He is Risen!

Mar 16:4 NKJV - "vs. 4 - But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away--for it was very large. vs. 5- And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. vs. 6 - But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him."

Our Lord, Jesus Christ is alive and well! This Sunday we celebrate Resurrection Sunday, commonly called Easter Sunday. Traditionally a leader in the church says, "He is risen!" The congregation responds with, "He is risen indeed!"

Not only should we celebrate Christ's resurrection this Sunday, but we should celebrate it everyday! Jesus is our salvation! We as Christians believe that He died on the cross, was buried in the tomb, and rose again on the third day! He promised this! It, without a doubt, happened just like He said it would!

Matthew 20:19 "And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again."

Mark 14:28 "But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee."

Luke 18:33 "And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again."

John 2:19-22 "Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

The Bible speaks the truth. Jesus' resurrection really happened. Submit your hearts to Christ. He is our only hope! Rom 10:9 NKJV - that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

This Sunday as we sing songs like, "Our Redeemer Lives", "At the Cross", and "He Lives", really listen to the words that we sing as we praise our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's remember the penalty that Christ paid on the cross for our sins. Let's celebrate that He did what he promised. Let's remember this EVERY day. He is risen! He is risen indeed!

God's Kingdom Cannot Be Shaken!

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe," – Hebrews 12:28

As I was sitting at my desk reading today, I could hear the wind storm outside blowing like crazy! I knew trees were shaking. Dirt was flying. Plastic milk crates were flying outside of the kitchen facility. All of a sudden, I heard a loud crash and boom! I looked through the blinds of my window facing the parking lot, and noticed that the wind had picked up and smashed a heavy trash bin into a parked van. I thought, boy, the trash bins need to be a lot more secure, solid, and stable to withstand the Wyoming winds! What an awesome sight!

I came across this verse today out of Hebrews 12. Verse 28 states that the kingdom that we are receiving cannot be shaken. Which means that our salvation is built upon the Solid Rock.....a firm foundation! You see, when we are saved, we are a part of God's kingdom. What a wonderful promise that God's kingdom is forever! It cannot be moved! It cannot be blown over like a trash bin! God's kingdom is secure, solid, stable, and withstands ANYTHING!

In the words of Hebrews 12:28, let us be thankful! Please worship with me....with reverence and awe! Thank you, Lord, for salvation! Thank you, Lord, for having us as Christians in Your kingdom! Amen.

I Want to Praise You In the Morning!

Psalm 5:3 "My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct [it] to You, And I will look up."

Did I wake up this morning and thank the Lord for a new day? Or, did I complain that the alarm clock woke me up leaving me feeling extra tired especially after getting use to Daylight Saving Time all this week? Well...I guarantee, it was the latter of the two questions. I did complain about having to get up so early, especially fighting a nice head cold. Yes, eventually I did get my morning routine going....shower, shave, dressing,...etc... yes, even doing my morning devotions.

It was later in the day, that I came across this verse, written by the Psalmist, David. It made it clear to me that instead of complaining and forcing myself to get out of bed, that I should be a lot more thankful. The Lord has given me another day! I need to make sure that I look up to Him each day and start my day off right in worship!

Lord, please strengthen me each morning to start my day off right with You. Help me to recognize you each and every morning when I rise. Each day I thank you for life. I praise you, Lord. In Jesus' Name amen.

We Were Created for God's Glory!

Colossians 1:16 "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him."

As this verse teaches, we were created for God's glory! We are to worship Him with our whole life! This being said, we will soon start to sing a new song to praise our Lord called, "Glory to God Forever", written by Steve Fee. Take a look at my favorite lyrics from the song that reflect the fact that we are created to worship Him:

Creator God You gave me breath

So I could praise Your great and matchless name

All my days, all my days

So let my whole life be a blazing offering

A life that shouts and sings

The greatness of our King

It is my prayer that as we sing this song in coming weeks that the Lord would see in our lives the blazing offering of our whole lives in worship to our Great God! He truly does have a great and matchless name! If you would like to see the lyrics and hear the song..and maybe even sing along to the song, pause my "playlist" and scroll down and push play to the YouTube video featuring the song. May God truly bless you!

He Renews our Strength!

