Passionately Christian
Originally posted at MikeShaw.tv
Yesterday I wrote a little bit of why I am a “Passionate Conservative.” I could have gone on, but I don’t have hours to write and you don’t have hours to read. Bottom line is I believe that Conservative Principles when applied in a Representative Republic give individuals the best chance to be the best they can be. As individuals prosper, the entire society is lifted up. Indeed the results have been dramatic for the entire planet!
This morning I want to talk a little bit about why I am passionately Christian. Bottom line is Jesus gave up Heaven so God could have a friendship with me and you! In other words, God died so that when you die you don’t have to really die! You can live with Him forever!
The only requirement to qualify for Heaven? Believe in your heart that Christ died in your place and paid for your sins and on the third day rose from the dead. Believe that in your heart and confess it with your mouth. That’s it! Romans 10:9 & 10. You then exchange your earthly sin for His absolute righteousness.
Now as simple as that sounds, we all resist. Well, most of us. I do know a couple of wonderful people who have been Christians as long as they remember, but for most of us we decided that “having fun” in our youth was more important then being called “Jesus Freaks.” Of course the fun lead to heartache and sometimes disease. While we might be “good people” we are all pretty selfish by nature. Of course God was still drawing us to Him and eventually we responded and accepted His wonderful gift of salvation. If you haven’t and are alive enough to read this then there is still time.
For me it started in Sunday School at the First Conservative Baptist Church of Canby. I was maybe 8 or 9 and our Sunday School Teacher was showing me in the Bible that God talked about springs in the bottom of the ocean. Springs that scientists were just barely discovering thousands of years later. That was enough for me to accept Jesus into my heart. I still remember the joy I felt as I prayed and in my minds eye I saw light bursting from my heart! It was pretty cool.
But. I eventually stopped going to church and eventually started living more and more for my own desires. That included increasing drug and alcohol use as a teenager and young adult. I even shared a drug needle to inject some cocaine into my arm. I only tried it 2 or 3 times in a one week period when I was about 20 years old, but I ended up paying a high price for the temporary rush the cocaine gave me.
I found out much later that I had Hepatitis C. The worse kind too. It was also about that time that God drew me back to him. I started going to church, got baptized and started reading my Bible. During worship at church I would cry out to God and also actually cry as He was healing my heart. The folks around me at church probably thought I was a troubled man, but I didn’t care. God was working while I was in His presence.
It was during one of those times that I heard God say in my heart about my Hepatitis C, “I’m going to take this from you.” It was a word I clung to during the difficult one year of combination drug therapy. I lost a lot of weight and some hair. Food lost it’s flavor and I had suicidal thoughts. All side effects of the drugs, but I hung on because I had God’s promise!
Sure enough, after a year of treatments I was Hepatitis C free! And still am today. That was 10 years ago. Since then I have left my TV career and have served in a few ministries. Mission Odessa, Family Life Radio and Teen Challenge of Arizona along with some churches along the way. I don’t know if I will stay working in ministries as a job the rest of my life, but I do plan on ministering the rest of my life! God has shown me a lot in His Word and through experiences with Him that I have to share. It’s too important. I don’t always live as I should and God doesn’t just give me what I want, but I know that He is always with me and He always gets me through.
If you want more evidence that God is who He says He is, check out this blog entry from a couple of years ago. Stars really do sing, just like God said they do thousands of years ago!
If you don’t know Jesus and you are still alive, it’s not too late. To say that it is awesome to know the God who created the Universe as a personal friend and Father is an understatement!
Jeremiah Elders Runs His Race with and for Teen Challenge
He is a student at the Phoenix Men’s Center of Teen Challenge or Arizona. Jeremiah Elders was alienated from his friends and family, running the streets, addicted to drugs and alcohol and a pack or two a day smoker. Now a year later he is free of drugs and praising God for the ability to run in a half marathon!
I had the great privilege to cover his story as part of my part time job with Teen Challenge of Arizona. It’s amazing to see God work in the lives of men and women to get them back on track of His best!
Thanx to theBCast for playing Jeremiah’s story and sharing it on their blog!
Also DailyRushbo.com
It’s Good News for a Reason!
If you have faith in what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross, then God is not holding your sins against you! Let me repeat that. God does not hold your sins against you if you are a child of God!
Your righteousness won’t get you any closer to God than the next fellow. Only God makes you righteous by your faith in His Son. Religion will tell you that you need to clean up your act in order for God to love you, bless you or approve of you. It’s just not true.
Sin IS deadly and will surely bring consequences in this life, but I repeat, if you have Jesus as your Savior God is not holding your sins against you. He is FOR YOU NOT AGAINST YOU!
This may be the best hour you invest all week and highly recommended for current and future Christians. It’s called the good news for a reason! Here is Pastor Duane Sheriff from November 28, 2010. Please listen:
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You can listen to and download all of Pastor Duane’s messages here, or just subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. You’ll be glad you did.
Independence Day
Celebrate!
In the United States of America we celebrate our independence from tyranny and British rule. The Deceleration of Independence signed on July 4, 1776 was the birth of the greatest country the world has ever seen.
However, the freedom we enjoy had to be fought for. There were shooting wars with the British, the Germans, the Japanese and others that threatened the freedom that our founding fathers purchased with blood. There was the cold war with the USSR. We have the declared, and now undeclared, war against Al-Qaeda, or some would say Radical Islam.
Fact is, our freedoms, though free for us to enjoy, have been won and are maintained at a high cost. Brave men and women have died so we can eat our bratwurst in safety and in freedom.
Of course there is more to freedom. Those of us who have Jesus as our Lord and our Savior are reminded of a King who died for His subjects. Who gave everything He had so His children could have freedom. Freedom from sin. Freedom from condemnation. Freedom from God’s wrath that is to come.
The moment you believe in your heart that Jesus was the only son of God who died for your sins and on the third day rose from the dead, and you confess it with your mouth, you have freedom. You can’t earn it. You can’t be a good enough person. Jesus had to shed His blood so you that you might live.
Our freedom was bought with a high price. That is worth celebrating July 4th and every day!
Freedom isn’t Free
It struck me yesterday as I looked at my calendar. Yesterday was Memorial Day and today is Memorial Day observed. A long weekend we set aside in the United States as a reminder that freedom isn’t free. It has been bought at a high price. Men and women who have been willing to give their lives if necessary so that we could enjoy our God given freedoms that are protected by our Constitution.
It also reminds me of what God did for us. He paid for our freedom (freedom from sin and His coming wrath) by sending His Son Jesus. Jesus was willing to die so that anyone who accepts His gift can be set free forever. Romans 5:7-8 says:
7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Yesterday we honor those men and women who were, and are, willing to dare to die for a country that honors freedom. Willing to fight to keep us free. I am also reminded of a God who loves us so much that He was willing to die so that we could be free to be with Him forever. All motivated by love. For the soldier it’s love of country and sacrificing to make a better life for loved ones back home. For God, He demonstrated His love. A love for those who would chose to be His children by accepting His gift of sacrifice.
Today is Memorial Day Observed, but really, in many ways, we observe it every day. By enjoying the freedom we accept as a free gift that was paid for with a high price.
