Dear Bobby and Christa,

Today is the day that you have moved. I know it will be hard for all of us as we move on in our lives. Its hard for me to believe that you are gone, we’ve had our ups and our downs but our friendship has always been greater then any of the disagreements we have had. Bobby, you have seen me through 4 years of highschool and the most difficult year of my life. You saw me through my time in juvy, you helped me through the times after. When I felt that I was lost, that I was not alive for Christ anymore. You’ve stood by my side and helped me through the time I have been on probation. There is no way that I would have gotten through my time in highschool without your guidance and your love. Christa, you have shared you husband with the youth group for four years. You have helped and supported Bobby this whole time. You have been an inspiration and a good friend to all of us. We will all miss you greatly, but know that my love for you will never fail. I hope that God blesses you abundantly in your ministry down there and that He does a work in the students you will be teaching.

Love Mitch

Fearing the Lord

There are a lot of things in life that people are afraid of. Some people are afraid of dying, others are afraid of certain animals. All of these things in life that people are afraid of are just minuscule things that people fear. The one major thing that people need to fear, be afraid of, is God. God is the God of gods, King of kings, Lord of lords. He is great, mighty, and all powerful. Isaiah 8:13 tells us the God need to be the object of our fear. It says,

13 The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be your fear, And let Him be your dread.

God puts fear in our hearts for our own good. One reason we have fear is shown in Jeremiah 32:39-40,

39 then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. 40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.

As you can see that passage says that the fear in out hearts will keep us from leaving the Lord our God. Fearing the lord will lead us to knowledge and wisdom. Proverbs 2:3-5 says

3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, 4 If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God.

Job 28:27-28 says,

27 Then He saw wisdom[a] and declared it; He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out.
28 And to man He said, ‘ Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, And to depart from evil is understanding.’”

Psalm 111:10 says,

10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.

If we are going to fear the lord it means that we are going to have to hate evil things. You cannot fear the lord but be constantly in sin…it just doesn’t work. You can see this in Proverbs 8:13

13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.

Another thing that fearing the lord will give us is life. In Proverbs 14:27 the fear of the Lord is called the fountain of life,

27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death.

Ecclesiastes 8:12-13 says,

12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

That verse says that those who do not fear the lord, also known as the wicked evil people, will die. His days will not be prolonged, but the people that fear the lord will live a prosperous life. Revelation 15:3-4 gives us another reason to fear the Lord. God is all powerful, He is holy and in the end all nations will bow to him.

“ Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints![b] 4 Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested.”

Deuteronomy 10:12-17 shows us how great God is,

12 “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good? 14 Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it. 15 The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. 16 Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. 17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.

Another reason God puts fear in us is to help keep us away from sin. Exodus 20:20 says,

20 And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.”

Another thing that fear does for us is that it helps us to be holy and perfect holiness, which is shown in 2 Corinthians 7:1,

1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

God gets pleasure out of seeing his creation in fear of Him, Psalm 147:11 says

11 The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy.

God is also merciful to those who fear Him. Seeing that He is all powerful its nice to know that He will have mercy on us if we fear Him. You can see this in Psalm 103:11 and Psalm 103:17

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;… 17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting On those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children,

The Bible says that those who fear the lord are blessed. Psalm 112:1 says,

1 Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who delights greatly in His commandments.

and Psalm 115:13 says,

13 He will bless those who fear the LORD, Both small and great.

Proverbs 16:6 tells us that by fearing the Lord we can depart from evil,

6 In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for iniquity; And by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil.

Earlier I said that a lot of people are afraid of small things like, animals death, other people. The Bible is very clear in saying not to be afraid of other men, and think about it, God is the ruler of everything and controls everything. There is no reason to fear what other people are going to do to you because ultimately God is in control. Isaiah 8:12 says

12 “ Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’ Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.

And Matthew 10:28 says

28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Other humans may be able to hurt you physically…but they cannot destroy your soul, the only one that can destroy your body, soul, and mind is God.

