We Are Saints

For Sunday School, May 5, 2024, we talked about how there is a big difference between people who die without hearing the gospel, and those of us who do. We're held more accountable because we're now expected to know the difference between what God wants us to do, and what he doesn't. People who don't know can't exactly hold accountability, because they haven't been taught the difference and are ignorant to what is expected of them.

Yet we are to live blamelessly, so that you can't look at someone else's life and blame them for the way YOUR life is. You can't pre-judge people, but you can have opinions. Opinions are how you feel. Judging people is a false fact. An opinion of mine would be: I don't like okra. But a judgement of okra would be for me to say: Okra is disgusting. One states what I personally feel about it, and the other assumes that it is the opinion for everyone. And to assume makes an ass out of u and me, as the saying goes.

What do you think of when you hear about a Saint? Did you know we are to be saint-like? Because we are saints. As Ephesians 1:1 says, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus." To Paul, a saint was anyone who believed in Jesus. Saints are those who are consecrated and claimed by God for His service.

But you might ask the question, "How can we call ourselves saints if we are sinners?" So let's say you're in a dirty room, and there's dirty people. And there's well dressed people. Who is more likely to get upset when they get dirty in that room? The well dressed people. Dirty people will be fine with the dirt.

What I'm saying is that - the reason why we should see ourselves as saints is because we will do better to be good people and stay clean if we hold ourselves up to being pristine. If you're clean and you get dirty, it will bother you more than if you are already filthy and you get more filth on you. So if you are spiritually clean and you do something bad, it will bother you and you will do better to try and stay clean, rather than someone who is a constant sinner and thinks to themselves, "Eh, it's only one more sin. How bad can it be?"

The difference between someone who has heard the gospel and someone who hasn't – we have heard it so we're held more accountable. So if we see ourselves as saints, we try to do better to be good people and stay clean. We're more inspired to live in our souls rather than our bodies.

2 Corinthians 5:6-10 says "So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body."

As long as we are in our bodies, we're not truly with God. You are not a body, you possess a body, and your soul should be in charge, not the body. We're supposed to walk by faith, not by sight (or as some people believe - seeing is believing. Sometimes you just have to trust and have faith.)

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 tells us "And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words."

Every christian is to live with the hope that Jesus will come back in their lifetime. The body goes to sleep in the ground and the soul goes into the presence of Jesus. Even if all the things you wanted don't work out, if all of your hopes and dreams remain just hopes and dreams and never come to pass, our hopes when we die should be to meet with the Lord. Everything we believe is based on Christ's resurrection.

For example, in 1 Corinthians 15:21-23, it says "So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back." Because Jesus was resurrected, so shall we be resurrected as well. Not those who just belong TO Christ, but those who belong IN Christ. They are the ones who shall be made alive again.

When Jesus was resurrected, his body was transformed. If we believed that he just mystically arose from the grave, we have nothing to go off of. He had to physically get out. With his new body, he went through the stone at the resurrection. Like a 4th dimensional being, he knew the insides and out. (In the 3rd dimension, we can only see the outside of a box unless we open it and look inside, in the 4th dimension, you see both the inside and outside without having to open it. One day I should make a blog about the specifics of the first 4 dimensions and how they work.)

To believe it was just his spirit that showed himself to his disciples means there might as well not have been a resurrection at all. He had to physically be there for them to hold his hands and see the wounds that he bore. Why do people who don't believe in the resurrection even show up? (That's a personal statement.)

Anyway, to conclude this entry... You are a saint whether you feel like you deserve to be called one or not. And why should you believe that? Because as 1 Corinthians 15:47-54 says, "Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man. What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever. But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory."

One day, you will be with God in his Kingdom. While you are still in this body, right now in this time, do what you can to be a good person and do good things. Live a good Godly life. Be saint-like. Keep yourselves clean. Yes, your body will be transformed some day, but it is your soul that will be judged.

Salvation - The Gift for Everyone

For Sunday School, May 5, 2024, we started off by reading Ephesians 2:8-10 which says "God saved you by his grace through faith. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."

Faith is our conduit. It is through faith that we get through the hard times. Through faith, we are saved. Faith makes us feel good because we know that once we give it to God, he will make things right. Through faith, we are given salvation, and it feels good because it is our gift.