"but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
– Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)

What an incredible refreshing promise that God gives us in this verse from Isaiah 40:31! God is our hope....He renews our strength! He lifts us up on wings like eagles. We just need to wait upon the Lord in all things, as we walk with Him. As we wait upon the Lord, we should be in prayer.

At this time I am listening to another song that is popular to sing in our church, Lincoln Brewster's version of "Everlasting God". If you have ever heard this version of the song, at the end, there is a little girl that is quoting scripture from Isaiah 40. Not only is the song a powerful message, the scripture is more-so....of course it's from the Word of God!

You may be reading this, struggling with illness, financial difficulty, a loss of a loved one, depression, job loss, etc. Maybe you're exhausted with day-to-day life. Please know from scripture, the TRUTH, if we hope in the Lord...he will renew strength! He can and will lift us up on wings like eagles! Praise the Lord!

Place your hope in the Lord Jesus Christ and the hope that He offers. A new life. A new beginning. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!

Our Great God!

I am here to say that our God is Greater! What do I mean by this? Recently we started to sing a newer song in our church written by Chris Tomlin called "Our God". In the lines of the chorus, it goes like the following: "Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other."

These words are truly biblical and inspiring to our Christian walk because of the fact that God is greater! He is stronger! He is higher that any gods that we have struggled with! If you have ever struggled with putting anything before God in worship, please know that He is greater! If you may be struggling with any hang-ups, addictions, sin in general that's trying to take over as a god....little "g"....Our God is stronger! Solomon saw the greatness of God when he was preparing to build the temple. Take a look at 2 Chronicles 2:5-6a

"And the temple which I build [will be] great, for our God is greater than all gods. But who is able to build Him a temple, since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him?" Solomon was EXACTLY right! Who can contain our GREAT God?!!

Another example of this is written by the Psalmist in Psalms 135:5... "For I know that the LORD [is] great, And our Lord [is] above all gods." I am SO thankful that we serve the LIVING GOD! My prayer is that you serve Him too!

You see, Satan is prowling trying to get us to serve him. He loves to distract, deceive, destroy...the horrible reality... he wants us to serve other gods before our Mighty God....BIG "G". However, we have a promise that is written in 1 John 4:4 - "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." Aren't you glad that our God is greater than he who is in the world? Again....Our God is greater...stronger...and higher

The other powerfully biblical part of the song that we sing in church, "Our God" written by Chris Tomlin, is in the bridge:

“And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us? And if our God is with us, then what could stand against? And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us? And if our God is with us, then what could stand against? What could stand against."

Wow! This whole section of the song is based on the verse that comes from Romans 8:31...and what a promise it is! Romans 8:31- "What then shall we say to these things? If God [is] for us, who [can be] against us?"

I am so thankful that as a child of God through Jesus Christ, He is for me. My prayer is that you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. He wants you to be his child and be for you! He is our Great God!

I could go on and on about the biblical message of the song, "Our God", and explain the miracles of Jesus Christ at the beginning of the song, but, I'll leave that to your Bible reading. God bless you. It is great to worship with you.

Let's Rejoice In the Lord in this New Year!

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" -Philippians 4:4 (NIV)

Wow! It has been a long time since I have entered my last blog post! Time really has flown by! Anyway...as I have been watching the news in our world, I know it can easily depress a lot of people. I'm not saying that keeping up to date with current events is a bad thing, it's just, we as Christians need to remember that nothing compares to the promises that we have in Jesus Christ, the Good News!

We read, watch, and listen to stories like our failing economy, death, destruction, starvation, greed, etc., but the Bible tells us that no matter what we may be going through, we are to look to the Lord Jesus Christ and rejoice! When we look around us in this world, as Christians, we need to remember that everything is temporary. Just like a lot of bumper stickers that I have seen, NOTW, we are "Not Of This World".

In the book of Philippians, Paul wrote to encourage the Philippians to rejoice even though they were facing hardships. They faced hardships, and so do we. Thank the Lord that living in this fallen world is as mentioned above, temporary. You see, we have a hope in our salvation, in the Good News that God is faithful and that He never changes!

My prayer is this....that as we live and grow further into 2012, that we may be filled by his joy that will strengthen our hearts! Let's strive by the Holy Spirit to rejoice in the Lord always! I guess I will say it again....REJOICE!