“And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.  For I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” – 1 Corinthians 2:1-2

It could be said that the Apostle Paul was the most religiously schooled person of all the apostles.  He learned under highly regarded Jewish leaders, read and memorized many of the scriptures, but to use his words, he counted all of this as garbage when compared to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  To Paul, Jesus was the one and only thing worth knowing.

We, too, should have that aim in our lives.  This world can be a tough one at best.  We are bombarded daily by temptations and evils of all kinds, and if we don’t have our eyes focused on the right things, we can easily succumb to the devil’s wicked ways.  In short, keep your eyes on Jesus.  We can try to be good people and we can even try to be as religious as possible, but unless we have Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are fighting a loosing battle.

Don’t get me wrong, church and religion is a good thing, but it cannot be the only thing in your life.  You can be a regular at Bible study and may be able to spout off hundreds of verses at will, but my question is, “Are you living those verses?”  The Bible is an important book; really, it is THE most important book.  That being said, it is only a collection of words and stories without the Holy Spirit helping you along.  If you have not accepted Christ and His finished work on the cross, you do not have the “necessary equipment” yet to really understand what the Bible has to say.  It all starts with Jesus Christ.

No level of supposed holiness can save your soul.  No matter what anyone says, paying massive amounts of money to a church will not give you eternal life or get you a better seat in heaven.  Positive thinking is a good thing, but it can’t get you into heaven either.  Facing east five times daily or hopping up and down on one foot singing kumbaya doesn’t get the attention of God any faster.  The one and only bridge between God and man is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, suffered and died on the cross, was buried and raised from the dead to remove your sins so you can get into Heaven.  Strive to know that truth more than anything else.  If you have accepted that, you have been born again and are destined for Heaven.  There’s a lot of other details to this life, but they are just that, details.  Jesus Christ is the source, the center, and the summit of life.  Jesus alone saves us and not the details.

Throughout eternity, God spoke but one word, “Jesus.”  He has nothing more to say.

God’s blessings to you.

DH

“And why behold you the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but consider not the beam that is in your own eye?” – Matthew 7:3

During my long work commute a while back, I had a mustang whip past me going who knows how fast. Of course I immediately started chewing them out, even though they couldn’t hear me.  But then, just a few miles down the road, I got behind a big semi doing about 20 under the speed limit in a no passing zone.  After about 10 minutes of getting more and more frustrated, as soon as a passing zone opened up, I floored it and zoomed around the semi.  (Please note that I had a tiny Hyundai Accent and “flooring it” consists of kicking the hamster wheel just a bit harder.)  Later on, as if the Holy Spirit was convicting me, the thought came into my head of, “I wonder what words that semi driver is cursing me with right now.”

I found out a long time ago what a hypocrite is. Unfortunately, I can look into the mirror and see one staring back at me.  I don’t want to be one, but here I am.  I get annoyed at people making bad choices, but then I turn around and make some myself.  I find myself being inconsiderate to other peoples’ feelings when those people aren’t considerate themselves.  I get irritated with people who want the world to cater to them, then I wonder why the world isn’t going exactly my way.

The fact is that, like the Bible says, we focus on the speck in someone else’s eye when we can’t see the beam or plank in our own eye. It’s so easy to point out someone else’s sins, but we seem to go blind to our own.  We hold others to higher standards of what a person and especially what a Christian needs to be, but then we too fall short of that standard.  The simple truth is that, just as in Romans 3:10, “There are none righteous, no, not one.” And again in Romans 3:23, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  That’s everybody.  ALL have sinned.  Nobody is purely good except Christ Himself and that’s why we need Him.

We are called to be holy people and set apart for the good works of the Lord, but how can we do that if we sin all the time? We will never completely stop sinning, but the point is to try to stop.  To repent means to change your mind.  If you make the conscious decision to try to refrain from evil, you will become more aware of your own faults and will make an effort to not do them.  You are human though and you will have your good and bad moments.  Don’t let that discourage you too much.  It happens to the best of us, but once again, the point is to keep trying.

