I have included one chapter sample from each of my three books. I pray you like them. By clicking on each of the book covers, you can order that book. Order as many as you like, 1, 5, 10, 100, 1000, it doesn't matter. I Just want to get God's Word out to the people!
God is Good!
Chapter 6
Snake bit? What is the Cure?
Joy that comes from the Lord!
Two snakes slithering down the road. One snake turned to the other and asked are we poisonous? The other snake replied I don't know why do you ask? Because I just bit my lip.
Have you ever had a time in your life when you felt that “all is well” only to have a friend of yours turn against you for no apparent reason?
Two men were hiking in the mountains. It wasn't long until they came across a bear. The bear stood on its hind legs and let out a bone-chilling roar. Ever so slowly the first man reached into his backpack, pulled out a pair of sneakers, took off his hiking boots and started to lace up the sneakers. "Are you crazy?" the second man said to the first, "you can't possibly think that you can out run that bear!" "I don't have to out run the bear," said the first man, "all I got to do is out run you!"
Unfortunately, sometimes it is our close friends who hurt us the most. One of the places where we get hurt is through e-mail letters. Someone might be trying to convey a message only to have it
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misunderstood by the person receiving it. I have sent e-mails to some very dear friends of mine and when you speak you change the tone of your voice when saying something. Sometimes the difference in how you change your voice changes the meaning of what you are saying. I have had times where I was saying something that was good only to have it misunderstood by the other person. Communication is so vital to any relationship. The Internet can be a great and valuable part of our lives but it should never replace a true relationship with those we love. When we feel like our friends are attacking us it can really hurt.
Betrayal of a friend is one of the things that keep us from feeling happy and secure about our lives. We do not feel like smiling and sharing laughter with others around us. Psalm 55:12-13 KJV says it best;
For [it was] not an enemy [that] reproached me; then I could have borne [it]:
neither [was it] he that hated me [that] did magnify [himself] against me; then I
would have hid myself from him: But [it was] thou, a man mine equal, my guide,
and mine acquaintance.
Do we feel like laughing when our friends hurt us? No, we feel rejected, belittled and torn. When your friend turns against you it
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hurts, it is a deep pain because it is something we do not understand. There is a trust, a bond that has developed between you and your friend. Now think about the bond that you have with Jesus.
Wherever you are right now, whatever pain you are enduring, it is important to remember this one thing. God loves you! He loves YOU! We never have to feel all alone and abandoned because God
is always with us. He knew us while we were still in our mothers’ womb. He sent his son to die on the cross for all of our sins before we were ever born. God has paved the way for you and me to spend eternity with Him in heaven. And do you know what is truly awesome? That while you are hurting right now, at that very moment when you are feeling the lowest in your life; God is with you and He loves you. Nothing can separate you from God’s love. Actually, there is something that will separate you from God’s love. It is sin. More correctly stated, it is unrepentant sin in your life that will keep you from enjoying an eternity with God in heaven. You do not have to feel bound to continue in your sinning ways because Jesus has paid the price. We are not worthy to be in the presence of God but because He loves us so much, we can experience His love even in our darkest times.
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What shall we then say to these things? If God [be] for us, who [can be]
against us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? [shall] tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is
written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him
that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31, 35-39 KJV
Nothing can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. That is awesome. That alone should be reason enough to share in God’s joy. To share laughter with those around you, even those
people who have hurt you are in need of God’s love and of His joy. Take time to look deeper into the problems of why they hurt you. You have such a precious gift that has been given to you. It is thelove of God, which is greater than any human love could possibly be. You have it! We all have it! Should we be so down and out because of being hurt that we forget about God’s love for us? No. Put that smile back on your face and say, God is good!
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Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip. As they lay down for the night, Holmes said: "Watson, look up into the sky and tell me what you see". Watson said: "I see millions and millions of stars". Holmes: "And what does that tell you?" Watson: "Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Theologically, it tells me that God is great and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it tells me that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?" Holmes: "Somebody stole our tent"!
Every now and then we need to have a time of relief, a time where we can release some tension. Our lives would become very burdensome if we did not have a laugh or two every day. Christians, whether they are in their 80’s or 90’s or whether they are brand new Christians can all suffer the same problems. I think we all have times where we feel as though we had lost God’s love. When our friend does something to us to hurt us; or when our own family hurts us by not being fully supportive of us we feel as though God is not completely in the picture. Is that a true statement? Well, I think it has a lot to do with how mature of a walk you have with Christ.