Let's say there's a man who comes up to you and he says "I'm gonna give you a gift. It's going to be an amazing gift, but you just have to work for me a couple of days". That's not a gift. That's a bribe. God gives you salvation as a gift, not as a reward for a trade-off. Salvation is not a gift to be won, so you can't boast about it. It's for everyone. We are ALL worthy.

It doesn't matter who you are, as Ephesians 1:4 says, "Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes." Adam was made in the image of God and we are all made in the image of those before us (following our DNA traits, all the way back to Adam and Eve).

We're not all children of God until we get saved and live as God wants us to. We're not born into the family of God. We're adopted in. When you're adopted, you are chosen. However, it's a mutual thing. He doesn't just choose particular people. Those people have to choose HIM. And that's where our free will comes into play. Not everyone will choose to have faith in him, and not everyone wants the gift of salvation. He gives them free will to make that decision on their own.

God knew who was going to come to him, and who was going to reject him. But why does he allow it to happen? Because he gives us the choice. Some people eventually find their way, and that is where his mercy and love shines on us. He wants that none shall perish, but we have to want it too, and he is here for us, waiting for us, when we are ready.

Eve kind of fell into the trap, but Adam chose his decision. The serpent played on her emotions to convince her to eat the forbidden fruit, because women are emotional and think with their feelings, but Eve appealed to the logic of men when she convinced Adam to eat the forbidden fruit. Even though they were tricked, they made their decisions, knowing they weren't supposed to do what they did. They knew the right choice from the wrong choice, but had free will, and chose the wrong choice.

Even though they were banished from Eden and paid the price of an eventual death, God still says we deserve salvation under his blood. That's why people are innocent until proven guilty, because the devil will ALWAYS say you're guilty (unless he's trying to deceive you). God has no pleasure for the death of the wicked.

We are to live our lives for his pleasure. He gives us all limited sovereignty. Revalations 4:11 says “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.” He created us, we are his creations of pleasure.

God Will Take You Out

Tonight at evening service, we went over Genesis, Chapter 12. It states, as follows:

"The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”"

You notice here that God said HE will curse the people who treat Abraham. He didn't tell Abraham to go out and curse people. When you get mad at people, you can't just go around cursing them, as much as you want to. Technically, you can, but that's not the right thing to do. God wants you to be a blessing to others. If you have some beef with somebody so much that you feel like they need to be cursed, then you need to figure out what's going on in YOUR heart.

"So Abram departed as the LORD had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the LORD, who had appeared to him. After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the LORD, and he worshiped the LORD."

If you've noticed, Abraham did not just build one alter where he went. He would build one in every place he resided. How many times have you met God at the alter in your life? You meet him when you give your life to God. If you're lucky, you meet him at the alter to bless your union for your wedding. Me, personally? I feel like I've internally given my life to God at this point, but I've still not done it externally. I haven't really went to the alter to ask for forgiveness for my sins, or to physically speak my dedication to God. I hope to soon though. When we get the chance, my brother, and Khloe and Devin and I all want to get baptized together. I didn't want to get baptized right away. I wanted to make sure I felt like I truly belonged somewhere before I took that step. And now I do, so I feel like I'm finally ready to make it official, so to speak, by this ceremony which represents my rebirth as a Christian.

"Then Abram continued traveling south by stages toward the Negev. At that time a severe famine struck the land of Canaan, forcing Abram to go down to Egypt, where he lived as a foreigner."

Here, Egypt represents the world. Basically, when Abraham enters Egypt, this represents him bringing God to the world.

"As he was approaching the border of Egypt, Abram said to his wife, Sarai, “Look, you are a very beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife. Let’s kill him; then we can have her!’ So please tell them you are my sister. Then they will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you.” And sure enough, when Abram arrived in Egypt, everyone noticed Sarai’s beauty. When the palace officials saw her, they sang her praises to Pharaoh, their king, and Sarai was taken into his palace. Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her—sheep, goats, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. But the LORD sent terrible plagues upon Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. So Pharaoh summoned Abram and accused him sharply. “What have you done to me?” he demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ and allow me to take her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and get out of here!” Pharaoh ordered some of his men to escort them, and he sent Abram out of the country, along with his wife and all his possessions.

You would think that for a man representing God, Abraham would have been an honest man, but the first thing he does is lie to them, and had his wife life because she is so beautiful, so he has her tell them she is his sister so that they wouldn't want to kill him and take her. Sometimes... SOMETIMES lies are necessary. After all, the 10 commandments does not mention lying amongst them.

