What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
All the great religious leaders of history have one thing in common: they are dead. Only one man has risen from a grave never again to taste death. Jesus Christ died, was buried, remained in the grave for 3 days, then was raised to life again.
Jesus is unique. He is the only one proven to be the Son of God because God validated His Kingship and accepted His payment for our sins all with one incredible stroke: He raised Jesus from the dead!
Paul opens his letter to the Romans with this evidence about who Jesus is:
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which He had promised before by His prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Romans 1:1-4
Because Jesus Christ is very much alive, five things are true right now that wouldn’t be true if He were just another dead religious leader like Confucius, Mohammed or Buddha.
Because Jesus was raised from the dead and is alive…Prayers are answered, We can talk to Jesus 24/7
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It Is The Gift Of God: Not Of Works, Lest Any Man Should Boast - Ephesians, 8-9:
Don't I have to go to church regularly and don't. ...................NO, you can Not earn your salvation!
What you can earn is one of the 5 crowns, so there are rewards but salvation is yours if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior.
is a historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Jabal Al-Madbah, in a basin surrounded by mountains forming the eastern flank of the Arabah valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. The area around Petra has been inhabited from as early as 7000 BC, and the Nabataeans might have settled in what would become the capital city of their kingdom as early as the 4th century Bc] Archaeological work has only discovered evidence of Nabataean presence dating back to the second century BC, by which time Petra had become their capital. The Nabataeans were nomadic Arabs who invested in Petra's proximity to the incense trade routes by establishing it as a major regional trading hub.
The trading business gained the Nabataeans considerable revenue and Petra became the focus of their wealth. The Nabataeans were accustomed to living in the barren deserts, unlike their enemies, and were able to repel attacks by taking advantage of the area's mountainous terrain. They were particularly skillful in harvesting rainwater, agriculture and stone carving. Petra flourished in the 1st century AD, when its famous Al-Khazneh structure – believed to be the mausoleum of Nabataean king Aretas IV – was constructed, and its population peaked at an estimated 20,000 inhabitants.
Would it be too much, to ask you to think Logically, for a change?
The sky is bright, my Father, with the morning light.
Always after night there is a new day. Always after
the winter there is a springtime. Always after the seed
is dropped in the soil to die, new life springs forth. Always
after the tough times, there comes the recovery. Always,
my Father, when a penitent, contrite heart bows in
repentance before you, there comes the joy of fresh
pardon. And so now, my Father, I come, expecting good
things to happen, for I have stepped into the circle of your
love, and I find mercy and Your peace here. Strength is
coming like a warm rain driven by warm winds. Healing
is coming through the living Christ. Thank You, Father, Amen.
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The first automatically follows the second..............
The vibrations of the sounds made by those going around the city.
Sound has power as long as you have enough of it to do the job.
God told the people what to do and it worked just beautifully.
Jericho is a very ancient and important city located north of the Dead Sea in ancient Canaan (now Israel) not far from the Jordan River. It is mentioned by name at least 57 times in the Bible.
The first mention is in Numbers 22:1 when the Israelites “camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho”
There were primarily three different ancient Jerichos in near proximity, on three different sites in the area of modern Jericho:
the Jericho at the time of Joshua at Tell es-Sultan
the Jericho of Herod at Tulul Abu el-'Alayiq
the Jericho of the Crusades
The modern Jericho dates from the time of the Crusades.
Jericho of Joshua’s day
The Jericho of Joshua’s day was a fenced city which Deuteronomy describes as “the city of palm trees” (Deuteronomy 34:3), located in the Jordan River plain of Jordan, near where the river was crossed by the Israelites (Joshua 3:16).
The inhabitants of Jericho at Joshua’s time were generic Canaanites, according to our archaeological Team Member Associates for Biblical Research.
Satellite view of the archaeological mound excavation known as Tell es-Sultan containing evidence of many layers of habitation
Its site is near the 'Ein as-Sultan ('Ain es-Sultan), also called Elisha’s spring or fountain (2 Kings 2:19-22), about 5 miles west of the Jordan River.
Modern-day map showing the location of the above mentioned spring in the Ein es-Sultan section of modern Jericho
Jericho was the most important city in the Jordan valley (Numbers 22:1; 34:15), and the strongest fortress in all the land of Canaan. It was the key to Western Canaan.
In Joshua’s time, the city was given to the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18:21).
This city was taken in a very remarkable manner by the Israelites (Joshua 6). God gave it into their hands. The city was “accursed” (Hebrew: herem, “devoted” to Jehovah), and accordingly (Joshua 6:17; compare Leviticus 27:28-29; Deuteronomy 13:16) all the inhabitants and all the spoil of the city were to be destroyed, “only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron” were reserved and “put into the treasury of the house of Jehovah” (Joshua 6:24; compare Numbers 31:22-23; 31:50-54).