After each attempt at Christlikeness, there will be a failure, but each time you try you will ‘fail better.’ You aren’t going to be perfect until you get to Heaven, but the point is to try. Each one of us has the capability to become like Christ and don’t stop trying.  Just know that you aren’t there yet and don’t get down on yourself like you are.  You aren’t where Christ is just yet, but you are on the way.

I like the old song that says, “I’m gonna try with a little help from my friends.” In short, each one of us is a sinner and knows something about what other people are going through.  If you’ve struggled with alcoholism or drugs, you have a ‘proof of purchase’ that can help connect you with other people who need help.  Not only can you help others, but frankly, you are obligated to help others.  Same goes for just about any sin.  That’s why God kept you around and pulled you through your ordeal, to be a faithful witness to others about God’s love and grace.

So don’t be too harsh on yourself or other people for various shortcomings, but by the same token, don’t just look upon sin and be OK with it either. See things through the eyes of Jesus and he will help you and others to see sin for what it is.  One day, we all will be better for it.

God’s blessings to you.

DH

“It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.” – John 9:3

In the Gospel of John, Jesus and His disciples come across a man who was blind since birth. Jesus spat on the ground, made some clay, and placed it on the blind man’s eyes. Jesus then told the man to go and wash the clay off in the nearby pool of Siloam. When the man did this, he immediately began to see.

That confused me when I was young. Jesus could have snapped His fingers or even just spoke a single word and the man would have gained his sight. So why did Christ go to the trouble of making mud and having the man go and wash himself off?

The reason is that even though the man did not cause his blindness, he needed to be a part of the solution. All of us have our sins and problems in this world. God does occasionally remove a problem from our path without our intervention, but just as any good Father, He wants us to be obedient children. If we continue to get something for nothing, we will begin to be too familiar with just having everything go well. We would become indignant if the slightest thing didn’t go perfectly the way we’d want it to.

There are many times in the Bible that God shows He wants our obedience before He blesses us. His blessings are coming our way; He’s promised health and favor to His people. That being said, He also wants us to appreciate what we get and we do that through fostering a relationship with God first, giving Him our “first fruits”.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Mathew 6:33.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God…” Romans 8:28

God has plentiful blessings waiting for His children, but we need to first show Him that we are ready for them.  If we show our love for God through obedience, He will in turn fill our cups abundantly.  We can’t earn God’s blessings, but we do show that we appreciate Him by trying to follow His lead. We won’t always get it right, but the point is to try.

Think of it as an investment. You won’t see a return unless you first invest something. The blind man followed Jesus’s instructions as a faith investment. It paid off for him when he gained his sight. Imagine how much your investment will pay off when you invest in your relationship with the Almighty.

So please, don’t just sit there hoping for change. Be ready and willing to be part of that change. Foster your relationship with our Savior and watch His mighty works be made visible through your life as well.

God’s blessings to you.

DH

“And I say also to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” – Matthew 16:18

In the Bible, Peter was one of the closest disciples of Jesus Christ. Whenever Jesus would go somewhere to pray or to reveal something special to just a select few, Peter was right there at the top of the list. And when Jesus left His earthly ministry, Peter was the head of the newly established church. Granted, Peter had his failings just as all people do, but the difference was that he kept pushing through them and came out better because of them.

Peter didn’t start out as being called Peter. His name was originally Simon, which actually means ‘hearer or listener’. Peter listened to Jesus and took His teaching to heart. Even when Jesus said that He was going to be offered up and die, Peter rebuked Him saying, “Not so Lord,” even though Christ had a larger plan that needed enacted. By all rights and accounts, Peter loved Jesus. He staked everything on Him. When Jesus asked His disciples if they would leave Him, it was Peter who said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of life.”