But now the pharaoh had knowledge of Abraham's God, and had fear of his God because he got plagued. Otherwise the pharaoh might have just killed him anyway, but because he now feared the wrath of Abraham's God, whom had already sent terrible plagues amongst the pharaoh and his household, he just told him to take his things, his wife, and go.

Abraham was saved - not because he was a good man... You don't have to be a good man to be saved. You just have to be a man who has faith in God and trusts God. Believing IN God and believing God are separate. Believing in him doesn't mean you're going to trust him and do as he wants you to do. Believing him means you will do whatever he asks of you. You trust him and have faith in him.

Now let's go back to the beginning of the chapter, where God told Abraham to “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” When you get saved, God wants to separate you spiritually (and sometimes actually physically) from the world you knew. You need a new scene. Sometimes you gotta just get away from your past life and start fresh. Abraham's parents were pagans and he had to get away from them, that place, etc.

Like 2 Corinthains 6:17 says, "Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the LORD. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you."

God needs to put you in another place to get you out from a bad place, but the Devil tries to get you back. In a lot of ways, this reminds me of the situation with my brother. When he stayed with us the first time, things were pretty good for him. He got away from the bad people and the bad situations, but Satan pulled him right back away from us. He was just itching to get back to the bad things he originally tried to escape. Then he hit the bottom again, hiding out place to place, stealing and lying to get by... eventually he went back to rehab, and has come back, but this time he has joined our church, and seems to be doing really well! Hopefully this time he stays faithful to God, and between the both of us, maybe we can keep him on track this time. I, myself, just have to trust that this is what God wants me to do as well, to guide him, help him grow, help him stay right, and keep him away from the bad people who influenced him before. Who knows? Maybe he can find a good church girl along the way, instead of picking up trash from the street.

As 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?" Or as another version says, "Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?"

You can't date unsafe people because you'll end up marrying one of them. Sometimes it works out. Sometimes light overcomes darkness and both of the people work well together and support one another and are able to lift each other out of the dark... But more likely than not, if you love and support a sinner, it will drag the believer away from God.

It's easy to avoid it though. Just avoid people like that. Fellowship with people at your church. Find like minded people who just want to live a good life and be good to others. People with good morals and values. Listen... Darkness don't overcome light. Only you can allow the darkness to take it out. You remember that song "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine"? When it says not to put your light under a bushel or let Satan put it out? You're the one putting your light away and hiding it. So when you find yourself in the dark - only you can get yourself out. Thankfully God will guide you if you allow him, but it's your free will to make that decision.

When you get saved, there becomes something in you that doesn't feel right going back to that old life. If you can go back to that place, back to those people, those habits and situations... and you're fine with it??? If it doesn't bother you, were you even actually saved? Something to think about as we end this entry.

The Parable of the Lost Son

For morning service of April 28, 2024, we discussed Luke 15, and the Parable of the Lost Son, a story about a son that let guilt get to him and kept him from returning home. But when he finally got home, he told his father - I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Please at least me be your servant (because he was starving and desperate) but his father took him in and gave him love and a new robe. Family forgives and loves you, just as God does.

He wouldn't have had to lose all of the things he lost if he just would have had patience and waited on his father to give it to him as it came along. Just as we learned earlier today about patience, trust, and waiting. He had dreams about adventures and big plans and hopes... but that time he spent dreaming, he was wasting when he could have been living and actually putting things into action. (I resonated with this, as I spend a lot of time planning and coming up with things that I dream one day will happen, when I should be actually out there working toward making them happen.)

Then came the trouble for him... Trouble comes at the worst times because the Devil waits until the perfect time to make your trouble worse. So this son, not only did he lose all of his money, wasting it on cheap thrills and stupid choices, but then he ended up having to live with the pigs in order to try and make a living.

God didn't make us to live among the swine and eat like them and be like them. But this is what happens when you go against what God meant for you to do and be. It's during these terrible moments that you come to your senses and wake up and realize that you deserve better than this, and you're wasting your life, time, and talent. You don't get the blessings of God until you return to him and surrender. This son had got it worse than even the hired servants.

The "famine" he dealt with represents the wrong seeds that he had sewn. Just as we're told if we sew the right kind of seeds, we will reap the good rewards of it, if we sew the wrong kind of seeds, we're gonna be hurting. If you're supposed to be out there planting a garden for your family to eat from, and instead you're out partying and wasting your time, then your family is going to starve because you would rather be satisfying your lusts instead of being responsible. You can't abandon responsibility without paying a price.

