According to most polls today, you are considered a regular church attender if you attend once a month.  Many go well, I love Jesus.  He is with me all the time, so I really don’t have to go to church.

We want Jesus to come over to our house all the time.  To be involved in our lives.  And Jesus wants to and says He will be with you all the time.  Jesus gave us the church to give us the opportunity to physically come over to His house to show Jesus, we love Him.  To do what He does for Him.

He only asks for it once a week.  He even allows for us to skip some to enjoy life. In Hebrews 10:24-25, Jesus says just don’t make it habit.   Remember we are in a relationship and Jesus wants to know if want to come to see Him.  Going to church shows God we want to be with Him.  It also shows we love Him enough to do what He asks.

Jesus also knows that life happens and there are many things that come up.  Jesus does not want you to miss out on life.  You need to be a part of things to witness for Jesus.  But we can overdo that and forget about God.  Jesus wants to know if you can change your schedule and fit Him in?  Can you a couple of times a year say, well I could go to that other thing, but I chose to go to church instead.  That gets Jesus’ attention. 

How do you respond when someone does that for you when you know they could have been somewhere else, but they choose to be with you.  You feel good.   You feel awesome!  Jesus wants to feel that too!  Choosing to be in God’s house when you could be somewhere else, will compel Jesus to love on you like never before.  And not just that Sunday or special service, but every time you are in church because He sees the love effort you have made.

It would show those around you, your family, your friends, etc. How much Jesus means to you in a real way they can see.  You decided to skip going to the game, the reunion, the amusement park, etc. for church.  That will make them go wow.  There is something to what you believe. 

Sometimes you don’t have to miss anything.  You could show up late to the event.  People will ask why, and you will get to say to them, well I needed to see Jesus first.  That will make an impression on those you love and especially your immediate family.  And when you make that choice for Jesus because you love Jesus not out of duty or obligation, you may get to say this instead.  Well, I wanted to go to God’s House, and I am sure glad I did, because this happened. 

Think about how many times we want God to show up in our lives, but we can’t, say, once a year chose ON PURPOSE to skip one thing we want to do, to show Jesus He really is our first love.

Now I did not say you have to be in church every single time the doors are open.  I did not say that you can’t miss church for something you want to do.   Jesus just wants to know if you could choose Him over that once in a while.  When we do Jesus will not let that go unappreciated.  It will truly touch His heart and He will be highly motivated to touch your heart. 

You want to see miracles in your life like you see in the Bible.  Give this a try and see if Jesus does not do something amazing for you.    

One last thing, when you do miss.  You can.  Do you really miss being in God’s house?  Do you go man I wish I was in church.  Boy, I wonder what I missed.  I can’t wait to get back next week.  Or do not even give missing church a second thought?

That can also speak volumes to the one’s you love and care about.  That when you do miss, they see it, that makes an impression as well.  It also impresses Jesus, that you long for Him and really missed being in His house.  He appreciates that and will show that in your life. 

But I don’t get a lot out of church come back next Thursday for my follow up post!  It will change your life. 

Remember Jesus loves and cares for you, and I love and care for you, and you are awesome!

We all want God to do amazing things in our life. We pray to God and ask God for that. Well, I hope you do. I hope you don’t pray to God and ask Him to hurt you. The good news is God wants to bless you, for many though it seems like God doesn’t want to do things.

The top three reasons I get from skeptics is: God is not real. God is fake. God is imaginary. From believers the answer I get to this question is, well something is wrong in your life, or it is not His will, or that God does not move that way anymore.
The thing is all these answers are wrong, and God is saddened because God absolutely wants to do amazing things to benefit you over and over again like He did for those in the Bible still today.

It all comes down to the fact that God interacts with us in a relationship. What is the most important thing needed for a good relationship. Good communication. Good communication is honest but also it must be open. Open means that everything is on the table, nothing is held back. Open also means that you are willing to listen to the other person’s point of view.

In every relationship something will happen. We are human. But what do we do? We go “yep, I did that, it was my bad. I know. I can handle it”. And then usually this comes out, “at least I was honest about it”.

