Do you come back to God after you sin?

 Good morning everyone. God is good all the time, all the time God is good.

STAY BLESSED MY FRIEND!!

   There were great kings in the Bible that were great warriors, I want to mention 2 that you are probably very familiar with.  These two were Saul and David.

   You can read about these stories in 1 Samuel 9 and if you follow it on to 1 Kings 2 you will get the complete story of both.

   What was the difference between the two?  When they both became Kings they were great warriors.  Saul first and killed many, UNTIL, Goliath came on the scene. Then no one would go up against Goliath until a little shepherd boy came to the scene.

  After David killed Goliath, he was an honored warrior in King Saul's army plus playing music to soothe Saul.  All went well until Saul heard the women singing about him killing thousands and David killing 10's of thousands.  Now Saul was chosen by God as was David.

   When Saul heard the women singing he became jealous of David, well, you know the story.  So what is the kicker.

   Saul committed sins, then did not take the responsibility for it and played the blame game.

   David committed sins, and when he realized he turned straight to God and asked forgiveness.  Saul's disobedience to God and jealousy of David lead to his rejection by God.  You can read this in 1 Samuel 13, 15, and 18.

   David wrote about half of the Psalms, however,  Psalm 23 and Psalm 51 express his prayers, sins, and praise to God.  

  So what am I trying to say here.  Saul was a man of God who became disobedient and did not claim his sins.  David was a man of God who sinned, then claimed the sin, asked forgiveness and was a man after God's heart.

   I reflect on this and look back at myself.  Have I sinned and blamed others; OR, sinned and asked God's forgiveness?  Where do you stand my friend?

   We can ask ourselves the question am I a "Saul" or a "David"?  Thank you for reading with me today. Love y'all.

In Christ's Love and Grace

Johnny

Can't please everyone - Luke 7:33-34

 Good afternoon everyone from Monticello, Illinois. God is good all the time, all the time God is good.

   Do you remember meeting people who are always negative?  You say the sky is blue and they will say it is hazy white; The grass is green, no- it has a blueish tint. You know what and who I am talking about.

   Well, don't feel alone, it was the same way in Jesus' time.  John the Baptist was ridiculed; Jesus was ridiculed; and then the apostles later were ridiculed.

  They had the Pharisees and the Sadducees who were really the negative, angry, and a non-accepting group who would stir up other Jews to their way of thinking.

  GUESS WHAT?  Today we have politicians, woke community, radical Islamic, and all the other organizations that yell at the Christians because they are racist, arrogant, and closed mined. Plus, they stir up other people.   Wait......what?  

   If we teach, preach, or talk about some things in the Bible we are wrong, some say it is hate speech.  Let's look at what Luke says in Chapter 7, verses 33-34:

   33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’

  Oh yes, look at this.  John the Baptist was called a demon. Jesus (Son of Man) would eat and drink with tax collectors, sinners and considered a glutton and a drunkard.  Hmmmm!

   People will do or say anything to appease themselves and their way of thinking.  Let me know what you think. Love y'all.

In Christ's Love and Grace,

Johnny

Jeremiah 42- Listen to God or disobey God - your choice

 Good morning everyone.  God is good all the time, all the time God is good.

Jeremiah, the weeping prophet would speak to the people, tell them what God says.  So what happens?  They beat him, put him in prison, and listen to what God tells him, yet disobey what God has passed on through Jeremiah.

   Jeremiah's heart hurt for the people.  They would ask him to speak to God and see what they needed to do, then do what they wanted to do.  Completely disobeying or ignoring what God has said.

   How often do we do this in our life?  You may not hear from God orally, out loud, but you know he is talking to you.  Yet, what do you do?  Just like the commercial of the 60's -- "Mother (in this case Father), please, I would rather do it myself."

   And how does that work out for you.  Often we are in God's favor and do something that later on when we look back we can see God's hand in the mix. HE takes care of us, in spite of our bullheadedness or ignorance.

  Here is Jeremiah 42 if you care to read it. Takes a minute or maybe 2 to read.

God told Jeremiah not to marry and to give his (God's) word to the people.  They would listen to Jeremiah and ignore and become angry because he did not tell them what they wanted to hear. (Some churches today tell you what makes you feel good, run, go to a church that tells the truth).

   We are not much different today.  Take time today to share the word of God with someone; to spend time with God; let the Holy Spirit lead; and then praise God for all he has done in your life.

  Thank you for reading today. Love y'all.

In Christ's Love and Grace

Johnny

Exodus 4: 24 Why did God plan to kill Moses?

 Good morning all. God is good all the time.  All the time God is good.         TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED!!!!

   We are not always doing God's will.  As humans we stray often, however, when we do and realize it, pray, ask forgiveness and praise God for his favors.

   Moses thought he could argue God down.  Give excuses,  what if the people don't believe me that you (God) spoke to me.  Then God gave him 2 examples to show - casting down his staff, then hand was leprous 

   Well, you know I don't speak well. At this point God's was angered and told him his brother Aaron was on his way to meet him and he could speak for him.

    We all see Moses as this great savior of the Jews, the Hebrews, but the back story is not all rainbows and unicorns.  His life was saved by this wife. Look at

EXODUS 4: 24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. 26 So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

    Why was God going to kill Moses?  Because he violated the foundational covenant God made with Abraham and did not circumcise his son.

