Getting Reacquainted

“I hope it’s not this long before we talk gain”

“Man, we haven’t talked in ages!”

“It’s always good to hear from an old friend”

     Maybe you have said one of these lines recently…I know I sure did.  I have recently been renewing old friendships via Social Networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Linkedin.  One of the old friends I found (or rather she found me) was a girl I went to high school with named Diana.  We reminisced about old times, caught up on families and friends, talked about sports teams we both like and when everything was said and done, we had simply reactivated a friendship that had sat dormant for almost 30 years.

Do you remember, friend, going to Sunday School or CCD classes, and learning about God?  Do you remember how good it felt to know there was this big, unseen force out there that LOVED YOU and cared about you?  It’s not too late in your life to get reacquainted with God.  He still loves you and still cares for you!   No matter what you’ve done, where life has taken you, what mistakes you’ve made, God is still there…waiting for you to reach up to him and talk to him. 

    God has not forgotten you!  Call him, he’s ready to talk!

He’s Alive and I’m Forgiven…and I Believe It!!!

This is Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009. I’ve just come home from an awesome service with my church family at DFCC (Dutch Fork Christian Church in Irmo,SC) and I BELIEVE!!!
My pastor, Dave Bryan, laid it on the line today, and challenged each of us to defend WHY we believe WHAT we believe; let’s turn it around and say “WHAT do I believe and WHY? Do I believe in Jesus Christ? Do I believe in Jesus’ RESURRECTION from the dead?
Faith is defined as believing something you have not seen. I have faith that a chair is going to hold me when I sit down in it, even though I know next to nothing about chair physics. I have faith that my car’s motor will start, and when I put the car in drive, it will go forward, even though I have not seen the inside of my car’s ignition or transmission. We believe Not because we have seen the actual mechanics take place, BUT BECAUSE WE SEE THE END RESULTS.
Faith, in my life, is defined as believing in something I have not seen, namely the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ; but because I wasn’t there to witness it, I believe because I have seen lives changed from having a relationship with Jesus. I believe because I have personally experienced the changes that happen when you truly accept its’ truth. I believe because Christ fulfilled EVERY PROPHECY made about him in the Old Testament. I BELIEVE BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN CHANGED BY HIM.
If you call yourself a “Christian” because you were brought up a Methodist or Baptist, Presbyterian or Church of God, Episcopal, Nazarene, Pentacostal, or any other denomination’s church, but don’t really believe that Jesus could rise from the dead, then, according to the Bible (Romans 10:9) you cannot be a “Christian”. A “Christian” or “Follower of Christ” by definition is this: that you proclaim “Jesus is the supreme ruler of my life” and you believe that he rose from the dead. There is no middle ground…you must believe both parts of the statement…Jesus rules your life and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he rose from the dead!

 

Can you make those 2 claims for your own life? Is Jesus Christ truly the ruler of your life? and did he really arise from the dead just as he said he would do?
Being a Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Anglican, isn’t enough, my friend! As I said before, just because you go to a church once in a while doesn’t make you a Christian. If you don’t agree with me, that’s fine…but you need to look into this for yourself! Look at what the Bible says, not at what your friends, neighbors or pastor might say. I pray that you will check this out for yourself!