When you're spiritually hungry and you're just feeding yourself with empty husks, you need to be spiritually full and you can do that with God. The son in the story starts to figure it out and see it, so he finally puts his pride to the side and returns to his father. We don't realize what sin is until we wake up. We can't just go out and tell people what they're doing wrong and that they're sinning, they have to figure it out for themselves.

The biggest sin is to tell yourself - I don't believe God, I don't trust God.

Sometimes you have to go through the literal shit (him living with the pigs and starving) to learn, grow, and finally become worthy. Sometimes he has to make you go through the bad things to get you where you need to be. After all, it is though our mistakes, through suffering and pain that we learn and grow to be better people.

He had an attitude adjustment, going from "give me" to "make me", when he was telling his father to give him his money early so he could go have fun with it, verus when he said to make him one of his servants. Sometimes in life, you need to try and not learn everything the hard way.

Not only does his father accept him, but was looking for him to come home. He ran to him! And despite the stink and appearance, he still kissed his neck and embraced him. It very much reminded me of how many times my Mom forgave my brother, even after she SAID she was DONE with him.

In fact, this very story reminded me of me and my brother, because he was the one who went out and had all the fun and made all of the stupid mistakes. Meanwhile, I was the good child, the one who stayed with the parent and was the ideal person. I was the jealous one who didn't think it was fair that the other sibling could do whatever he wanted and still be welcomed back and celebrated. Meanwhile, here I was the whole time, doing what I was supposed to, but being overlooked. Where was MY celebration?

But I'm glad my brother and I are on equal terms now. Just as he has been brought back to the light, I have been humbled. We both found a connection and a bond through going to church. Who would have known that it would be church that would bring us back together? I certainly never would have imagined it a couple of years ago. A year ago from when this was published, I was thinking of giving church a chance for a sense of community with good people, but now I'm glad I found my true appreciation for God and I can honestly say I believe now. Thank you God for helping me find my way back to you, and this time I truly feel like I belong here.

Needeth Not Be Ashamed

In the Pastor's bible, during our Sunday School class for April 28, 2024, in 2 Timothy 2:15 it says "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Those words "needeth not be ashamed"... Part of your redemption is to take your past and use it to make yourself a better person.

Let's say our sins are laid out on the ground, covering a vast territory, East to West, North to South... Sins all over the place... And the blood of Jesus covers our sins. It doesn't matter how much space our sins take up, his blood covers it all. Our sins can't just hide under a rock. No stone is left unturned that his blood can't cover.

But our shame? Satan encourages us to let our shame stand up out of that pool of blood like spires. But you know what? Jesus's blood ALSO covers our shame. No matter how far those spires of shame try to reach, his blood covers it ALL.

Is the blood of Jesus strong enough to cover the strength of our sins and keep them from rearing up? That's where our faith comes in. That's why they say to just put it in Jesus's hands. No matter how worried you are, how shameful you feel... just put your faith in God and know that Jesus has got you covered.

1 John 1:8-10 states "If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts."

If we confess our sins, we will be cleansed. The devil tries to keep bringing up those sins so that you will feel shame, and therefore you will be discouraged. But you can't just say what you did wrong and expect to be forgiven. God knows what's in your heart. If you say you're sorry for cheating, but don't do what you can to make amends, and you don't truly feel remorse in your heart? You're not really repenting for your sin. Ask for forgiveness and MEAN it.

Like I said, there's no person too far out, too far down, or too far above that God can't reach. And what do you do about things you can't fix? Give it to God. Trust him. REST and WAIT. Have patience. Turn it over to God and let go of it. Your mind will tell you – if you just let it go, you must not care, but that's just Satan trying to discourage you again.

God knows what's in your heart. He knows if you mean it or not when you ask for forgiveness. He knows if you mean it or not when you say you put your faith in him. He knows if you mean it or not when you pray, or if you're just going through the motions. And this is why you can't judge someone based on how they look. Just because someone looks like a good church person on the outside, it doesn't mean they're that way on the inside. And just because someone looks like a shady person on the outside, that doesn't mean they're a bad person or unworthy of God on the inside.

1 Samuel 16:7 says "But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

That's why Jesus was so adamant about judging people, because you don't know what's going on in the inside. Just know that God knows. He knows what's really going on in your heart and your mind. But also know that he is forgiving, if you truly want to be forgiven. He is merciful and good, and he loves you.