The thing is, just being honest is really the least you can do and that really isn’t much. Many say that because they want the other person in the relationship to leave them alone. The point of being in a relationship is that by being together, you both are better.
We do that with God so often. We don’t want to admit to our mistakes and when we do, we really don’t want God’s input. Our communication is pretty selfish. We are not open at all. We are not putting it all on the table. Yet, when people do pray, they want God to put it all out there for them, but they think it is OK to hold back on their end. And they wonder why they don’t hear from God. When we pray, and we are not open, we disrespect God, and why should God respond the way we want Him to. The answer is God shouldn’t, but He still loves us and wants to, He is just waiting for us to be honest and open with Him.

We want all this but have no desire to hear His opinion and His advice. Why, because then we would need to change things in our life. We don’t usually want to do that. The thing is God only wants the best for you. He is never going to give you advice that will harm you. He loves you.

Now some will say well God knows everything why doesn’t God just tell me what to do. The answer once again is God wants a real relationship with you. He wants to know that you want that. He could just wave His hand and do all you want, but that would do no good for your relationship.

Ever heard the phrase money can’t buy love. It has been proven over and over. God doesn’t want to buy your love; He wants you to want His love. He wants a two-way street in this relationship. God desperately wants to make your life awesome, but if you are not willing to be open with Him, He is not going to force you. He is also not going to waste His time when you have no intention of actually taking His advice to make your life better.

God absolutely loves you and wants to answer you, and then do even more than you asked for, because He wants to shine through you (2 Corinthians 1:20, For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.)
But God wants to know if you really want a real relationship with Him. And that takes good communication. And God communication means we are not just honest, but open as well.

When you do that, you will have the experience you always wanted to have with God. When the communication is good, the relationship will be good. And God wants the relationship to be the best you will ever have!

One last thing, if you are reading this and you think God is fake, God is a fairy tale etc. I challenge you to have and open and honest conversation with God and see if something doesn’t happen. God wants to respond to you. What have you to lose? If He doesn’t then well keep calling me a liar, but if He does, and you get to experience the love of a lifetime in an instant wouldn’t that be worth it.

Remember Jesus loves and cares for you, I love and care for you, and you are awesome!

The point of revival is to fire us up to share Jesus with the world. Wednesday night Pastor Greg shared with us the prophecy in Isaiah 60:1-3 where a great or gross darkness will be entering the world. I believe we are seeing the beginning of that. Look at all that is going on in our country and around the world. The dark cloud of evil seems to be growing everywhere. But there is hope, because not only are Christians sensing it, but so are non-Christians. People everywhere are looking for hope.

I have personally seen this because for the last 3 weeks I have gotten some very interesting comments to my revival posts. Up until now, not many, but suddenly, lots of negative comments. People are saying things God doesn’t exist, God is a fairytale, God is who you make it out to be. Many people have that opinion. Jesus says most will not find Him, which is sad because Jesus loves them all so much!

I am good with these negative posts, because I then get to share the Good News of Jesus with someone who is obviously searching. How do I know? Because if they thought I was just blowing smoke and I was just crazy why post a comment on a church site? They must know that trying to change our mind is a waste of time. But people are coming onto our site and commenting. They are looking for something, because if they didn’t care why comment.

As I talk with them an overriding theme has come about. They think religion doesn’t work. And they are right religion doesn’t work. Religion is man made and tries to convert people. No one wants to be pressured into anything, but religion does that. Jesus did not teach that. We need to stop making the mistake that we are to go out and convert people.

When we do that, we become combative, and we look like the world. Everywhere you look in the world someone is trying to sell you something to get your money. When our aim is to convert people, we look like that to them.

The other thing that happens is when it is our goal to convert people and we don’t see many, we think we have failed. When you haven’t. And then people stop sharing the Good News because they are discouraged.

Jesus said in Mark 16:15 go into all the world and preach the Gospel (the Good News) to all creation. Our job is to simply share the Good News.