Only Rahab “and her father’s household, and all that she had,” were preserved from destruction, according to the promise of the spies (Joshua 2:14).
Larry goes to the revival and listens to the preacher.
After a while the preacher asks anyone with needs to be prayed over to come forward to the front at the altar.
Larry gets in line, and when it's his turn, the preacher asks:
"Larry, what do you want me to pray about for you?"
Larry replies: "Preacher, I need you to pray for my hearing."
The preacher puts one finger in Larry's ear, and he places the other hand on top of Larry's head and prays and prays and prays.
After a few minutes, the preacher removes his hands, stands back and asks Larry: "Larry, how is your hearing now?"
Larry says, "I don't know, Reverend, it's not until next Wednesday"
Did the Great Flood Really Happen, or Is it Just a Story with a Lesson?
There are many ancient stories of a flood that are remarkably similar to the story of Noah and the ark as told in Genesis. The names and places are different, but the story is similar. There are different opinions, but many people believe all these stories are based on some event that actually did happen sometime in the distant past.
What Became of Noah's Ark?
The mountains of Ararat, where the ark came to a rest, are in the region of eastern Turkey, southern Armenia, and western Iran.
At 16,946 feet, Mt. Ararat, in eastern Turkey, is the tallest of these. Some people think Noah's ark landed there. A number of explorers have gone up this huge mountain looking for remains of the ark, but they have not found anything definite.
Why Is Everything in the Bible Story of Noah Repeated Twice?
Bible scholars believe the book of Genesis was made up of several different ancient versions of its stories. The two main versions are called the "Priestly" and "Yahwist" accounts. These two versions can be easily spotted in the original Hebrew language because of the different names used for God and the different styles of writing. (The differences are lost when the story is translated into English.)
The two sources are obvious in the story of Noah, where they are woven together and almost every detail is told twice. Sometimes there are differences between the two accounts as in Genesis 6:19 and Genesis 7:2.
Oh Lord, my God
When I, in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing
He bled and died to take away my sin
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
When Christ shall come, with shouts of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration
And then proclaim, my God, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Songwriters: Stuart K. Hine
It was said by some that John had risen from the dead: The last time Luke wrote of John the Baptist, he was in prison and wondered if Jesus really was the Messiah (Luke 7:18-23). Now we learn that Herod executed John in prison because John rebuked Herod about his sin with his brother’s wife (Matthew 14:1-12).
So he sought to see Him: Herod wanted to see Jesus, but not as a sincere seeker. He either wanted to indulge idle curiosity or to do the same to Jesus as he had done to His cousin John. Luke noted this to emphasize the increasing danger surrounding the work of Jesus.
Later, Jesus was told that Herod wanted to kill Him. Jesus replied, Go, tell that fox, “Behold I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.” (Luke 13:32)
Luke also told us that Jesus finally met this Herod, on the morning of His crucifixion. Herod was in Jerusalem at the time, and when He heard that Pilate was sending Jesus to him, he got happy and excited – Herod wanted Jesus to perform a miracle for him. Yet Jesus did no kind of miracle for Herod, and when he asked Jesus many questions, Jesus answered him nothing. Herod then treated Jesus with contempt, mocked Him with a purple robe, and sent Him back to Pilate.
And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done. Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.
And the apostles: When they left Jesus in Luke 9:1, they were called disciples – that is, “learners.” When they came back after their preaching mission, they were called apostles – that is, “those sent with authority and a message.” They certainly remained disciples but knew both the message and the authority in a much better way after their work.
Told Him all that they had done: Jesus wanted to know how they had done. Jesus is concerned with the results of our work for Him.
He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place: Jesus did this to serve and bless those to whom He delegated His work. Jesus has special care to bless and serve those who serve Him.
But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing.
When the multitudes knew it, they followed Him: Jesus had gone to Bethsaida to bless and serve His disciples after their work for Him. They could not keep the multitudes away for long; they followed Him there also.
He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed them: Jesus served the seeking, needy multitudes in three ways.
· He received them: This speaks of His attitude. He didn’t run from the crowd or tell them to go away. With love and service, He received them.
· Spoke to them about the kingdom of God: This speaks of His teaching. As was the emphasis in His work, Jesus proclaimed a message to the multitudes.
Jesus did not only give them spiritual instruction, but He also did well among them with supernatural empowerment.
When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish unless we go and buy food for all these people.” For there were about five thousand men.
There is no question but that the people of Job's day were well-versed in the mechanic arts. It was not long after the Flood, and the skill of the artisans of Noah's day, and of the Babel builders had not been lost. This is evident from the Temples and Palaces of Egypt that were built in those days. But the Great Pyramid was unlike any of them. It was a new kind of Architecture, the first of its kind, and such as the world had never seen before. The plainness of its outlines, and the slope and smoothness of its sides. and the absence of all ornamentation was a striking contrast to the Egyptian style of Architecture. Whence came it? It must have come from some source not Egyptian. Why? Because there was a purpose in its building. It was built to record mathematical, astronomical, and Scriptural knowledge, which should bear witness to the inspiration of the Scriptures in these last days. That accounts for its peculiar architectural shape and the character of its inferior construction. To that end it was sealed up that in the closing days of this Dispensation it might disclose its message to an unbelieving world.
