Seeking the Gospel Truth

Christmas 2020 should be a season of joy, right?  For me, Christmas Day will be the 1st anniversary of my mom’s death.  Not much joy there. Moreover, we are still in the midst of a pandemic.  Yes, we have vaccines that will be available soon, but we don’t know if  it will eradicate the virus eventually if everyone takes it. We also  don’t know if everyone will take it or i...

Today I was watching a movie that looked fun. It was rated PG-13.  However, it turned out to be dark and too weird — too dark. I shut it  off. At that point, I didn’t care how it ended. Jesus would not have  approved. As you strive to be Christlike in your spiritual journey,  you’ll find that you’re no longer interested in the darkness this world  has to offer. Clearly, th...

In Luke chapter 10, we cover 3 important topics: being disciples who  spread the Good News, love your neighbor — the story of the Good  Samaritan and Mary and Martha. As you go over these, think: If you were  living back then, who would you be? Keep reading in my blog where there are links so you can dig deeper.... If you want to reap all the benefits of salvation including the 1-wa...

What does it mean to follow Jesus? What is the cost of following Jesus?  Following Jesus is more than just attending a church every Sunday and  calling yourself a Christian . In fact, the title “ Christian ”  was given to the disciples of Jesus Christ in Acts (which we’ll study  after Christmas). Are you a disciple of Jesus? I don’t mean do you  attend the church that call...

In Luke Chapter 8 we have several interesting stories that focus on  hearing and obeying the Word of God as well as trusting and having solid  faith in Jesus. The “Parable of Sower” is an important one. It  describes different types of people and how they hear, understand,  believe and nourish the Word of God. But first we learn about the women  that followed Jesus… Click...

Paying off a debt feels good. It’s nice to see that last invoice marked  “paid in full”! Well, we mere humans have a sinner’s debt to pay to God.  The wages of sin is death — a death spent away from God in hell. The  Good News is that Jesus died on the cross as our redeemer . Everyone who believes that Jesus did that for them, has had their debt of sin paid in full. It has to do wit...

Doesn’t it make sense that someone who calls themselves a Christian — a  follower of Jesus — obeys His Word? Of course! That’s what we find in  Luke chapter 6. Here we have several important teachings that we need to  pay attention to and apply to our lives if we want to call ourselves Christians . Let’s dig in… Keep reading in my blog where there are links for you to dig deeper.......

Advent is the Season of Hope — usually. Advent 2020 not so much.  Well, maybe. There are two kinds of hope: “hopeful” hope — like, “I hope  it doesn’t snow up north so I can go to Grand Canyon for Christmas.”  Then there’s “confident” hope — which is the one God gives us through a  relationship with Jesus. You can have both. Or you can lack both. If you  lack both, then yo...

This next chapter in Luke’s Gospel is where Jesus tells some simple men  to give up their livelihoods and follow Him. They had to trust Jesus.  However, before they could trust Jesus, they had to believe in Him. Let’s dig in…  Click on over to my blog to keep reading and to dig deeper. There's also a special worship song video at the bottom as well as my personal testimony.... If yo...

Luke chapter 4 — the temptation chapter! If Jesus, the Son of God, who  was made human, was tempted by the devil — and resisted — we, mere  humans, can also resist the devil’s temptations. Know this, temptation  in itself is not a sin. It’s how you respond  to the temptation that’s important to God. Say, no and you’re good. Say  yes, then you’ve sinned. Let’s take a look a...

Every Christmas one of my Catholic relatives  will say something like, “May the Baby Jesus watch over you and bless  you.” I replied once that Baby Jesus grew up and they laughed. They  didn’t get it. It has to be that they see so many statues of the Baby Jesus, that they must think that there are 2 Jesus’ — a baby and a grown man. I don’t know! In Luke chapter 3, we find Jesus’ cou...

God maneuvered the Roman world around to fulfill prophecy. Jesus needed to be born in Bethlehem as the prophet Micah foretold… But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,     are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel,     whose origins are in the distant past,     will come from you on my behalf. The people of Isra...

