The dark side of drinking

 

First off as a Pastor do I feel it’s a sin to drink alcohol? I would have to answer no, the bible has a few examples where drinking alcohol is not a sin like everyones favorite story on drinking “Jesus turning the water to wine” found in the gospel of John, and in 1 Timothy Paul encouraged Timothy to drink a little wine for his stomachs sake. Jesus never sinned, so He therefore never got drunk, Paul likewise condemns drunkiness in his letters, so he couln’t possilbly be telling Timothy to party harty. On and on the Bible condemns drunkenness and drunkards, which are listed as going to hell if they don’t repent. If you can’t stop at one, (which I can’t) and have to drink until you’re drunk it’s sin. Drinking is the in thing to do these days, and sadly even in Christian circles. The reason I say it’s sad and I am against it is there is a dark side to alcohol that no one wants to see, and that the devil does a good job of hiding at first. I was on the road to becoming a alcoholic, thank God Jesus rescued and saved me at the early age of 16. I am the son of a recovering now thank God alcoholic, but when I was a kid he was anything but recoverd. He beat my mom badly frequently when he would black out, she now 20 years later has injuries like a professional boxer doctors say. You see alcohol made him out of controll many a time he would drive us home drunk. Movies and magazines don’t show you pictures of people barfing there brains out, woman getting beat, children getting abused, family and lives getting ruined because it started off so innocent just one drink,just on the weekends, on and on until it’s out of control and you became a monster who destroyed innocent lives. My dad is clean now praise God, but he lives in regret he can never take back what he has done. So my question to you who are now old enough to drink is it worth it? I truly believe there is death and sorrow in that bottle

Seeing Jesus for who He is

I think people have gotten to comfortable with Jesus these days, we make Him into our own image as opossed to who he is "The King of Kings" "The Lion of Judah". It's common to hear people say well Jesus understands why I do the wrong, Jesus is my homeboy, Jesus loves me no matter what. Although that last statement is true, Jesus is holy, Jesus is sinless, Jesus hates sin He doesn't understand our sin He condemns it. The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the begininng of widom Proverbs 9:10. I love the fact that one of Jesus' names is THE LION OF JUDAH. When you look at a lion you can see it's beautiful, but you can also see it's powerful and it's not like a house cat, you can't just pick it up in your arms and carry it around, cause if you were to try that you might possibly be dead or missing a arm or a leg! You see people have a respect for lions that's why they are behind a fence at the Zoo. We must have a holy fear, a respect for Jesus and see Him for who He truly is as painted in the pages of the Bible. Knowing, serving, and loving Jesus is what our lives as Christians are to be all about. Jesus is still asking us the question that He asked His disciples so many years ago "Who do you say I am?” Matthew 16:15. Let's see Jesus for who He really is today!

God bless and keep you!

Yohn

Reality is a hard pill to swallow

I played a game of basketball with the High School kids today and I saw a fat man run! Oh wait that was me bummer! I didn't realize how outta shape I was, and then you add a little age to the equation and it's a recipe for disaster and this is wait you get.

I was thinking I was gonna play and be all awesome cause I do have a little skill, but I only made one basket and then one of the girls was complaining about how someone stank, which of course with sweat pouring off me was me. So I stepped out so much for being awesome. Reality is a hard pill to swallow,  now while I do intend to lose a little weight cause the Bible says that our body is a temple. But it also says
" For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come" 1 Timothy 4:8.

So that means even if I get all buffed out and then don't strive for Godliness one day I'll die a buff old man without God which would SUCK!!! So I'm encouraging you along with myself to...

"be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might" Ephesians 6:10. 

Let's be spiritually strong and draw closer to Him until we meet Him on the day He calls us home!

God bless you!

Yohn 

     

  

This is funny!

A good outlet

The social stuff was taking a lot of my time recently I was on FB, Twitter, Tumblr, and I had this blog so I deleted everything. But what's cool is I was able to retore this blog. I have missed it and I've found it in the past to be a good outlet for my thoughts even if only a few read this. May God bless you as you draw close to Him

Happy blogging everyone!