Christianity is the world's largest faith. But how exactly do you become a Christian, and what does it mean?
The Christian faith teaches that it is possible for absolutely anybody to have a fresh start, whatever they have done in their life. Being a Christian is not about going to church, living a good life or living in a Christian country. It is not even about believing in God. It is about being a follower of Jesus Christ and having a relationship with him. At first sight, this might seem impossible: Jesus Christ was born about 2,000 years ago in the Middle East and was executed by the authorities when he was aged about 33.
It is about being a follower of Jesus Christ and having a relationship with him.
But at the heart of the Christian faith is the belief that Jesus was, and is, God in human form and that he lived, died, and came back from the dead. He then returned to heaven. His life, death, and resurrection enable humanity to have a relationship with God.
The Bible book of John records what Jesus said about becoming a Christian: ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’
Christianity How do you become a Christian?
Making a fresh start;
Jesus spent about three years traveling around teaching people. Sometimes thousands of people gathered to hear him. At the beginning of this time, his message was simple: he urged people to ‘repent’- to turn around from the way they were living and go in a new direction. That might mean changing their attitude toward the poor, being more generous, or helping others.
Repentance is a key step in becoming a Christian. It is the moment when a person admits to God, by praying to him, that they have been going in the wrong direction. They ask for his forgiveness for all the wrong they have done, thought, or said. They then promise to go in a new direction in life, asking for his help to follow the teachings of Jesus by putting him first rather than themselves.
I’m not religious, and this was by design.
The only conversation I can ever remember my parents had about religion in early childhood is that they were going to let me pick a faith on my own. Looking back, it was an enlightened view for the early 1980s, but it also came about because they were in a Buddhist-Christian interfaith marriage and neither of them was devout.
So I grew up and was not drawn to any religion, so I didn't pick one. However, when I had a child of my own, I did choose for him to be raised as a practicing Catholic. The reason is very simple: I was raised without religion and I think it was a mistake.
Kids and parents have always had differences. Read about a mother with a son who was going vegetarian at the moment she was getting her hunting license here.
His father, my husband Niall, is a barely practicing Catholic immigrant from Ireland. He didn’t care if Cillian was raised in his faith — in fact, it would be less work for him as he’s the one who will attend mass with our son. He would have gladly handed the religious reins over to me. Except I’m not a Catholic and I don’t intend to become one.
A recent study I read said that a religious upbringing is associated with better life satisfaction in youths, more frequent volunteer work, and more forgiving attitudes. But I don’t really care so much about what a study says. This desire for Cillian to have a religion to call his own doesn’t come from an academic place, it comes from my intuition and life experiences.
Whether Cillian believes in Jesus or follows the teachings of the church is up to him. Like my parents, I leave his deep beliefs for him to decide when he grows up. However, unlike my parents, I want him to have a feeling of belonging to not only a church, but its community and his own Irish Catholic culture. This was something I never had.
When Niall and I were in our 20s, his sister Eugenie died at age 25. Fresh out of university and exploring South America for the first time, she was killed in a horrifying bus accident in Bolivia when her tourist bus plunged off a cliff notorious for its peril. (You can still read the story in the Irish Times.) Niall and I traveled to his family home in Donegal for the funeral. One of his aunts, his siblings and a few of Eugenie’s friends and I were sitting in the living room warmed by a coal fire, curtains pulled tight, saying the Rosary. I could not take part in this other than bowing my head with my eyes shut, not knowing even one word of the Hail Mary prayer.
Later at Eugenie’s funeral mass, everyone knew the rituals: when to kneel, when to make the sign of the cross, their voices chanting in unison at the right times as the mass marched on. Everyone knew the ins and outs as well as they knew the contours of their own faces in the mirror. And I was stirred by this, and I was a long way from being a parent at that point, but I knew that this sense of belonging, this sense of ritual and knowing what comes next, and cultural and spiritual togetherness was what I wanted for my child.
In my own parenting circles, religion is something we rarely speak about. We are a religiously diverse and mostly non-practicing group. If I take this one step further and am honest with myself, my crowd of secular urban friends and acquaintances can be silently judgy on the matter. I remember a brunch with friends where I was explaining why Cillian was getting baptized in Ireland, something I thought would be nice for his grandmother to celebrate at her parish. I was met with mostly gentle nods and affirmations, except for one acquaintance, who served me silence and an arched eyebrow worthy of Downton Abbey’s Lady Mary as I told the story.
How do we know there is a God?
