Almighty God, we thank you for planting in us the seed of your word.  By your Holy Spirit help us to receive it with joy, live according to it, and grow in faith and hope and love; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

SUFFERING??? i call it JOY.

I pray that you continue to strengthen your relationship with God and continue on your journey with Jesus Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit.  The way I strengthen my relationship with my Heavenly Father is to read the Holy Bible.  Truly, I tell you… this is the written word of our Lord.  THANKS BE TO GOD.

I stumbled upon a writing from the Apostle Paul while on my walk with Christ… I want to share this writing with you.

Romans 8:18-25New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Future Glory

¹⁸ I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; ²⁰ for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; ²³ and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in^[a] hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes^[b] for what is seen? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

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Please excuse my excitement; however, this is AWESOME!!!  Paul’s word guided by the Holy Spirit makes me want to workout harder… yes, to those who do not know me in my personal life, let me explain.  I love going to a gym and discovering my limits.  A wise man once said that the only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.  Can’t wait to discover mine AGAIN!

While on our journey, with encouragement from the Holy Spirit, we find out that it truly does not matter what happens to us on earth as long as we have a hope in the life and resurrection of Christ Jesus.  I remember the words of our Lord to a criminal while being crucified… Today, you will be in paradise with me (Luke 23:39-43).

*NOTE* THERE IS MORE TO JESUS’s WORDS… read that story in LUKE 23.

I want to be in paradise; however, I will try to keep my grace while making my own here on earth…

THANK YOU GOD FOR YESTERDAY…

THANK YOU GOD FOR TODAY…

THANK YOU GOD FOR TOMORROW…

(let’s go2 church and read those lessons)

Colossians 1:1-14 (NKJV)

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

² To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.^[a]

Their Faith in Christ

³ We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, ⁴ since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; ⁵ because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel,⁶ which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit,^[b] as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; ⁷ as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, ⁸ who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

Preeminence of Christ

⁹ For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; ¹⁰ that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; ¹² giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption through His blood,^[c] the forgiveness of sins.

God of glory, Father of love, peace comes from you alone.  Send us peacemakers and witnesses to your kingdom, and fill our hearts with joy in your promises of salvation; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

LESSON LEARNED… Did i???

We are called as believers in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to proclaim this awesome news.  Granted men have confused Christianity with traditions and services; however, it does not make them wrong in their way of worshiping God.

I have a story that I would like to share with you.

It was the week of the  Sunday After Pentecost.  The weather was awesome!  My story takes place right after that two weeks of rain.  That rain, we had in Central Pennsylvania seemed like it would never end. Thank God it did or I wouldn’t have this story for you!

It was beautiful outside… the sun was shining… it was about 73 Degrees… there was no wind… it was beautiful… so beautiful that I decided to eat my salad (from Karn’s) outside. I finished eating my salad and went to throw out the container.  At that very moment a bird flew and landed right next to me.  It was a smaller bird (sparrow… I think).  Anyway, to my surprise the bird was not startled by me and did not fly away for a while.  It danced around me like it was trying to tell me something.

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After about a minute of watching the bird dance around me at arm’s length… I started talking to the bird

“Isn’t it beautiful out here Mr. bird???”

“Why are you around me???”

“Is everything alright Mr. bird???”

The sound of my voice must have scared the bird, because he flew away.  That was odd I thought to myself and I continued to drink my Ice Tea.  I finished that Ice Tea and turned around to throw away that container.  At that very moment, I heard a rustling noise in the bush behind me by the garbage can.  I threw the bottle away and turned around to see what was happening.  That is when I saw it.  I saw a big bird (probably a raven) come down from the sky and started attacking that little bird that was just dancing around me.

I got p+ssed.

I started running after that big bird to try to scare it away and save that little bird’s life.  Unfortunately, the big bird had the little bird in its beak… The more times I would run after that bird, the more times it would bite down on the little bird and fly away from me.  Finally, the big bird flew out of my sight with the little bird’s life in its mouth.

THE LESSON I LEARNED… I cannot save every little bird I cross paths with

HOWEVER… THAT KNOWLEDGE WILL NOT STOP ME FROM TRYING…

Thank you God for yesterday…

Thank you God for today…

Thank you God for tomorrow…

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Acts 13:48

⁴⁸ Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

O God, you have prepared for those who love you joys beyond understanding.  Pour into our hearts such love for you that, loving you above all things, we may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

WHEN I DON’T KNOW… (next email will be new… you won’t want to miss it!)

We live in very interesting times.  I, myself, am really excited to see what tomorrow brings.  Yes… there will be a tomorrow, and next day, and next day, and next day, and next day, and so on… you know why I can say this with confidence???

Because I truly do not know if we will be on this earth tomorrow, the next day, the next day, the next day, or anyday in the future… HOWEVER, I do have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  (1 Peter 1:3)

This living hope gives me the awesome reassurance that it really doesn’t matter what happens tomorrow as long as I am thanking (praising) God NOW!!!

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I want to share with you a story found in the Old Testament in the Holy Bible… May God please have mercy on me if I misinterpret anything… This story is about Job.