What is the Good News? The classic: Jesus came and died for us, for our sins, because He loved us so much, He was willing to pay the penalty. Then He rose from the dead to defeat death and show us that we too could live forever in Heaven with Him. In a place where there is no sin, no tears, no pain, no bills, and think about it, He is God, He makes sure it lasts forever we just get to enjoy it. The Good News is Jesus simply wants to be in a relationship with us.

This is all great, but it doesn’t make sense to the lost. They have likely heard it over and over again. They also have seen Christianity become corrupt like anything else so there has to be more.

What Jesus needs you do is to share what the Good News means to your life. How does the story affect your life on a day to day basis. Revival is God wanting to affect your life on a day-to-day basis for good so you can share your experience with the Good News. The world does not need to hear another story from the Bible, they need to hear your living stories of Jesus loving you.

The world needs to see the difference that Jesus makes in something they can relate to. That is, you. They can relate to you. They can’t quite relate to Jesus right away because they don’t know Him, but they know you. You go through the same experiences they go through. What makes the difference is what they need to see. That is what makes Jesus real.

Share the Good News in a way that shows people how much Jesus means to you. Do it often. You can do it with your mouth, you can also do it with your actions, how you treat others, how you deal with adversity. So many ways to share the Good News. And remember that is all Jesus asks you to do, share the Good News. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to do the rest. Don’t put pressure on yourself or think no one is responding.

You never know what will happen. Sometimes it takes someone seeing the same thing multiple times before they give Jesus a chance. You might just be one of those necessary encounters that opens the door for Jesus to come in.

You want a revival to keep going in your life, share the Good News, your experience with Jesus, and Jesus will always give you something new to share because He loves you, and He loves those around you and wants to give them all the chances they need to come to Him.

But what if people get upset, make fun of me?

That will happen, but don’t let that stop you. It actually shows they listened. The fact that they said something means they are searching, something penetrated their thoughts. If they didn’t care, why say anything at all. Take that as win, and then let the Holy Spirit do His thing. You just need to keep sharing the Good News.

Your relationship with Jesus will go to the next level. It must or you will get discouraged and Jesus knows that. He wants you to share and He will be motivated to do more so you stay excited. One more bit of Good News, with Jesus there is also a next level in your relationship without end.

In Pennsylvania we have Gus. The second most famous groundhog in PA. (In case you are wondering Phil is the most famous). Gus tries to sell lottery tickets. Why do people buy lottery tickets? They want to have a better life. Gus says keep on scratching (scratch off tickets). Jesus says when you are with Him you have won the lottery. You are guaranteed a better life in heaven. It is not that far away (see last week’s post), and by the way I will be with you here till the end to bless you. So how about this phrase, Keep on Sharing! When you get to heaven one day Jesus will say, you kept on sharing, and you thought no one was listening but look all of these are here today because you shared.

How many people scratch off lottery ticket after lottery ticket in hopes of winning. Occasionally they hit a winner, but over time the cast majority, over 99% of all who play the lottery spend more on tickets than they ever win. But they keep scratching with that hope of winning it all. A lottery machine is by my ATM. Last week someone came in and won $100 on a ticket. They were so excited. They took all their winnings and bought more. Not one ticket was a winner. You know what they did next, they put in $20 more dollars to buy more tickets, all losers. So that person who was so excited to win $100 walked away $20 in the loss column.

We just need to keep on sharing because we have the ultimate lottery ticket. Anyone can win, and Jesus wants everyone to win. Jesus says we will be rewarded in heave for sharing Jesus. Not converting people but sharing the Good News. One more thought, those who ridicule your sharing will often repeat what you said to make fun of you. What if when they repeat what you said to someone and that person, didn’t mock it, and then began to think about it, and begin a journey to Jesus. Jesus then counts that in your column so you can’t really lose by sharing the Good News. the impact of sharing the Good News will blow your mind in the end.

All Jesus needs is for us to share and keep sharing and He will do the rest. You will be rewarded in heaven, but also here on earth as God blesses you with revival in your life so you can keep on sharing!