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Those of us that have the battle scars of living a life with Christ know that God is always with us. We cannot wait to see how God will turn bad into good. One of the toughest things for us to do is to lose our worldly behavior. You know what that is? Those are the things that keep us from fully developing a personal relationship with Jesus. They are those things that He taught us to avoid and to turn away from. They are those things that we are to repent of. They are things like: greed, jealousy, envy, pride, sexual sins, etc. God wants us to replace those things with His own attributes such as: compassion, love, trust, honor, loyalty, giving, sharing, forgiveness, etc. There is no place for selfish behavior in the life of a Christian. We need to stop thinking that we have all the answers and that the solution lies with us. God should be the source that we go to. As a pastor, hey, even as a new born-again Christian, we all must learn to do things God’s way. His ways are perfect; our ways lead to foolishness. Doing things our own way can lead us down the road that is traveled by many but do not lead us to God. When we get to that fork in the road you must take the path that leads to heaven, it is a narrow path but it is a straight path. Let’s get on that path and rejoice in the Lord
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that we have found Him again. Like the Prodigal son that returned let us all return to our Lord and Savior. Julie was getting pretty desperate for money. She decided to go to the nicer, richer neighborhoods around town and look for odd jobs as a handywoman. The first house she came to, a man answered the door and told Julie, "Yeah, I have a job for you. How would you like to paint the porch?" "Sure, that sounds great!" said Julie. "Well, how much do you want me to pay you?" asked the man. "Is 50 bucks all right?" Julie asked. "Yeah, great. You'll find the paint and ladders you'll need in the garage." The man went back into his house to his wife who had been listening. "Fifty bucks! Does she know the porch goes all the way around the house?" asked the wife. "Well, she must, she was standing right on it!" her husband replied. About 45 minutes later, Julie knocked on the door. "I'm all finished," she told the surprised homeowner. The man was amazed. "You painted the whole porch?" "Yeah," Julie replied, "I even had some paint left, so I put on two coats!" The man reached into his wallet to pay Julie. "Oh, and by the way," said Julie, "That's not a Porch, it's a Ferrari."
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Have you lost the joy and laughter in your life? Let me ask you this question. Where should your joy be? What are you looking for to make you happy? Do you have an empty void in your life? Some
people go to bars to drink for happy hour. Is that you? Sure, they might do a lot of laughing while drinking but what about the morning after? Where is their true joy found then? When the alcohol is out of their system and they suffer from a hangover are they truly happy? The joy and happiness they thought they were experiencing was only temporary and definitely not fulfilling. There are some people that think that happiness comes from the closeness experienced during a sexual encounter. Does that give long-term joy? No. Usually guilt and less self-esteem go along with that kind of behavior. The persons involved feel cheap and used. They do not feel loved for who they are but for only one purpose, to satisfy the sexual needs of the other person. They have been used. They do not have the joy and satisfaction of knowing that they are God’s creation. Do you use people for your gain? Have you been used? God does not want us to lower our standards to fulfill another person.61
True joy can only be found in one place. It is not in the bars, it is not in the bedroom, and it is not at the amusement parks for none of those have everlasting joy. No, true joy comes from God.
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither [shall] fruit [be] in the vines; the
labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be
cut off from the fold, and [there shall be] no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in
the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Habakkuk 3:17-18 KJV
REJOICE! Rejoice in the Lord first and foremost. No matter what your lot in life, no matter what kind of pains you are going through right now, no matter how your friends have been treating you please remember that we should rejoice in the Lord first and foremost! Our true joy comes from God. Why? Get ready to underline and put the following line to memory:
Jesus Paid The Bill
(the previous chapter is found in God is Good! Click on the book cover to buy the book)
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Locked Doors of the American Church
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Know what you need to know!
Chapter 1
Who am I?
I believe in…
God the Father
God the Son – Jesus
God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Trinity
The Bible as God’s Holy Word
Communion
Baptism
Eternal Life
Tithe
Elders and Deacons
Lucifer
Born again
Spiritual gifts
The persecuted church
Heaven
What was your answer? Does believing in all of the above mean that you are a Christian? Will you go to heaven if you believe in each one of these? Don’t you think it would be a good idea to go out door to door and preach the Good News to everyone that you possibly can? There are thousands of people going out door to door each and every day proclaiming all of the above. Does that make you feel good? Does that make you think that it is not necessary for you to get out there and make disciples for Christ. Many of us are content to just stay in church and that is about all we do for Christianity sake. It is as if the doors of the church are locked and you are on the inside. Keep reading…
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What do I believe? (not really my beliefs!)
