🤔Be A Learn🤗

When one continues they become a learner or a student. 

Matthew 16:24 (KJV) Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

When we read the words “deny himself” it goes against what we want. We hear take care of number one! Be careful that you don’t just see the words “deny himself.” Jesus was talking with those who have decided to follow Him. Once one decides and becomes a learner he knows there are things that must be denied. Reading that shouldn’t be strange. If one wants to increase their body strength there are things they will have to deny. If they want real success they will need a trainer or someone to teach them. That person then would become a learner from one who knows. That is what Jesus is teaching His disciples. The fact is clear “Then said Jesus unto his disciples” or those who have decided to follow Jesus, learn the things of Jesus.  Did you see what those learners were to deny? I didn't think so. As these men were taught they knew what needed to be denied. That's just simple learning. Have you ever learned a better way of doing something? If you have then you have to deny yourself from doing it the old way. Want to build that body mass? Then you will have to deny yourself. Want to lose some weight? Then you are going to have to deny yourself some things. Want to know more about this man Jesus? Then you are going to have to deny yourself. After I gave my heart to the Lord and He forgave me all my sin I had a desire to know who Jesus was. I remember night after night I would read my Bible to my wife. Then I would ask her to explain what I just read. She would and she became my first teacher of God’s Word. I was thrilled and excited and I couldn’t wait for the evening so I could hear and learn more about Jesus. As I learned and became a disciple of God’s Word my learning increased. Then I went to a night college and learned more. Church wasn’t a place I had to go too, it was a place I wanted to go to. In my process of learning I had to deny myself some things to understand and know other things about Jesus.  

Notice what else Jesus said.

Matthew 16:25 (KJV) For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

I love how this verse starts off “For whosoever will” it didn’t read if you John, Peter and James will. Oh no it reads if anybody will, that’s me and that is you may friend for God is not a respector of person. Yes without a diploma, you see God is not looking for those with great intelligence. He is looking for those with great desires. Losing life and finding life is the question. I know those who have the Ranch, the Cars, the Boats, the House and all the Cash one could ever desire. Yes the promise of more will bring real joy and happiness, what a lie. One only has to read about Solomon to know better. You nor I will ever have what Solomon had. He realized that people, position, and plenty of stuff doesn’t bring real happiness nor joy. I know many think that if they could just win the lotto they would be happy, but you won’t! It will only increase your troubles. I was on a dead end street until Jesus took time out of His busy schedule to save me. I gave away a life full of nothing and gained a life full of happiness and joy and a place called Heaven. I became a winner! Then Jesus said this; Matthew 16:26 (KJV) For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Wow mine and your soul is worth more than gaining the whole world. Why wouldn’t one want to become a learner? I got Jesus. What could I want more? 

I didn’t deny myself I gained it all. This life creeps up on us. The wrinkles slip up on us, our hair falls out along with our teeth, our mind slips and our walk gets slower. One day you realize your strength is getting a bit weaker and then weaker and then, well almost gone. Your eyesight is cloudy. The doctor tells you to watch what you are eating, lose some weight. Well you get the picture don't you? Deny Yourself!

🤺FREEDOM 💀

 Better to die fighting for freedom than be a prisoner all the days of your life.                                           Bob Marley

It would be nice if there were a Formula to Freedom. I don’t know if you could call this a Formula or not but I will let you make the decision. 

• Sept one- “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on HIm.” 

Before one can be free there must be a realization they are in bondage. Bondage is a power that holds. It’s like being behind bars or in prison, you're limited to your will power. You want out of this prison that you are in without doubt but you are bound and you can’t get free. What you need is for someone to come with a key to unlock the cell door. Think of the key as the Formula to Freedom. The key is put into the lock and the door is now able to be opened but you just sit there. Are you free? No! Why? Because you don’t believe you are. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on HIm. Step one is to believe. Mark 9:23 (KJV) Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Step One:

 Is to BELIEVE in Jesus. Oh but there is more than just believing. You see one can believe that the key has opened the door but just believing will not make one free.  There must be action on what one believes. “If”  you keep sitting there, nothing will happen and you will never find Freedom.  

Second Step: 

If you get up and start walking you will find that the door of your bondage has been opened and there is Freedom. “If ye continue in my word” one can believe in Jesus all day long but until they continue in His Word then they will never move forward. “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;” A disciple is a learner. You want to be a Doctor, Electrical engineer, plumber, electrician, you name it whatever there has to be more than believing you are. Would you go to a doctor that came into the examining room and told you that he has always wanted to be a doctor. I quit school in the 11th grade and opened this office. Now tell what has been troubling you?

One doesn’t become a doctor by believing he can, neither can one be free from bondage just believing there is Freedom. Jesus teaches that He knows the way John 14:6 (KJV) Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

In Jesus there is real Freedom. Freedom comes by Believing in Jesus then continuing in His Word which is easily found in the Bible and then becoming a learner of His Word.

