Love & Friendship

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in two tours of duty.

He called his parents from San Francisco. “Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve got a favor to ask. I have a friend I’d like to bring with me.” “Sure,” they replied, “we’d love to meet him.” “There’s something you should know the son continued, “he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mined and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us.” “I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live.”

“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.” “Son,” said the father, “you don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own.” At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him.

A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know, their son had only one arm and one leg.

The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don’t like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from people who aren’t as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are.

Thankfully, there’s someone who won’t treat us that way. Someone who loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of how messed up we are.

Tonight, before you go to sleep for the night, say a prayer that God will give you the strength you need to accept people as they are, and to help us all be more understanding of those who are different from us!!!

There’s a miracle called -Friendship- that dwells in the heart. You don’t know how it happens or when it gets started. But you know the special lift It always brings and you realize that Friendship Is God’s most precious gift!

Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us.

The Gospel of Jesus is not enough! Or is It?

There are thousands of people who just won’t let the Bible get in the way of their theology. Religious traditions and widely-accepted teaching have become the basis of their beliefs, rather than the Bible. The results are obvious: Their relationship with Christ is profiting them little or at the very least less than God intended.

Would God send His only Son to bear our sin, becoming sin itself, and then judge Him without mercy for that sin if His sacrifice wasn’t enough? No! Yet, many Christians act as though it wasn’t enough and continue to believe God is withholding His blessing because of their sin. It’s time to learn the truth.

There are people who have accepted Jesus as their Savior. Yet, they can’t get healed, they’re unhappy, depressed, fearful, and full of unbelief. I encourage you to allow the Bible, God’s Word, to get right in the middle of your theology.

If you’re conscious of sin, then you truly don’t understand the grace of your salvation through Jesus. It sounds radical, but it’s true. That is totally different than the way most people think. It’s different than what most of us have been told. But this is what God’s Word declares. God is not imputing, or laying to our account, our sin.

2 Cor 5:19 "that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation."

Sin consciousness has been ground into us. Grace is not the way of the world. Your employer doesn’t hire you by grace and promise to pay no matter what you do; they have expectations of performance. In marriage, spouses don’t always love each other unconditionally. Even in most Christian families, children are either rewarded or punished based on their performance.

In this earth almost everything is based on performance, and because it is, it always forces us to focus on our weaknesses. That performance mentality then transfers into religion where we’re taught to focus on our sin. However, where God is concerned, it’s just the opposite. In fact, sin isn’t even an issue with God. Why? Because our sin is not being imputed, or charged, to our account. It’s being charged to Jesus’ account, and He already paid the bill.

Heb. 9:11-12 "When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption."

If words mean anything, think about these words: Jesus entered in once! Do you know what once means in the Greek? It means once. It means He doesn’t do it over and over again. Every time you sin, the Lord doesn’t have to wait until you repent and then get that sin under the blood.

Most Christians believe that when you’re born again, you get your sins forgiven up to that point. Then, every time you sin after becoming a Christian, you’ve got to run to the Lord with that sin and confess and repent, or you could be lost. If not lost and on your way to hell, then at the very least, God would not fellowship with you, and He certainly wouldn’t answer your prayers.

If that were true, then everybody would be on their way to hell. There isn’t a person on this earth who doesn’t have either a known or an unknown unconfessed sin. Or, if sin just means the loss of relationship with God and unanswered prayers, then God wouldn’t have a single person qualified to receive an answer to prayer or fellowship with Him. Was Jesus enough or not?

This is a huge issue. It’s the reason many believe God isn’t healing them or prospering them. They say out of one side of their mouths that He loves them and sacrificed His Son, Jesus, for their salvation, and then out of the other side, they say that He is still judging them for sin. Those are incompatible!

Heb. 9:13-15 "The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance — now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant."

It isn’t God who is condemning us when we sin; it’s our own consciences. We haven’t purged our consciences with the truth of what Jesus has done with sin. Satan knows that and is using it to condemn us and destroy our faith and confidence in God by reminding us we don’t deserve God’s blessing.