In Psalm 86 David prays to God and one of the things he prays for his fear,

11 Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.

as long as we fear God we will live and evil will stay away from us. We can be assured of this in Proverbs 19:23

23 The fear of the LORD leads to life, And he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil.

As you can see it is important as a Christian to fear the Lord. The benefits of fearing God are great. We will have help in staying away from sin, we won’t be visited by evil, and we will be blessed. It is important to not be afraid of other people, our enemies here on earth. God controls everything that happens to us…as I have pointed out numerous times in other blogs, when something bad does happen to us it is because God loves us. He is merciful to us and if he sees his children heading down the wrong path he will show them the right one. Sometimes that lead to being chastised, but only because God loves his children.

Heaven & Hell Part 2

Most people don’t really know what Heaven and Hell are like. Some people don’t believe in either, some people don’t believe in Hell, some people have twisted perceptions of what these two places are like. I’ve often heard people joke about hell and how its just going to be one big party, but the truth is Heaven and Hell are very real and what you believe and put your faith and trust in will determine weather u live for eternity or weather you are punished for eternity in a lake of fire. I have finally gotten around to writing the second part of this series, which will focus on Hell. Hell is a very real place and it is a very evil and tormenting place.

Part 2: Hell

I have finally gotten around to writing about Hell. Hell is not a fun place which is opposite of a common misconception. I have frequently heard that Hell we’ll be awesome cause we can all just party and have a goodtime. A comedian, Bobby Slayton, makes a joke about how one ethnicity will bring the food, another will play the music, and it will just be one big party. After he says that joke you hear the whole audience laugh at it. It was sad to hear all those people laughing at such a serious matter. Hell is a place where you will be tormented in a lake of fire. You can see this in Luke16:22-24

22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’

In 2 Thessalonians1:6-9 it says that everlasting destruction will come to those who don’t follow God.

6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

Another passage from Matthew repeats that Hell is a place where non-Christians will be cast into an everlasting fire. It talks about how if you don’t do things for other people in life it’s the same as not doing things for God. If you abandon people in life and care only about your-self its like you’re abandoning God. Matthew25:41-46 says,

41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they also will answer Him,[a] saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

In hell there will be screaming and gnashing of teeth, the fire is like a furnace, you can see this in Matthew13:40-43

40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Matthew13:49-50 is another verse talking about how the wicked will be separated from the righteous and tossed into Hell

49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, 50 and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

I think that the reason people make light of hell and joke about it is because they are scared of it. They do not want to spend an eternity in a place where you are continually being burned to death, without the death. They are scared of what will happen when they die. They try and use humor to disguise their fear. In Isaiah33:14 you can see that the sinners are afraid of being cast into hell.

14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites: “ Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?”

Weather or not you go to hell is very easy to figure out. Revelation20:15 says,

15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Basically if you are not a true Christian then your name is not written in the Book of Life and you will spend and eternity in Hell. Another passage to go along with this one is Revelation14:9-11 which talks about worship the beast, also known as Satan or the devil.

9 Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

Revelation19:20 talks about anyone who worships the beast or has the marking of Satan will also be cast into the lake of fire along with the false prophets and the beast itself.

20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.

One major thing about Hell is that it is eternal. It will last forever, there is no end to it you can see this in Revelation20:10

10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where[a] the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

In hell you body and soul is destroyed. It’s not the party that people joke about. Your body will be burned forever and your soul will be gone. It says this in Matthew10:28

28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

There is good news though, that good news is that no matter how bad Hell, sin and evil may be it can not prevail against the church. It cannot prevail amongst a body of Christian people. There is proof of this in Matthew16:18

18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

As you can see hell is not a fun place. It is not a place to party and have a good time. It is a place where you will be tormented forever and ever. There is no stop to it; hell is a lake a fire and you will be cast into it if you are not Christian. If you don’t repent from your sins and let God into you heart, if you don’t accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior, if you do not trust God with all your heart and obey him you will be cast in to this lake. You will be tormented forever, you body will be burned for eternity and you will feel every little bit of pain. This is the consequence for ignoring God, for abandoning Him, for living the way you want to live. But on the other hand if you are Christian you reward is great. Those of you who are Christians will be able to spend an eternity in heaven with God. You will spend an eternity in paradise.