John 8:31 (KJV) Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

It’s a learning process just like everything else. If we spend no time in the Word of God or little time then we know little about real Freedom. Knowing how one can be free will never bring Freedom. How does one learn? By putting forth an effort. I use to work for my Father n Law. One day I was helping him cut rafter as we were framing a roof. He said to me I can teach you because you want to learn. Too many want the know-how without putting in the learning. One learns by doing what he has been taught. My grandson worked on F-15 fighter jets. He fixed problems in the electrical part of the Jet. Once after working on a jet he told the pilot it was fixed. The pilot said “get in, let's see.” Did he trust what he did to fix the jet to the point he himself was willing to go with the pilot in the air? 

That is confidence in what you have been taught. What if he had said no not this time you test it and then I will go up with you. That is having no confidence in what you have been taught.  

2 Timothy 3:14 (KJV) But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

Are you walking out of the cell door to Freedom? Or are you just sitting there knowing about Freedom but doing nothing to be Free. You are the one that has to get up. You are the one who has to start walking. You are the one who has to start learning. Keep sitting there and you’ll never learn. You have more than likely heard that phrase “you’ll never learn will you?”

🤠Truth verses Lie 🤡

 If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

After leaving the Air Force flying F15’s I started flying commercial jets for Delta. Then I left Delta and started flying for United because the pay and benefits were better. Now I just fly my little lira jet flying people to places they need or want to go. 

I love my Bible because it has taught me so much. In two verses it has taught me about truth and also lies. Let me share. John 14:6 (KJV) Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 1:17 (KJV) For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Psalms 25:5 (KJV) Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

Psalms 31:5 (KJV) Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.

Ephesians 4:21 (KJV) If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

Our Bible is true because it teaches of the one that is true, Jesus Christ. 

Now the story you read at the beginning was almost all a lie. I never flew anything except off the handle. Never worked for Delta nor United and I sure don’t have a small lira jet. I wish all that were true because I love flying but I do not know how to pilot a plane. The Bible that tells us who the truth is also plainly tells us who is a lair and gives his name. John 8:44 (KJV) Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Lying is not a good thing but I doubt that there has been anyone born outside of Jesus Christ that hasn’t told a lie. There is proof.  Psalms 58:3 (KJV) The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. Would you agree that we all have been born from the womb? If you are a parent did you baby ever cry just for you to hold them or walk them? Sure they did. Unbeknowing to them they were lying to get their way. Know what? We did the same thing when we were small. We grew up learning how to tell lies. Did you do this or that son? Gail, did you bring up the…..? Oh my the lies that I told would fill up many 18 wheeler trailers. When we were born we were all alike except for one difference and that was we were either male or female. Where did this lying come from? If Jesus is the Father of Truth then who is the father of lies? Great question and Our Bible plainly tells by name. We have already read who he was but I’ll write it again.

John 8:44 (KJV) Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

When you and I lie we are following the wrong one for he is full of lust, murderer, untruths, he is a liar from the beginning. How will we ever escape?  Escape is the wrong word for if we were just to escape we would have outsmarted and broken free ourselves. What we need is freedom and once again the Bible tells us how to get freedom.. 

John 8:31 (KJV) Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;                                                                                                 

John 8:32 (KJV) And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

The “the truth shall make you free” we have already established who truth is “the truth is in Jesus” as well as the lair “the devil.” Bondage with no freedom is in the devil and true freedom is in Jesus Christ. We must believe in Jesus as our savior and then continue in His Word the Bible. Then and only then will we become a learner and follower of Him. That my friend is the way to real freedom. 

Mark 9:23 (KJV) Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

John 15:7 (KJV) If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

God’s Word abides in us because we continue in God’s Word. Where is the priority of God’s Word in our lives? Is it daily persistence? 

• Are we reading God’s Word? 
• Studying God’s Word? 
• Memorizing God’s Word? 
• Meditating on God’s Word? 

If not, how will we ever get free from that which has us chained?

Did I tell you that I at one time flew jets?

2 Timothy 3:14 (KJV) But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

  

🧑‍🚀Hiroo Onoda Didn’t Know 😲

Freedom is not the right to do as you please, it is the liberty to do as you ought.

Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. 

Luke 19:10 (KJV) For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Jesus came into this world for a purpose and that was to save the lost. One cannot be found except they understand first they are lost.  A story that seems hard to believe. His name was Hiroo Onoda who didn’t know that World War II was over and for nearly 29 years Hiroo refused to believe the war was over, that the Japanese had surrendered thinking it was all propaganda. In 1959 the Japanese government declared him dead. He was committed to what he was told. He was instructed to hold the Island until the imperial army returned. He followed his orders until his former commanding officer was located and traveled to the island to formally relieve him of his duty on March 9, 1974 29 years after World War II had ended.

This reminds me of many who were raised in a good Christian home. They left home going to college or to serve their country in a branch of our military. Many never intended to part from their upbringing but before long the sounds and sights of this world drew them into a world wind of ruin. They were taught or began to question what they were taught and before long Christians were just hypocrites.  Now they questioned mom and dad, weren’t they just naive, you know they didn’t have a good education they both quit school. What a lie, this old world may have changed in many ways but not in its sins. There has always been the sin of adultery, alcohol, drugs, murder, incest, hatred one toward another, homosexuality, deception and the list goes on and on. No, our parents were not naive nor ignorant to the pulls of this sinful world; they just knew the answer to sin was Jesus Christ. One of these days before too long I’ll leave for my eternally home. It won’t be for what I have done, it will be for what Christ did on Calvary's cross as He paid our sin debt. 