Not only did Peter believe in Jesus, but Jesus believed in Peter as well. Even though Peter in a moment of weakness denied that he knew Jesus 3 different times, Jesus knew that Peter was the right person to continue His earthly ministry. A little before Christ was taken up to Heaven, Jesus kept asking Peter if he loved Him. More than that, Jesus made sure that Peter would continue Christ’s work to take care of His people. Jesus asked Peter 3 times, “Do you love me?” And each time that Peter affirmed his love, Jesus would tell him to ‘feed His sheep or lambs’, meaning to take care of His people. Jesus knew that Peter could do it, but He really wanted Peter to know that Peter could do it. Three times a denial conquered by three times a confirmation.

One last thing about Simon Peter. Simon was the earthly name that his parents gave him. Peter was the Heavenly name that Jesus gave him. Simon means listener and Peter means rock. In order for you to be firm in your service of the Lord, you first need to listen to Jesus. Once you stand upon God’s solid foundation, you will never be lost again.

God’s blessings to you.

DH

“If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” – Romans 14:8

Being a Christian isn’t all happy and rainbows and laughter. There are some great parts to it, but if you think that following Jesus means taking the easy road, you are sadly mistaken. Jesus Himself didn’t take the easy way out and you should be glad He didn’t. Through His suffering and death, He took our sins from us. Through His resurrection, we have life eternal. There was a cost to be paid for our sins and Jesus paid every penny. Now to follow Him and to be partakers in God’s eternal glory, we must believe and receive Jesus and His finished work on that cross. There is no other way to God than through faith in His Son Jesus. That faith does have its own cost in this world.

There’s a lot of people don’t want to come to Christ, because they don’t want to pay the cost involved. Turning away from your sins is tough. Even being willing to turn away from your sins is tough, but it’s Jesus or sin. One or the other. God does not negotiate. You come to God through Jesus and you come to him by grace and by repentance. God created us all and it’s his rules. You come to him his way or not at all. That doesn’t sit well with a lot of people. Some people find it hard to release themselves in their lives and their sins to a Lord wants to take them away. Some people want to sow their wild oats before they come to Christ. They’re afraid they’re not gonna have any more fun. Well yes, sin can be fun for a time, but the ways that seem right to a man leads to death and destruction.

God has laid out exactly what you need to do. They aren’t tough rules, but they will force you to make a choice between the good that the world calls good and the true good that comes from the creator himself. Here’s a hint, only one is the real thing. Jesus says that broad is the path and wide is the gate that leads to destruction and many people who decided that the world’s kind of fun was worth pursuing more than God’s But Jesus says that narrow is the gate and straight is the way that leads to righteousness, peace, and Heaven most of all. There are unfortunately only a small number that choose that path. It’s available to everybody, but not too many people take it. They have questions, they have comments, they have concerns, and they try to reason with their minds rather than their hearts and their souls. Somethings you just can’t reason things out.

I can’t show you God or put him into a test tube or a laboratory and say, “there’s God.” Certain things aren’t going to make sense. I’m a preacher and I don’t understand the whole Bible. But that’s where faith comes in. You’re not gonna understand God‘s ways. His ways are so far above our ways as the heavens are above the earth. You would have to have the mind of God to understand God. If you could, there would be no need for faith because you’d understand everything already. You would know everything and so there wouldn’t be a choice except Heaven which would be the only logical choice.

But faith doesn’t care about logic. Faith is faith. It’s the substance of things not seen and the evidence of things yet to come. You must come to Christ by faith to be saved, not by works lest any man should boast. If you could get there through works, there would be no need for Christ. You could stand in Heaven before God and say, “Look what I did. Hey look at me I’m so wonderful.” God doesn’t want that, just as any father wouldn’t want their child boasting and bragging and making a show of themselves in a bad way. God wants you to be humble. He wants you to understand where you got that breath that you took just now. He wants you to understand that it’s Him who woke you up today, not just your alarm clock. How else should you come to the creator of literally everything, but in humility?

In short, have respect for God because He is God. If a firefighter told you how to get out of a burning building, you wouldn’t second guess him and think he’s lying. You’d follow his directions. Well here we are in the burning building called modern day life. Hell is all around us and God is pointing the way out. What will you do? Will you follow Jesus or follow this world. They both come with a cost to follow them, but one will truly pay off well in the end.