How to Sturdy Yourself

For Sunday School, April 28, 2024 - we discussed "doctrine" and what it means to sturdy yourself. There is a difference between studying the bible, and sturdying yourself with it. When you study the bible, you read it, you learn facts, locations, times... but when you sturdy yourself with it, you take to heart the message that is being presented. You understand what the moral of the story is, and you live your life by it.

What is the bible good for?

As 2 Timothy, 3:16-17 says: All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

Doctrine - The bible teaches us what IS right.

Reproof: The bible teaches us what is NOT right.

Correction: The bible teaches us how to GET right.

Instruction: The bible teaches us how to STAY right.

These are the things that the bible is good for. You just need to keep reading and stay on the scripture. As you read and study, it comes into your heart and you start feeling it and accept it.

During a service, do you hear something that the preacher says that resonates with you, and you find your mind drifting off about it, and then before you know it, you've missed out on some of the conversation? Different people will hear different things, and do you know what that is? That is the holy spirit telling us what we need to hear at that time.

Sturdy yourself with the bible. As 2 Timothy 2:15 says: "Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth." Learn the bible, and take it to heart so that when you come face to face with God, you don't feel like a fool for not knowing his word, or being unsure of what you should have known by now.

As I've said in my blog about The Milk and the Meat, once you learn the word of God, you are expected to be responsible for it, so learn it the best way that you can. You can't just skim over the chapters and only pick which parts you're going to follow. Be confident in knowing that if asked, you can answer to God himself, if needed to.

Let's go over that verse again from my Pastor's bible. It states "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." What does it mean by "Rightly dividing the word of truth"? It means to know what fits together as you read the bible, and tie together what makes it fit. But don't pick and choose from the bible.

For example, don't be a man that says "Okay God, I'm going to close my eyes and flip through the pages, and whatever verse my finger lands on is what you're trying to tell me right now." and you end up flipping to a random page, and then you land on Matthew 27:5 which says "Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself." Then you think "Well maybe that's not the right message. Maybe I need to try it again." So you do it again, and you land on Luke 10:37 where it says "Go and do likewise". So you go out and hang yourself. That's not the way it's done! That's not how you read and learn the bible.

You don't pick and choose the verses, just as you don't only apply the parts of the bible to your life that you want to fit. You use all of it to build up your life and live the way God wants you to. This is his instruction manual. You wouldn't start building a shed halfway though the manual, skipping all of the parts for building the frame and foundation, would you? And then skip from the walls to the roof, then back to the doorway, and then the frame. Read it. Understand it. Sometimes it might take you a few read-throughs, but that's why it's called the living word, because every time you read though it again, you get something new out of it that you didn't realize before. 

Deer Chili!

FINALLY got to make some deer chili!!! (My favorite 🥰) It's been at least 5 years since I've been able to make it. (You can't imagine how happy deer chili makes me! lol) So there's this sweet guy at church named Ben. We got on the subject of deer on the roads one night when he came to pick up me and my brother for church, as he was doing the driving for transportation that night. I was talking about how much I love using deer meat for cooking, especially chili, and he said he loves hunting deer, just not eating them. So he said he had some to share some time if I wanted it. So I said sure!

Then one Wednesday evening, he showed up at church with a few frozen bags of it. That weekend (this weekend that just passed), I used my food processor to grind it up, and then I pressure cooked a few jars of it to share. I gave one to our Pastor Randy and his wife Debbie, and of course one to Ben, even though he said he doesn't really care for the meat, and that chili gives him heartburn. I told him "I bet you'll like my chili, though!" lol When he came in the door, I said "Alright, listen. You can either eat it or don't... If you don't want it, just give it to someone you work with, and you'll make their day because it's amazing." He said he will give it a try.

So thanks again to Ben! The kids love my chili as it is normally anyway, but even they agree that nothing beats using deer meat instead of beef! It really is delicious 😁

Update: So then today, I used some of the leftover chili and put it on top of some homemade hashbrowns for brunch. It was sooooo yummy! 🤤  I have just enough left to do it one more time lol And I only used 2 out of the 3 bags for meat, so I can make deer chili once more, probably in another month.

Never-Before Seen Content!