Teenagers

I have been through many years in my teenage life and have made a lot of observations about teenagers. One thing about teenagers is that they want to be treated as adults, but do they act like adults, do they deserve to be looked upon as an adult. In most cases no, teenagers have a natural boundless energy that they focus in one of two directions. They can either focus it in the right way by making adult decisions like getting a job or doing things for the community, positive things that people will see as a good thing. The other way you can channel this energy into is sex, drugs, alcohol, partying, stupid things, destructive things. Yes teenagers should enjoy the time they have as adolescents before they have to become adults but there is a line to that fun. You can have fun without having sex or drinking or doing drugs, you can have fun by hanging out with your friends and going swimming or going to the beach or going to the movies. Having fun doesn’t mean u need to be making bad decisions. Some teens say they should be treated like adults but yet they don’t make adult decisions…how does that work? Why should you be treated as an adult when your having sex with sluts and drinking. That’s not an adult thing to do, if you want to be treated as an adult then act like an adult. I’ve noticed that teenage guys try to act like they are “all that”, they act all high and mighty. They think by having sex and being popular makes them a man, they think that drugs and alcohol is cool and if you not doing it then you’re a loser. Its really the other way around though. Thos of us that don’t care about what others think and that are focusing on school and work and doing things for the community, those are the people to look up to, those are the people who are going to get places in life, those are the real men. I’ve also noticed something about girls (mainly when it comes to dating). Girls in highschool want to go out with the popular guy, the dangerous guy, the goodlooking guy, the guys that are actually jerks and idiots and just want to use there girlfriends for sex. The goodguys that are sweet and nice are always just the friend that girls will complain about there boyfriends too because the nice guy is always there for them. They use the goodguy like he has no feelings. Personally I don’t get why you girls would stay with the jerks when you complain about how they treat you. Ive had friends where im the nice guy and they complain to me how there being treated by their boyfriend and I tell them to do something about it and then they never do, for example I was talking to my friend that we will call shirly on the phone, she was called me in tears telling me how her boyfriend is an a** and a jerk and treats her like crap, I sit there on the phone listening to this and make her feel better I am there for her I just talk to her and I ask y she just doesn’t break up with him and she tells me she loves him…which is all a bunch of BS. Things like that have happened to me more then once. These girls go after guys that are absolute jerks because they are “cool” or “dangerous.” These guys when they get older will go nowhere in life. They are the type where they will be having sex in highschool and get some chick pregnant and then the rest of their life is screwed up. They cant use the football scholarship they got cause they have to care for a baby, they can’t use that scholastic scholarship cause they have a kid…they can’t go to the college of their dreams cause theres that baby in its crib. The same thing can happen to women, you have a kid and there goes your life. Reminds me of the song there goes my life by Kenny Chesney. The song talks about how he has a kid towards the end of highschool. The first two verses and the chorus goes as follows:

All he could think about was I'm too young for this.Got my whole life ahead.Hell I'm just a kid myself.How'm I gonna raise one.

All he could see were his dreams goin' up in smoke.So much for ditchin' this town and hangin' out on the coast.Oh well, those plans are long gone.

And he said,There goes my life.There goes my future, my everything.Might as well kiss it all good-bye.There goes my life.......

Although the song has a good ending its not like that for all. Most likely it will turn into a poor family or a broken family. Divorce, abuse, rundown home…that’s whats most likely to happen. The decisions we make in highschool will affect us for the rest of our lives. The question is will you make the right ones, or will you become that person/family you never wanted to be? I’ll leave the answer up to you.