Jesus died for us, now live for Him.

God’s blessings to you.

DH

“Love thy neighbor as thyself.” – Mark 12:31

Love is the greatest of God’s creations. Out of love, God made Heaven, the earth, and you. He loves you and wants you to love Him in return. However, when we sin and do evil in our hearts, it takes some of our love and our heart away from God. We no longer have the ability to focus on the Lord and the things that He holds forever dear. We are instead focused on ourselves and our sins which only can make us happy for a short time. We are left longing and being more unsatisfied than before.

Imagine that your heart is a box. You can pack that box with good things or bad things, but either way, there is only so much room in that box. The more of the wrong things you put into your heart, the less room you leave for Jesus. Your heart is made for love, but love for the right things rather than loving sin. Saint Augustine said that our hearts are restless until they rest in the Lord. How true that is!  Our hearts have a need for love that only God can fill. Anything else just isn’t enough. You can’t eat enough food or buy enough things to satisfy yourself. I promise you that it doesn’t work. It isn’t what God had in mind for you when you were created. The Bible says not to focus on the passing things in life, but to keep your eyes fixed on things which are above. One day, the fast cars will rust and the money will be all spent, but what does remain are those things which are done in service of others. God’s love comes from many places, but it is the most apparent when it comes though His servants.

I met a former business man that said no matter how far up the ladder he went, the emptier he felt. While he was working on how much money he could make, his family, his friends, and his home life eventually passed him by. It was the love of the wrong things that led to his pain. This person’s problem was that he focused his love on his own greatness rather than God’s greatness. He let his desire for status get in the way of him caring for his family. He has now turned his eyes to the Lord and has found what he terms as a new lease on life. He’s reconciled with his family and is making up for lost time. He also says that he derives more fulfillment from helping out at a local children’s hospital than he ever did being a boss at a big company. We all have love, but where we put that love can mean the difference between happiness and hurt.

There’s a sign up in our home that reads, “Whatever you do today had better be important, because you are trading a day of your life for it.” You can either positively or negatively affect generations by what you focus on today. If sin rules your life, don’t expect anything positive to come from it. It may be fun for a little while, but it never lasts and you aren’t helping anyone by committing evil. Pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth; these are the so-called seven deadly sins. Notice how all of them come back to ourselves. We become ego-centric and think about our own needs rather than the needs of others, but that’s not why we were made. Ego means Edging God Out. The more your heart seeks after your own comfort and your own pleasure, the less your heart will seek out God. To truly love my wife, I have to want the highest and best thing for her, and that is Jesus Christ.  I want my wife to go to Heaven. I want my kids to go to Heaven. Therefore, I must make some sacrifices to help get them there. My comfort level must be a distant second when compared to the health, safety, and eternal security of my family. Anything less is unacceptable.

All sins start with “I.” It’s a good thing to love yourself, but there is a big problem when that self-love comes between you and God’s love for us all. The devil wants you to be self-focused. If you are experiencing God’s love and showing it to other people, you are taking your soul and the souls of others away from him and handing them back to God. To get right with God and to help serve humanity, pay attention to the needs of others. Put God first, everybody else second, and yourself last. The alphabet is the only place where “I” should come before “U”. Remember that Jesus Christ wasn’t thinking of His own comfort when He died on the cross. He was only concerned with our eternal salvation. Don’t let your anxiety or comfort level get in the way of feeding a homeless person or sharing the Gospel with someone you just met. You are here for a purpose and that purpose is love. Sin is selfish, but true love means caring for others.

The love of God reaches far and wide, but the love of sin dies with that sin. True love can only be given away, not kept for yourself and the more you give, the more you shall receive.

God’s blessings to you.

DH

“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.” – Genesis 45:8

In the book of Genesis, we see a man named Joseph who’s brothers got so jealous of him that they sold him into slavery. You would think that was the end of the story, but God had something different in mind. Joseph was so blessed by God that he not only prospered, but he eventually became the second to Pharaoh and in charge of all Egypt.

