Why is it so important to tell those we love about Jesus? 

Many people say this to those they love, “I will miss you in heaven”.  They may also say, “I will be sad if you are in hell”.  But will you be?

Revelation 21:4 states, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

In heaven, there will be no more sorrow, pain, or crying.  God wants you to be eternally happy in heaven.  I am looking forward to that.

Will we miss our loved ones in heaven?  The answer is, we will not. There will not be any pity parties in heaven.  God says emphatically that there will be no pain, sorrow, or crying in heaven.  If a loved one is in hell and you know about it, that could produce those feelings.

God will not allow you to remember those who did not accept Jesus.  He will not allow you to be sad at all.  Heaven is a place of eternal joy and there is no place for any sadness.

If you want those you love to be with you in heaven one day, you need to tell them about Jesus now.  They need to make a choice.  This is about eternity.  It is the most important decision that anyone has to make, whether they know it or not.  They need to know how important this choice is.

I have had many people say to me, “you will miss me in heaven”, or “you will be sorry I am not there”.  The truth is, I will not.  I will not even know that they ever existed in my life, because Jesus wants us to be happy forever.  Jesus will not allow anything to ruin that for us.  There will be no painful memories in heaven.

I will not miss them, but I tell them that I don’t want to miss them. I want them to be there too.  So, I plead with them to accept Jesus before it is too late.

If you want revival in your life, in your church, and in your family, there needs to be an urgency about introducing people to a relationship with Jesus.

We need to share in love, but we also cannot soft sell this.  This is the most important thing that every human needs to know.  We cannot play around with this. 

If you truly love someone, don’t ever stop trying to introduce them to Jesus.  A close relative of mine is an atheist.  Every time we talk, I bring up Jesus.  He said that we would talk more if I would not bring up Jesus so much.  I tell him that I can’t not talk about Jesus, that it is too important.  He says don’t worry about me, and I say that I can’t stop worrying about you.  He says you will just see me in hell, and I tell him, brother no I won’t, because if you do not accept Jesus, I won’t even know you ever existed and I want to know you forever.

Don’t give up on the one’s you love. Yes, they may not want to hear about Jesus, but they need to. It is the only question that really matters in this world.

Remember Jesus loves you, I love you, and you are awesome!

Today is the fourth of July. Today we celebrate the freedom we still have in America. Let me emphasize the word STILL. We are free but not as free as we once were. Some freedoms that we thought would never go away are eroding before our very eyes. However, I am still glad to be a Christian who lives in America.

I have a question for you today. Are you a Christian who happens to live in America or are you an American who is a Christian?

You might think there is not a significant difference, but there is. The one that comes first defines where your citizenship is. I am a Christian who happens to live in America. When I became a Christian, I pledged my allegiance first and foremost to Jesus above anything else. I became at that moment a citizen of heaven. I have a future that is secure. As a citizen of heaven, I am under Jesus’ rules, and I am 100% free all the time. No matter what happens in America I will live forever with Jesus, and I have access to every promise Jesus spoke in the Bible and unlike earthly politicians Jesus keeps every single one of his campaign promises. When Jesus speaks, He does not need to be fact checked. When Jesus speaks, He has your best interests in mind all the time!

One more thing, when you become a Christian, you are not only a citizen, but Jesus says you are adopted into His family. You become a royal! You are a prince or a princess as far as God is concerned. What do royals enjoy when they go to any other nation? Diplomatic Immunity. We have that with Jesus!

This means that we really don’t have to worry about what happens in this world. Nothing can affect our future in heaven and God will do things for us on this earth. For example, inflation, I don’t have to worry because Jesus said if I put my trust in Him, I will always be taken care of. That has been the case. I always have enough and many times more than enough even though prices are going through the roof. I can’t explain it, except that Jesus keeps His promises.

Many say well that does not happen for me, and I am a Christian. The question is how you view your citizenship. Are you an American who is a Christian or are you a Christian living in America. I hope it is the second. The second one is what God wants and what God responds to in miraculous ways to bless you!

Why because Jesus loves you, I love you, and you are awesome!

Jesus has over 5300 promises in the Bible for us. Jesus says that we will have an abundant life. Jesus says that we will do greater things than He did. It seems that being a Christian should be amazing all the time. Sadly, many do not feel that, and wonder where this exciting life is as a follower of Jesus.

The problem is in the phrase, "follower of Jesus". Many people claim to follow Jesus. When you follow someone, where are you? You're behind them, not part of the action, and not having a say in what happens. Following gets boring really fast.

Jesus does not want you to just follow Him, He wants you to have a relationship with Him. When you are in a relationship, you face things together side by side (if you are in a good relationship). Now, we don’t like to face things. We want to follow behind where it is safe. I get that, but you are with Jesus. With Jesus, you are safe! Jesus will not let anything happen to you because He is with you. You face everything together. Jesus makes the good even better, and then when the bad comes, you have Romans 8:28 to remind you that it will turn out for your good.

