Keep The Faith

The reason for me saying that the mindset of "Once Saved Always Saved" is wrong, is not to condemn anyone. I have come to truly realize how much God loves us and wants all to enter His new righteous kingdom, but we have to do it His way. I truly believe in my heart that this teaching is giving many, some, or a few, a false hope that they are going to enter the new kingdom simply because that yes, they excepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It is too often that we have forgotten the Lord part of it. Wouldn't you want me to say something now before you stand before Christ to be judged? There are no do-overs. Whatever He says will be for you and me for eternity. Why accept what man tells you for such a high price? Read and study the Bible. Ask Him what is the truth. If you want to know where you would end up if you died today, ask Him that too. He made me see and feel what it would be like for me if I had died the day He showed me. It was a place totally void of Him and ...

I woke up at 2 AM this morning from a dream that had. This had to be from the Lord. I say this for several reasons. I rarely know anymore that I dream at all. If I do remember a dream, it is spotty, just bits and pieces of it. This one I remembered clearly. I was talking with someone and they were explaining to me how the body of Christ is like a human body or my body. All the body parts have a certain function to do. If a part of the body gets sick, the doctor will prescribe medicine to try and make it well. There are times though when a member gets sick in such a way that there is nothing left to do but to cut it out, in order to save the rest of the body. John 15 New American Standard Bible (NASB) John 15 Jesus Is the Vine—Followers Are Branches      1  “ I am the true vine, and My Father is the  vinedresser.   2  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every  branch  that bears f...

I was just out in the yard doing some mowing when I got some new revelation from the Lord and had to stop and post this before I forgot. I was wondering why my life has been different every since I asked God to make me a tool in His work. Before that point, I always wanted to do things for the Lord but it never happened. Now I know why. 1 Corinthians 12:27 New International Version (NIV)   27  Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. Another scripture is: Philippians 3:20 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 20  For  our  [ a ] citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly  wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21  who will  transform  [ a ] the body of our humble state into  conformity with  [ b ] the  body of His glory,  by the exertion of the power that He has even to  subject all things to Himself. ------------------------------------------------------------------...

Here is a story that I told my grandson when trying to get him to go to sleep. It started as a much simpler version when I was telling it to him. It has developed to this and reflects my life and how God has shown Himself to me.   The Hammer Story By Wayne Koch (Pop Pop) Dedicated to my grandson Once upon a time there was a hammer. Now this hammer was a very special hammer. Its Creator gave it a brain. It could choose what project to work on and who would use it to build the project. There was just one problem. It often bent nails. At first, Hammer chose easy projects to work on, things like step stools, tables, bird houses, and tree houses. When it came to tree houses though, he chose only the simplest ones or would only want to do the ladder up to the tree house. As for who would use him to build the projects, he would choose just anyone. Over time, he saw some of his projects turn out pretty good, some were just so-so, and others were really bad. When he bent a nail, the p...

OK, I'm finally going to say this, the mindset of "Once Saved Always Saved" is wrong and dangerous. I've been very reluctant to say it because I know it will upset a lot of people. Not all that long ago, it would have upset me too to hear someone say this. It took a lot of convincing from the Lord to get me to this point. This was probably the biggest reason I felt led by God to start this blog in the first place. In fact, I would say that this is the Lord's blog. What I've posted here thus far, He has led me to in the scriptures and has compelled me to post. I don't always understand completely what I post. Each day I study His Word and talk with Him and He gives me more understanding. As I look back in my life, the Lord has been preparing me for this for a long time. He didn't make it evident to me though, bringing together all that He has shown me, until two weekends before I started the blog. I actually thought I was to say this at a church reu...

We have such an awesome God. He created everything just by saying them into existence. He created us in His likeness Genesis 1:26 New International Version (NIV)      26  Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, [ a ]  and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” He has given us a recipe for life; a way to live in harmony with each other and to have fellowship with Him. But, we don't want to follow His plan so we try and do it our way, which just makes a mess of things and separates us from Him (sin which leads to death). He sends His only begotten Son, Jesus, to earth to be the perfect sacrifice so we can have forgiveness for our sins and Jesus was so willing to do that for us. He wants to help us live a godly life through the power of the Holy S...

Around November of last year I was searching something in my Bible. I don't remember what it was I was studying at the time but my search took me to the last chapter of Revelation. As I was reading in chapter 22, I felt that Jesus was speaking to me personally. The Bible I usually study from is the "New American Standard Bible." Here is what it said in verse 16: "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star." And, in verse 20, it reads: He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. I felt and still believe that He wants me to tell the churches that He is coming soon. Now this is not the soon as we think of soon, it is God's soon. Sense that day, He has led me to many scriptures to help me understand why it is so very important to tell the churches. Unless many of us, who call ourselves Christians, wak...

I've been studying the Bible for a while now and have asked God to teach me Himself. I don't want to learn through commentaries, or hand books, or any other books, or even through people. I want to learn His truths from Him; by the way, I ran across a passage that said that there is but one teacher, Christ Jesus. I ask Him many questions. He has taught me much but I've come to realize that His teaching is a life long process. I guess the reason why I mention this is because I've come to understand Paul and the race he talks about and fighting the good fight. Jesus said this; John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." 35 "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." and in John 14:15 He says, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." Paul came to realize that if he was to have the same kind of love...

As I was thinking about what I might post next, I noticed that my Bible was open to Mathew chapter 25. Let me read it starting with verse 31. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mathew 25 (NIV Bible) The Sheep and the Goats      31  “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.   32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.   33  He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.     34  “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.   35  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me someth...

I was talking to the Lord this morning, wondering how I will ever get this blog started. I opened my Bible, as I sometimes do, just to wherever, and it opened to 1 Timothy chapter 4. What an appropriate beginning; thank you Lord. Here is how it reads from the NIV Bible: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Timothy 4 New International Version (NIV) 1 The Spirit clearly says that in the later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is conse...