This story goes to show that even your worst situations can be used for God’s best work. The Bible says that God works all things for the good of those who love Him. Joseph loved God and followed His word, and that helped him use a string of bad situations as a springboard to a life of great abundance. Was it the best of times, certainly not, but Joseph trusted God and he was generously rewarded for his perseverance.

How many times do we try to control our own lives and destiny, only to get stressed and upset when things don’t go our way? We think we have life figured out and we may even get a little cocky for it, and then all of a sudden life smacks us down a peg or two. The truth is that we will all experience some highs and some lows in this world, but rest assured the God loves His children and has our best interests in mind.

For instance, I remember the funeral for my brother David Lee. He was active in the church and a member of a successful touring gospel quartet. There’s not too many people I know who are any more in love with Jesus than my brother was. And yet, God decided to take my brother home to glory at a young age. It was an incredibly sad time for our family, but yet, in a sense, we were happy for him as well. We trusted God that his passing was for the greater good of things, and it was indeed. The day of his funeral, our brother-in-law Stan was touched by Jesus in a big way. Stan is a really good man, but just being good isn’t going to save you. He had jumped around in religion throughout his life, but never really got to know the real Jesus. That day, the day of my brother’s funeral, Stan was fully introduced to the love and fellowship of Christ thanks to David Lee’s gospel quartet buddies. Stan was moved by the Love and demanded to be baptized on the spot. I know without a doubt that if my brother knew he could help save a soul, especially the soul of our brother-in-law Stan, he would have agreed to passing away so it could happen that day. It’s a good thing to save a life, but the true miracle comes in saving someone’s soul.

God is a God of miracles.

It’s impossible for us to see things from God’s perspective, but if we could, we would agree to some of the bad things occurring because we would know that a greater good would come from them. All the proof I need is in the cross. The worst evil and yet, without Christ’s crucifixion, we would never find forgiveness of our sins. We would never know eternal life without our Heavenly Father who is ready to make those tough decisions for the good of His children.

Praise God each and every day for His blessings. Praise Him for the blessings we know as well as for the innumerable blessing that we don’t even recognize. Everything in your life, good or bad, has been expertly placed by the Master. It may look a little rough now and then, but I promise that when we get to Heaven, we will see the whole picture for what it is. We will know that each thread had to be in a specific place in order to weave the grand tapestry of life. It was all for the greater good and it all came together to make a beautiful life that is worth living.

God’s blessings to you.

DH

“Where no oxen are, the crib is clean; but much increase is by the strength of the ox.” – Proverbs 14:4

There are times where people can be harsh or overly critical of your actions, your ideas, or even you as a person. I have experienced this at different jobs or stages of my life and it always got me down, until a good friend and mentor of mine said, “If they aren’t talking about you, you aren’t doing anything.”

People, for the most part, fear change. They like the status quo and they don’t like to make waves. One thing I hear in business is, “That’s how we’ve been doing it for twenty years.” To which I reply, “Well, you may have been doing it wrong for twenty years.” Just because somebody did something along time ago doesn’t mean that it was the best or safest way of doing it.

My point is that you have to challenge the status quo now and then. Question the answers. Some people won’t like that, but that’s ok. People talk to me about Jesus all the time with questions, but if you can make me not believe just by asking a few questions, then the Holy Spirit isn’t really what is driving me.

It was once unprecedented for a runner to break the 4 minute mile, but everything is unprecedented until somebody does it. The impossible can be achieved, but it takes hard work and dedication to something bigger than yourself. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says that everything is possible for God. He created it all and has it all within His power. God will definitely help you fight the good fight, but you can’t just sit idle hoping that something is going to change. You can’t let people’s talk stop you from achieving the greatness God has planned for your life. If you want better, you need the courage to do something about it. You can’t just think your way to a better life, you need to put forth some effort and break through some barriers. You need to do what, in legal terms, is called an “act in furtherance.” You have to show and prove that you really mean what you say. Don’t just talk about it, be about it or you’ll live without it.