Now some of you dont have the power to be able to make the right decision because ur heart has been hardend by the devil. those of you who dont have God will make wrong decisions and continually enter into a life of sin where YOU will do want YOU want to do. if you are christain though then ur not going be making bad decisions....now yeah i made a bad decision but i was at a low point in my relationship with God where i was doing what i wanted to do. i didnt care what God wanted, i didnt listen to him and it lead me into a lot of trouble, but i also got a second chance at life in a way. teenagers live in a world filled with temptations and its really hard not to fall in to those temptations. there are things on the internet, girls dress very seductively, theres drugs and alcohol to get us away from reality, there are all sorts of temptations for us. but the thing is as a christain God will give you power over those temptations, as long as you dont want to be drawn to that temptation. the problem is, those of you with hardend hearts dont want out of these temptations, you like them, you want to keep doing them. these temptations do not lead to a healthy future. they are destructive, they might make you happy at the moment but in the long run you will be unhappy with following these simple pleasures. unless you really truly have a relationship with God you will hate your life and you wont be happy.

Heaven & Hell

Most people don’t really know what Heaven and Hell are like. Some people don’t believe in either, some people don’t believe in Hell, some people have twisted perceptions of what these two places are like. Ive often heard people joke about hell and how its just gonna be one big party, but the truth is Heaven and Hell are very real and what you believe and put your faith and trust in will determine weather u live for eternity or weather or are punished for eternity in a lake of fire. This blog is going to be a two part series, one part on heaven and one part on Hell.

Part 1: Heaven

Heaven, what is there to say about Heaven, where should I start. I guess I should start in the beginning. Genesis 1:1 says

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

There it is right there, God created heaven, heaven is the place where true Christians will go after they die. Heaven is everlasting, eternal, forever. For us Christians we will live for eternity in this everlasting utopia we know as Heaven. 2nd Corinthians 5:1 says

1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Us Christians have an eternal home in Heaven. No one really knows where heaven is, some people would argue that since you cant see Heaven then it isn’t real, well Psalm 103:11 tells us where heaven is. It says

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;

Isaiah 57:15 says

15 For thus says the High and Lofty One, Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “ I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

God tells us that He lives in a place that is high above and holy. God tell us that Heaven is His throne and that earth is the place He rests His feet. It says this in Isaiah 66:1

1 Thus says the LORD: “ Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?

It says the same thing in Acts 7:49

49 ‘ Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the LORD, Or what is the place of My rest?

God is a judging God. His wrath and judgement is revealed from Heaven as it says in Romans 1:18

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

Genesis 19:24 says

24 Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens.

God is to be feared. He will judge us and his judgement will be seen. God sent his son Jesus for a reason, Jesus Christ has a role in all of this and u can see that role in Acts 3:19-23

19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,[a] 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. 22 For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’

God sent Jesus so that he could lead us. So that we would not be destroyed, but those of you who do not hear Jesus will be completely destroyed and condemned to an enternity of pain and torment. But for those of us that do follow christ’s example we can look forward to spending an eternity in paradise. Jesus said himself in Luke 23:40-43 that Heaven is paradise.

40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord,[a] remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” 43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Now some of you may be wondering how you can live in this paradise and who its for. Which is answered in Matthew 25:31-46

31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy[a] angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ 41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they also will answer Him,[b] saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Now some of you may be saying “you haven’t given any proof that Heaven is paradise(even though I have)” well if u want proof that heaven is paradise here it is. Heaven is described in Revelation 21:9-27

9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me[a] and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”[b] 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy[c] Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. 12 Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13 three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. 14 Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names[d] of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. 17 Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. 18 The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it,[e] for the glory[f] of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 24 And the nations of those who are saved[g] shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.[h] 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). 26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.[i] 27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes[j] an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

You cant say now that Heaven isn’t paradise. Streets of gold, walls of jewels, doors of a single pearl. If you are written in the Book of Life then you can enter into this kingdom. And to be in the Book of Life you have to be Christian. You have to follow God, you have to deny yourself, you have to take up your cross (spread your faith to other people/witnessing).