The truthful answer is that we cannot know for certain. We cannot prove the existence of God, but there are many reasons why belief in God is reasonable. The first is that nothing science has discovered explains the existence of the universe.
Yet the universe has a beauty and an order that suggest a rational mind lies behind it all. Just as the existence of the computer demonstrates that there is someone who invented it, so the world in all its beautiful complexity points to the existence of a Creator, God.
A second reason is that within the heart of man there is a capacity to love and a desire to be loved. Christians point to that and say it indicates that there is a power of love in the world, which many people call God.
Another reason is that in every part of the world today and throughout history, men and women have always believed in and worshipped God. Some people have said that in every person there is a “God-shaped hole” that only God can fill. The existence of that desire to pray and to believe and talk with God is one argument for God’s existence. There are lots more reasons why people believe in God. Have you ever asked yourself whether God is real to you?.........................
How you answer that question might depend on who you ask. An astrophysicist might reply that the universe began several thousand million years ago as a gigantic nuclear explosion. A theologian might reply that God created the world - but might be concerned to speaking more about why God created the world than how God created the world.
The ‘why’ question is perhaps more important as it asks us to think about the purpose and meaning of creation. As far as the origin of the world is concerned, the Bible simply says that God created it (Genesis 1:1, John 1:3, Hebrews 11:3).
Not all Christians agree on the origin of life. Most however believe that it is best explained by some form of evolutionary theory and they believe that this evolutionary process has been sustained by God and used by him.
The Book of Genesis declares creation to be good and says that God was satisfied and pleased with his handiwork. This surely means that the world should be something we revere and delight in.
Christians have always believed that Jesus was not just a good man, but the Son of God. We believe that he came from God, and returned again to his Father’s presence. Indeed the whole of Christianity stands or falls on whether Jesus was who he said he was.
No serious academic today believe that Jesus didn’t exist. Historians agree that he was a remarkable teacher, who amazed people 2,000 years ago with miracles that they found it hard to explain. They also know that he was crucified in the most barbaric way imaginable and that his followers were convinced that three days later he came back to life. Many of those disciples were themselves put to death, refusing to back down on those claims. Why would they do so unless they were convinced Jesus had been resurrected?
Jesus himself also claimed to be the Son of God - God in human form, sent to save us. The Christian writer CS Lewis summed up our response to Jesus as follows: “he was either mad, bad, or God.” He was either living a delusion, living a lie, or he really was God. It is impossible to say that he was just a good teacher because he claimed to be more than that. If we don’t believe his own claims about himself, why should we believe any of his teachings?
Why did Jesus have to die?
The simple answer might be that Jesus died because he was a preacher of radical ideas, who disturbed the religious and political leaders of his time, exposed their hypocrisy, aroused their jealousy - and so was condemned to death on the cross.
That’s not the whole story. It ignores the fact that Jesus willingly laid down his own life, that no-one took it from him. He died so that we might live. He became sin so that we might be freed from sin.
As the Bible says: “Christ died for sins once and for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:18, RSV). We all know that forgiveness can be costly and it was costly for God to forgive us. It cost God his own Son.
We all do things that we know are wrong. Those things stop us from having a proper relationship with God. It is only as we approach God and ask for forgiveness that we can start that new relationship. Jesus’s death in our place makes that relationship possible. As we begin to understand what that means, we also become aware of the love which God has for us and for all of his creation.
I thought you were my friend;
My friend, I stand in judgment now
And feel that you're to blame somehow
While on this earth I walked with you day by day
And never did you point the way
You knew the Lord in truth and glory
But never did you tell the story
My knowledge then was very dim
You could have led me safely to him
Though we lived together here on earth
You never told me of your second birth
And now I stand this day condemned
Because you failed to mention Him
You taught me many things, that's true
I called you a friend and trusted you
But now I learned, now it's too late
You could have kept me from this fate
We walked by day and talked by night
And yet you showed me not the light
You let me live, love, and die
And all the while you knew I'd never live on high
Yes, I called you a friend in life
And trusted you in joy and strife
Yet in coming to this end
I see you really weren't my friend
D. J. Higgins
lFuel for the Soul
Brandon Wenzel
These past two weeks, writers from Quest Church have spoken on the topic of ‘Infinitely More’ and speaking to how God wants to do infinitely more in your life than you can ask or think of!
This week, I want to speak to two things that the Holy Spirit wants to do in you.
The first thing that He wants to do is bring POWER into your life. Power to do and be more than you can imagine! Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This power that comes from the Holy Spirit allows you to stand strong for the things of God. We find in the Bible that Peter, who two months before denied Jesus three times, stands before a crowd immediately after receiving the Holy Spirit and over 3,000 people come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The second thing the Holy Spirit wants to do in us is give us SPIRITUAL GIFTS. The gifts of the Spirit are laid out in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 and speak to things such as miraculous healing, wisdom, prophecy, speaking in tongues, and discernment. These gifts were manifested 2,000 years ago, but they can be alive and well in our own lives today! Through personal experience and the testimonies of other, I have seen these gifts in action. Every time they have shown themselves, they have blessed the individual recipient of the gift as well as glorified God in the process.