 On top of all the new blogs I plan on publishing soon (I hope), I also plan on bringing back some old stuff that you guys have never seen before! Pretty much a big chunk of my life, I have documented everything, from when I was a teenager until now, whether it be notes, photographs, blogs, vlogs, journals... I've always had a habit of documenting life and writing things down. I've added some old stuff on here before (sorry to my Mom for the times she didn't realize they were old entries that I was posting here even though I put "posted on a particular date" on the older ones) and I'm going to do that again.

Some of them are from old journals I had written down, or messages or tweets that I had sent on that particular date. Others are old blogs from places like deadjournal, or DeviantArt. Others may be from notes I sent myself or calendar events. And then there's blogs on here that are still marked as "drafts" that I want to finish and finally bring to the light. Either way, this is just a head's up to let you guys know that some old stuff will be mixed in with the new, so I hope you enjoy everything I have to offer.

Thanks for hanging out!

xoxox

Church Blogs?

 If anyone knows me, they will know how I've spent most of my life being a non-believer of the "common Christian concept of God". I never agreed with it in the past, and though I supported religion for inspiring others to be good and do good things, there was something that just didn't sit right with me... until November of 2023. That's when I was going through some changes, I was making bad choices, and I decided it was time to seek the guidance of God and follow my instincts. (One day I'll get into the story all about that as well. Never could trust my instincts until a few years back.)

I've been learning a lot and I've been very inspired by the church we like to go to. And because of that, I've decided to wake this old blog back up and start posting about what we learned in our Sunday School class, and discuss it on here; what it means to me and what I get out of it. That includes the evening services and recovery services as well. Any time I get to go to church and I have something I'm learning about, I want to discuss it here and share it with you all. I just got a Chromebook recently from the school auction, so I'm hoping to dedicate it to this purpose so that any time I feel inspired, I can crack it open and share my thoughts.

On another note, I hope everyone has been well! It's spring which means I've been gathering edible weeds and planting fruit trees. It's also income tax season which means I've recently gotten a lot of upgrades for our homestead. Hopefully I can post about them later as well. So much to talk about, and I've been so inspired! Hope ya'll will here from me again soon.

xoxoxox

Starting Out With the Bible (The Milk, The Mana, and The Meat)

For Sunday School basics today, we discussed 2nd Timothy 3:16-17. These verses say that "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong, and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work." So we talked about reading the bible. We talked about the different type of Bibles people have, different interpretations, different versions, different believes in the old and new testaments.

(Mine is a "New Living Translation" bible that my Aunt and Uncle got for me as an early birthday present. It connects to an app called "Filament" that if you scan the page number, it comes up with music, informational videos, animations, and documents to read that are all about that page.)

Then the Pastor said he would suggest that if someone is going to start reading the bible, he wouldn't recommend starting at Genesis, in the beginning. Maybe start with something a little easier, such as John 1, then Saint John. then the New Testament. Then once you've spent some time in the NT (don't spend too much time in the book of Revelations because that's more of a meatier chapter), then he'd suggest reading 1 Peter. Doing it this way, you slowly work your way up from the milk of the Bible to the meat of it. You start to understand it a little easier.

What did he mean by the milk and the meat? Well the "milk" of the bible is for newborn Christians. It's the stuff that helps us start to understand Christianity and how God wants us to live. It's best to start with the milk of the bible because some of the things you learn from the bible become your sword, shield, and holy armor. You wouldn't want to give a sword to a baby to play with, would you? Just as you wouldn't want to give a spiritual sword to a warrior of God to start out with, without them knowing how to wield it properly.

Then there's the "mana", which is the potatoes of the bible. It feeds you. It's good for you. It "fattens you up", you might say, with the storytelling about different people of the Bible (Noah, Moses, David, Mary, Abraham, Joseph, etc) and the important things they did.

That brings us to the "meat" of the Bible. It's the stuff that is hard to chew. It's the tough parts, like the book of Revelations. Sometimes it helps to take a second read, or to take a moment to understand what each of the verses are trying to say.

Then to understand this a little better, we read Hebrews 5:11-14, which says: "A call to Spiritual Growth: There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don't seem to listen. You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God's word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn't know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong."

Basically this is saying - if you've been in church for a long while, you should already be well into the meat. You should have that meat digested, and you should be now cooking up a spiritual meal for others. You should know the Bible, and the way God wants you to live, so well now that you're helping guide others on the path. But because not everyone is the same and everybody takes their spiritual journey at their own pace, you can be in church for a good long while and still just be a baby Christian if you haven't taken the time to learn the Bible. Not just read it, but learn it and understand it.