👨‍⚖️🫟 Paid in Full‼️

Just remember who loved you first. With all your sin, no matter what it was. He was more than willing to receive you into His family knowing all about you and what you have done. 

1 John 4:19 (KJV) We love him, because he first loved us.

John 1:12 (KJV) But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

It’s a wonderful feeling to know you have been made free. Many years ago I was rounded up with some other young men for a crime that had been committed. A young lady who was an eye witness was standing in front of us. As the police officer pointed to each one of us she would say yes he was involved. When I stood before her she hesitated to answer. The police officer at that moment released me. Boy was I happy. I was there when the crime was committed but I had no part in it nor did she even see me. I guess being there would make me guilty. On that day I was set free. On the day I was saved I was made free and that is a vast difference from being set free. 

John 8:32 (KJV) And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

🤩True or False🥸

 The false can never grow into truth by growing in power.  

Was Jesus A Great Man? Was Jesus The Christ? Was Jesus Our Redeeming Savior?

Do we believe the Bible or do we look for another?  

Psalms 119:160 (KJV) Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

35 times the phrase “Thy word” is mentioned in the book of  Psalms chapter 119. While it is only mentioned 36 times in the whole book of Psalms. Read   Psalms chapter 119 and underline the phrase “Thy word” it will encourage you.

Here are a few::

1. How do young men cleanse their  way?  

• taking heed thereto according to thy word.

2. Things not to forget!

• I will not forget thy word. 

3. I need to be strengthened. How do I get it?

• strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

4. My salvation were can I learn?

• even thy salvation, according to thy word.

Some say that Jesus was a Great man, maybe a Prophet that’s it.

What does the Bible say:

1 John 2:22 (KJV) Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

The question “Who is a liar”

The word “liar” is found 8 times in the New Testament and the very first time tells us who the “liar” is by name.

John 8:44 (KJV) Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

We know the father of lies by name “the devil.” In first John chapter 2 verse 22 we are told that anyone who says that Jesus Christ is anything less than the Savior of the world is a liar. Now if we don’t take the Bible as the Word of God then it would be easy to believe a lie. Is the Bible just a good book with many good rules and strategies that will help us live a good clean life? Or is our Bible the Word of God? Where one stands on this is of utmost importance. If one feels like the Bible has many good suggestions then it will be little help or use to them. One must decide if there is a God that made this world or did it just happen? If you think it just happened then what else do you know of that just happened? The correct answer is not one thing! There has to be a maker, a creator and that maker is God as well as creator. 

🎨Lifestyle Paints The Real Picture🖼️

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”

Who are you really? One can look like a cowboy and have never ridden a horse. One can dress and look like a police officer and not be employed by the police department. Today you and I will meet and see people who aren’t who they say they are. Remember the story of the one who was late to work? They decided if they up their speed from. 55 to 75 they could make it to work on time. Then as they looked in their rearview mirror they noticed the state trooper. As the state trooper observed them it appeared that this person was a law abiding person. Was his observation true? No! Many look and appear to be what they aren’t. 

1 John 2:4 (KJV) He that saith, I know him,(Jesus) and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

You have seen them and known them. They say they are Christian but their actions or lifestyle says different.  The truth; that’s what we are talking about. The driver appeared to be law abiding but in reality wasn’t. Paul had the same problem and I bet you know someone who does too. Paul said it like this. 

Romans 3:20 (KJV) Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Romans 7:7 (KJV) What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

Or I had not known the speed limit except the law said it was 55. Go 75 pay the fine of the law. Do the sin, pay the fine of the law?  

Romans 6:23 (KJV) For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What is our lifestyle saying? Truth or lie? Do you or have you ever lied? Did it trouble you?  Did you ask for forgiveness? Luke 11:4 (KJV) And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

As you started out in your Christian walk growing and gaining victories over habits that troubled you, developing godly friendships. Did you or have you seen others who claim to be Christian just like you but their lifestyle is troubling to you? Watch out for that is a trap of the enemy to get you to fall. Follow the truth and the truth, be in the book, your bible. Never follow people, never say to yourself “well it must be alright to do such and such because he or she is doing it. Remember you don’t have to answer for them but you do have to answer for yourself. My brother n law said this to me many years ago and I have never forgotten it. He said without doubt there is something in the garbage can that would be ok to consume; but I’m not going to go look around in the garbage for food.” Just eat from the table, just follow the Bible. Oh but it’s not a bad curse word. When my dad said “son I want you to come straight home from school today!” That is what he meant he didn’t mean come straight home but it’s okay to stop by the little store.  

Ephesians 4:29 (KJV) Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Let no corrupt communication come out of your mouth except a few bad words will be alright. Is what I am saying helping or hurting others? It’s impossible to build up and help others when your words are harsh to those hearing you.