Grace and peace to you from God, who is our Father. He's our Father! Take some time to reflect on that. If I could fully understand the first two words of the Lord's prayer "Our Father", it would change my outlook on everything. Grace and peace to you from Jesus Christ, who is our Lord. Our Lord (the king of everything) gave HIMSELF for our sins tor rescue us from this present state of evil that the world finds itself in, according to the will of God the Father. May the glory be to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen!

No other Gospel
Sometimes I am astonished at how people who claim to follow the God, the one and only thing that can truly satisfy, will so quickly turn to trust things that will fail them. The gospel is not of human origin; it is from above. Yet we find ourselves putting our trust in human ideas. I did not receive the gospel because I was taught it. If that were the case, then I would be a Pavlovian religious nut reduced to a certain set of reflexes and beliefs (and at one time, I was). No. I received Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, who lifted the veil from my eyes and made me see! Praise the Lord! The gospel doesn't make bad people good, it makes dead people alive! If only you could see who I was before Christ saved me. I was lost in my sin, stuck in selfishness, trapped in a state of no satisfaction. Physically, I had everything I could ever want, but nothing filled the God-sized whole in my heart. But God, by his immeasurable grace, revealed himself in fullness and truth, shattering my hard heart and breaking my pride down. Praise the Lord. How can I have such passion for Him? He saved me! How can I give all my life--time, money, love, relationships, success, etc--to him? He saved me! HE saved me! He saved ME! He SAVED me! What delightful humility and undeserved blessing.

Friends, I once was lost, but now I am found in Christ. I was so judgmental. I was full of conceit. I was greedy, only wishing to accrue more and more for myself and no one else. I was broken in sexual sin, pornography, and the worst of lustful mental appetites. I was consumed with the American dream. The amount of selfishness was a monster who consumed and consumed. Perhaps the worst part is that for most of my life, I was known as the good Christian who did everything right. I was the king of hypocrites. I used Christ's name to advance my own agenda and work with my own power, all the while, spitting on the cross and living my life in an ocean of sin. I tell you all of this, shamelessly, first so that you may see the degree of my salvation, and second, because it no longer defines me. I have been set free. NO. I was dead and am now alive! I am willing to mention this on the internet, in permanence, for anyone to see, such that I can testify to the grace of God. Some of you reading this may have just met me, others have known me for years.

But all that matters is that I am identified with Christ in death, so that I am also identified with him in life.

Perhaps you need to remember just how Christ saved you. Perhaps you need to be saved by Christ. Perhaps you need to confess the darkness in your past. Perhaps you need to celebrate the freedom from your sin. If you are with Christ, you have an insurmountable joy, if you will only choose to live in the power of the Holy Spirit, because you have been freed. It is for freedom that He set you free. If you are without Christ, you are not living life as it was meant to be. 

Whatever the case, let us rejoice that Christ is alive and we can be too!

Want to know more about my story? Just ask me. Want to know more about Christ? Just ask me!