Praise God, He isn’t giving you what you deserve; He is giving you what Jesus deserves. Jesus paid for sin one time, past, present, and even the sins you will commit in the future. How can that be, you ask? I don’t know exactly, but let me tell you this, Jesus only died one time for our sins two thousand years ago, so you better hope He can forgive your sins before you commit them.

Heb. 9:25-28 "Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him." (emphasis mine)

God knows the end from the beginning and He knew all the sins of the whole world. Jesus paid for all those committed before His sacrifice and for all that had not yet been committed. He made the payment once and it will never be made again. The price for sin, all sin, has been paid!

We have received an eternal inheritance (Heb. 9:15) that cannot be taken away. Your inheritance is not temporary; it’s eternal. You aren’t disinherited and you don’t lose the benefits of being part of the family because of sin.

To understand this, you have to see yourself as God sees you. In your born-again spirit, you are as clean and holy and pure as Jesus is. Religion has you looking at your flesh. It has you searching the soulish realm of thoughts, attitudes, and feelings. But that is not what God is looking at. He is looking at your spirit, the part of you that’s become a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

John 4:24
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

What part of you is new? It’s not the flesh and it’s not the soul; it’s your born-again spirit. When you go to God in prayer and say “O God, I’m so ungodly and so unworthy, please forgive me, please answer my prayer,” you are not in the spirit; you are in the flesh. Your spirit is righteous, holy, and pure. Sin does not affect your spirit.

Am I saying sin is okay? Absolutely not! When you sin, you give Satan an open door to the soul, your mind and emotions, as well as opportunity to destroy your physical body. It’s just stupid to open yourself up to the devil. Rom 6:15-18

Some of you may still be thinking, Well, I know God died once for all men, but His sacrifice still must be applied whenever we sin. Let’s allow God’s Word to get in the way of this wrong theology again.

Heb 10:10-12
“By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified,” (emphasis mine).

This is not talking about your physical body or your soul; it’s talking about your born-again spirit. Your spirit is identical to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is sinless! Your soul and your body can be defiled by sin, but your spirit never can; it’s sealed forever.

Maturity in the Christian life isn’t about trying to grow your spirit up; it’s trying to educate, or renew, your mind to what you already have in your spirit. Your spirit is already perfect! You already have the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Your spirit is always happy, always rejoicing, and always healthy.

God loves you even though you’ve messed up, even though you aren’t perfect. He loves you not because of your performance but because of Jesus’ sacrifice. If you can ever get a revelation of this, it will change the way you see God forever.

Are you just visiting faith?

Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

The expression “from faith to faith” describes the means whereby righteousness is given and retained. God’s righteousness cannot be earned; it can only be acquired through faith. As proof that righteousness received by faith is not a new idea or concept, Paul quoted Hab 2:4, “The just shall live by his faith” (Ga 3:11 and Heb 10:38).

The just shall live by faith. They don’t just visit faith every once in a while or vacation there once a year; they live in and by faith.

Usefulness of my life is Jesus' concern, not mine

"All that is not the love of God has no meaning for me. I can truthfully say that I have no interest in anything but the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. If God wants it to, my life will be useful through my word and witness. If He wants it to, my life will bear fruit through my prayers and sacrifices. But the usefulness of my life is His concern, not mine. It would be indecent of me to worry about that."

- Brennan Manning

"God loves you unconditionally, as you are and not as you should be, because nobody is as they should be."

Intolerance, Atheists and the Cross

While Christians are regularly accused by secularists and atheists of being intolerant and coercive, often it is exactly the opposite. This has been demonstrated again this past week.

Most Americans are aware of the remarkable 9/11 World Trade Center Cross that has been on display since the collapse of the Twin Towers following the fateful terrorist attacks. After its discovery among the rubble, that cross became an instant symbol of hope and optimism for first responders, families of the victims, and America at large. That cross has been on temporary display at Ground Zero since recovery efforts began almost a decade ago. But now that the famous cross is being moved to its permanent home inside the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, a lawsuit has been filed against the cross by the American Atheist Association.