I believe…
God the Father
is Elohim and that we can become gods of our own planets.
Jesus is God’s Son
but is only one of many sons.
The Holy Spirit
is a separate God.
The Holy Trinity
is 3 different God’s, not three in one, one in three, but three separate gods.
The Bible is God’s Word
but it is not complete, it must be used with another book.
Communion
brings us closer to God.
Baptism
is essential to going to heaven. We can baptize dead people so they can have a second chance.
Eternal Life
is found in three levels of heaven, dependent on works.
Tithing
is important if you want to achieve the highest level of heaven.
Elders and Deacons
. Elders are 19-20 year olds while the deacons are the older members of the church.
Lucifer
is Jesus’ literal brother.
Born again
is being baptized in the name of Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ.
Spiritual gifts
are given to elders/deacons so they can lay hands on people in the name of Joseph Smith.
The persecuted church
is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The only true church.
I will go to heaven
but other Christians (non Mormons) will only enter the lowest level of heaven.
Do you see how important it is to know the truth? While you sit comfortably in your home each day, there are thousands of people out preaching to lost souls these lies. It is a difference of going to heaven or to hell. We must reach out to the world and expand our ministry to reach the lost.
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It is easy to be deceived if you do not read God’s Word in the Bible. You might have grown up hearing all of these Christian words but unless you seek wisdom, you will be unable to reach the lost. We are called in the Great Commission to go and make disciples for Christ.
Today is the beginning for you. The Mormon Church puts the average Christian to shame with their
evangelistic efforts. Unfortunately they are preaching a gospel different from that of the Bible. Don’t fall for their deception. So, while we the American Church lock our Christianity inside of the church building, there are Mormons out there deceiving people who long to hear the Good News. We should have shame for not getting out into the world proclaiming the name of Jesus in order to reach the lost. We should feel shame for not using the Ten Commandments to point to our need for a Savior. And finally we should feel shame for not loving our God and our neighbors as ourselves. If today was the last day for everyone, how many of your family members or friends would not make it to heaven? How many of you will not make it to heaven?
We all need a Savior!
This book will hopefully open your eyes. It is not meant to be disrespectful to any person, denomination, or person of authority. But at the same time it will not shy away from pointing out areas that we all need to improve on (author included!).
If you are not a Christian, please use this book to open your eyes to the need for a Savior. If you are a non-church going Christian, please examine yourself and your faith to see that you are truly walking in His ways.
If you are a Christian, are you making disciples for Christ?
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If you are an Elder or a board member, are you setting the example for others to follow?
If you are a pastor of a small church or of a megachurch, how effective have you been? Do you know the spiritual health of your church members?
If you are a Bishop or other member of the hierarchy of a denomination, are you setting a high standard for the pastors that you hire? Do you walk the talk?
If you are from a Seminary as a professor or administrator, how many people have you reached for the sake of Christ?
This book will go in depth to examine what we could do to improve our fulfilling of the Great Commission.
Everyone could do more. It is not too late to change our ways. Do you know the Ten Commandments? We will learn more about them throughout the book. By the end of the book you will be able to repeat them from memory and you will know how to use them when talking to a lost soul. It is not just a matter of learning facts and Scriptures but more importantly it is about changing our attitudes about how we serve Christ.
What does it mean when the pastor sets his keys on the pulpit?
Absolutely nothing!
What does it mean when people come to church?
Absolutely nothing! If…
…they come to church only to socialize, complain, put on an appearance of being a Christian.
…they come to put in their one day of church commitment (maybe two if you include Wednesday night Bible study).
…they drop off their children and expect them to become lifelong Christians.
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…they come with anger in their heart over another person.
…they are daydreaming during any part of the service.
…they are “clock watchers” – they want to be the first one to hit the restaurant before the noon rush.
…they do not come with a mind, a heart, and an attitude of worship.
…they are judging people by the clothes they wear to church.
…when it comes time for the offering, they give nothing.
…they don’t sing praises to God.
…during prayer time, they fall asleep.
…they gossip about others.
…the Bible is only used as a backboard to write on during the service (i.e. tic-tac-toe, hangman).
…they sit as far to the back of the sanctuary so that others cannot see them.
And the number one reason why it means absolutely nothing when people come to church…
…if when they leave, they are no closer to God and they do not take Jesus with them throughout the rest of the week. They do not talk about Him to lost friends.
How do you know the results of your faith? Here are some questions to ponder.
