.

Go here, study the text and scriptures, let me know what you think, or how I can help, or just if you want to discuss.

salvation comes

Today, 23 years ago, at around 10:30 am, I met Jesus. Some of y’all were there, a very few others have heard my witness of that day.

This was the single, most important moment of my life, for I was given a new life, transformed by the Power of His Spirit and Shed Blood.

I won’t lie and pretend to be other than a common sinful man in the flesh, but in my Spirit, I am reborn, seen as more pure than the whitest snow, as God sees me through His Son’s Eyes.

Lives changed at that moment, not only mine, but others that came and to come. Prayers of the faithful were answered in a miraculous way, as with all who come to know Him.

“Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.””
‭‭John‬ ‭16:32-33‬ ‭NASB‬‬

Take hold, be at peace, love one another.

Choosing the devil?

"Students today want to know about the devil, about witchcraft, about the occult. Many people do not know they are turning to Satan. They are being deluded because, according to Jesus Christ, Satan is the father of lies and the greatest liar of all times. He is called a deceiver. In order to accomplish his purpose, the devil blinds people to their need of Christ. Two forces are at work in our world—the forces of Christ and the forces of the devil—and you are asked to choose."  ~ Billy Graham

It's no mystery; turn your back on God and you are following Satan. There is no middle ground.
 
"Jesus answered: If God were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and only from him. He sent me. I did not come on my own.   Why can't you understand what I am talking about? Can't you stand to hear what I am saying?   Your father is the devil, and you do exactly what he wants. He has always been a murderer and a liar. There is nothing truthful about him. He speaks on his own, and everything he says is a lie. Not only is he a liar himself, but he is also the father of all lies.   Everything I have told you is true, and you still refuse to have faith in me.   Can any of you accuse me of sin? If you cannot, why won't you have faith in me? After all, I am telling you the truth.   Anyone who belongs to God will listen to his message. But you refuse to listen, because you don't belong to God."   John 8:42-47

Jesus is the vine

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.   Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.   If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.  If you keep My  commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.   These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full."   ~  John 15:1-11 (NASB)


Jesus is the vine.  Abiding in Him, staying rooted to Him, allows us to partake of His nourishment, His roots; through His stems we are fed, watered and grow.  So long as we remain grafted into His branches and do not separate ourselves from Him, we are fulfilled and alive; we prosper in Him.

Should we become detached, by choice or circumstance, we are, for that time, no longer fed, no longer nourished and lack the capacity for growth.  Only as his "branch"  are we able to grow real fruit.  Sin separates us from His nourishment; repentance restores.

What is this fruit?   Fruit is fulfilling His purposes, glorifying him, reaching to bring others to Him, participating in growing His kingdom.

How do we remain attached?  Spending time in His Word, prayer, meditation and action feed our roots.

"Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.   But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was."  ~  James 1:21-24

This is real growth, real fruit. 

"And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."   ~  Matthew 28:18-20

Seeking after God?

The Gospel of John is an eyewitness account of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  John wrote this account with a special theme in mind.

" but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name"  ~  John 20:31 NASB

I encourage those who may be seeking after God to start here; read the Gospel of John.  If you don't have a Bible handy, check out BibleGateway.com online or as a phone or tablet app.

May our risen Lord bless your life.

I'd like to hear from you.

the answer

The answer lies in Jesus, Christ The Lord, not in "Christianity".  Christianity, the religion, is made up of men and women, and we screw up.  We follow Jesus, but we are not Him.  We cling to Him, but we are far from perfect.

I will tell you what I know to be true and I will tell you why I believe, but, please, don't look to me for the absolute answers to anything.

That comes from knowing Him, and coming to know Him.

Look to Jesus for the truth.

"and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."  ~  John 8:32 (NASB)

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."  ~  Matthew 6:33 (NASB)

Bible Hub

Please don't hate me

I am rattled by those who are so religious in their hatred of all thing "religious".

I read and examine web sites, blogs, etc. of folks who are "liberal" in their thinking and philosophy; I enjoy the discovery and am curious to the thought processes of "liberal minded" people and programs.

Far too often I come across folks who seem to be, by their own definition, "haters".  They espouse a certain hatred and bigotry toward "religion", God, conservatism and, anyone who disagrees with their personal philosophy of life on this planet; an intolerance toward those who they deem intolerant.

There are also those "religious" folks who are just as intolerant and spout the same hatred and bigotry toward others. The stories of church congregations and their leaders spouting putrid filth and hatred toward fellow creations of God are legendary. I am quick to point out that these folks do not speak of our God, the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, the God of the Holy Bible.  These folks have twisted "God" to suit their personal bias, may have "Christian" on their door and wall, but certainly do not fit my definition of a "follower of Jesus".

Madness falls in all categories and walks of life on this planet we call our temporary home.  Anyone who believes that our God "hates" any one person on this planet just simply doesn't understand the message of the Bible.  God hates the sin, not the man. Every person on this planet is a personal creation of God, and God loves His creations.

I'm willing to bet that, just like me, on any given day, each one of us falls into one or more of these categories of the sin that God detests.

     "Professing to be wise, they became fools,  and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
     Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.  For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
     For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,  and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
      And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,  being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."  ~ Romans 1:22-32

I wish I could find a way, in loving patience, to better express myself and to better express God's love and mercy toward all mankind.  Along that way, I'll just have to work harder at walking the walk, before I talk the talk.  In the meantime, don't hate me for believing the Bible is true, attending a "Christian" congregation, for believing that life is sacred, or for believing you can enjoy God's Gift of Grace.  I don't hate those who believe the opposite.

     "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.   For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him."  ~ John 3:16-17

the Word

Genesis 1:1  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

John 1:1-5   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.  In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.  The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Revelation 1:8  "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

Revelation 3:20   Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

The Word is Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ, Messiah, Lord of Lords and King of Kings.  He has always been there for us, is with us now and shall remain with us to the end.  He waits for each of us to know Him, to accept Him and to enjoy His company.

Enjoy the Word.

www.standontherock.org

All bible verses are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB), courtesy of The Lockman Foundation.

Git R Done!

Long before Larry the Cable Guy lifted this bit of southern dialect from Ben Johnson's character in John Wayne's "Rio Grande", Jesus reminded us to be about our Father's work.

In John 9:4 Jesus states, "As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.".

We have work to do and we need to be steadfast about it.

As we begin our new year, I challenge you to keep Jesus' challenge fresh in your mind, and ask you to hold me accountable to the same.

Our Lord has given to all of us the discipleship commission found in Matthew 28, the task of spreading the Good News, to be a specific light to and in a dark and dying world.

Each one of us will also be given specific tasks from our Lord, using our personal spiritual gifts, to further accomplish His will in a variety of arenas.

We are designed to be involved, to be participants in God's plan for this world. Each one of us has a responsibility to seek out and discover the Lord's specific call on our life and then to "Git R Done" to God's glory!