Ironically, Dave Silverman, head of the atheist organization who filed the suit, claims the object of their suit is really only “some rubble that represents a cross.” He called it “truly ridiculous” that such a random pile of steel should “become a Christian icon.”

Dave! If it is only a random pile of rubble, then why file suit? After all, every day across America, as loggers cut down trees, the trunks randomly fall across each other to form crosses; so why not sue the loggers? And everywhere an oilfield crew drops a load of pipe for a new well, the joints of pipe randomly roll across each other to form various crosses; so why not sue the drillers? Apparently Silverman and the American Atheists must not really believe that the 9/11 cross is so random. In fact, why do they insist on getting so wrought up over something and Someone they claim doesn’t even exist?!

Somehow, so many atheists and secularists just can’t seem to allow people of faith to enjoy their constitutionally-guaranteed “free exercise of religion” in public; instead, they are consistently and aggressively intolerant of Christian faith and they want to coerce citizens not to publicly express their faith. Romans 2:20-21 talks about how often someone is actually guilty of that which they accuse others – and atheists and secularists certainly seem to be the intolerant and coercive ones, rather than the Christians they accuse.


Strikingly, there is an official symbol and logo for atheism, yet there is no flurry of lawsuits filed by Christians to keep atheists from expressing their beliefs or their symbols. But there are plenty the other way, including the ongoing and the recent lawsuits against the Mojave Desert War Memorial Cross to honor those who fell in WWI, the Mt. Soledad Memorial Cross to honor those who fell in the Korean War, the crosses erected to honor fallen State Troopers in Utah, the Bald Knob Cross of Peace, the Anderson County Cross erected by a pastor on his own property, the Prayer Garden Cross erected by a private organization, the city seals of Los Angeles, Redlands, Wauwatosa, Zion, Edmond, and many similar cases.



Crosses have always been an important part of the public culture and landscape in America. After all, inside the Rotunda of the Capitol is the massive painting of Christopher Columbus landing in the New World with the cross in tow, the Cape Henry Cross (see picture on right) commemorating the cross erected when the first settlers landed in Virginia, the St. Clements Island Cross commemorating the cross erected when the first settlers landed in Maryland, the Peace Cross of St. George’s County in Maryland, the large cross engraved in stone outside the U. S. Federal Courthouse in Washington, D. C., the crosses engraved in the Memorial Stones inside the Washington Monument, and many others.

Atheists and secularists seem determined to continue their intolerance of faith and their efforts to coerce others into secularism. The good news is that because of the religious and strongly Christian nature of the American people for the past four centuries, they will have no shortage of high-visibility targets to pursue – such as the World Trade Center Memorial Cross in New York City!

God Bless America

Some Think the Only Difference Between the Old and New Covenant is a Blank Page

Matthew 26:26-30
26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body."
27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.
28 This is my blood of the new testament, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
29 I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."
30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

The Greek word for "testament" used here is "DIATHEKE," and it primarily denotes a contract, covenant, agreement, or promise (Ga 3:17). Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words states that this Greek word "does not in itself contain the idea of joint obligation, it mostly signifies an obligation undertaken by a single person." In other words, in the New Covenant, it is not what we can do for God but what God has done for us.

The principle of the Old Covenant was "do" and we shall live (Ro 10:5). The principle of the New Covenant is "it is done" (Ro 10:6-9), and that includes redemption, reconciliation, righteousness, and sanctification. The work is finished! We are complete in Him (Col 2:10)!

If the Old Covenant had been without defect, there would have been no attempt to institute another (Heb 8:7). In the Old Covenant, people found themselves unable to abide in its agreement, for it was based upon people's performance (Ex 19:5-8). The new agreement, however, was based totally upon God's grace (Ro 4:4-5). Under the Old Covenant, people approached God through a priest (Heb 5:1), while under the New Covenant, people have direct access to the Father through Jesus Christ (Heb 4:16).

Under the Old Covenant, people's sins led to their deaths (Heb 10:28), while under the New Covenant, God is merciful to people's unrighteousness (Heb 8:12; 1Jo 1:8-9, and 2:1). Under the Old Covenant, people could not be cleansed of sin-consciousness (Heb 10:1-4); while under the New Covenant, people's sins and iniquities are remembered no more (Heb 8:12 and 10:17), and their guilty consciences are cleansed (Heb 10:22).

