anyone else thinking of getting their HOA / Strata to put some reserve funds into BTC? #asknostr
The book of John has many stories of people who met Jesus, literally in the flesh, and only truly believed who he said he was when they witnessed a sign. And John says that "these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name." Maybe try reading John? I think believing in Jesus is more than just believing that a set of stories are literally true. And I would recommend finding a friend to read it with :)
Don't be like Jonah
Am I disobedient because I don't want God to use me in a certain way?
Do I lose interest in being obedient because God doesn't use me how I want?
Do I get angry about the way God chooses to work?
Am I worried about how others will judge my obedience?
#Bikestr
Prairie Creek & Powderface!
"Then he spoke to the people: "What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?" No one said a word. (Mark 3:4)
What kinds of thoughts were the people thinking here? These are rhetorical questions. Of course the answer is "doing good", "helping people". But... there were objections in their hearts that they weren't saying out loud - what about keeping these rules that are so important? these things we are doing (or not doing) for God? Aren't these things what you want, Jesus?
This is what happens when our religious activities take center stage, become the most important thing - we are blinded. What kind of action suits Jesus church, his body, best? Helping people or leaving them helpless? But... we have to put on a weekly worship service. We have to tithe 10% to the church. We have to volunteer for church programs. Right? Isn't that what you want, Jesus?
The sabbath had become to them what church has become to us. It rules over our relationship with God. It prevents us from putting our energy towards what is most important to Jesus - doing good, helping people.
What if we embraced the local church as a business serving the community?
A paraphrase of Acts 39-51
"We crave worldly ways - give us celebrities to follow! We build church buildings that we call the house of the Lord, and put on weekly concerts in them for ourselves, congratulating each other on the wonderful religious programs we have put together.
God isn't pleased, but he lets us do it our way, embracing every new marketing or business strategy that comes down the pike - and live with the consequences, churches that are devoid of the power of the Holy Spirit.
And all this time we've had direct access to God - we are his temple - and his Holy Spirit dwells in and among us. Jesus built this temple when he died for our sins on the cross. And he continues to build His Church which is simply those who follow him together on His mission to save the world.
Yet we continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on our hearts, flaps on our ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit. We have been given God's kingdom here on earth - gift-wrapped! - and we are squandering it!"
Let this sink in...
"We bear zero responsibility for how
people respond [to the gospel]. There is no strategy that is more able
to save a person than any other. A well-articulated argument is no more
or less effective in a person's coming to faith than the testimony of a
person who stutters and fails to string two sentences together well.
Why? Because we can't save anyone - ourselves or anyone else. We all
need Jesus to be our Savior. Our methods, our strategies, our arguments,
our personalities, our sermons, our concerts, our outreach events, and
our programs are not capable of bringing salvation to even one soul.
They never have been. It is Jesus, and only Jesus who saves. We must put
more faith in the gospel and less faith in our own methods. When you
put faith in a method, that faith is placed in something other than
Jesus." - Neil Cole, Viral
"The voice of God is a big deal, right? Access to God's wisdom, direction, encouragement, and message of peace is everything. Jesus paid an excruciating price so that we can all have this opportunity to hear God's voice. But too often we are listening to many other voices. We are listening to sermons, to our pastor's advice, to our friend's advice, to the world's counsel, to propaganda, and even to our own broken hearts and impulses. We must value the voice of God and tune in to hear it. Then we must do what it tells us to do. This is the contagion. This is what spreads like a virus. If you have ears to hear, listen to Jesus and do what He says." - Neil Cole, Viral
"There is no substitute for going out among the people, looking deeply into their eyes, and begging God for their souls to be made free." - Neil Cole, Viral
Ha Ling with my favourite person on her birthday!
The world craves centralized power which when pursued or submitted to within the Body of Christ will disconnect you from the power of the Holy Spirit.