The Gospel of Luke is one of the “synoptic” gospels as it is a written account of the life of Jesus Christ. Luke was a Greek physician and a friend of Paul’s. He also wrote the Book of Acts, which we’ll  cover after this. What I like about Luke is that he was a historian — an  investigative reporter of the 1st century. Being a history buff, I  appreciate his accuracy in placing the...

It’s Advent! What exactly is Advent? Advent is the anticipation of Christ’s coming,  celebrated  on December 25th. Advent is traditionally the countdown to Christmas in  mostly Protestant denominations of the Christian church. The Advent season begins on the 4th Sunday before Christmas .  It usually lands on the Sunday after Thanksgiving .  In many Protestant churches, tra...

In the grocery store today, I was looking for  some Nativity decals for my window. I went down both aisles of Christmas  decorations and there was not one Nativity anything to be found! There  were plenty of Santas, reindeer, snowmen, tinsel, all sorts of  decorations, wrapping paper, etc. However, there wasn’t a single item  depicting the reason for the season — the birth...

This is a playlist of my series Where the Roman Catholic Church Went Wrong and strayed from the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. My goal with doing this deep dive on Christian church history was not to knock Catholics, but to reveal the truth. My interest in church history began with a simple bible study in my church in Florida. I  wondered how did we get from the church in the Book of Acts to wh...

Advent 2020 is here! Advent, it’s the season  when most of the world prepares to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  Though we don’t know exactly when Jesus was  born — even the year is fuzzy — the early church leaders chose December  25th, a pagan festival day, for the celebration. It was a marketing ploy  to get Romans to accept Christianity in the 1st century. ( It’s...

The only way to victory to overcome this wicked world is to rely and  rest in Jesus Christ, the Messiah. There is salvation through no one  else. This last chapter of John’s letter verifies that Jesus is the only  way to eternal life. Let’s read through it then I’ll highlight the  points to ponder… Keep reading in my blog where there are links to dig deeper and a special worshi...

As I was reading 1 John chapter 4 in preparation  for today’s Bible study, I couldn’t help but sing the song by Mercy Me  of which I borrowed the title. I’ve embedded the video below so you can  worship along. That line, is from 1 John 4:4. In this chapter, John is  warning us about the evil voices that we hear from the devil who rules  this world. He sends false teachers...

Hi, folks, I wasn’t able to record last night as usual because the whole Anchor platform was down because Amazon Web Services — where they store their files was down for several hours. So I’m recording this on Thanksgiving morning. Happy Thanksgiving! Be sure to check out my Thanksgiving podcasts, 11/15 - 11/22. Today we continue with the Bible study on 1 John....  1 John Chapter 3 has some p...

Once you become a born-again Christian ,  your spiritual journey doesn’t stop there. On the contrary, it’s just  beginning! In this next chapter, John describes the different stages of  spiritual maturity. He tells us what is the main commandment and to  watch out for antichrists. They are here and you must turn to the Holy  Spirit to help you seek the truth. Let’s take ea...

Darkness is the absence of light. God is light. If you don’t have God,  you are walking in spiritual darkness. Do you really want to continue  living that way? What’s really cool is that you have a choice of whether  to stay in the darkness or walk in the light. How? Keep reading/listening as we  delve in to the letter of 1 John…. Keep reading in my blog where there are links f...

November 22 is Christ the King Day, a day when Catholics honor Jesus. In a few days, Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving — a  day to thank God. This is all well and good, but we need to honor and  thank God EVERY DAY. In fact, He should be honored several times a day. So far in this season of gratitude, we’ve talked about… How the Pilgrims thanked and honored God for His providence on...

It’s true, and I can attest to the fact, that you cannot praise or thank God and feel sad, stressed, worried, anxious or fearful. It’s just impossible. Then why is the suicide rate going up all over the world? Why are these mental health statistics for 2020, so dreadful? Approximately 20% of U.S. children and adolescents are affected  by mental health disorders during their lifetime. Often, s...

At an evening networking event some time ago, it  had rained a bit just before the event, but it stopped. The restaurant  hosting it planned to have it out in their patio. The staff wiped the  chairs and tables down and lit the fire and colorful outdoor lights and  it was a nice setting. The manager stands up to greet everyone and says,  “Thank Gosh that it stopped raining...