PASTOR JOHN COLLINS: GOD IN YOU

From Pastor John Collins:

"And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ.  But they were hearing only, 'He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy."  And they glorified God in me." Galatians 1:22-24 (NKJV).

What does it mean to have God glorified in you?  It is when your behavior and your character reflect the work of God and is noticeable by men.  When you come to be a Christian by choice, not by upbringing as something that you do, but by your choice to believe that Jesus died for your sins and you're committing your life to obedience to Him and service to God.  

That is really what it means to be a Christian as it is not when you believe in Jesus and as you commit sins you know better but you do what you want anyway because to him that knows better and does it anyway, to him it is sin.

If you were once the thief who turned over a new leaf in the name of Jesus and you stick to it then people will glorify God in your.  When you pick that moment to change our life and turn your back on the sin you once knew and you choose to walk with God then people will take notice and will give the glory to God.

Every Christian should recognize their blessings and want to give back to God by living a life that shows others the kindness and compassion of our Lord.  Every Christian should not just think about their wallet when they think of giving to God but should think about their time and what they can do with it by lifting up others in the name of God and helping others come to the Cross.

The power of God is unlimited and when you revere God, thank God and choose God just imagine how His love can alter your life and help you to overcome what you must in order to claim heaven as your eternal home.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."  Matthew 5:16 (NKJV).

LOVE THAT CROSS, PASTOR JOHN

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PASTOR JOHN COLLINS: END TIMES?

From Pastor John Collins:

"And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.  Then many false prophets will rise up and deceit many.  And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.  But he who endures to the end shall be said.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."  Matthew 24:10-14 (NKJV).

"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."  Mark 13:32 (NKJV).

Many are saying that we are nearing the end of times, that Jesus will return soon, that the rapture is near and tribulation is upon us.  Jesus said that only the Father knows theme so it is impossible for anyone to know when the end will come.  Yet, with so may preachers teaching this and so many eyes open to the happenings in the Middle East and so much attention being drawn to prophecy and supposition, what are people not taking their faith more seriously?  Why is there not more people repenting and coming to the foot of the Cross?

When prophets were sent to Israel and Judah, they were not always heard.  The sad truth is the majority of the people clung to their ways, their sin and their attachment to this world.

Too many perished because of their stubbornness and refusal to submit to God.  Every day that God holds back the judgement of the world is a day of mercy us all.  Each of those days in an opportunity to shout from the rooftops that salvation is available to the lost. Each day is filled with the hope that we will come to our senses and get right with God.

We need to take our faith and salvation seriously.  We need to stop procrastinating and stop putting off changing our lives and our ways.  We need to get this right for ourselves and each other.  We cannot be half committed, somewhat devoted or undecided when it comes to being a follower of Christ.  We need to give all, believe whole-heartedly and commit completely to living a life that is in obedience to Jesus and in submission to God.  That is what ensures our eternal salvation with the reward of entry through heaven's gates

We all can do better, be better and become more Christ-like.  Each of us needs to be willing to alter our lives and purify our hearts.  It is not enough to say, "I am a work in progress."  We need to get honest with ourselves about what we hide from the world, about what we don't admit and about what needs to change.  Jesus is your strength and He wants you to belong to Him.  Do not deny yourself forever in heaven because you were unsure or lazy in your faith.  Even when  you have doubts, call on Jesus in truth and I know that those doubts will fade and the truth along with the hope of salvation will bloom in your heart.

"Behold, I stand at the door and know.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I have overcome and sat down with my Father on His throne."  Revelations 3:20-21 (NKJV).

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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. 

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PASTOR JOHN COLLINS: BULLYING

From Pastor John Collins:

In response to a question about people who claim to be Christian in their business and in their 

lives and yet treat people with contempt and dismissal, I have this to say:

The Catholic Church used to use ‘ex-communication’ as a threat to hold over people that included 

the added horror of dying while in such a state of separation from that church that would lead to

being buried in unhallowed ground.