In Job, we are told of a man, who God allows to be directly attacked by Satan. He is an awesome example of faithfulness as he loses everything important to him yet remains faithful to God. This books purpose is to illustrate God’s sovereignty and faithfulness during a time of great suffering.

•    In chapters 1-3, God tests Job’s faithfulness through allowing Satan to attack him. God told Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him”(1:12). Through Job’s trials, all is lost including his health, his wife even tells him to curse God and commit suicide, but he remains strong and faithful, “Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.”(1:22).
•    From chapters 4-37, Job’s friends give him plenty of bad advice, in rounds of discussion. They mistakenly blame his sufferings on his personal sins rather than God testing and growing Job. One of them was half-correct in that God wanted to humble him, but this was only a part of God’s test.
•    In chapters 38-42, God speaks to Job and restores him. God knows that Job has received incorrect guidance from his friends, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” God fittingly declares that humans do not know everything. Then He humbles Job by asking a series of questions that could never be answered by anyone other than Almighty God; for example, “Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this”. God then brings him to an understanding that believers don’t always know what God is doing in their lives.

In the end, Job answers God by saying, “I have declared that which I did not understand”. God then blessed Job with twice as much as he had before his trials began.

JOB IS THE MAN!!!  He displayed his faithfulness without having the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Job, himself, was deeply loved by God… and you know what??? You are too… You would make today a lot easier to live if you had that knowledge…

THANK YOU GOD FOR OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!!!

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#iread

Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

O God, you have prepared for those who love you joys beyond understanding.  Pour into our hearts such love for you that, loving you above all things, we may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

WHEN I DON’T KNOW…

We live in very interesting times.  I, myself, am really excited to see what tomorrow brings.  Yes… there will be a tomorrow, and next day, and next day, and next day, and next day, and so on… you know why I can say this with confidence???

Because I truly do not know if we will be on this earth tomorrow, the next day, the next day, the next day, or anyday in the future… HOWEVER, I do have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  (1 Peter 1:3)

This living hope gives me the awesome reassurance that it really doesn’t matter what happens tomorrow as long as I am thanking (praising) God NOW!!!

*IF YOU ARE VIEWING VIA MOBILE PHONE… CLICK “REPLAY” UNTIL IT GOES AWAY…

I want to share with you a story found in the Old Testament in the Holy Bible… May God please have mercy on me if I misinterpret anything… This story is about Job.

In Job, we are told of a man, who God allows to be directly attacked by Satan. He is an awesome example of faithfulness as he loses everything important to him yet remains faithful to God. This books purpose is to illustrate God’s sovereignty and faithfulness during a time of great suffering.

•    In chapters 1-3, God tests Job’s faithfulness through allowing Satan to attack him. God told Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him”(1:12). Through Job’s trials, all is lost including his health, his wife even tells him to curse God and commit suicide, but he remains strong and faithful, “Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.”(1:22).
•    From chapters 4-37, Job’s friends give him plenty of bad advice, in rounds of discussion. They mistakenly blame his sufferings on his personal sins rather than God testing and growing Job. One of them was half-correct in that God wanted to humble him, but this was only a part of God’s test.
•    In chapters 38-42, God speaks to Job and restores him. God knows that Job has received incorrect guidance from his friends, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” God fittingly declares that humans do not know everything. Then He humbles Job by asking a series of questions that could never be answered by anyone other than Almighty God; for example, “Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this”. God then brings him to an understanding that believers don’t always know what God is doing in their lives.

In the end, Job answers God by saying, “I have declared that which I did not understand”. God then blessed Job with twice as much as he had before his trials began.

JOB IS THE MAN!!!  He displayed his faithfulness without having the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Job, himself, was deeply loved by God… and you know what??? You are too… You would make today a lot easier to live if you had that knowledge…

THANK YOU GOD FOR OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!!!

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#iread

O God our defender, storms rage about us and cause us to be afraid.  Rescue your people from despair, deliver your sons and daughters from fear, and preserve us all from unbelief; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

FAITH or FEAR???

This is a question that I heard on the River 97.3 (radio station in Central PA).  Yes, I like Classic Rock.  This question sparked a fire within me and feel that it is an awesome question to ask ourselves at this point in time in the United States of America.  The events of this past weekend in Orlando Florida has inspired me to pray for the victims and families of a horrible act done in the name of a radical religious figure.  While praying, I was drawn to a teaching of Jesus Christ.  I want to share this knowledge with you.  Here are the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ written in the Holy Gospels of John.

John 13:31-35

³¹ So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. ³² If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. ³³ Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you. ³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

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Jesus Christ sets an awesome example for us to follow.   Honestly, I cannot understand how a human being can take the life of another human being over a radical form of religion.  Who are these people to judge???  Do they think they are gods???  What my faith teaches is that we have one judge in the afterlife (PSALM 7:8)

Call me naive… However, this cowardly act should have no place in the United States of America… You might disagree with the way that an American Citizen lives their life; however, it does not give you the right to be their judge and executioner in a free society.

