All I can do is to tell you about my experience. I have always been a sensitive person. I have a soft heart. This has lead me into many difficult situations. Many of those situations cause much pain to me. And I became bitter about life. I was so angry that most people wouldn’t even talk to me. Which became a death spiral for me. My life was out of control and I couldn’t change it. Until I was ready to change, I wasn’t going to. Finally, I had enough of the pain and suffering from this world. I wanted something better. I join a business with two Christian men. We met each morning to discuss business for the day. Each day these two men would talk about what Jesus had done for them. I listened for three months, before they asked me to go to church with them. I said yes. It was the most fateful decision I have ever made. My life has never been the same. God took this beat up heart and transformed it into a heavenly saint. When God accepted me, I wasn’t perfect. What I was, was forgiven. Jesus came into my life to live His life in me. My life isn’t perfect. But it is as close as it can be here on earth. Jesus has taken me from glory to glory, step by step. I am walking home to God. When my life is over, I will go home to my Father. This is what God has always wanted since the time of Adam. This is what Christianity is all about. The difference that Christianity has made is that I am alive to God, not dead in the ground in hell.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

What do you mean what can you see? There are so many ways of perceiving anything. When someone says I see, they usually mean with their eyes. Did you know that most people perceive with their nose before they see with their eyes. Then there is touch, taste and feel. it’s funny how your nose will provoke a stronger response than you eyes. Everything is tied into our brain. Jesus preached the gospel and said everyone that has ears to hear and eyes to see, let them hear. Most people didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about. They were there for the food or healings. Jesus loves us with a stronger love than anyone has. He told parables which people could basically understand. But the spiritual part had to be the Holy Spirit giving us understanding. So we come to today. So what do you see? Do you see the fear in most people? Do you hear the call of Jesus? Do you see the coming storm? It is almost upon us. Do you see faith in your life? Have you developed a prayer life? What is it that you perceive in your life? The religious leaders of Jesus’s day, saw and understood what Jesus was talking about. They understood and refused the gospel of Jesus. So, their sin was great and led to their destruction. The gospel is a two-edged sword, slicing both ways. If you see and understand and don’t respond to the gospel, what hope is left for you? Jesus is our only hope for salvation, in HIs generation and ours. So, what do you see?

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

When we look at the future, we need to look to the past to see clearly. The apostle John lived in Ephesus. He was Bishop of the churches in the 7 cities. If you read in the book Ephesians you will see a church on fire for Jesus and full of power. This is how all 7 churches were founded. Then if you read in the book of Revelations, you see a different church. After 40 years, the churches in Asia Minor have lost the fire and the power of God. God was about to pull His anointing from all the churches. What happen to all those churches? The same thing that has happened in America. The cares of this world have blocked out their spiritual sight and life. If you read 2 John, it is cryptically written. So, that only Christians can understand what it says. This was written by the apostle John after he left the isle of Patmos, where he was left to die. The handwriting is on the wall. It is time to awake from your sleep and believe God. What is ahead is what was behind. The persecution of the church is coming and really has begun. Paul was chased out of every city that he went to. They wanted to kill him. Why do you think this is strange. Jesus said if they hated Him, they will hate us. Jesus said that persecution will be a part of our Christian life. It isn’t something to fear. It is something to bear with the joy of Lord. So look to the future in the past.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

We have seen what God requires of us. It is to love one another. The Pharisees came to Jesus after He said to love your neighbor as yourself. They ask Jesus who is our neighbor? Jesus told them the parable of the Good Samaritan. The parable is about a Samaritan, who the Jews consider a heathen, helped a wounded Jew with his own money. The Samaritan had compassion on the wounded man, where other Jews just passed him by. Jesus turned to them and asked who was his neighbor? The scriptures say that is we believe we have fellowship with God and walk in darkness, we are liars and don’t believe the gospel. This also applies if we don’t keep God’s commandments. The scriptures also say that if we hate our brother, we walk in darkness and don’t believe what God says, The scriptures also say that if we see a neighbor in need and have the wherewithall to meet that need, how does the love of God abide in us? And finally the scripture says that if we don’t love our neighbor, who we can see, we don’t love God who we can’t see. The scriptures are very specific about love our neighbor. If you want to read this study on loving God, just read I John. Our actions on this earth have spiritual consequences, good or bad. This is why Jesus taught the disciples how to live a Godly life.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