Love

When people get into relationships they often tell each other that they love each other. I think that is a very dangerous thing to say. Yes it is possible for two people to be in love…but not without God allowing them to. God puts people into relationships to see what they are going to do with what God has given them. Those of you who do not know God cannot love. God gives us the power to love other people. When you get into a relationship with someone I do not think it is ok to tell the other person you love them unless you put their relationship with our Holy Father above their relationship with you. When we are going to be in a relationship that relationship needs to be glorifying to God. In 1st Corinthians 10:31-32 it says;

“31Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God,”

This verse makes it really clear that in everything we do we need to be glorifying to God, that includes dating and marriage and any type of relationships. In this world it is very easy to “love” the things that are offered to us by Satan, especially the closeness that people have in a dating relationship. 1st John 2:15-17 says;

“15Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. 17And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

God clearly says that if you are in love with worldly things then you are not in love with him. It is not possible to be in love with the things of the world and in love with God at the same time. You cannot love sin and righteousness at the same time. It links back with 2nd Corinthians 6:14-15 which says;

“14Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?”

Another verse that helps put into perspective that we can’t love the world and God is Matthew 10:37-39. This passage says;

“37He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

God loved us that he gave up his only son to save us. He does not like it when we betray his love and put other things before him. Even in dating and marriage we need to put our relationship with God above our relationship with our partner. God gives us the power to love other people, but if our relationship with Him is not good, if we do not love Him more than anything else, we will not know love. In a relationship we need to be pushing our partners to live for God, we need to push our partners to always keep God first, to always be growing in Him.
Now when two people do love each other (because their relationship with God is good and glorifying) they will get married. God tells us about marriage in the Bible as well. He tells us men how to be to our wives and He tells all you women how to act towards your husbands. First off marriage needs to be honorable, Hebrews 13:4-5 says;

“ 4Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. 5Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."”

God wants everything to be glorifying to Him. As Christians we need to make ourselves above reproach so that we can glorify God in every aspect of our life….which includes marriage. People need to be able to look at a marriage and say “wow they are really godly people” a marriage between Christians needs to be something that other people can look up to and say I want my marriage to be like that. When we die we are going to go before God and his judgment. We need to try our best to live a holy, righteous life. Some people think that since God forgives they can do whatever they want and just say sorry and ask forgiveness. But that’s is what is called the wide road, people who think that way are wrong and will end up going to hell. Just because we have Gods forgiveness doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want. We have to deny ourselves follow Him and take up our lives daily as it says in Mark 8:34;

“34When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

and Matthew 16:24-27.

“24Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.”

Matthew 7:13-14 is when Jesus says;

“13"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Matthew 7:21 says;

“21"Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

Clearly we can’t just shout out God’s name and say we know Him. We have to live our lives for Him.
God also tells both sexes what to do in marriage, Ephesians 5:22-33 says;

“22Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31"For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 32This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

This passage links marriage with Christ. As you can see marriage needs to be a representation of how Jesus Christ loves the church, a church being a body of true believers.

Love, people tell each other that they love each other all the time, but do u really love, or is it you’re thinking of what love is? That’s a question you’re going to have to figure out yourself.

