Conversations with Ray Martinez

There is a difference between the two books of God (God’s volume of self-revelations…verse 7 introduces us to Volume Two of God’s revelation—“the law of the Lord.”  Both volumes glorify God and inspire the worship of thoughtful persons. His Word reveals Him as the One who enters into covenant relationship with His people. God’s work reveal His knowledge and power but His Word reveals His love...

We are discussing the "cause" that God wants us to pursue.  I'll break it down to the Passion, Pursuit, and Purpose of God's cause. Ultimately, nothing can stop God’s cause.  Herod, Bar-Jesus both tried but failed miserably. But here are a couple of people that were called to the "cause"; "...the Holy Spirit said, “Appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called the...

This is a story about three Kings that needed Godly direction.  There is a clear delineation between their worldly decisions versus a Godly decision in this reading.  I offer nine takeaways for this reading that will help you stay focused, and you can't do this without a melody in your heart; it brings God's presence into our lives.

This remarkable narrative takes the reader into the tent of Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram, and to the meetings he had with his general staff. It turned out that his plans were known to the king of Israel and his staff. Ben-Hadad suspected a spy, and he was right. The spy was Elisha, who had never left Israel.  In this podcast, I'll share with your 9 take aways that we get from this story. &nbsp...

In this podcast, Elisha helps a widow that is concerned about her sons being taken into slavery because of their debt, which was allowed under the laws of Moses.  The widow only has a flask of oil left, which doesn't have any value.  Through God's direction, Elisha has the women borrow jars from everyone, and tells her to fill them up with her flask...this was an endless flow until all of the jars...

Elijah and Elisha were great friends.  Elijah was also a mentor to Elisha, and they walked in harmony along with God.  In this episode, Elijah went to the different schools of the prophets to give them his last exhortations and blessing before he is taken up in a whirlwind. God says he will never leave us or forsake us, even though these two guys were going different directions, God was...

Jesus takes the time to teach the disciples how to fish in this episode. When Jesus called out to them and asked, have caught any fish?  They replied, “No”.  This was in His way or style of making them tell their case. Jesus wanted to better prepare them for what was coming… all Jesus has ever asked us to do is for us to bring the bread and fish. Jesus didn’t ask us to feed the 5,000. In...

Everyone knows what a horrific tragedy occurred at the King Soopers in Boulder where a lone gunman killed 10 people.  One of those killed was a  Boulder Police Officer who entered the store in an attempt to take the gunman down. This podcast is about Elevations Credit Union (ECU) who stepped-up to the plate within 24 hours to arrange a fundraiser for the victims and their families. &nbsp...

There is an unimaginable price Jesus paid for us.  The suffering, stress, and weeping he went through.  Then the physical abuse that lead to the cross.  You’re going to realize that Jesus was committed and steadfast in completing the mission that God wanted him to do, regardless of the pain and suffering. Charles Spurgeon urged, “Keep your eye simply on Him.” When we do, we don’t se...

When asked what my motto was, I said, "visions are real."  Being a visionary person is incredibly important.  Otherwise, our imagination is limited and the creative side of our brain grows dormant.  What does a blind person see?  We learn about this in today's podcast.

We continue with our series of short stories in the bible that need explaining.  This is part 2 of Naaman being healed from our last week's study.  We discover this week that Gehazi, Elisha's servant, steels the gifts from Naaman that were intended for Elisha; the very gifts he refused to receive.  Gehazi is caught and punished and his family suffers too.  We learn how our ego,...

Naaman was the commanding chief of the King's army and loved by the King.  He was sent to see Elisha because of his leprosy.  Naaman becomes indignant because Elisha wouldn't personally see him to cast healing over him.  He was sent to the Jordan to wash 7 times.  Naaman left angry and stomped away.  This story expresses the need for humility and humbling ourselves before...

We are starting a series about the meaning of stories in the bible.  This particular story is about how Elisha caused a lost ax head in the Jordan river to float.  His prophet friend that lost the ax head while working, prayed to Elisha to help him find it...he was distressed because they were poor and he borrowed the ax.  We are learning about casting and what Elisha did to retriev...

This is my second part about God’s mystery or his secret plan. Paul said that "I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan."  His mystery is very simply put for all of us to know and comprehend. A “mystery” in the New Testament is something that at one time was hidden but is now revealed to God’s people. When the disciples asked about certain parables, Jesus spoke...

Lloyd Garcia was a hometown hero that represented the City of Fort Collins in the US Olympic weightlifting arena.  He never was recognized for his efforts in Germany, because in those days, Latinos were not recognized, but minimized with white trade signs peppered around Fort Collins in the 40's-1962.  That's in the past, and now 50 plus years later, I had the opportunity to present Lloyd with the...

Some people refer to Psalms 91 as the soldier's prayer. We learn from this chapter about 12 things that God will do for us, and 7 tasks that God wants us to do.  It's important that we recognize Him as our place of refuge, our guide, and that He has sent angels to watch over us.  There is a lot to learn today.

In this brief podcast, I’m sharing several thoughts for us to ponder about our outlook in our Christianity walk. I think we are always under construction or reconstruction when building our walk with Christ.

Mr. Warner was my metal shop and mechanical drawing teacher at Lincoln Jr. High back in the 60's.  He was a stern man that taught me some life skills and I know he liked me as a student.  Sometimes it took a slap on the leg with a short stick to get a person to pay attention and learn fast!  He was a great mentor and a REAL man that taught us Respect, Encouragement, Attitude, and Li...

We can easily be discouraged when someone asks us if we are holy?  This holiness centers around at what we work at doing.  Here are the take-a-ways in today's podcast! . Be holy (accept Christ)…living a holy life (work at it.) . Live in peace, and work at it! . Look after each other . Keep people from falling short of the grace of God . Watch out that you don’t become susceptible to the...

When we worship God, we have to employ our heart (spirit), soul (voice of reasoning), and our mind (conscience).  God created them all for a purpose.  We will talk about this in our podcast and why our attitude is so important.  Our attitude involves the heart, soul, and mind...it's our life sown and woven together to make us whole.

What a rememberable day for The Latino Community, and Tom Flores.  It's about time he was inducted to the Hall of Fame for the NFL.  Tom is a friend of mine and we met when he came to Fort Collins to speak at CSU.  More importantly, he spoke to the kids at Juan Fullana elementary school first.  I was his security person for the two days that he was here.  What a personable...

Today we are learning about God's mystery.  We will talk about 7 of them: The mystery of God, his will, of Christ, of the kingdom of God, of the gospel, of faith, and of godliness. Some of us worry about our past and if God can use you.  God uses our past to build our future.  Now that's a mystery in itself.  God has chosen us, and you won't know if you were chosen unless you b...

God is giving his people a choice to follow his direction in life or end up being defeated.  Here, Isaiah speaks the words of God and says, "come now, let us reason together."  If we will listen to the voice of reason (common sense), we will make the obvious choice.  God gives us good reason to follow him, to be obedient and listen to his directions in life.  No matter where yo...

What does God want from our wholeness of being holy?  David is our illustration in how he made worshiping God as his most important priority to keep himself safe from his enemies.  If God is for us, who can be against us? God wants us to be without the stress of this world.  He wants us to live without fear and be confidant in His abilities..

God told his people to fear not and not be discouraged.  The world around us today is discouraging, but God asked us to look up to Him, and he will encourage us.  Likewise we should lift each other up with encouragement.  Today, I share 8 ways of encouragement, not just for yourself but for others as well.