Another post on Jesus and the End Times
https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/walk-in-the-light
I was recently reading in Revelation about how there is no sun, moon, or stars but all light comes from God/Jesus. It made me think of all of the references to God and light, so I decided to do a study on the subject. I’ll start with the Old Testament. Then I’ll investigate the New Testament. Lastly I’ll investigate Revelation in particular. I won’t post every verse, but those that seem to have the deepest meaning and relevance.Old Testament:
Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)Studying God’s word leads us to the truth. When we don’t know God’s word (and John refers to Jesus as the word of God), we will have a wrong understanding of everything around us: relationships, religion, science, beginnings, ethics, etc. Belief in Jesus and knowledge of the Bible helps us to understand things properly. If we don’t have the right foundation, we can’t understand the things around us.For with You is the fountain of life;
In Your light we see light. (Psalm 36:9)Faith in Jesus helps us to see things as they really are. It helps us see the truth. It helps us see the good that God does through everything, including what we would consider the bad things in life.When we don’t know Jesus and don’t have the Holy Spirit in us, all of the sin in the world is only seen as bad. When we do have them, we can be grateful for all of the good in our lives and the good things that God is doing even through the bad decisions of others and the other bad things that happen. We know that everything will end with the righteous judgment of God and an eternity of joy in heaven with Him. All darkness becomes light in Jesus.Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. (Isaiah 2:5)Although this verse specifically calls Jews to “walk in the light of the Lord,” other verses show that this call is given to all of the world. We can chose to walk in our own strength and knowledge or we can chose to walk in “the light of the Lord.” We can chose the darkness and despair and failure of walking according to our own desires or we can chose the light of walking the path designed for us by Jesus from the beginning of creation. When we walk the path we were designed to walk, we will find joy and fulfillment. We will make right decisions. We will make a difference in the world for good. We will honor our God.New Testament:
Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12)It is amazing the clarity that comes from believing in Jesus and submitting to His will. Everything is better (though not necessarily easier). We can know what we should do and how we should do it. The light of Jesus not only affects the life of His followers, but also shines on those who don’t know Him. Some of these will eventually come to trust in Him as well. Others will run from Him or try to attack Him through His believers because of the guilt they feel when the light is shined on their sins.This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:5-7)Because Jesus is light, we cannot have fellowship with Him and live a life of sin and darkness. He has blessed us by covering our sins and giving us the Advocate (Holy Spirit) to guide us and to help us live according to His will in a way that we could never do without His help.It is amazing how being a follower of Jesus can help us have fellowship/friendship with those with whom we might never have a close relationship. When I was in high school, we went on a boat down the St. John’s River with my parents and my Dad’s cousin. My parents aren’t Christians, but my Dad’s cousin is a Christian and a pastor of music. We talked nonstop as if we had been friends our whole life. After the trip, my Mom asked what in the world a high school girl and a married, middle aged man had in common. I told her we were both Christians. Although my Dad’s cousin and I have always lived states away from each other and have never seen each other face to face since that time over 3 decades ago, we still stay in touch. We are brothers and sisters in Christ and that makes close, just as 1 John says “if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another.” Faith in Jesus really makes our lives different, or at least it should.Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:7-10)The light of Jesus should change our lives. No matter how dark and evil are past lives were, we should continually grow closer to Jesus and more like Him. We should convert from darkness to light, from evil to righteousness, and from hate to love. A true believer should have “the fruit of the Light.”This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” (John 3:19-21)When I was a young Christian in college, I attended a Sunday School class with a teacher who I would describe as an expert at exhortation. He would talk and ask question, to help lead you to the truth instead of just telling you what to do or what to think. Frequently these questions were uncomfortable to me as a new Christian who had not grown up doing “Christian” kind of things. In the beginning, I’ll admit I did my best to hide from him because I didn’t want to be asked the questions because I didn’t like the answers that I knew were right. You could say I hid from the light or that I “loved the darkness rather than the light.”Thanks to the grace of God, I learned to love the light. I learned to seek the truth. I learned to expose myself to the truth so I could grow in Jesus. I spent more and more time around him, so I could learn from his wise questions. Now I love that kind of relationship. I learned to prefer the light instead of the darkness as I grew closer to Jesus. We all need to expose our sins to the light, so we can grow in the light.So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” (John 12:35-36)Our desire in life should be to “become sons of Light.” We need to trust and obey Jesus, so “darkness will not overtake you.” Although Jesus no longer walks among us, we do have the Holy Spirit with us to guide us. We can also surround ourselves with mature Christians to help guide and teach us, always comparing this advice to the Bible to insure that it is truth.Revelation:
The passage below is the passage that inspired this whole post.The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; (Revelation 21:19-26) {emphasis mine}Notice that this description of the New Jerusalem in Heaven is described as “the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” This whole city, and presumably the whole universe, will be lit by the glory of Jesus. It will be a light brighter than the Sun, but not harsh like the Sun. It won’t blind us. It won’t beat down on us. It will expose us all to the joy of His glory and the beauty of His new creation. As I read about heaven, I don’t think there will be shadows. Every inch of Heaven will be fully lit by His glory.The city is made of precious jewels which will transmit the light of His glory throughout the city and glow in beauty only surpassed by the glory of God. John describes the streets as “the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.” On Earth gold doesn’t look like transparent glass. It is opaque, but in heaven it looks transparent. I think this might be more due to the quality of light of the glory of the Lamb rather than the quality of the gold. His light will shine upon and through everything bringing out the beauty in everything.And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:5)There will no longer be night and there will no longer be darkness. Without sin in heaven, we don’t need to hide. We can revel in the glory of God. We will be illumined by God.Trust Jesus.#faith #grownostr #bible #christian #christiannostr #biblestudy #jesus #Jesus #God #light #Revelation #endtimes #NewJerusalem #heaven #prophecy
Love this: "We are brothers and sisters in Christ and that makes close, just as 1
John says “if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we
have fellowship with one another.”