So I’m planning on posting something new at least once a week and I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about next but then at the all-nighter at my church on the 17th to the 18th I came up with what I was going to talk about. So now that I got that out of the way some of you are probably wondering what I am going to talk about, well I will tell you, I’m going to talk about loneliness and depression. I think that loneliness and depression is something that everyone experiences in their life, it’s just that some people take it harder than others. I’ve been dealing with the two of these things for this whole past year and it really sucked the life out of me. I would sit at home and sulk about it and I would do nothing about it. I would act happy and chipper in front of my friends but when it got down too it I was depressed and feeling very alone. These feelings I think are also part of the reason why people can become very lustful and go too far past the line with dealing with sexual thoughts/acts. These feelings can bring about drinking and drugs, and if you don’t deal with it, it will destroy your life. This past year was very hard for me, first of, my dad, well, you could say he ignored me. We stopped spending time together, we didn’t talk as much, I wouldn’t spend every other weekend at his house anymore. Basically our relationship didn’t exist anymore. I felt that he loved my brother more then me I felt that I wasn’t important to him. Also I experienced a lot of rejection, around 15 actually. I would ask someone out or tell them I liked them and I would get something like “you’re a really sweet guy and a good friend but I just don’t feel the same way about you.” Then as a defense mechanism I would move on to another girl so on and so forth. When I was arrested it…it changed me. It made me realize that I couldn’t go on pretending that everything was ok, I knew I needed help. When I got out of juvy I told my mom that I wanted to start single and family counseling. We started doing that and me and my dad also started going to the gym everyday. I practically see him everyday now; we talk to each other about stuff going on in both of our lives. It feels like I have a father again. Also I have started talking to this really awesome girl who makes me feel so good about myself. As nice as all that is and sounds it doesn’t solve the problem, I still have times where I am depressed or lonely. I usually have to rely on myself by either crying about it which is nice at the time or getting into the Bible and reading scripture. The truth is that I’m never alone, God is always by my side and he will never leave me. One time when I was feeling lonely I looked in the subject guide in the back of my bible and I looked under loneliness and I went to the verses that talk about loneliness and those verses all of a sudden cheered me up and made me feel good, not lonely or depressed. The first passage is Psalm 22 and the second passage that I have looked to for comfort is 2nd Timothy 4:16-18. Click on the link below to read Psalm 22.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2022&version=50

The other passage that I found inspirational is 2nd Timothy 4:16-18 which reads;

“At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!”

In Psalm 22 there is a fella who is all alone. People are ridiculing him, ignoring him, bashing him. The only one that is standing by his side and protecting him is God. All sons and daughters of Christ can have this God will always be standing right next to you in any situation u get your-self into. Then in 2nd Timothy there is a guy that is trying to defend himself and no one would stand by his side. He also wishes for the people that didn’t stand at his defense not to be charged against them. He had to rely on God to strengthen him. And God did strengthen him. God gave him the strength he needed so that Gods message could be preached fully through him. Then God delivered him out of the lion’s mouth and evil things so that he could be preserved for Heaven. The point I’m trying to make to yall, is that even if you are alone, the truth is, your not. Theres a very popular country song that a new artist Blaine Larsen did called How Do You Get That lonely. The song talks about a boy that kills himself because he felt that having no life was better then the life he was living. One of the verses goes;

“Did his girlfriend break up with him, did he buy or steal that gun. Did he lose a fight with drugs or alcohol. Did his Mom and Daddy forget to say I love you son. Did no one see the writing on the wall. Now, I'm not blamin' anybody, we all do the best we can. I know hindsight's 20/20, but I still don't understand.”

We all need to be aware of people that are lonely or depressed and instead of ignoring them we need to be good friends to them and comfort them because those that don’t have a relationship with God will take their life into their own hands. Now to those of you who are lonely and depressed and feel like no one is there for you, you are wrong. God is there for you always if you accept him into your heart. If you truly become a Christian you don’t need to feel like you have no one, you don’t need girlfriends, or relationships, or friends to make you feel not lonely…all you need is God.

When people commit suicide I think most of us wonder why they do it or we call them idiots or something like that. But I understand why they do it, they do it because first of all they don’t have God and second of all they do it because even if they make themselves look happy on the outside, they are not happy on the inside. They think that there life is horrible because they don’t have things of this world that they want. Some examples of that are love, money, happiness, women, etc. If they had God in their lives they would not need these worldly things. They would be content in what God has given them, and those things will bring happiness to their lives.