What’s Your Price?

“Then one of the Twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?” And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver.”  Matthew 26:14-15

What amount of money, fame, prestige, influence, authority, or wealth would it take for you to sell out Jesus Christ? For Judas, it was 30 pieces of silver. What’s your price? Do you have a price?

We live in a society where we are so interconnected… we have the ability, in the blink of an eye, to post, snap, tweet, share, pin, link, blog, ping and tag any and every thought, idea, or belief to family, friends, colleagues and strangers around the world.

But what if our family, friends, colleagues, and strangers don’t agree with our thoughts, ideas, and beliefs? What then? At what point do you stop posting, snapping, tweeting, sharing, pinning, linking, blogging, pinging, and tagging? 

What if somebody completely disagrees with you and doesn’t like what you have to say? What if those strangers don’t like what you have to say? Do we change our stand, for the sake of harmony? Or do you stand? Are you willing to lose the approval of strangers for your thoughts, ideas, or beliefs? What about friends, family, and colleagues? Are you ready to maybe have your feelings hurt?

I imagine that most here are thinking… well if I say something uncomfortable and a stranger doesn’t like what I’m saying that I am not going to change what I stand for. I get that.

What about colleagues? What about your livelihood? What if what you spoke was “not allowed” or considered improper or politically incorrect or deemed intolerant by your employer? Are you okay to lose your income for what you believe? Will you continue to stand strong in your beliefs? Remember, we’re talking about making your living and your income. Continue reading

Oranges Make Orange Juice

For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of Matthew 12:34

“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.”
Matthew 12:35

“But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.” Matthew 15:18

What do those verses have to do with Orange Juice? Let’s take a step back. If you were to take a whole, unpeeled orange and squeeze it with all your strength, what would the result be? Right… the result would be orange juice; it wouldn’t be tomato juice or apple juice. Because an orange, or any fruit for that matter, can only give up what it contains on the inside.

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The Great Disappearance

This is a captivating book by Dr. Jeremiah about the soon-coming rapture of the Church. With impeccable research over several decades, the author brings to the forefront the questions so many have based on solid biblical truths.

Who will be raptured? When will it happen? What about the children? What happens to non-believers left behind, what will Heaven be like, and so many more answers to the questions.

Are you sure you are ready? You can be. This is a must-read book.

Disclosure: I received this book free via NetGalley. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review.

Kingdom Authority

Throughout this book, Pastor Tony Evans shows us about how satan’s priority is to derail the blessings and purpose of the believer. Satan and his demon can bring disruption to your life to such a level that you end up broken and beat down… unable to carry out the destiny God has in store for you.

Contrary to popular belief, satan cannot be defeated by thinking good thoughts and speaking positive affirmations. The only way to defeat satan and his disruptive power is through the authority we have through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

In this powerful book, Pastor Evans walks us through reclaiming what the enemy has stolen and fix what has broken in our lives and situations and learn to walk in Kingdom Authority.

This is a powerful book and definitely will go to my “read again” stack.

Disclosure: I received this book free via NetGalley. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html.

Preparing to Meet Jesus

Preparing To Meet Jesus” by Ann Graham Lotz and Rachel-Ruth Wright is a 21-day Bible study/Devotional based on Genesis 21, the story of Rebekah. Together, they bring verse by verse the quality and characteristics of Rebekah as the chosen wife for Isaac.

Each day’s entry begins with a deep explanation of each verse being studied as well as includes short story/ anecdote, and a challenge to the reader regarding their own preparation as we prepare to be the bride of the coming King Jesus. And as Rebekah shows, are we ready to meet him? Do we wonder about Him? Do we long for Him? Are we ready for our bridegroom?  Several chapters in this book touched me and caused me to take a deep look at my own life, attitudes, and preparedness for eternity.

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The Nun’s PrayerBook

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”
  Isaiah 26:3

I was cleaning my bookshelves a while back and came across a book that I hadn’t given much thought to in many years; it is the Prayer Book of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. Let me tell you how this little 80-page book blessed my life.

It was just after Thanksgiving time in 1995 while I was working as a pastoral assistant to a Catholic Pastor in Massachusetts. He was a great priest and a great friend. However, he was also great at volunteering me for projects! (I will admit that I really didn’t mind at all)

We traveled to Boston one afternoon to visit with the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy; what an amazing ministry they have. While taking a tour of their lovely chapel, we noticed that their prayer books were a torn and tattered mess that consisted of a folder of mismatched cards and papers. Continue reading

Stand Up Church

In this age of free and easy access to answers to our most inane questions and our deepest philosophical quandary’s, the internet, for all its faults and failings is on the forefront providing the answers. For thousands of years, lay people relied on the learned few to share their knowledge and provide us with the answers to our deepest questions. Then one day a few decades ago, the information that we relied on others to provide became readily available to all of us. Sacred texts were now available, holy texts, literary classics, rare – if ever seen manuscripts and scrolls were now ready to be accessed by anyone anywhere that wanted to see them.
It seemed as though all the answers to every question in the universe could now be found. Every question we could ever think to ask could now be answered. Today I can search and find the answer to anything I want to know. Whether I trust the “answer-er” or not, is a topic for another time.
There are several major internet search engines; Google and Bing are the two largest and most accessed. In 2018, there were 5.6 billion searches per day on Google[1] alone.  That’s a bunch of people asking a bunch of questions! So it begs the question, what are they looking for. When it comes to faith, what are the big questions that are in need of an answer? I took a look at the results from my own little blog search results to see some of what folks were asking; the results are clear. This is just a brief list of the taken from this year’s statistics.
  • I didn’t want to give up my sin
  • Bitter truths about rapture
  • Jesus and the Cross
  • What is cherished sin?
  • I believe God hates me
  • The truth about rapture
  • God are you real?
  • Am I saved because of Jesus death
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