It’s true that you could avoid many mistakes by never trying anything new and that you could make fewer waves with people if you just follow the status quo. You won’t get your hands dirty if you go with the flow, but remember, dead bodies always float downstream. You are not dead; you are alive and reading this right now, which means you have opportunity to change something for the better. God placed you in this exact moment at this exact time. The Bible says that you are wonderfully made, you have a purpose, and that God is always with you. You can achieve anything that God is pushing you towards, because He will always give you the strength and resources to accomplish His divine will.

Failing hurts and gossip hurts, but I promise it will hurt worse to never accomplish your dreams and look back wondering, “What if…” Don’t worry about what people will say or think, worry about what God will think. When this life is over and you stand before Christ, don’t be sorry about a life spent letting opportunities and blessings pass you by.  Instead, be joyful when he says to you, “You have been wise in using what I gave you. Well done my good and faithful servant. Now at last, enter into the joy of your Master’s house.”

God’s blessings to you.

DH

“Being then set free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.” – Romans 6:18

We are coming up on July 4th, which is when we in America celebrate our freedom and independence. It’s definitely a time where each one of us needs to take a close look at all of the liberties that we enjoy and realize that freedom isn’t free. It is bought and paid for by the blood of someone willing to fight and die for you and I.

The same thing goes for your eternal soul. You and I are sinners who have turned ourselves over willingly to our greed and lusts. We just can’t seem to keep away from sin. And it’s too tough a battle for ourselves. However, you aren’t in this fight alone.

Your freedom has been bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, shed for our sakes upon the cross. Our sinful ways required payment and God wouldn’t be just and righteous if He forgot about our sins. That being said, He loves His children too much to let us be lost for eternity. We needed a Savior.

Jesus Christ, God in a man, was born of the Virgin Mary, lived the sinless life that you an I can’t, but chose to take the punishment for sin that we can’t pay for ourselves. Jesus was nailed to a cross and died to take our sins away. But to prove that death had not power over Him, He was raised from the dead. Our sins died that day and with Christ, and with Him we are born again. We were set free from our slavery to sin and evil.

In dying, He destroyed our death. And in rising, He restored our life.

Let this day and all others be a day that you and I celebrate our independence. We have been set free from sin so that we can lead a good and righteous life that our Heavenly Father wants for us. There was a cost for our freedom and it was the blood of Jesus Christ. Never forget that He loves you and He believes that your freedom from sin was worth dying for.

Jesus died for you. Live for Him.

God’s blessings to you

DH

“Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee” – Psalm 119:11

The world has a way of throwing things at you that are unexpected. I don’t know too many people who wake up in the morning and expect to have moments of rage, lust, or envy.  Those types of things just happen to all of us, but we do not need to be subject to them.

Sin is everywhere and there’s a bullet of sin with your name on it right now. The devil is a sharpshooter. He’s really good at knowing just where to hit each of us where it hurts the most.  He finds our weaknesses quickly and without warning.  If we aren’t ready to handle those problems and desires, we could fall at any minute.  That’s where Jesus comes in as our grand protector.

When you accept Jesus Christ, you have a new and very powerful weapon in your arsenal. Now, you are able to fight back and the devil never sees it coming.  Sin thinks that you are still the same easy target you always have been, but you’ve got a secret weapon.  With God by your side, the bible says that no weapon formed against you shall prosper.  When the devil shoots, you can shoot back.

Just as with any weapon, the more you practice with it, the better you will become. As with everything, start out with prayer.  Spend time with Jesus daily.  I’m a big believer in a morning holy hour and have preached this for as long as I can remember.  Even if you can’t muster but 10-15 minutes in the morning, you will be better equipped to handle what the devil throws your way.  Prayer will help you know God’s desires for your life.  Prayer will also help you to know the good from the bad in this world.  You can’t hit the bullseye if you don’t spend time with your weapon.

The devil is gunning for you. Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight.  Instead, bring a rock.  Bring The Rock!

God’s blessings to you.

DH