Jesus is building a new family that is the body of Christ, connected because we are each listening to him and doing what he says. As Jesus said in Matthew 12:50, "obedience is thicker than blood"
"You never trust a millionaire quoting the sermon on the mount. I used to think I was not like them but I'm beginning to have my doubts about it." - Arcade Fire, City With No Children
"When all effort is expended on something less, the greater thing is left untried" - Neil Cole, Viral
"Jesus has always intended for His Kingdom to be decentralized and go viral." - Neil Cole, Viral
"[the Israelites] spent forty years wandering in the wilderness until a new generation with little memory of the old place emerged. It is actually quite common for God to move from trying to convince adults who have an entrenched mindset to using youth to fulfill His desires." - Neil Cole, Viral
My early 90s playlist today:
U2 - Achtung Baby
Tragically Hip - Fully Completely
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Soundgarden - Superunknown
A consistent theme is guitars split between the left and right channels.
A post about faith and how my views and actions have changed. This post is more personal than many of my posts.
https://trustjesus.substack.com/p/a-change-of-heart
A Change of HeartLeft Behind, Part 4
MAY 24, 2024
For most of my Christian life I haven’t been focused on end times or heaven. I wanted to go to heaven, but not now. I had other things I wanted to do that were monopolizing my attention. I was focused on what is happening here on Earth, not preparing for my heavenly home. Although the Bible, both New and Old Testaments, are full of prophecies about the end times, it just seemed so far away and so confusing, so I pretty much blocked it out as far a study and effect on my life.
As the world started going crazy, with shortages, pandemics, crazy government policies, and wars starting all around the world, I started working to prepare my family for these hardships. I got involved with politics. I kept extra food on hand. I kept my car’s gas tank above a half of a tank. I started a garden and got 3 bunnies to breed for meat. I was doing all of this based solely on my own effort. In the back of my head, I knew God would provide for my needs. I had seen how he took care of me in the past, but I was still trying to do everything on my own. I worried about what would happen to my family if something happened to me because I was taking care of them. What I should’ve been doing is giving all my problems and worries to God and letting the all powerful creator God take care of things. I worked by my own power until my health suffered.Recently, as the world has gotten crazier every month, I finally had a change of heart and mind. I looked back at how God had provided for me through every hardship. I read the Bible and saw God’s promises for the future. My prayers changed from praying the solution that I wanted, to praying the problem and letting God do what He knew was best because I’d already seen in my life how God gives us what we don’t want, but what we need: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)I went from worrying about my needs to trusting God for my needs (not saying I don’t prepare for hard times, but in a relaxed, non-worrying, good steward kind of way). I went from trying to change the government and politicians to trying to change hearts and minds for God. I went from avoiding reading end times prophecy to studying it as if my life depended on it. I went from worrying about the future to looking forward to the future. I went from worrying about my needs to worrying about the needs of those that don’t know Jesus.I can’t say that I never worry. I do, but I’ve learned to give my worries to God. Recently my son was asked to volunteer at a pro-life fundraiser. Shortly after he said yes, I received a prayer request because a pro-abortion group planned to raid the fundraiser and cause mayhem and destruction. My first thought was to tell my son (who is 19 and a Godly young man) that he couldn’t go to the fundraiser, but then I stopped myself and decided that God had this. I know my son is a faithful Christian, so if the worst happened, he would meet Jesus early. I decided to let him go and I just prayed fervently. There was a church service going on at the same time as the fundraiser. This confused the protestors. They couldn’t figure out what to do and therefore did nothing. God confounded their plans and I learned a well needed lesson to trust everything that is important to me to God. He is faithful.It used to be that, when I saw things going wrong in my country, state, county, and city, I would vote harder, get involved with politics, work with the party to improve the platform and resolutions, and help campaign for my favorite candidate. Now I’ve come to the conclusion that we get the candidates we deserve. I still vote, but I put my effort into sharing the gospel and turning people to Jesus. We can have a bigger influence by changing the hearts of the people than by campaigning for a particular candidate. We not only can benefit all of us on earth, but also make a heavenly difference. It isn’t that campaigning for and voting for Godly candidates is bad, but thinking a person can save us is bad. There is only one savior, Jesus Christ. Our faith needs to be in him and not in a politician, a party, or a government.As the world goes down hill, I am filled with hope. The rumors of wars, the growing evil, the pandemics, the storms, the move towards global governance means Jesus is coming soon and I am getting excited about it in a way I never was before.I hope you can turn from worldly interests to the Savior. I hope you can get excited to see Jesus face to face and to meet him in the air.Trust Jesus.
#grownostr #faith #jesus #Jesus #God #christian #Christian #Bible #endtimes
Great post, thanks for sharing! Especially this - "thinking a person can save us is bad. There is only one savior, Jesus Christ. Our faith needs to be in him and not in a politician, a party, or a government."