We all know that God is love. It’s who He is. Jesus gave His life because He loves us. Now God has passed that requirement to us. We are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. We will say we will do this, until the rubber meets the road. When we meet people who are unlovable and they attack us, our first reaction is to attack back. But God will send people like that our way to show them the love of God. It’s not always easy to love people but it is necessary for us and the other person. We have to see people as they are, so God can change our heart and theirs. I met a paraplegic who couldn’t speak verbally, but he love Jesus. He spoke volumes to me. He loved me like Jesus does. He had to have people to do everything for him. To told me through a computer that the one thing that really bothered him was drooling. It broke my heart. I cried. He loved me with the love of God. Love is long suffering, it is kind and gentle and it never fails.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

There is a scripture that says not to lay hands on anyone suddenly. I have met people who I would like to lay hands on them suddenly and repeatedly. But that isn’t how God operates. God extends His love everyone, including those that fight Him. So, how do we resist or fight against the devil in people? God has specific ways to entreat people back home. In Colossians, God says that we are to fight heresy with truth. And we are to tell people in the love of God. It is the only thing that will win people over. We as Christians must prepare to tell people the truth. The word of God is how we do that. We must read and study the scriptures so that they work in us first. Then we can tell others the truth and they can see it working us. Now the devil is a different story. We can be aggressive with him. As God’s children, He has given us dominion over this earth, in the name of Jesus. Using our faith mixed with the word of God can create results according to God’s will. Paul wrote the Corinthians about this very subject. In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, Paul speaks to spiritual warfare. Yes, it is warfare. This is the battle that everyone must face. The devil doesn’t leave us alone. When do we win this battle? That is a easy question answer. We win when we go home to Jesus in death. But in the mean time, we don’t war against the flesh.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

In 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, Paul talks about to the Corinthian church about giving over and over to him. Paul equated their giving to their spiritual growth in Christ. So, what is sowing all about? Sowing is an action that is taken by a person to produce an effect in their life. We think about farmers sowing crops. This is a good example of what sowing is about. But this isn’t the only example. What people do in their lives is another, whether good or bad. When I began with the Lord, I didn’t know Him very well. I want to know God, my Father, and Jesus, my Brother. So, I studied day and night until I was satisfied I knew Them. This took about 25 years of my life. But all that I very learned is just a faction of who God is. I still study everyday to learn who God is. The effect of my searching out God in my life had produced a strong relationship with both God and Jesus. I sowed my effort into learning about God and it produce the effect I wanted. In verse 7, it says as he has purposed in his heart. It is because this is where the sowing has to take place. Your heart controls everything, your growth in the Lord, your giving to the gospel and your church attendance. Everything we do is control by our heart. If you give sparingly, you will reap sparingly. So, if you aren’t satisfied with your relationship with God, then you know you have to give more of yourself. If the church is in need of laborers or funds, you know that it is up to you to give. It is all accordingly what you purpose in your heart.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

Everybody wants to have things. A wise man will count the cost before trying to acquire things. And if something cost too much and can’t afford it, all we can do is dream about it. Or like foolish people, they will buy it and find out they can’t afford it, will have to sell it. And if we find out we can’t afford it and buy it anyway, it may destroy us. I know people that got into so much debt, it all most destroyed their life. They had to dig their way out of the hole they made. Counting the cost applies to everything in life. We walk through this world trying to acquire things to satisfy ourselves. Only to find out that things don’t satisfy us. I have seen people come to a point in their life where they are on the brink of destruction. And they see what Jesus has to offer and turn away. They see what it cost and aren’t willing to pay the price. Although they will pay the price in the end. What is the cost of Christianity? Good Question. The cost of Christianity is dying to oneself. Yes, just as Jesus died on the cross, we must die to ourselves. So that God can raise us up unto righteousness. The most heinous thing to us as humans is death. And it is the one thing that people fear the most. But death is the only thing that will actually save us from this world and it’s destruction. So, we must muster the courage and pay the cost of Christianity. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV).

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

Jesus went to Bethany to see about Lazarus. Lazarus had been dead for four days. As soon as Jesus enter the town, Martha, Lazarus sister, heard and ran to Him. Martha said if only you had been here Lazarus wouldn’t have died. Jesus said that Lazarus will rise again. Martha said I know that he will rise in the resurrection. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes through he were dead, yet shall he live. He that lives and believes shall never die. Believeth thou this? Jesus is speaking to us through the ages to believe because He is the Resurrection and the Life. Do you believe?

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637@juno.com