Now is the time our culture needs to stand up, with the power of the Holy Spirit, for the things that grieve God. We are called to be the audible voices of God to the world around us. And, through that, we are able to have a voice to stand up for the injustices of this world. As things are calming down with riots and COVID-19, we need to never hide our God who lives inside of us.
Jenny, Jenny He didn't do it. I looked under my bed and there was nothing for me.
I struggled to clear my mind as I had been in a deep sleep, when Monica woke me. I wondered what she was talking about. What are you trying to say honey? There is no doll Jenny, there is no doll under my bed.
Ah now I did remember. Monica wanted very much to have a dolly.
I had told her to pray and ask the Lord for it.
She had done so and now believed that He had not delivered as she thought He would, by putting the doll under her bed.
I tried to explain to her that God was not Santa Claus, that He works through people.
I could tell that this was too much for her to understand, she was only five years old.
That very afternoon her girlfriend, who lived next door, came over to the house. Lisa was very excited.
Monica, my dad just came home from a trip and look at what he brought me, a new doll, and if you want to, you can have my other doll.
Now Monica's eyes lit up and she looked at me with wonder, for she now understood that indeed, God works through people.
A very famous preacher, Hudson Taylor once said, Lord, that you will answer my prayer, I know! What fascinates me every time is, How you are going to answer.
Go to: Table of Contents or Next Chapter of Jenny's book; He Works Through People.......many of her own stories are in her blog What makes Jesus unique.............
Living at the time in California all you heard was get ready for the end times.
On the radio you heard; "Come quickly Lord Jesus"
Many wished to be there when it happened................
"Don't wish for it to happen in your lifetime because it won't be a good time.
I do like people to be aware because it Can happen anytime as there is not a prophecy that needs to be fulfilled first.
Jesus says that He will come like a thief in the night, one I will take and leave the other I leave,
I hope and pray that what I have sent you will bring clarity to it all.
Jesus is back with God, His Father. Before He left He told us that He would not leave us
like orphans but would send the Holy Spirit to stay with us.
Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are equal in every way......................
I went to the grocery store this morning and standing in line at the cashier the lady next to me and I was talking about the snow on the road.
I said; "you know when I get to talk to God one day I will ask why He did not just put the snow on the mountains and the trees only but kept the roads clear"
"Oh, the lady said; "So you are sure you will get the chance to talk to this God?"
"Oh, yes mam I have a written guarantee that I will"
If I had more time to talk I would have told her to look up John 3-13
Some time ago I did this and now would be a good time for it again I am sure when a lady talked to me about the high cost of food. I agreed of course and told the lady, "it would get worse"
She was sure that indeed this would happen.
"Well, I don't worry about it," I said; "because I have a rich father"
"Yes that would help to have a rich father," she said.
"For sure mam," I said and looked up............................
June 27, 2019
Often times you hear people telling you that when you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior you are transformed. You are made new. But what does that even mean? To a new believer, it can sound a bit hokey. Was God supposed to wash over me and suddenly I stopped sinning? Was I born again? Made perfect? Righteous? How will I feel different (if at all)?
I can tell you from personal experience that the transformation was more noticeable in hindsight than it was in the moment. When I accepted Christ (aka chose to not only believe but to follow Him), it changed me in many ways, but the only thing that immediately changed was my heart.
Let’s Start From The Beginning
Unlike other stories you may know of, there was no grand show for me to accept Jesus into my life. It didn’t happen at my baptism (I was raised Catholic and baptized as an infant). There was no altar call. It happened sometime after I was invited to church with a friend on Easter in 2014. That story can be found here. From that day forward my life has never been the same.
“An acquaintance from college had just moved to the area with her husband and started working in my unit (small world). A few weeks before Easter, she handed me a flier and casually asked if I would like to go to church with her and have Easter lunch afterward.
I immediately said yes! I met her and her husband at their house before church, and we all rode together to their Easter Service. This made a world of difference. I walked into a large foreign building and felt comforted that I had a friend by my side. Surely people wouldn’t know who I was.
That service transformed my life.”
Change Of Heart
During that Easter service, I fell in love with the Lord. I had a fire ignite within me, a passion, a drive to get to know who this Jesus Christ of the Bible really was. This was about the only thing that instantly changed - my desire. Like a girl infatuated with a new guy, Jesus had become my guy (sorry David).
A few noticeable things changed immediately:
I joined a small group called “Called to Serve” with other Christian women affiliated with the military (both Active Duty or Spouse).
I couldn’t wait to go to church on Sundays. This literally became my favorite day of the week. I had a hunger that only church could somewhat fill.
