Their Deeds Will Give Them Away

Jesus Said:

 

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?  So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.  A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15-20 ESV) [1]

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[1] https://biblehub.com/esv/matthew/7.htm

 

The Golden Dome

Those of us who were in grade school during the 1950’s may remember participating in civil defense air raid drills.  The teacher would have the class get down on their knees and elbows under their desks.  We would put our heads down so that our eyes were covered by our forearms, and we would cover the back of our necks with the other hand.  It was uncomfortable, but we had to remain that way until the teacher called all clear. 

We were told that hiding under our desks like that would help us survive if the Russians (Soviet Union) dropped an A-bomb on us, and to seek shelter in a storm drain if the air raid siren went off on the way to or from school.  I asked my mother what an A-bomb was, and she said it was a terrible thing that could destroy a whole city.  I recall a couple of movies that brought home the horror delivered by nuclear weapons. 

It was a frightening experience for a child, and I lived with the die Angst that I would not get to experience life fully – that we would all die before our time in a nuclear war.  As the years went by, the fear lost some of its immediacy.  Nothing happened yesterday, or the year before that.  Therefore, maybe nothing will happen today or tomorrow.  That is faulty situational awareness.  We all have become somewhat complacent.  However, the uneasiness about the risk of nuclear war is still there, buried in the back of our consciousness. 

We hope the leaders of the world’s nations will realize how dead-from-the-neck-up stupid the use of nuclear weapons is, and that they will collectively agree to get rid of them.  That has not been the case, though.  Rather, the countries with nukes keep adding to their arsenals, and rogue nations that do not have them are striving to acquire them … mostly for nefarious purposes.  Insanity. 

There you have it.  Humanity is self-destructive.  We are left without recourse, except to find a way to defend ourselves.  Hopefully, we can come up with something more effective than hiding under our furniture.  

It is for this reason that I support President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome initiative.  It is the constitutional responsibility of the US Government to defend our people.  It’s about time the government did something about it. 

I for one am sick and tired of living with the fear that some foreign aggressor, or some madman, will turn us all into crispy critters.  Please ask your Senators and Congressional Representatives to fully fund President Trump’s Golden Dome now.

 

Become What God Planned for Us to Be

God will make of us all that He planned for us to be.

“Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.  You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.  All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. 

But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)  For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.  So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. 

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.  For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:1-10 NLT)

 

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. (Luke 16:13 NLT)

 

“… choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve … as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15 NIV)

 

The choice is ours to make.  I urge everyone to turn away from your sinful, disobedient style of living – a way of life that serves the purposes of the devil.  Accept the sacrifice Christ made for you and believe that it is sufficient to make you righteous in God’s sight – to save you by His grace and grace alone.  Trust and obey.  God bless you.

 

Acknowledgement: All verses quoted were copied from https://biblehub.com/

 

At the Name of Jesus

Jesus paid it all so that we can have it all.  Praise the name of Jesus.  He is Lord of all. 

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,  complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,  so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:1-11 ESV) [1]

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[1] https://biblehub.com/esv/philippians/2.htm

 

You can Receive the Holy Spirit Who is Freely Given

Dating from the Fourth Century, the Nicene creed eloquently states what has always been Christian doctrine.  The Third Person of the Holy Trinity proceeds from God the Father and God the Son: 

“We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.” 

Jesus said: 

“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.  What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent;  or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:9-13 ESV) 

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7 ESV) 

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”  (John 15:26 ESV) 

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.  He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.  All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you." (John 16:12-15 ESV) 

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,  even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:15-17 ESV) 

John also testifies: 

“By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” (1John 4:13 ESV) [1] 

God the Father and God the Son give us the Holy Spirit.  Please accept this most wonderful gift, Who is given to us when we are saved.

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[1] All of the verses quoted were copies from:  https://biblehub.com/

 

 

The Holy Spirit Prays for God's People

 The Holy Spirit intercedes for us in harmony with God’s will. 

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.         (Romans 8:26-27 NKJV) [1]

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[1] https://biblehub.com/nkjv/romans/8.htm

 

Easter 2025

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church at Colossae a description of the supremacy of Christ.  Paul told us about who Jesus is, the meaning of His sacrifice on the Cross, and the significance of His resurrection from the dead.

“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.  He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.  For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross 

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.”                                        (Colossians 1:9-23 ESV) [1] 

Jesus said: 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:16-21 ESV) [2] 

This is the good news (gospel) that we celebrate on Easter.  May you experience the salvation God has provided, today and forever through faith in Jesus Christ.

 

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[1] https://biblehub.com/esv/colossians/1.htm

[2] https://biblehub.com/esv/john/3.htm