Everyone tries to get approval for their lives. Some get a lot and some none at all. But it doesn’t stop us from trying. Unfortunately, I have seen people who don’t get approval make really bad choices. It is ingrained in us to seek out someone who will love or care for our being. When we are children, it is our parents we start out with first. I have seen what not getting approval can do to young lives. Children start out in life perfect. They learn from their parents the lessons hopefully they can use in life. If you want to know what kind of parents a person has, all you have to do is listen and observe the person. As much as people say they aren’t like their parents, they are like their parents. Approval is a good thing. It makes us teachable. And if we are going to survive this world, we need to be teachable. No one knows everything. No one has all the wisdom they need. Or even the ability to put the wisdom into practice. Do you know why doctors practice medicine? It is because that is how they learn to treat people. Everybody wants to be unique. They have ideas that they want to put into practice. You know what is unusual, is that there is nothing new under the sun. What was before will be again. And what is even stranger is that if you go back in that person’s history, you will found an ancestor that has done the same thing. We all seek approval and want to be accepted for who we are. And I only know one person who will accept us as we, faults and all. That is person is the man Christ Jesus. Call upon His name and He will answer you. And He will show you great and mighty things that you don’t know.

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For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. This is a law of Physics for the universe. If you push an object, it will resist being pushed. And brother I know how to push and to be pushed. When I didn’t get my way, I would push back, verbally, physically and spiritually. Sometimes I would push so hard, it sent ripples into my world. That is when I would cause consequences. I don’t want to harm anyone, but I could get angry and push back. It became stubbornness in my life or you could say I became a jackass. Before I came to the Lord, I had a vile and bitter mouth. It was as sharp as any sword. I could do damage to people and it came so easily. It didn’t make me to popular, but I didn’t care. I was so beat-up and hurt that I was going to take the world with me. It wasn’t until I met someone who just loved me for me. He saw all the hurt and put up with the mouth. His love was a soothing salve for the gaping wounds that I had. I began to see all of the consequences that I was causing. I felt bad that I had done so much damage. I didn’t know if the consequences could be reversed. One of the problems I caused took 15 years to erase. But it was only after I came to the Lord that the consequences in my life began to disappear. God healed my broken heart and helped me to live like I was supposed to. I hardly spoke at all for years because of the trouble I caused. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. Choose wisely what you are going to say. Because your words will live beyond your life.

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I found out that a longtime friend died. This man was instrumental in my life. I should say his family was instrumental in my life. The entire family was raised in the church. His dad was a deacon in a local church. His mother would be considered a force of nature. They were by definition a Christian family. One of the grandsons was missionary. I knew most of the family. The mom was the first person to teach me how to pray for someone. She backed me in a corner and had me pray. All I could say was, “God do something”. And guess what God did. This began my prayer life. The man had a precious wife and 5 wonderful children. The oldest child, junior, went home to Jesus before my friend. He had his ups and downs just like the rest of us. But his life was full. He would walk into a store to buy a hammer and lead all the workers to Jesus. He was an evangelist. People from all over knew and loved him. As I did. At one time he was my pastor. He lived in so many different places and still had a normal family life. I know for myself, my life was enriched by this man and his family. And I know that his family is hurting. I pray that God will touch his family and give them comfort. As it says in the bible, that there is nothing more precious to God than the death of one His children.

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If we can remember the time in our lives when we were ruled by love and not by violence. It is unfortunate that as we grew, violence became a part of our lives. First from other children, then it came from everywhere as adults. Man learned how to control their surrounding through force. And each time violence was used, we died a little bit at a time. It is such the opposite of who we really are. Even in the bible, it says in Matthew 11:12 “…now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” When they came for Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, they took Him by force. All of Jesus’ life was based upon love. He loved people so much that people saw it when they met Him. Every time anyone came in contact with Jesus, they saw that He loved them unconditionally.it is still the same today. Jesus loves us unconditionally, for God is love. As followers of Christ, we are to become the image and likeness of God. Which means we are love people unconditionally. This is a tall order for man. We would rather acquire everything through force. This way doesn’t open us to the pain of rejection. Jesus suffered rejection to be able to reach man. Yet He still opened His heart and loved us. Jesus knew that the only way to reach man is love them. It has never changed. Love is the only way to live in this and the world to come. And only by the power of God can we even attempt to live that way. By if we do live that way, it will not only change our lives but the lives around us. The reason that we are to love unconditionally is to be change into the image and likeness of God. And when we do, we will see Jesus when He returns for we will be like Him.

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Easter weekend is the weekend to deal with death. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Death is so foreign to us because we are eternal being. Our spirit will live forever. The bible says that the fear of death has put people in bondage. The bible also says I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live. And again it says I die daily. Again it says as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. It is a liturgy of death. Why does it talk so much about death? Jesus is the example of how and what we are to be to enter the kingdom of God. God made a specific way to enter into the kingdom. It is the way of cross to die to self. We were born in sin. God had to get us to the place where we would be acceptable. And the only way is to die to self. We cannot enter in without our death. God says that we are the image and likeness of Him. We must look like Jesus in his death, burial and resurrection. But with our death is our resurrection. As God raised Jesus from the dead, so will He do for us. When we are born again, we can enter heaven as God has planned. To begin the process, all we have to do is ask God for forgiveness. As it is written, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. I encourage you to ask on the day of Jesus’ resurrection. You have Happy and Blessed Easter.