I had a curiosity to answer all of my questions and learn all that I could about God.
I began volunteering with the church ministries.
I started reading and studying my Bible.
Those areas in which I noticed a change aren’t for everyone. It’s not a list of changes every new believer should go through. Instead, it's how I noticed my life change in those first few weeks. I acted the same and believed all of the same things. The biggest difference was that I had a curiosity that needed to be filled and I surrounded myself with a Christian community that would eventually play a significant part in my transformation process.
By participating in a small group, I found a lifelong friend that challenged my beliefs. She encouraged me in my faith and showed me what it was like to be unapologetically Christian. She was always reaching for my hand and trying to pray out loud (which felt EXTREMELY uncomfortable at the time). She encouraged me in my relationships with family and my fiancé (now husband). She shared her history with me and ultimately, she became a true sister in Christ.
Volunteering in other ministries forced me into meeting people in different stages of their faith, from new believers to pastors of the Church. Simply having conversations with these people answered questions, created new ones, and taught me what Christianity was all about.
Christianity wasn’t about perfection, nor was it about never sinning (that was impossible).
Revelation Of Truth
The more I read and studied the bible, the more questions began to arise. BUT (this is a BIG but), things started to make sense. It was as if God lifted up my blinders and allowed me to understand the truth behind scripture. Not everything of course, for there is so much I still do not understand. And for the things I still don’t understand, He gave me a peace to accept that I will not know everything.
After all, that was one of my biggest frustrations. There was so much that did not make sense to me, could I really believe and follow Jesus if I didn’t understand everything?
The simple answer – yes!
Evolution Over The Last 5 Years
Over time, I started noticing my behaviors and beliefs change. When I was younger, I had strong social and political beliefs that changed through my journey to faith.
I went from believing that a woman should have a choice over what happens to her own body, to believe that every person (from conception) should have the right to life.
I went from believing that as long as you were in love, it didn’t matter who you married, to realizing God designed marriage, and that is between a man and a woman.
I went from believing that as long as I was a good person that’s all that mattered, to realizing there is no such thing as a good person except for Christ.
I went from believing that I could earn my salvation (be a good person) to understanding that it had nothing to do with my actions.
And I went from believing that Christianity was all about knowing/reciting the Bible, to understanding that Christianity was more about living for Christ even if you can’t recite scripture.
This list could go on and on about all the ways my ideas, thoughts and beliefs were challenged and altered, but that’s not the point of this story. The point is that being a Christian isn’t a one-time thing. You don’t accept Christ into your life and then BAM you are changed. Christianity is a journey you take for the rest of your life. It’s the decision to follow Christ no matter where He takes you. It’s the decision to humbly admit that you are unworthy yet chosen. It’s the decision to understand that every word, every thought, and every action, is a reflection of God’s work in your life.
Do not be discouraged when you stumble, because God will be there to pick you back up (Psalm 37). Do not be discouraged if you’ve recited the sinner's prayer and still question whether you did it right. Do not be discouraged if your life looks nothing like the “perfect Christian” you keep comparing yourself to.
Your story is your own to live out. It will not look like anyone else’s. Keep asking those questions, and keep striving to know more of God. Keep talking to Him and asking Him for clarification and guidance.
One day, sooner than you think, you will look back and be amazed at how far you have come.
PHIL NEWTON
I’ve heard it many times. “Well, you don’t have to attend church to be a Christian.” “Attending church doesn’t make you a Christian!” “I don’t need the church; I worship God in my own way.”
In each case, someone attempts to provide a barrier to further conversation about the gospel and its effects on the whole of a person’s life. In the discomforting moment of confrontation (gently or firmly) concerning sin, Christ’s death and resurrection, the call to repentance and faith, and the ongoing call of Christian discipleship, that person wants to push away and still feel satisfied with his position with God.
So, can he/she still be a Christian without going to church? If one means, does church attendance save anyone, we have to agree that it does not. Jesus Christ saves. Certainly, a lack of church attendance likely inhibits one from coming to faith in Christ by not being under the proclamation of the gospel. But the question is really not about whether attending church saves anyone—that’s only a ruse to steer the conversation away from the pointed realities of the gospel. Instead, what happens once a person is united to Jesus Christ through faith in Him? Can that person, despite his/her profession of Christ, maintain a go-it-alone approach to Christianity and be legitimate as a true believer?
Let’s consider a few things that we find in the Scripture since Scripture alone is the foundation for our faith and practice. Our opinions and even our family traditions (some don’t attend church yet profess to be Christian just like their parents have done) do not matter at this point.