What does correlate between the Old and New Testament is that in Exodus chapter twelve where God sent the Angel to kill the first born of every household. The Israelites were told to put blood on the door posts so the Angel would pass over that home. In each of those homes who had sprinkled the blood of a lamb on the door posts were varying degrees of holiness, growth, and sinfulness in following God. The Angel did not look at the people inside the home, the Angel only saw the blood and passed over that home. It was not about inspecting the people, it was only seeing the blood. The same is true in the Old Testament when a person brought their sin sacrifice to the Preist, the Preist did not inspect the people for their blemishes but inspected the lamb that they brought if it was perfect and without blemish. It is the same today, God looks at the blood of Jesus that covers us and see's us righteous. Which means that if your trying to be justified by anything other than faith in Jesus Christ then you are not believing the true Gospel. His blood and only His blood covers our sin, it is not any works that you do at all.

Receiving by law and receiving by promise are opposites. Law involves effort (works). Promise provides as a gift (grace). We are either saved by works or by grace, but not a combination of the two (Ro 11:6). Paul stated the doctrine of justification by grace through faith so clearly in his writings that any person who claims to believe the Bible has to acknowledge this truth. However, one of Satan's cleverest deceptions is to take a truth and add to it until it is no longer the truth. Lest that happen with this doctrine of grace, Paul stated emphatically that we cannot combine anything with God's grace as a requirement for salvation.

In the same way that gasoline and water don't mix, so grace and works will not mix. Justification has to be all works or all grace, but not a combination of the two. All religion is based on what you do or sacrifice. The new covenant with Jesus Christ is based on what Jesus Christ has done and sacrificed. Still, an abundance of religious people today cannot accept the fact that all we have to do is to believe to receive God's grace (Ro 5:2). Faith is our admission, or ticket, into the grace of God. No one is allowed in without a ticket. Our own good works won't grant us admission. God's grace can only be accessed by faith.

Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Christianity is not an Island Unto Thyself

On July 7, 2011 the Oakland A’s were playing the Texas Rangers. In the second inning, one of the A’s hit a foul ball that went into the stands, then bounced back onto the field. So as a friendly gesture, Rangers outfielder, Josh Hamilton picked up the ball and tossed it to a fan in the stands. Hamilton’s toss was a little short, causing the man to lean over the railing in an attempt to catch the ball. Unfortunately, this caused the man to lose his balance, topple over the railing and fall head first to his death.

I can only imagine how badly Josh Hamilton feels. Although he intended no harm to this fan, his action resulted in the death of this man. As I have listened to the news reporters and sportscasters comment on this sad event over the weekend, I couldn’t help but think of a spiritual application. For how many times does this very thing happen in our homes and in our churches. How many fathers and mothers will make spiritual decisions that are not intended to harm their children, but they do that very thing. A period of “spiritual slumber” for mom and dad results in the unintended faithlessness of their children. Harsh words, judgmental attitudes, and a critical spirit unintentionally sours a child, spouse, or neighbor and they rebel against what they’re told is “Christianity.”

Friends, "no man lives to himself, and no man dies to himself" (Romans 14:7). We all influence other people for the better or for the worse. Give diligence to make sure that the choices you make in life don’t have unintended consequences that will haunt you later.

Definition of unintended consequences: A positive, unexpected benefit (usually referred to as serendipity or a windfall). A negative, unexpected detriment occurring in addition to the desired effect of a choice. A perverse effect contrary to what was originally intended (when an intended solution makes a problem worse), such as when a policy has a perverse incentive that causes actions opposite to what was intended.

This is the very reason why the Apostle Paul continues on in Rom 14 and says we should not judge one another in any form or fashion. Judgments have unintended consequences beyond our own scope, ability, or intended action. We are all accountable to God, God is God and we are not. We should always choose love over everything else, for the intended or unintended consequence of love is always love.


Rom 13:8
8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.