Do you read the Bible during the weekdays?
Do you invite friends to church?
Do you tell non-Christians about Jesus?
Do you pray for your pastor?
Do you sing with a joyful heart?
Are you raising your children up to know God?
Are you living a good life?
Are you a good person?
Jesus tells us – “Why do you call me good? There is none good but one, that is God.”
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Most people have invited a friend to church at some time or another. How many complete strangers have you invited? How many non-believers have you witnessed to this past week? This past month? This past year? What do you think is the number of nonbelievers you have witnessed to this past year? What ever that number is, divide it by 365. This will give you the average number of people you have reached in the past year on a daily basis. Is it pathetic? If you are a new Christian, please do not be discouraged. You need to be fed God’s Word, but you can still go out and make a difference starting today. But for you Christians, Elders and board members, Pastors, Bishops, and professors at the Seminary – what do your numbers look like? You are the ones who are to set the example for others. How many new disciples for Christ have you made? To the professor, this does not mean the men who come to school to learn from you. This is meant for you to see how many “lost” souls you have reached.
Bishops and Pastors, how many lost souls have you reached this past year? Not the ones who come to
church but the people who have no intention of going to church. They are the ones in need of God’s Word. Are you reaching out to them? Elders, you are to make your home available to strangers. Do you do that? How many lost souls have you invited into your home? Maybe you are a Pastor of a mega-church. You have over 10,000 members who attend your church. It would be easy to think that you are successful. But are you really? What percentage of your congregation is actually getting out into the world to reach the lost sinner? What percentage of your congregation can recite the Ten Commandments? If the percentage is low, then maybe the message you give needs to change.
Pastors need less joke telling and drama and more substance on God’s Word. There needs to be more
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substance on revealing Sin in our lives. Too many pastors are scared to mention sin in their sermons
because they do not want to offend anyone. By not offending sinners what favor are we doing them? God says that no liar, homosexual, thief or adulterer will enter the kingdom of God. How can you not preach against those things? The percentage of people who attend church who already know the Gospel of Christ is very high. So if that is the case, then why is the message not on preaching against sin rather than just preaching “feel good” messages?
There are TV evangelists who pervert the Word of God by claiming to be prophets. And yet, the Bible is very clear that if even one of their prophecies does not come true: they are not a prophet of God. We must discern the truth and not fall prey to people who make you feel like you have to give money to their telethon in order to receive blessings from God.
There are Latter-Day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses as well as other cults out there that are trying to reach the lost as well as convert Christians. The Christians who fall prey are the ones who have not learned God’s Word.
Seek God in prayer and ask Him for wisdom. He will meet your needs. Be sure of where you are going after you die. Do you know where are you going?
(again, click on book cover above to order Locked Doors of the American Church)
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When is it time to change churches?
SETTING THE STAGE!
You go to church thinking all is well. You picked this particular church because either you knew someone who attended there; it was close to where you live; it was the denomination you grew up in; or you have heard great things about the pastor and the youth program. You are excited to be a part of such a loving family of believers. You eat up everything they offer to you. You go to all of the Sunday school classes, you volunteer your time with the youth, you go to every Bible study they have and you sit in church drinking your coffee while the pastor gives his sermon and you feel as though you are on top of the world. You feel good when you leave church. Everyone tells you to have a nice day and they will see you next week.
That was me! And it quite possibly is you too.
Sounds good, doesn't it? The only problem is, you have this inner sense of not being fulfilled. Something is missing. You don't feel any different than you did before you came to church. You hear Scripture being read. You hear great stories that "really relate" to your life. You hear the story of the "pig with the wooden leg" and you know that it just has to go with the Scripture that is being read. And you are right. The sermon title is: "Are you walking around with a "wooden leg?"
You go home that day from church and you can completely remember the joke about the pig with the wooden leg. But what was the sermon about? What was that Scripture that was read this
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morning? It had something to do with being persecuted as a Christian. From all of the people I have talked to in my church (pastor included), none of them had ever really been persecuted as a Christian. Is the reason for never being persecuted because we live in America (the land of the free?). I would rather think it has more to do with the fact that we as Christians are not doing anything that bothers Satan. We have become too comfortable in church. Let's take our lawn chairs, some Pepsi and potato chips and let's listen to what the pastor has to say today. When the sermon is over, let's pack everything up and go home and watch TV. See you next week Pastor!