Yohn

Jesus has got everything under controll

2 Samuel 22

2 Samuel 22

I have the privilege and the honor of reading God’s Word to my children every morning, we are going through 2 Samuel right now and I read this whole chapter to them this morning. It blessed me so I thought I’d bless you, read it over slowly and let the song of King David sink deep into you, I’m going to memorize this whole chapter
 

2 Samuel 22 New Century Version (NCV)
David’s Song of Praise 22 David sang this song to the Lord when the Lord saved him from Saul and all his other enemies. ² He said:
“The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my Savior.
³ My God is my rock.
    I can run to him for safety.
He is my shield and my saving strength,
    my defender and my place of safety.
    The Lord saves me from those who want to harm me.
⁴ I will call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
    and I will be saved from my enemies.
⁵ “The waves of death came around me;
    the deadly rivers overwhelmed me.
⁶ The ropes of death wrapped around me.
    The traps of death were before me.
⁷ In my trouble I called to the Lord;
    I cried out to my God.
From his temple he heard my voice;
    my call for help reached his ears.
⁸ “The earth trembled and shook.
    The foundations of heaven began to shake.
    They trembled because the Lord was angry.
⁹ Smoke came out of his nose,
    and burning fire came out of his mouth.
    Burning coals went before him.
¹⁰ He tore open the sky and came down
    with dark clouds under his feet.
¹¹ He rode a creature with wings and flew.
    He raced on the wings of the wind.
¹² He made darkness his shelter,
    surrounded by fog and clouds.
¹³ Out of the brightness of his presence
    came flashes of lightning.
¹⁴ The Lord thundered from heaven;
    the Most High raised his voice.
¹⁵ He shot his arrows and scattered his enemies.
    His bolts of lightning confused them with fear.
¹⁶ The Lord spoke strongly.
    The wind blew from his nose.
Then the valleys of the sea appeared,
    and the foundations of the earth were seen.
¹⁷ “The Lord reached down from above and took me;
    he pulled me from the deep water.
¹⁸ He saved me from my powerful enemies,
    from those who hated me, because they were too strong for me.
¹⁹ They attacked me at my time of trouble,
    but the Lord supported me.
²⁰ He took me to a safe place.
    Because he delights in me, he saved me.
²¹ “The Lord spared me because I did what was right.
    Because I have not done evil, he has rewarded me.
²² I have followed the ways of the Lord;
    I have not done evil by turning from my God.
²³ I remember all his laws
    and have not broken his rules.
²⁴ I am innocent before him;
    I have kept myself from doing evil.
²⁵ The Lord rewarded me because I did what was right,
    because I did what the Lord said was right.
²⁶ “Lord, you are loyal to those who are loyal,
    and you are good to those who are good.
²⁷ You are pure to those who are pure,
    but you are against those who are evil.
²⁸ You save the humble,
    but you bring down those who are proud.
²⁹ Lord, you give light to my lamp.
    The Lord brightens the darkness around me.
³⁰ With your help I can attack an army.
    With God’s help I can jump over a wall.
³¹ “The ways of God are without fault;
    the Lord’s words are pure.
He is a shield to those who trust him.
³² Who is God? Only the Lord.
    Who is the Rock? Only our God.
³³ God is my protection.
    He makes my way free from fault.
³⁴ He makes me like a deer that does not stumble;
    he helps me stand on the steep mountains.
³⁵ He trains my hands for battle
    so my arms can bend a bronze bow.
³⁶ You protect me with your saving shield.
    You have stooped to make me great.
³⁷ You give me a better way to live,
    so I live as you want me to.
³⁸ I chased my enemies and destroyed them.
    I did not quit till they were destroyed.
³⁹ I destroyed and crushed them
    so they couldn’t rise up again.
    They fell beneath my feet.
⁴⁰ You gave me strength in battle.
    You made my enemies bow before me.
⁴¹ You made my enemies turn back,
    and I destroyed those who hated me.
⁴² They called for help,
    but no one came to save them.
They called to the Lord,
    but he did not answer them.
⁴³ I beat my enemies into pieces,
    like dust on the ground.
I poured them out and walked on them
    like mud in the streets.
⁴⁴ “You saved me when my people attacked me.
    You kept me as the leader of nations.
People I never knew serve me.
⁴⁵ Foreigners obey me.
    As soon as they hear me, they obey me.
⁴⁶ They all become afraid
    and tremble in their hiding places.
⁴⁷ “The Lord lives!
    May my Rock be praised!
    Praise God, the Rock, who saves me!
⁴⁸ God gives me victory over my enemies
    and brings people under my rule.
⁴⁹ He frees me from my enemies.
“You set me over those who hate me.
    You saved me from violent people.
⁵⁰ So I will praise you, Lord, among the nations.
    I will sing praises to your name.
⁵¹ The Lord gives great victories to his king.
    He is loyal to his appointed king,
    to David and his descendants forever.”

#2 Samuel 22 #Bible