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There is a song that has been playing in my head for a few days. The song is “Sunrise, Sunset”. It is from the movie “Fiddler on the Roof”. It is talking about how fast time moves and how each day is finite or set amount of time. When you are young is seems that time has almost stopped. As you get older it seems that time speeds up. It is funny how when I was young I wanted to be older. Then when I was older I wanted to be younger. But as I became older I could do more things faster than when I was young. And as I did more things faster, time moved faster for me. It seems strange that it should be reversed but it isn’t. We are eternal beings but here are this earth our life is finite. Infinite comes later when we cross over on to the other side of life. On the other side there is no time at all. Time was invented by God for the people who live on this earth. So we could see and perceive seasons. As a people we have taken it to the farthest point. There is an atomic clock in Washington, D.C. In Greenwich, England is the starting point of all time on earth. Time has been divided into zones, hours, minutes and seconds. You know what is the strangest thing about all of that is how much time is wasted on nothing. Although we aren’t finite, time is. There is so much time in each of our lives. Then there is no more. Once we use it, it is gone forever. How well have you used time in your life? Have you accomplished the goals you set for yourself or has life gotten in the way? We have a very serious question to answer here on earth. We have just a certain amount of time to answer this question. Once time has ended for us, we can’t answer that question anymore. It will be answered for us. And this could be devastating for us. The question is whether or not we, as an individual, will choose to walk with God. As one of His sons. Choose God and live. You only have so much time to make up your mind.

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Have you ever felt like you know that you are supposed to do something? You aren’t quite certain what it is. You are willing and waiting to find out what it is. The bible says that all creation groans for the revelation of Jesus Christ. I want this event to happen, but it’s not on my timetable. I was talking to someone yesterday about God’s timetable. I told them that I have had a prayer answered in a blink of an eye and the longest time was 22 years. Yesterday God answered a prayer that took a year. It is all in God’s timing. For years I kept hearing my name being called from a distance. For a long time I didn’t know who it was. When I finally realized that it was God calling. He was calling to me from eternity to come home. I feel that same calling again. But this it is both ways. He is calling me and I am calling Him. You don’t know how much I want to go home. Paul said he was caught between the two. He wanted to go home, but he had to stay to finish his work on this earth. I am as homesick as I have ever been. But God’s work on this earth is needful and is necessary. Like creation, I groan for the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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We spend our entire life trying to cheat death. But in the end it always wins. All of the things we do seem so pointless. Whether you eat right or exercise or take something to lengthen your life, it seems to come to no avail. What is the next magic bullet that someone comes up with to live forever? People go from one thing to the take to accomplish immortality. It is a sad state of affair when people can’t or won’t see what really is in front of them. What is really there is eternity. It is a scary thing when you don’t know what to expect on the other side. The bible says that we are held in bondage all of our lives through the fear of death. Fear is a tormenting spirit. It can drive you crazy and make you do strange things. I was afraid of so many things until I came to know God. Even then God had to work out of me the fear I had developed over my lifetime. What happened then was I became angry at the devil for deceiving me all those years. I hated the idea that I was led by the nose into all kinds of trouble. But what God did was to show me how I could change and become whole again. I knew then that I was going to die, but not today. God gave me opportunity to live my life the way I am supposed too. So I could live my life to the fullest each and every day. God showed me that all the great men and women of God were just ordinary people. Each one of them made a choice to serve God each day of their lives. And what happened was that they lived their lives to the fullest because of God. So their lives became extraordinary. What they left behind wasn’t money or land or property, it was a legacy of a life fill with God, peaceful and righteous. They left it for everyone to see. What will you leave behind?

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We all learned by example. What someone else has done, we can figure it out also. That is why God put stories in the bible. So we can learn of Him. David was an ordinary man. His life wasn’t ordinary, but quite extraordinary. He didn’t have super human strength. He didn’t have x-ray vision or the ability to fly. David lived a life of ups and downs. He was given a lot of responsibility. He went from the flock of sheep to a flock of humans. All along the way, God taught him how to live and what to do. God showed him how he could accomplish God’s will on this earth. David first had to have his heart right before God. And he had to stay that way. It is said of David that he had a heart for God. It is said over and over again. God promised him that from his children would come the Messiah. So David was not afraid of anything. What person in their right mind would run to fight a giant, 9 ft. tall, with just a slingshot and a stone? Why did he chase down the lion and the bear to kill it? Why would David run into the heaviest part of the battle and fight his way out? Why did David just believe God at his word? God showed David how he could do mighty things with just the sheep. He learned the techniques and put them into practice. Then the Lion came and the bear came. David trusted and believed God. He had faith and it built up until nothing could stop him. David is no different than we are. What he experienced we can. It all starts with trusting and believing God. And that is why God puts stories in the bible.

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David had sin against God by killing Uriah and taking his wife. All that God told him that would happen to him, did. David’s firstborn and his most beloved son, chased him out of Jerusalem. Absalom was killed in battle with David’s forces. David returned to Jerusalem but troubles still followed. Finally as David was getting old, he had to choose a new king. He chose the most unlikely one. He chose Solomon. Solomon was the David’s son by the wife of Uriah. David knew that Solomon loved the Lord and would follow God wherever He led him. David had Solomon anointed in the temple and proclaimed king. David had gathered materials to build a great temple to the Lord in Jerusalem. But God wouldn’t let David build it because he had shed innocent blood. His son Solomon was going to finish building the temple. The temple was constructed in Jerusalem next to the palace. It was one of the wonders of the ancient world. It was built with much gold and silver. Finally the day came to consecrate the temple. Solomon had prayed a prayer that God would fill the temple with His presence. God filled the temple like a cloud and everyone ran out of the temple. Solomon asked God for wisdom. God gave him more than any man has or ever will have. Beside that God gave him the wealth of the world. Solomon stored the gold inside the walls of Jerusalem and dumped all the silver on the ground outside the walls.  Solomon’s kingdom was so great that he was the only man in the history of the world to rule the world.

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