PASTOR JOHN COLLINS: PARENTING

From Pastor John Collins:

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV).

Our way of life has got to change. What happens when kids have kids? What happens when the “parents” put their social lives and partying ahead of their own children? What happens when a parent’s love life takes precedence over spending time with their kids? What happens when a child’s right of passage to maturity is their first beer, their first drag of a cigarette, their first joint, their first line and their first sexual encounter?

Too many parents are clinging to youth by partying and dressing to impress. Too many parents are living lives that are teaching the young that social interactions are at the top of the priority list. Too many parents are going out and cutting loose because they feel that they have lost so many of their “good years” to raising children. What example are we setting for the children we are meant to care for when we put ourselves first?

Raising children is a big responsibility and it is a challenge to remain selfless. It is not always fun to act like the adult. When you have kids at a young age and those children get to a rebellious stage it is not always easy to handle the problems that arise with maturity and confidence. There has got to be a point when parents make a conscious choice to parent.

Parenting is the most important job that a person can have. A parent is responsible for teaching their children how to be respectable people, how to behave appropriately, how to prioritize correctly, how to deal with confrontations and challenges that come with life and most importantly how to get to heaven. If you do not teach your child how to enter the kingdom of God, you have failed. If you do not live a life that exemplifies those lessons, you have failed. If we don’t make it home, we have failed.

We have got to grow up and get right with God. Parents need to parent. We have to be able to see that selfish pleasures and needs in our own lives do not serve our children well. There is too much partying and romance that keeps parents from their children. People don’t want to hear that faith is the answer but that is the truth. The solution to every problem lies in the hands of Jesus. The change that comes from believing and trusting in God is truly miraculous. The hope that comes from the Cross is eternal.

Be willing to be selfless. Be willing to change your ways and become a beacon of hope for your families. Children are a joy and such a gift. Let us learn to parent with the love of God and Jesus in our hearts and the devotion and commitment that our children deserve.

“Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to Him and said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.’” Luke 18:15-17 (NKJV).

Love that Cross!! Pastor John Collins 

PASTOR JOHN COLLINS: ABORTION

From John Collins, Evangelist:

“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.” Psalm 139:13-16 (NKJV).

Children are precious, each and every one of them. They are a gift from God as we were when we were created. You see, we are made in the image of God and that is not a fact to be taken lightly. Yet, not everyone values the life of a child. Many see it as a choice that is to be made. I want you to know that I am not one to judge but I am one to educate and that means speak the biblical truth so that understanding can come. This society has laws that permit abortion and between 1973 and 2011 there have been an estimated 53 million abortions performed in the US.

Now, there are many preachers and even religions that include guilt in their doctrine. What you need to understand about guilt is that it is useful to guide us toward repentance. If we do not understand what is acceptable to God and what is not acceptable to God we will have no idea of what we must seek forgiveness for in our lives. We would be living without any remorse for the choices that we make. God is willing to forgive us which is why He sent Jesus to die on the Cross for us. But we cannot take for granted the way in which we live our lives and the choices that we make.

It is not an antiquated idea that abortion is not in God’s plans for our lives. God does not change and even though society may deem this an acceptable choice for women and has encouraged us to believe that this is so, the truth is that it is taking a life, it is choosing to not allow that life to come into fruition. This subject is a volatile one for many. For God and Jesus, it is a simple one. We are created in their image and we are wrong when we choose to take that life and there is not any justification by claiming it is a fetus and not a child.

Abortion is a sin and it is a choice that should put a hole in your heart. It is necessary to repent and it is forgivable. God and Jesus want us to come to know those things that they approve of and they want us to begin to live lives that are in submission to the will of God. How can that happen if you cannot find within yourself the remorse needed to seek forgiveness because society has created in you an acceptance to sin? We must overcome society and what is deemed lawful. Remember the world is evil but Jesus has overcome the world. We must aim to do the same, without anger, without bitterness but with acceptance and a willingness to seek righteousness in our lives.

“How precious also are Your thoughts to me. O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.” Psalm 139:17-18 (NKJV).

Love That Cross, Pastor John, BELIEVE THAT!!

Read more about John Collins Ministries or reach me, Pastor John, personally through John Collins Ministries @www.johncollinsministries.com. 

PASTOR JOHN COLLINS: A PRAYER

FROM PASTOR JOHN COLLINS:

Heavenly Father, I pray to You today and ask You to wake up those who are sleeping, those who are resisting You and please Father help the little ones who believe in You.  There are children hurting, children being murdered, children being abused and these little ones have such a need for Your protection Father, so please comfort them and please bring help for them into their lives.

Father God, I know this world is defiant and this world is full of stubborn people, but You are bigger than any problem here, You are more powerful than any resistance here and You are needed so very much by all of us here.  Please know that You are our hope and our future and we are thankful to You, God and we have hope because of Your precious Son, Jesus, who I ask to watch over our children and to help their little hearts to know that they are loved.

In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen. 

LOVE THAT CROSS PASTOR JOHN , BELIEVE THAT

See more about John  Collins Ministries, or contact me personally at www.johncollinsministries.com.

PASTOR JOHN COLLINS, JOHN COLLINS MINISTRIES: CHOOSING HELL

From John Collins Ministries:

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He 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.” Matthew 10:34-37 (NKJV).

These passages bring to mind a person choosing God over his family and that would be a righteous choice. It seems today that people won’t even choose to believe and are in denial about heaven and hell. If you truly believed in hell, would you send your children there? Would you willingly go if you knew the anguish and painful torment that you would have to endure?

It seems that there were a few rebellious generations who just didn’t like hearing about hell and damnation and all that would take them there, so when they grew up and became parents they chose to remove the warnings of hell from their parenting and leave the choice of belief up to their children. Just because you don’t like hearing it doesn’t make it untrue. That is why they say that the truth hurts. And this type of parenting and rebellion is literally choosing hell for yourself and sending your kids there too.

There are many who can only believe in what they can see for themselves and unfortunately their path to faith is a journey that is difficult to make but not impossible for with God all things are possible. We have got to wake up and stop willingly sending our loved ones to hell and doing everything in our power to join them.

When God says that something is a sin and will lead to the death of the soul, He is not lying. Let us stop being so stubborn and wake up and choose to hear Him. He didn’t send His Son here to die for us so that Jesus would die in vain. God sent Him so that He could save souls. Let us stop denying Him and let us start to obey Him. He is worthy of our love and our loyalty.

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.” Matthew 12:33 (NKJV).

LOVE THAT CROSS, PASTOR JOHN COLLINS