   What is a flint knife?   A sharp stone blade made from flint rock that were used specifically to perform ritual

circumcisions.  

  When she touched his "feet" many scholars say she touched his genitals with the foreskin.

     Then by calling him the "bridegroom of blood" Moses' life was saved by the blood of the circumcision.

  After Zipporah saved Moses' life he met Aaron, told him was God had said and then they went to the elders, told them and they believed.

   QUESTION:  What would have happened if Zipporah had not saved Moses' life?  Would Aaron have taken over? Did God have a plan B?  Speculation is fun; however, it all happened just the way God wanted it. 

 Praise God.  

    Thank you for reading with me today. Love y'all.

In Christ's Love and Grace

Johnny

GRACE - 1 Samuel/2 Samuel

 Good afternoon to everyone.  God is good all the time, all the time God is good.

BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED, THROUGH NO EFFORTS OF YOUR OWN!!!

   We all know about David in the Bible.  A lot goes on in the books of Samuel. However, I just wanted to mention 1 little item that relates to GRACE.

   David was hated by Saul, but loved by Saul's son Jonathan.  David and Jonathan made a pact or covenant to take care of each other and their families.

   Well, Saul and Jonathan were killed in a battle.  Jonathan had a son, Mephiboseth, who was crippled.

  Once Saul and Jonathan were both killed David became King of Israel. Then King David asked if any of Saul's family was still living.  Now you have to understand that in these ancient times when a new king came in he usually ordered all rivals and family of the old king to be killed.

   When David found out about Mephiboseth he had him brought to him.  Mephiboseth lived in hiding, fear of what may happen..

   Because of the covenant David had with Jonathan (Saul's son) he told Mephiboseth that he would be eating from King David's table and all of Saul's families land would be given back to him.

   Instead of death, GRACE was given.  God sent his son, Jesus, who died for our sins, and through GRACE we are saved and given eternal life.

   GRACE is a gift that is unearned, freely given, and a present to all of us IF we choose to accept it.  So, what are you going to do with this present?  We should be sharing it with the whole world and telling people the good news.

   Can we be like Jesus?  The more we study, the more we share, the closer we come to being like Jesus.  Just spread the word.  Thanks for reading with me today. Love y'all.

In Christ's Love and Grace

johnny

The Linen Belt - Jeremiah 13

 Good morning all. God is good all the time, all the time God is good.  TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED!!!

  Reading Jeremiah 13 made me think of us in America and the peoples around the world.  Are we as the linen belt God told Jeremiah to get in chapter 13?

  God told Jeremiah to buy a linen belt and put it around his waist but let no water touch it.  Then he told him to go to Perath and hide the belt there in the rocks. In ancient days Perath was the Euphrates River.  

    Then many days later (we don't know how many) God told Jeremiah to return to Perath and retrieve the linen cloth.  Now by this time the linen cloth was ruined and completely useless.  This is what God is saying about Judah and the pride of Jerusalem.

   While reading this I could not help but think about us in the USA and people around the world.  Are we close to God or becoming completely useless as the linen belt (cloth)?  I have to soul search--am I a good linen belt or worthless linen belt?

   God wants us to be his people of praise and honor to HIM.  Are we doing this or are we walking with 1 foot in the world and 1 or maybe 1/2 foot in the spiritual world?   Do you, do I serve God daily?  OR, just Sunday and maybe Wednesday but live like hell the rest of the time?  Time for soul searching for me as I read this.  What about you?  Where do you stand?  Food for thought.  

   If you have time it only takes a minute or two to read the link above of Jeremiah 13.  Love y'all.

In Christ's Love and Grace.

Johnny

What do you do if you see a wrong or disagree with the current happenings?

 Good morning all and a happy Sunday to you. God is good all the time, all the time God is good.

  Do you ever have a time or have seen times when action should have been taken, yet it was not?  Do we just take action carnally or spiritually?

  God wants us to do what is right. First, we SHOULD consult Him, however, the knee jerk response is to do it ourselves. 

   Do bad things follow when we do wrong and fail to ask forgiveness?  I was thinking about David.  He committed adultery, committed murder, then what happened.

   A prophet came to him and basically set him straight.  David asked for forgiveness, BUT, he still suffered the consequences of his sin(s).

   First, the baby with Bathsheba died, then a son raped a daughter -- when David found out about this he did nothing. So, what happened then?

   Then a son, Absalom, whose sister, Tamar, had been raped by his half brother, he then killed the half-brother Ammon (2 Samuel 13)

  Ansalom fled and went to Geshur.  The saga continues from here.  The point I am getting to is that when David heard about Tamar being raped by Ammon he was furious, yet did nothing.  Absalom waited 2 years before he enacted revenge on Ammon.

   When there is a wrong, are we to just sit by and do nothing?  This is what David did!!!  How often do we sit and complain about the government, the woke movement, the LBGTQ+ movement, yet we do nothing.

   We ask, well what can I do, I am only one person.  We can pray, share the good news of Jesus, write to the authorities over us, and speak up if you see a wrong.  

   That is a tough decision, however, if we let the Holy Spirit lead we can be heard.  Thank you for trying to follow in my ramblings today. Love y'all.

In Christ's Love and Grace

Johnny