There's Life After Death

God can do all things, he provides strength to carry on, even when the whole world crashes in on our hearts, he will never leave us, we will find love and strength in His arms.

Even when we think that God should have done something to save someone, we mere mortals cannot comprehend the knowledge, mercy, compassion and understanding of our Father in Heaven. He knows whats right even when we think its wrong.

A friend of my wife's and I will be going home today to be with the Father and the Son and in this time of reflection God brought this to my mind when I was praying for the family of David our friend who was going home.

There is life after death, both in Heaven and on Earth.

Life will continue for Dave in Heaven with the Father forever more. But likewise, for the family and friends of those left behind, those who are grieving, sleepless and feeling hopeless, there is life on Earth for them as well. May they realize that though their loved one is gone, that the God who loves them, has still provided the opportunity of life abundantly on this Earth in which they still remain.

Until we all meet again, may David Kennedy rest and live in the peace and warm embrace of the Savior in Heaven, and may the Holy Spirit comfort the Kennedy family!

Let us not be the same

Surely we all can remember hearing the stories of Jesus when he encountered the Jewish leadership of his time. They were brash, stubborn, self-righteous and deceitful. Well back in the old Testament God spoke to Ezekiel about these very same shepherds of Israel:

"Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, 'Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; 'Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened. neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, My flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them."
                                 Ezekiel 34:2-6 KJV-


Corruption, lack of leadership, vanity, self-righteousness, greed and a whole host of other adjectives could be used to describe the shepherds of these verses. They are exactly the opposite of what we as saved Christians need to be.


We must seek after the scattered, the lost, the broken, the sick. We must as God's shepherds of the truth on earth seek after his own who are far from the truth. That is our job. Let us not be the same as those of the old testament book of Ezekiel. We have to step out of our cozy little worlds into the fray where the enemy walks around waiting to attack us when we try to turn the hearts of the wicked to God. But that again friends is our job.

Lets commit to reaching the lost for the Lord, lets turn this world on fire for God and not stop until we breathe our last. Who's with me?

What happens when we turn from our ways?

So what does happen when we turn from our ways? I don't mean just the bad ways, what about the good ones too?

Here is what God's says in Ezekiel 33

"When the righteous turneth from his righteousness and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby. But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby."
                                Ezekiel 33:18-19 KJV-


So what does this all mean. Basically this, if we know the truth and as Christians we should, then if we are living righteously then all is fine. But if we turn from the righteous way and the righteous God we will surely die in our sins, and if we die in our sins we likely know where we are headed when we depart this world.

On the flip side if the wicked stays on his wicked path he too will suffer the fate of the one who fell from righteousness. But he too, the wicked man, can turn from his ways, follow God and his ways, accept what is lawful and right (thanks to Christ's sacrifice he became both which is lawful and right) he can be saved from the torture of Hell.

Bottom line to these verses if you are on the straight and narrow do all you can through prayer and relationship with God to stay on that path (he will do the rest), and if you are not on that path, reach out to God to show you the way, and when you get there stay on that path as well because as Christ puts it in Matthew 7:

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." 


Be counted as one of the few my friends!

How long would you wait?

Before I rolled my lazy body out of bed this morning I had a thought in pop in my head (amazing I didn't think I would be able to function so early, it must be God!).

If your spouse, friend, or anyone promised to pick you up from the airport and after landing you got your bags and you were waiting around... 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 45 minutes, 2 hours! How long would you stand there and wait for them to come before resorting to another means of transportation home?

How about if you were waiting for a doctor's appointment, how long would you sit in the waiting room before saying something to the clerk, "Hey where is this guy??"

How about when your on hold trying to get your cable internet working again, how many songs and how long will you sit on that phone before you get frustrated and hang up?

Stay with me here I know I go out on a limb sometimes but this is good...

Read the following verses below:

"Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him..."
                                 Psalms 37:7 KJV-

"...be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."
                                 Revelation 2:10 KJV-

"...knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope."
                                 Romans 5:3-4 KJV-   

"Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness."
                                Colossians 1:11 KJV-

So I ask again how long would we wait?

How long would we wait for God's voice to speak to us?

How long would we wait to see God's answer to our prayers?

How long will we wait to see God coming back to earth like he promised he would return someday?

I hope your answer is not hang up, He's not answering, or I'll just call a taxi God forgot about me.

He hasn't forgotten you, your prayers and your heart. He knows us all by name and will reward you for your patience, but sometimes what we think qualifies as patience doesn't even scratch the surface of what God would call real longsuffering and endurance.

So here is my urging to you, don't stop believing, don't stop praying!

Stay diligent He will answer you when the time is right. If we claim to love Him and want to follow Him wherever He might take us then do that.

Follow Him even when its not popular, believe in Him even when all hope seems to be lost. He is coming back someday for His own, just be patient and as the verse above says we will recieve the crown of life!

I hope these thoughts have blessed you richly this day.

May His peace and love and hope be upon you, AMEN!

Amos 8:11-

It is my sincere prayer that this scripture is not indicitive of the current state of the world including those in the Christian faith.

Here is the scripture and you determine for yourself if this fits for our generation:
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD."
                                Amos 8:11 KJV-

So what do you think, are we suffering through a famine for the word of God?

How much of scripture is read in you church services weekly?
How about your bible studies, are they really about studying God's word or do you read someones latest find your purpose book?
How about your daily life, is it filled with God's word or is it filled with Time Magazine?

If after evaluating these questions you answered yes your likely not alone.

I believe we are seeing the beginnings of this famine Amos warned about. Pastors from pulpits are telling you how to make more money, have the life you always dreamed of and are too busy talking about the greatest self-help books to even mention any scripture in their messages. We are afraid to talk about sin, hell or prophecy but we sure can tout Rick Warren's newest book (I personally do not have a problem with this man). We are not feeding the flock the word of God we are feeding the flock the world and we are losing touch with the lost because we allow for moderate worship of our God instead of fervent worship. The American church in my eyes for the most part is starving for the word of God.  If we don't turn from this way in America the church here will surely die from starvation and dehydration. Don't believe this can happen to us, just read a little bit about the church in England and in Europe and you can see for yourselves what happens when the world takes over the word.

There is one thing, however, we can personally guarantee that we won't see this famine at least until Bibles are banned in America, and even then we can find a way. The guarantee is to pick it up, open and read the word daily. Its that simple. Set aside some quiet time to read and reflect, draw near to the creator by reading about him. The only way we can connect, grow and learn to follow our God is to read about who he is, then we can truly know who it is we choose to put our trust and faith in.

So put down your computer and pick up your Bible, I promise it will transform your perspective!

God Bless Friends