By the way, we do live in a free society… THAT IS THE LAW OF THE LAND… God Bless the US of A!!!

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Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Faith… got Faith??? It is truly awesome to realize that we do not have to do anything to receive eternal life but to believe in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  This faith that we have that Jesus Christ took the sins of the world to death with His humanly body is beautiful.  All the good works we do, can not compare what was done for us… perhaps that is the reason man created religion… (man’s attempt to praise and honor God)… Religion is beautiful; however, (like with anything created by man) it will fall short to the PRAISE and HONOR God deserves.

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I am drawn to a letter written by my brother in Christ, the Apostle Paul.  I want to share with you the words he wrote to the Galatians.

Paul writes in Galatians Chapter 2…

16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

17 “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

I truly believe that you should follow Paul’s beautiful example of Faith… If only we all had this strength.  I believe the world wouldn’t be in the mess that it is in NOW…

Knowing of this powerful love should make us want to return that love to other brothers and sisters in Christ.  When non-believers see this love, it is my HOPE that they get curious about Jesus Christ…

GOD IS AWESOME!!! Huh???

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O God, the strength of those who hope in you: Be present and hear our prayers; and, because in the weakness of our mortal nature we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, so that in keeping your commandments we may please you in will and deed; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Strength… what is Strength???  Yes, it is awesome to be physically Strong; however, do you consider yourself spiritually strong as well??? This is a question that makes me want to continually get up at 5:30 every morning and read from God’s word (Holy Bible) before I take on the challenges of the day. (Proverbs 27:17)

God knows that I love to be challenged every day. Whether it be: going to the Hershey Public Library for job searching/learning, running after birds, working out at a gym, mowing grass, I love the challenge.  I love the challenge even if I feel uncomfortable doing it.   What I have learned is to ignore my temporary pain on earth and focus on God’s promise of eternal life with my belief in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  My confidence in Him gives me power to conquer that challenge. (Philippians 4:13)

An example of a challenge I face is with a diminishing weakness of mine… It is my hope that you will find strength in my weakness.  Back in 2000, I was involved in a near fatal car accident and to this day am trying to overcome certain limitations that I am experiencing.  When things are difficult, I remember the past of being confined to a wheel chair and God’s mercy to deliver me from that personal h+ll… NOW, I AVERAGE RUNNING 3 MILES A DAY.  ALL PRAISES DUE!!! (2 Corinthians 12:10)

Enough about me, it is you that God loves deeply… We might be faced with certain challenges in life; however, if we learn to put our hope in Jesus Christ our Lord the challenges will be become insignificant.  YOU CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST!!!

I want to begin by telling you that God loves you.  We live in interesting times when we are faced with many oppositions to an individual strengthening their relationship with God.  I often wonder how people think they are strengthening their relationship.  Are they strengthening it by going on a run?  Are they strengthening it by going to the gym?  Are they strengthening it by going to a library and learning about things on this earth? OR Are they devoting alone time trying to establish a relationship with God through the reading the written word, the Holy Bible? This brings a quote by Albert Einstein to mind..

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Personally, the mystery of faith is sparking my curiosity.  I find myself reading more of God’s way of Life, and getting closer to man’s feeble attempt to live it through religion…

PLEASE DO NOT GET ME WRONG.  I think, religion is BEAUTIFUL… I pray for our pastors and church leaders to keep strong in the Lord…

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, it is my hope that we encourage these men and women of God.

I feel, that pastors are a gift from God.  They are here to teach our youth God’s way of Life.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ it is also equally important that we reflect God’s way of Life through our lives… When was the last time you read from the Holy Bible???

This week marks the First Sunday after Pentecost.  Remember that Pentecost is not only a beautiful reminder of the gift of receiving the Holy Spirit, but also the “birthday” of the church… us… Happy Birthday!  May God’s favor always shine down on you.

I mention the Holy Spirit to you as a gift from God… Jesus Christ was an AWESOME gift as well… knowing and having a relationship with your Heavenly Father is equally as awesome… I don’t intend to put limitations on God; however, I want to try to explain God to you… May God have mercy on me… I hope to Glorify my Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16)

I picture God as the full circle in a peace sign with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as the inner spokes…  making one symbol…

We all been given the gift of the Holy Spirit & the Apostle Paul reminds us that our bodies are a vessel for the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19) for those that believe that Jesus Christ is Emmanuel (God made human), Lord, and Savior of all.  In my pictorial, the Holy Spirit is one of the inner spokes of the peace sign… BUT WAIT… THERE’s MORE…

I also put the Son as one of the inner spokes.  We are reminded that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in the Holy Gospel of John… (John 3:16)  A lot of scholars question: “How can it be that the Son and the Father is one?”

We are made in God’s image… (Gen 1:26) Truly I say to you, if you have seen the Son… you have seen the Father!  This close relationship is extremely difficult to put into words.  Jesus Christ indeed has this intimacy with the Father.  This reminds me of a teaching that Jesus Christ gave while on this earth with us. He instructed that we should do good works to glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16)…

BEAUTIFUL… huh???