Simple Thoughts

Eph 2:8-9 - For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it is] the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Grace. Receiving what you do not deserve. It is His grace that gives us salvation. We could never possibly work our way into Heaven. We must grasp the concept of grace. It is a gift from God Almighty. We have salvation ONLY because God sent His Son to the world to die for our sins. He didn't have to. He could have lived an eternity without us, or created more humans that could love him better, and we would have spent an eternity in hell. Instead -- He decided we were worth saving. Worth saving from that eternity in hell. Worth saving so He could have a way to spend eternity in relationship with us. Grace. You could not work your way into Heaven. You can't. You could never work hard enough. If you could, those who made it by works would boast and be prideful that they did it all by themselves. We can't do it ourselves...

Transition. Transition can be difficult. Christian Heritage, a church that has been around for a century has not been without transitions. One of these transitions was when I was in youth group. In a short amount of time, our senior pastor left, our youth pastor became interim senior pastor, and then before we knew it our interim youth pastor left and we got another youth pastor. Needless to say... THAT was transition. As difficult and rocky as it felt, they were good transitions and I'm glad Pastor Todd came in as that final "new" youth pastor. Sometimes we have no idea why God does things. It feels like God is taking friends and relationships from us. But our thoughts aren't His thoughts and we must rest assured that His thoughts and ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). We can also rest assured that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). We love Cody, Clint and Cayden and will miss ...

Rev 13:15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. We’ve been studying Daniel in Sunday morning discipleship. Daniel 3 tells what happened to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. Because they would not bow to a statue of the king, they were thrown into a furnace. Look at what they told the king when they were faced with bowing and breaking their allegiance to God or standing true to God and possible death… Dan 3:16-18 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up." When fac...

Excerpt from Leonard Ravenhill’s sermon: A city wide crusade can cost two million dollars. Revival doesn't cost a red cent, except broken hearts. You can stage your revival; you can stage a city wide crusade; you can not stage Revival. Revival is a mysterious divine intervention. I think one of the most awesome tasks given to man was given to John Baptist, when God said, "Prepare YE the way of the Lord." You know, you talk about revival in this country and everybody has got tunnel vision. They think revival must come like Finney had it. We are not living in Finney's days. It would be nice to have him around, for sure, but we are not living in Finney's day. It is a new day. Iniquity has never swaggered like it swaggers now. You know what has happened in the last twenty three years in England? In the last twenty three years in England the Muslims have built 300 mosques and at the same time they were building their 300 mosques the Church of England has close...

I was putting the chickens up one night, (Yes, I have chickens) and something occurred to me. Our chickens had started at one point digging at the fence wanting to get out of their cage. The problem was that there were animals digging on the other side who wanted to eat the chickens and their eggs. Before you know it, there was a big hole underneath the fence in one place that allowed the predator to enter the cage and begin harming our chickens. Application. We are placed in boundaries. These boundaries are meant to keep us safe. There are rules set in place to protect us from the enemy, Satan. If there is a rule that you don’t watch an PG-13 or R-rated movies, it is because there is something in that PG-13 or R-rated movie that could be harmful to your spirit and mind. If there is a rule set in place not to text/talk to a member of the opposite sex after midnight, that is because this could open you up to temptation and vulnerability. Those are boundaries – and they are protecti...

There are questions I have been pondering if you know the answer to. And I just have to ask: - Do you know what sin is? Do you have a good understanding of the things that God calls sin in His Word? If I said, name 10-15 sins that God mentions in the Bible, could you? - Do you know what repentance is? Do you understand what it means to turn from sin and not go back? Do you understand that sin without repentance brings judgment? Could you explain this to me? - Do you know what it means to live holy? Do you know what consecration and holiness is? Do you know what it means to purpose in your heart not to defile yourself? If you cannot answer these questions, I challenge you to search out the Word of God. If you can’t find the answers on your own, ask a leader or someone you trust that would know these answers. SEARCH IT OUT. DO YOU KNOW HIS WORD? If you can answer these questions, this is my challenge to you. DO YOU LIVE IT? It means nothing if you do not act on it in obedienc...

1) CHOOSE. Choose who you will serve. God or Satan. Flesh or Spirit. Do not ride the fence. Make up your mind and follow God. Do not be lukewarm. God hates straddling the fence. Go all out. Sold out. Abandoned. Holding nothing back. 1 Kings 18:21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people answered him not a word. Revelation 3:16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 2) GET RID OF THE JUNK. Let go of the things holding you back. The things that are holding you back. The chains. The habits. The sins. Choose to start fresh. Choose that He is far better than the junk from your old life. Clean house. Start now. Start today. 2 Timothy 2:4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. Hebrews 12:1 Therefore w...