How long have you gone to church like this? I went for years. Hey, I even was a pastor and held services like this for 5 years! You know, it has to do with entertaining the people, (just like I learned from watching Willow Creek Church services!), it had to do with telling stories so that people would see they needed to have a purpose in their life (just like Saddleback Church). I wanted to have a church service like everyone else was having. After all, that is what the people wanted at this particular church.
As far as the last church I attended, that is what they wanted there too. But something happens. You come across something that totally changes your life. For me, it was coming across Way of the Master. It changed my life. No longer do I just "go" to church, but I truly want to hear God's Word being taught "word by word." I want to not only say WWJD? But rather,
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I want to know what "did" Jesus do?! The first one WWJD?, has to do with trying to interpret what
you think Jesus would do in a given situation. The second one, WDJD?, is something you can validateby reading God's Word. You can open the bible up and see exactly what Jesus did do! That is a much
better way of doing things; it takes all error out of the equation. Anyway, as a newly saved person, I
flooded myself with God's Word. The difference this time was this…
I WAS OBEDIENT!
I had never been taught that I had to be obedient to God's Word. I heard a lot of feel good stories, I
heard a lot of jokes (I can still remember many of them!!) but I never was told that I had to repent ofmy lustful thoughts, of my lying, thieving ways. I always just figured all I had to do was just say,
"sorry God, please forgive me." And I would go on my merry way. Off to commit the very same sins
day in and day out!
You will be amazed by this but when a Christian decides to become obedient to God's Word, you
can bet that he or she will finally see persecution.
Unfortunately it will come from the least likely source. Many times it comes straight from your
church family. They start to look down at you like, "who do you think you are to become so self-righteous?"
I myself, had not become self-righteous,
I became humbled by my total depravity. I finally "got it!" Jesus died on the cross for me. Not just because I was a "sinner," but
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because I was a totally depraved man so deep into sin, a breaker of all of God's Commands, and
definitely not worthy to enter into heaven based on anything that I could do myself.
I REPENTED
See, when you become obedient to God's Word, you realize that you need to truly repent of your
sins. You can't just go through the motions of being a Christian. You have to actually die to self and pick up your cross and follow Jesus. Where will He lead you (many people will say we don't know but we will follow anyway). I tell you I know where He will lead you -- STRAIGHT TO HEAVEN! He will guide you along that narrow road that few will find.
PERSECUTION -- WHAT NOW?
So what do you do when the church brands you as "one of those 'super' Christians?" Someone who
feels they have attained such a high level of godliness that no one can relate to them. Here isyour answer...
You do what God's Word tells you to do. Be loving; display the fruits of the Spirit; thanksgiving,
repentance, love, long-suffering, patience, etc. You do what the Word tells you to do...
You get out and reach the lost for Christ. You evangelize to people. 150,000 people are dying each and every day, the time is now! Get out of your chair. How many of you reading this right
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now, spend more than an hour at the computer and don't spend a single minute out trying to reach
the lost the way Jesus did? How many of you spend hours watching TV, but don't spend a second, being a Good Samaritan to someone by pointing them to the cross? I have personally witnessed to over 300 people this year and that just seems like such a small number to me. And that was after going YEARS without witnessing to a single person! I am not talking about inviting people to church, no; it is presenting God's Law to them then following it up with the wonderful grace of God! Just one person per day (not one person per month as some pastors goals would indicate!), and it is not enough. I do not want anyone, regardless of who they are to go to hell.
So, what do you do when the church has hurt you?
Do what Jesus did...
Honor thy Father in heaven! Go into all the world preaching the gospel to every creature. Can you do just one person per day? Try it! Once you get in the habit of doing it daily, you will want to increase the number. Will evangelizing the lost get you saved?
No! Will it make God smile?
Yes! Give Him the glory in everything you do. Praise His wonderful name. We are here to glorify Him
and for His good pleasure. Let's bring people to Christ, regardless of what members of your ownchurch are saying about you. Be faithful and don't give up! And if you want to hear the pig joke, just
send me an email!!
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Are you ready to live your life for God? Completely? Are you ready to have your eyes opened to the truth of God’s Word? Be prepared, because you might see for the first time that your church is leading you astray.
It is my prayer that your eyes be opened today. I pray that the
wiles of the Devil will be exposed and you will no longer be deceived.
Wiles means:
Devious or cunning stratagems employed in manipulating or persuading someone to do what one wants. Lure; entice. Trick.
Sure sounds like the Devil doesn’t it? Beware…
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour: 1 Peter 5:8(click on book cover to order this book titled, When is it time to change churches?)
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