Jesus established community with His first followers (e.g. Matt 4:18–5:2). He called a group of men to Himself who spent three years with Him discussing biblical truth, listening to His teaching, praying together, serving together, fellowshipping together, learning to live in relationship with one another, and preparing to lead the multiplying communities of believers in the first century. We know that it was not only men that followed but also women who became stalwarts in the early church (Luke 8:1–3; 23:49). The only time that Jesus did not include a true believer in the community that followed Him was with the man that Jesus delivered and made a new creation, that we call the Gerasene demoniac. He wanted to follow with Jesus and His community but Jesus sent him on a mission to his homeland of Decapolis, where he proclaimed “what great things Jesus had done for him” (Mark 5:1–20).
Prior to His ascension, Jesus charged His followers to make disciples, baptize them, and then to go on teaching them to faithfully observe (obey, put into practice, live in) all that He had taught them (Matt 28:19–20). The Great Commission directed gospel work to be done within the ongoing framework of Christian community. The continual teaching and shepherding toward faithful observance of Christ’s teachings is not done in isolation. Nor is the accountability necessary to hold our spiritual feet to the fire of obedience done alone. We need the body of Christ if we would follow Jesus. Jesus prescribed it Himself.
I realize that some quickly revert to how they can watch Christian teaching on the Internet or television or listen to audio messages. That’s a wonderful supplement and a great help when one is homebound but it does nothing toward application in the context of community. So many of the commands in the New Testament are relational. “Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you” (Col 3:12–13). Those are not commands for solitary confinement in one’s home.
One reads the scenes in heaven and it’s never, never about being an isolationist! Those scenes around the throne are always with the masses of people redeemed by the blood of Christ, who share the joys of His presence together forever (e.g. Rev 5:11–14; 7:9–17).
Can you be a Christian without going to church? Better asked, how can anyone who professes to be redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ think of not gathering with His body each week? (Hebrews 10:25) While attending church doesn’t save anyone, we find no shred of biblical evidence that true Christians didn’t seek to gather with one another. On the contrary, the weight of evidence in the Gospels, Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation is that Christ saves us to unite us to His body, which Paul declares is the church (Eph 1:22–23). Through the centuries, Christians have literally sacrificed their lives to gather with Christ’s body—the church. Thank God, they are still doing it today.
To declare that one doesn’t need to attend church to be a Christian is to expose a betrayal in thought and practice of the effectiveness and power of the gospel. True Christians and local congregations go together.
Where is my life headed?
To become a Christian, you will have to give up searching for hope, peace, and fulfillment.
God only gave up one thing so people could become “Christians.” He gave up his only Son who was Christ.
Jesus gave up everything including his life so that you and I wouldn’t have to. He doesn’t make us give up anything. He merely offers us a new abundant life while we’re alive and the afterlife to come.
He only asks that we recognize we are lost and wayward and need a Savior. He only asks that we lay down the pride of our selfishness that says, “We don’t need God.”
That pride is sin. The plain truth is we are born that way; born in sin and separated from God. That’s why our lives get so messed up.
What are you searching for? The list could be long and the answers may be many, but there is only one right answer to your search, to your struggle—Jesus Christ.
It is wise to count the cost of Christianity, just as it is wise to consider the cost of life without it. Should you decide you do not want to live in loneliness, hopelessness, fearfulness, or whatever state you find yourself in, the next step is simple. Answer this question, “Are you willing to lay down your pride and ask God for help?”
If so, then by faith, which comes from God, admit your life is a mess and you need a helper, a comforter—a Savior. Recognize that you need Jesus as your Savior. Commit to putting your trust in Christ so that you will be right with God.
So far you have been trusting in yourself, and look where you’re at. Trust in Jesus, he will not let you down. The Bible says, “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, 'Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame" (Romans 10:10-11).
Lay your pride down, hold your head up, and receive new life.
How to avoid the trap of bitterness.
Have you ever wondered, Why God let me suffer that injury? lose my job? have a car accident? forget that appointment? have a fight with my spouse? let my parents get divorced? let me be born with a defect?
How can a God who loves me allow me to experience pain and suffering? It just doesn’t seem to add up. When bad things happen, we want answers.
The truth is, you can’t know all the reasons why God lets bad things happen. We live in a world that is marred by sin, so difficulties and disappointments are bound to cross our paths. Nevertheless, if you ask God for discernment, you can begin to understand why He allowed something to occur. You can also discover how God can redeem the situation and bring benefits to your life as a result of suffering.
Scripture teaches us that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28; see also Jeremiah 29:11). Searching for God’s answers and learning to view “bad things” as “good things in disguise” are disciplines that God wants His children to develop as they mature spiritually. (See I Corinthians 2:14 and Romans 8:1–17.)
Accept God’s Grace
Unless you accept God’s grace to deal with suffering, inevitably you will become bitter. However, if you choose to trust God to bring about His purposes through suffering, you can avoid the trap of bitterness and grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. (See II Corinthians 5:7 and II Peter 3:18.)