In order to really appreciate Jesus, and have the amazing life you want to have, and the life that quite frankly Jesus wants you to have, you have to walk with Jesus, not behind Him, so that you can experience it all.

The disciples followed Jesus while He was on this earth. Their lives were exciting, but they were scared most of the time. For example, when Jesus calmed the sea while they were in the boat, as noted in Matthew 8:25-27. When Jesus did this great miracle, they should have been rejoicing, but they missed the moment and just had questions. When Jesus left, they were afraid again.  They were hiding in the upper room when the Holy Spriit came into their lives on the day of Pentecost, and everything changed. They were no longer afraid of anything. Their lives became exciting in a way that they looked forward to, and they embraced all that came their way. They lived with anticipation and wonder of what was going to happen next, with a "bring it on" attitude.

What changed? They stopped following Jesus and had a real relationship with Jesus.

Many Christians are content to just follow behind, and you can, but it isn't exciting. If you want to make a difference, see revival, and see miracles, then STOP just following Jesus from behind, and walk with Him in a relationship and watch your life change for the better each and every day! We have access to 5300 promises. That's more than one a day!

Jesus wants you to have an exciting life for two amazing reasons. (1) He wants you to have the time of your life. (2) He wants others to see it and want what you have.

Why? Because Jesus loves you, I love you, and you are awesome!

Does God make my life stressful? That is a good question, because it can sure seem that the Chrisitan life can add a lot of stress. Matthew 10:22 says that we will be hated simply because we believe in Jesus. In John 16:33, Jesus says that we will face trouble in this world. God does allow us to be in situations that could be stressful. Why? Because others go through the same things in their life. They can then relate to what is going on. The key words are "could be" stressful.  It doesn’t have to be stressful for you. God gave us an amazing stress reliever that works every time and can be used whenever we want.

Unfortunately, we often try to handle the stress on our own to show how tough we are as a Christian. I have good news for you.  You don’t have to do that. However, many of us do, and then we get overwhelmed, and God never wanted that for us.

So, what is the greatest stress reliever of all time? One that works every time. The personal gift of tongues, your special prayer language with God. Some will say, are you sure that is for today? The devil would love for you to believe that it isn't, and not access the greatest stress reliever of all time. As we say at New Beginnings Church, don’t knock till you try it.

You may say, "I am not so sure about that". Let me talk about what this gift really is. It is not a public gift. (There is one for in the church, but that is only for certain people.) It is a special language just between you and God. Most couples have certain things only they understand. This is the same thing. Many think it is weird, but it is just between you and God and no one else. So, why would it be weird?

You have control over it when you use it. It will not just come out. Many think they will be walking around it will just happen.  Nope, that will not happen. God gave it to you to use when you want to use it.

It only works if you use it. Many have experienced their personal prayer language and are still stressed out. It is because they don’t use it for its intended purpose.

So, what is it’s intended purpose? It is for when you are in trouble. If you are stressed out, that would be the definition of trouble in your life.

When you are facing a stressful situation you speak in tongues, in private, and God goes to work for you. Jesus says many times in the Bible, where there are 2 or 3 witnesses, what is said will be done. When you pray in tongues, you hear it, the Spirit prays, and God hears. So, it will be done because there are 3 witnesses. It is audible so you know it will be done.

You may wonder why you don’t understand what you are saying. That is probably good. The reason you are coming to God is that you don’t know what to do about the situation, so you really have no idea what to say. The Holy Spirit knows exactly what you need and prays for you for exactly what you need. Pretty cool.

When you use your prayer language in this way, every single time the stress will immediately go away because God now has it, and you are promised that it will be taken care of. It is no longer your problem.  Now that is way cool. The stress is no longer an issue with you.

So how do you get your prayer language? It is pretty simple. Get with God in private and start speaking in something that is a language you do not know. You give God the words and the Holy Spirit gives the words the meaning, and God goes to work. It is really easy.

God gave every Christian this gift because He knew we would need this so we could live stress free. The kicker though, is that you must use it. What do you have to lose? Nothing, but all that stress.

The devil wants us to think this is weird, because the devil knows how important this gift is. This personal gift was given because Jesus said we would face a lot of stressful situations. Jesus wants us to go ahead and use this gift so that the stress will leave, and His comfort can be ours.

It is the greatest stress reliever ever.

If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask. I would love to share with you about this amazing gift available to all Christians.

Remember Jesus loves you; I love you, and you are awesome!

PS - Many people think this gift died out when the apostles died or after the first years of the church being established. However, nowhere in the Bible does God say that it died out. The only place where it is mentioned is in I Corinthians 13:8-10. I agree that when this scripture is fulfilled, we will no longer need a personal prayer language. This passage describes when the perfect has come. Jesus is the perfect one and when He comes back, and He is, then we will not need any gifts of the Spirit because we will be with Him.

Many Christians are told that this gift is not for today, and the devil loves for us to believe that, because the devil wants to pile on the stress. You can stop that stress in your life right now!  Turn to Jesus and talk to Him with your personal prayer language today.