Lead The Lost

We all know what sheep are, at least I hope we do, the white fluffy looking things that frolic around in grassy fields; which are also very docile, gentle, and easily frightened creatures. But what exactly is a shepherd, well, the Bible defines it as the caretaker of the sheep; meaning that a shepherd watches over and protects his flock. For those of you who have already given your life to Jesus Christ, you know that he is our shepherd, and we are his flock of sheep; correct? We are meant to follow the teachings, lifestyle, and example Jesus laid out for us, but, what if I told you that we are meant to do so  much more than that? What if I told you that we weren't meant to live as sheep alone, that we were meant to go on to become shepherds ourselves; in a manner of speaking. I was reading out of the Gospel of Matthew today, chapter 10 specifically, where Jesus instructs his disciples on what they should teach, what to expect, and who to teach to. First, Jesus blessed them...

For the past couple of months, since September of 2011 to be exact, I've been out of work and unable to find a job. I'm sure that many of you are going through the same thing right now, perhaps you've been looking even longer than I have, yet your endeavors leave you wanting and with a feeling of disappointment. Perhaps some of you have faced a lot of financial problems due to your lack of work, maybe you didn't qualify for unemployment benefits or they have already run out; luckily this hasn't happened to me yet, but I do have my concerns at times. However, there is a person whom I've come to know and place my trust in, someone who will provide for me when times are tough and I know He'll never leave me all alone; this person's name is God. At the beginning of this year, I realized that my life was in the crapper and that I was completely unhappy with how my life had turned out; it was time that things changed, for the better, and high time that I beg...

WHAM! "Stupid alarm clock, waking me up on Sunday morning; why is my alarm clock even on? Oh.. that's right, I forgot, it's Easter Sunday; we always  go to church today as a tradition. Alright, it's time to get up honey, we've gotta get the kids up too so they can get dressed up and ready for church." Rolling out of bed you rush around the room getting your clothes ready, you begin to put on one piece at a time as your spouse heads to the children's rooms. About an hour later, a little behind schedule as usual, you skid into the church parking lot. As the dust settles from the abrupt stop, everyone piles out of the minivan and heads to the church entrance. Quietly opening the door, you usher your children in ahead of you and instruct them to find a pew in the back; where hopefully nobody will notice you sneaking in and sitting down. Luckily everyone is still singing their hymn and doesn't notice your family tip toeing into the last pew; score, now y...

Looking back over the course of the last year, I can't remember being sick or having poor health for more than a day. Take a moment, pause and think to yourself, when was the last time that you got sick? Was it serious or just something minor? Did you have to miss a day of work because of it or could you manage the symptoms while at your job? Did you have to visit a doctor or could you just throw back some Tylenol and ride it out? The reason I ask is that today my wife isn't feeling well, she's facing a severe headache and possibly a low grade fever, yet she has decided to stick out her day at work; what a trooper. But I remember a time, not too terribly long ago, when she was laid up on the couch and didn't want to do anything except rest and watch television; ahh, haven't we all experienced that at some point and time? When you're facing these kinds of symptoms, such as a fever and body aches, what's one of the things that you desire above all other thi...

When it comes to our relationship with God, are we patient, or do we expect immediate results from Him? With our requests, do we expect to receive right away or in God's timing? Are we humble in our position or do we sort of treat God like a goody basket; always expecting something when we ourselves do nothing? In all honesty, how many times have we prayed for something from God, whether it be: healing, strength, love, needs, desires; then lost faith in Him when we didn't receive it in a timely fashion? I'm reminded of the story of Jonah, a man who was thrown overboard from a ship, then swallowed by a giant fish. Can you imagine the horror of that experience on him; feeling that you would never escape and die a slow death of starvation and thirst?! Put yourself in his position, what would you do? I'm not sure about you, but I would pray, and earnestly at that; I would probably also go into shock or panic. Now after the first day or possibly even the second of serio...

Who is Jesus Christ? The way this question is often asked is done so in the correct way, instead the opposite wording of who was  Jesus Christ? But I'm getting a little ahead of myself, the fact that you're here seeking an answer to this question shows that you're on the correct path to a better life; but again, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself and need to slow down a bit. To answer this question in short, Jesus Christ, was the Son of God and also the Son of man. Well how can that be possible you might ask, how can someone be God's Son and  man's Son? God chose a woman, Mary, who was a virgin, to give birth to a baby boy who would be named Jesus Christ. Now, Jesus was not conceived through the normal method of conception, which needs a woman and  a man; instead, the Holy Spirit placed Jesus in Mary's womb to be born through a miracle. In this way, he was given birth to by a human, making him the Son of man; but since he was placed in Mary's womb by t...

Faith, there are so many questions about it. What is faith? What is faith in God? What is Christian  faith? What is the meaning of faith? What is faith according to the Bible? These five questions alone are asked over 5,000 times a month in Google, but does each question get answered effectively? Each time someone looks up a question revolving around faith, do they find an article written by someone who genuinely cares about them and where their headed; or do they find someone who seeks to lead them astray? Those last two questions are the ones that I contemplate on a daily basis, I ask myself, are people being reached effectively; this is my goal, this is why I write, this is my calling, to lead the lost. Instead of answering these five or six questions simply, I'm going to go far beyond giving you a simple definition; I'm going to give you examples from the Bible, as well as from my own life, and end with how you  can have faith as well. So just what is this faith that ...