You can be confident that God will not allow anything to happen to you without His permission, and He will not let any “bad thing” happen that will not ultimately bring you more good than destruction. (See I Peter 4:12–13, Romans 9:14–24, Isaiah 55:8–9, Job 1:6–12, Genesis 50:20, and Psalm 121.)
Discern the Benefits of Your Suffering
As you seek to discern the benefits of your suffering, it is important to ask six general questions:
How can this situation help me understand more about Christ?
Jesus suffered much. He was “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). He was ridiculed, betrayed, beaten, humiliated, abandoned, and falsely accused. Do you think Jesus was ever tempted to be bitter toward those who caused His suffering? Of course, He was. In fact, the Bible says He was “in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
“Without sin”—here is the difference between man’s “natural” responses of anger and bitterness (sin), and Jesus Christ’s responses of trust and perfect obedience to His Father’s will. How, then, can we face temptation without sinning? The next verse in that Scripture passage gives us the answer: “Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
Jesus showed us the right way to respond to suffering. In your hard circumstance or tragedy or heartbreaking disappointment, you can learn to respond as Jesus did. As you study God’s Word, be alert to Christ’s responses when He suffered. Follow His example as God guides you by His Holy Spirit, in each situation you encounter. Through your suffering, you can understand more about your Savior.
How can God use this situation to produce humility in me?
God hates pride. (See Proverbs 6:16–17.) On the other hand, “by humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor, and life” (Proverbs 22:4). Therefore, when you suffer you should look for ways to learn humility. “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8).
Do you know why God let the children of Israel wander in the wilderness for forty years?
By Grace Ruiter
What do you do when the thing that is supposed to be your greatest source of comfort is what’s keeping you up at night? Doubting God seems to throw everything off balance. When you’re struggling with faith, it can feel like your life’s purpose, friendships, family relationships, and understanding of the world are all under threat. So allowing yourself to ask hard questions about what you believe takes a lot of courage. And because we have a bad habit of shutting down conversations about doubt in the church, you might feel like you have to navigate a faith crisis on your own. (You don’t; more on that later.) That’s a scary and frustrating and heavy place to be. I know because I’ve been there.
Your story isn’t my story. I realize that. But for what it’s worth, here’s what I wish someone had told me when I started questioning my faith.
1. Struggling with faith is normal; it's part of growing.
You don’t need to cancel your church membership just because you’re questioning some of your beliefs. It’s normal to have questions about God. Sometimes taking faith and the questions it poses seriously means struggling with faith. And sometimes it causes you to have doubts. But as long as there’s a kernel of belief left in you, you have not lost your faith. In fact, questioning your faith is often how you grow it.
A seed of faith buried deep in the ground has a shell of protection around it to shield it from the elements. When a sapling sheds the protection of the seed to poke its head above the ground, it is vulnerable to wind, rain, snow, and animals. But its roots keep it tethered to the ground. And the tugs of the wind and the rain actually help to strengthen the sapling into a tree that can withstand torrential storms without a shell. Your faith is the same.
If you’ve started asking the hard questions, you’ve already started to poke out of your protective shell. Pretending you haven’t thought of questions that you are afraid to answer is like trying to force toothpaste back into its tube. It’s not going to work. And that might be a good thing. Faith was never meant to be static or unchanging. Questioning your faith means you are taking seriously the task of pursuing truth and figuring out what it means to live according to it. This is what discipleship is all about!
2. Embrace curiosity like a child.
Kids ask a lot of questions. So when Jesus tells us to become like little children, I don’t think he’s saying we should tamp down our curiosity. Fairy tales often point out that children are more willing to believe in what they can’t see than many adults. But the humility and openness that enable children to believe in the unseen also spark greater wonder and curiosity.
Childlike faith is open to learning something new, to changing shape, to being wrong, and to asking hard questions. It is curious and eager to explore without demanding five pages of proof to verify each discovery.
So let yourself wander back to preschool. Dare to pursue what you desperately want to know but are too afraid to ask. The worst thing that can happen: you find out you might be wrong about something. But wouldn’t you rather discover the truth than believe a lie because you were too afraid to see beyond it?
3. Talk to someone you trust about how you’re struggling with faith.
You don’t have to wrestle with your doubts on your own. (Seriously: learn from my mistakes.) Now is not the time to distance yourself from the people who love and care about you. Struggling with faith can be hard, and they can help you.
Do you have someone in your life who you look to as a model for your faith in particular? Consider confiding in that person. You might be afraid of disappointing them or worried they won’t get why you’re struggling with faith. But try to give them the benefit of the doubt.
It is amazing how God has set it up so that when we want/need something we have to ask Him.
Yes, He already knows what we want/need but He wants to hear from us.
Is it not amazing that the Great Almighty Wants to hear from us His children?
I have often wondered how much would we talk to our Savior if He had not set it up this way.
I have all the time a line open to the Lord, how often am I saying; "Sorry Lord" Or "thank you Lord"