So Easy, Even Adam and Eve Could Do It!

Kaylee and I have begun reading the whole Bible together as a couple and discussing it as we go. So far, we have read Genesis 1-3 and as we go I am making discussion questions for us to review as we finish reading every so often. As I was preparing the questions, it begins with the awe and wonder of God creating EVERYTHING in under 7 days. Then we get to learn a lot more about his final, but most proud creation:  man and woman. Not too much farther, when we get to chapter 3 (yes, it only takes 3 chapters in the WHOLE ENTIRE BIBLE) we get the fall of man and the introduction of sin into the world. As I was making these questions, I begin to think about the whole scenario of sin and Adam and Eve. These two (first ever human beings to walk this earth) are placed in this beautiful location called the Garden of Eden. This place is like heaven on earth. It is absolute perfection and these two individuals are walking and living in absolute perfection as well. They are walking around naked and they do not even know they are not naked because they felt no shame. They are living in a faultless, perfect society of them and all the animals and birds and fishes God created. Until one day, (by the way, if you do not know the story, there was only one tree in the whole entire garden that God told them not to eat from or even go near) a deceptive and cunning serpent tricked Eve and passive Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit on the forbidden tree. At that absolute moment, shame, sin, blame, hiding actions, nakedness came into the world. As the title of my post states “So easy, even Adam and Eve could do it!” is in reference to sin. SIN is EVERYWHERE in our world and it is so easy for us, as Christians and non-Christians to take the easy, sinful way out of things. Adam and Eve lived in a world that was perfect! Only them and God and God’s creation and they still sinned! By no means and I saying sin is okay in this post. What I am trying to say is the power of sin is great. It is deceptive. It is cunning. It is filled with lies and twisted truths. It is EVERYWHERE. If God says “NO”, sin says “YES”. My prayer for myself, my loved ones and everyone in this world is to fight the easy way out. Submit EVERYTHING over to God! Let Him handle the battles of temptation, anger, lying, cheating, swearing, drunkenness, etc. We are not strong enough to fight this on our own! TRUST ME, I HAVE TRIED!! (and failed to an even worse state than I was when I was sinning!) Sin entered the world easily. Sin exited through the excruciating, painful, agonizing suffering of Jesus Christ on that cross over 2,000 years ago. Once Jesus rose from the dead and conquered the grave, death and sin was defeated. There is hope. There is a way out. Don’t let the enemy tell you anything otherwise! God’s word reigns supreme! Cling on to it with all you have!!

In Christ’s Love,

Josh

Prosperity… What does the Bible really mean?

John 10:10 states…. [Jesus] [has] come to give life and life to the full… what does this verse really mean? What does being prosperous in a biblical sense truly mean? What a lot of prosperity gospel preachers forget to leave out with this verse is that there is an enemy in this world, and he comes to steal and to kill and to destroy and Jesus was sent so we can be victorious and have a life to the full compared to like to the empty with the lord of the air. Jesus does NOT want us happy. He wants us holy, content, righteous (in His eyes, not our own) obedient and filled with joy. There is a vast difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is fleeting but joy is eternal and unconditional. There are WAY TOO MANY “preachers” (more like wolves in sheep clothing) out there telling the masses that being a Christian means being prosperous = happy, wealthy, healthy, etc. and when we are not those things, our righteous actions are not good enough. We are not spiritual enough, not doing enough “stuff” to get God to like us more to bless us more. God does want to bless us, BUT He wants to bless us according to His will and not what the world says is a blessing. I grew up in a church that preached this type of mentality of being a Christian equates to being “spiritual” and being “happy” is what God wants us to be and how we get happiness depends on how righteous our actions are. Now I am not condoning being righteous, BUT we need to be righteous men and women of God for HIS GLORY out of our love, fear and admiration of our Heavenly Father and not for our own selfish reasons. No matter how wealthy, healthy or happy one can be, we are still called to be obedient followers of Christ. My prayer is for TRUE biblical Christian pastors to rise up and spread the truth of His word direct from His word and not some twisted and contorted version that makes people “happy” to be a Christian for “happy” reasons. It blatantly states that we will suffer as Christ suffered. Correct me if I wrong, but I don’t ever remember the words “Children, be happy” come out of Christ’s mouth….

In Christ’s Love,

Josh

“Courage” Award?

I was watching the Cincinnati Reds game earlier this evening and there was a commercial for the annual ESPY awards which are given to professional athletes, coaches, staff, etc. for being exceptional in their profession and in the community in general. As I watched it, they said that their annual Courage award will be given to “Caitlin Jenner”. As most of you know famous Olympian, Bruce Jenner had a sex change where he now, recognizes himself as a “she”. Hearing this and the recent decision by the Supreme Court is a testament to the current state we now live in. We live in a world that is focused on anything and everything anti-God. As we as Christians live in this world we need to be bold for the Gospel and portray truth, but with love to ALL people. Homosexuality is a sin just like every other sin, it is just in the spotlight more often than some other sins. We need to be able to express our faith and God’s truth without being called bigots or Bible thumpers. God calls us to go to every nation, including our own, to spread His truth. We need to do that and not be ashamed of the repercussions! God is truth. God is love. God is hope. God is restoration. 

Spread it my fellow Christians! Spread His word to all! 

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. (‭1 Timothy‬ ‭1‬:‭15‬ ESV)

Josh 

Desire for Ministry

One thing that Kaylee and I desire a lot is to go into ministry. I am currently working at a church as a children’s pastor and office manager and she will be starting her second year of grad school in Clinical Mental Health Counseling/Christian counseling this fall. We so desperately want to jump right in and do the ministry life of a soup kitchen/coffee shop type ministry, one that we want to emulate like the one we frequented in undergrad Sugartree Ministries in Wilmington, Ohio. There is nothing more we want to do than to drop everything and spread the Gospel and show Christ’s love to the least of these. As we journey thru this crazy dark and depressing world at times, it is hard to focus on the eternal purpose and want to just get the ball rolling on our time. We need to work on God’s time not our own and know and trust Him in EVERYTHING! Every decision every opportunity every everything. If you read this and want to please be in prayer for us as we journey in the next months years and whatever! 
Blessings,

J & K

Act Like Men

Over the past few months, God has really been working on my heart about being a man of God. Thru this time I have been given the opportunity to join a men’s group/Bible study, start a men’s breakfast at my church, attend James MacDonald and crew at the Act Like Men conference and read his 40 day plan to act like a man of God and a book by Eric Mason about the Gospel transforming men into men of God. 

Thru all this I have come to the realization that acting like a man in Christ is far from what the world tells us as men to act like. The world says be secluded and emotionless , money and power driven and the more women you can have, the better.  On the polar opposite end, God shows us thru His Word and thru His Son of what it means to actually be a man of God. This world desperately needs more men to shift their masculinity views from this worlds perspective to God’s perspective of what it means to be a man. I suggest as men, in order to be a better man to that woman God has blessed you with, a better co worker, a better father, a better man in general. Open up your Bible. Read thru the men of the Old Testament and then shift your focus to the true Man of all men and how He lived His life: JESUS. Men, it’s time to step up to the plate and act like a quality man of God.