Remember Jesus loves and cares for you, I love and care for you, and you are awesome! (And let others know that, Keep on Sharing!)

A question I get a lot is why does God take so long? Why doesn’t God just do things immediately. That is a very valid point, and God has a great answer for us. 2 Peter 3:8. But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. God is trying to give a sense in this verse about how the time in our life compares with eternity. We can now use math to see something amazing.

The premise is 1000 years is one day with the Lord. First how many days are in 1000 years.

365 days times 1000 = 365,000 days. But there would also be 250 leaps years so the total number of days in 1000 years is 365,250 days. One day in forever with Jesus equals 365,250 days on earth.

Now we need to see how many days in our life to compare apples to apples. The average life expectancy is 78. Yes, this does change slightly from year to year, but it seems to be close to accurate.

78 years equals 28,470 days and we will assume 20 leap years so 28,490 days in a lifetime.

Now we can see how 78 years from God’s perspective looks like.

28490 all the days of an earthly lifetime times what a day to the Lord is like, 365,250 so a 78-year life in God’s time would equal 10,405,972,500 days.

Now that we have both lifetimes converted to days, we can compare by dividing our earthly life versus the same life in God’s time.

28,490/10,405,972,500 = .00000274

When we have been in heaven for about the same time as our life on earth. Our life will have taken up .00000274th of a day. So, what does that equal too in our time.

There are 86400 seconds in a day.

.00000274 times 86400 = .236736 seconds

When you have been dead and in heaven or hell forever, and you look back on your life. Your life only took up .236736 seconds or less than a quarter of a second of time to complete.

Life is really, really short. How short is a quarter of a second. About the amount of time to snap your fingers. That short! Jesus says in James 4:14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Wow, Jesus is really accurate with this verse after you see the math.

I use this verse at every funeral I have ever done in my 32 years as a Pastor. It is a great comfort to know that if your loved one is in heaven with Jesus. When you get to heaven it will be as if you never missed them.

So how does this answer our original question about why does God take so long to do things. If life is only ¼ of a second long, then basically everything happens at the same time. Yes, we think waiting in line for a couple of hours is long, it isn’t. Someone who goes through life with an ailment is really not going through it for a long time. Forever is so much longer than we think or can imagine. When God makes a promise, He keeps it. Remember Abraham and Sarah waiting 24 years for a baby. 24 years was not a long time. In our human eyes yes, but in terms of forever, it was no time at all.

Matthew 18:19-20 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” When you agree about anything it will be done, and when we get to heaven and look back, we will see that it was done in less than a ¼ second of real time. Which is basically immediately. We don’t get it, because we can’t yet see time as God sees it, but one day we will and go oh my. Be patient and fully trust that God is doing something right now!

When you know Jesus, no matter what happens in this life, no matter how bad it gets, it is only a blip in your existence. Therefore, we can go through anything because we know forever with Jesus in heaven is so much longer and so worth it, and all that happens in this life really is inconsequential when you think about it. And you can use it all to bring someone to Jesus.

Why can people who are tormented for Jesus, still love on those who treat them badly. They have come to the realization that heaven is soooooo much longer, and thus nothing really matters on this earth but coming to know Jesus. Imagine if we all had that perspective.

Keep the focus on Jesus and the reward in heaven in will FAR outweigh anything that happens in this life. You will look back and go, yeah all of that was no big deal. What you do with that knowledge to bring people to Jesus is what counts. Then when you are in heaven God can show you your life and say see you wanted that done, and I did, and we will go OH OK I get it now.

Forever is a long time, and we just don’t get it because our minds just can’t imagine forever. God gave us this amazing verse to see things from His viewpoint. So, we can see there is hope, things will get better, and they will get better soon. In about a ¼ of a second.

Now the flip side to the coin, we don’t really have a lot of time to tell people about Jesus. We need to be always on that job because life is short and a lot shorter than we think.

Remember Jesus loves you; I love you, and you are you are awesome!