Guess what?  Every bully is known to God.  Who is one person, one church, or one group to 

determine who can belong to God and who is not welcome among His people?  Who is to determine 

who His people are?  The bully who uses you in the name of God and then discards you with a 

threat of slandering you amongst fellow Christians is in fact one of the tares being allowed to grow 

alongside the wheat and in the end will be plucked up and cast into the fire.

If you are among the lied about, slandered about and bullied about, have no worries because God 

has got your back.  The big thing to do is to not feed the fire which means that you do not have to be 

confrontational and ‘prove’ your righteousness but let you light so shine before others that they see your 

good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

There is something to be said for taking the high road because God will always lead you home if 

you are truly following Him.  If you allow God, then He will bring you new opportunities to have fellowship, 

have business and have a life that is righteous and true as long as you have the trust and the patience 

to let Him work.  Some things and people may be removed from your life and some may be introduced 

into your life.  Just remember that you don’t have to prove a thing to any man as it is God who should 

concern you and He is more than capable of seeing you through this trial too.Your true Christians 

friends will be there support you as well.

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there

 are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life; 

and there are few who find it.”  Matthew 7:13-14 (NKJV).

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PASTOR JOHN COLLINS: DEDICATION AND HARD WORK

From Pastor John Collins:

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4 (NKJV).

Let’s assume that you have some faith in your life. How often do you reflect on the lesson in the trials of your life? Do you look for the wisdom gained and apply it to your life or do you ignore the lesson and just appreciate that the storm has passed for now?

You can certainly claim Jesus as your Lord and Savior in a moment but righteousness takes some serious dedication and hard work. If God granted you complete faith in the instant that you believed, what would do with it and do you understand what complete faith really is, anyhow? Complete faith is never doubting to trust the truth of Christ and His work on the cross and it is living a life that is COMPLETELY in submission to God. Complete faith is a consciousness of God always not just sometimes. Complete faith is living a life that pursues the approval of God over all else. In order to claim complete faith you must work for it and it does not come easy.

Living in this world of distractions and entertainments and sinners and filth does not make it easy to choose to do the will of God every time and not only some of the time. It is through the tough times of tough choices that bring you a step closer to God when they become consistently righteous choices in your life. Every Christian needs to learn to want to obey God and every Christian needs to learn all of the tough lessons from God in order to claim complete faith and righteousness.

Pay attention to what motivates you and pay attention to the choices that you make and then be really honest with yourself about what the bible says about your feelings, choices and behavior. One of the biggest mistakes that a Christian can make is to think that the bible is antiquated and that God and Jesus really don’t feel strongly about the sin of today. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and it is time that the Christian does better and gets back to reverence of our Lord.

“Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” James 1:12 (NKJV).

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PASTOR JOHN COLLINS: CHRISTMAS RESTRAINT

From Pastor John Collins:

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” Matthew 6:24-25 (NKJV).

Black Friday is here and before you run out and break the bank, overload the credit cards and spend hard earned cash that you should not, please rethink this holiday season!!

One of the hardest lessons to learn in life is restraint. When to restrain yourself from acting, from speaking and from reacting in a manner that is expected from you. Just because the world, especially the United States has come to drive buying in excess to please our loved ones in some kind of celebration for the birth of Jesus Christ for some and just an excuse to shop for others does not mean that you need to buy into the nonsense.

Jesus Christ was NOT born on December 25th. Although you may believe that you are celebrating Him when your family opens its gifts on that cold December morning, I promise you that Jesus would rather you not go into debt, not struggle to pay your bills in order to buy those presents and He would rather you not buy those gifts and would rather you restrain yourself from the manic need to “show your love” through material means.

Jesus is about love, salvation, hope and eternal bliss. Don’t make this year the same as all of the rest instead choose to make this year a new tradition that includes all of the love and faith that you can summon with all of the joyous celebration that you can endure without partaking of the “Christmas Traditions” that celebrate materialism and not God.

And for those of you who have small children, please learn restraint. Christmas is not about filling up the space under the tree. If you do buy gifts, restrain yourself and limit your purchases. One gift is lovely and if opened with Jesus on your mind and not yourself, then that is a pure and true rejoicing in Him and not the excuse to give and receive. We should never think of Christmas as if it were OUR BIRTHDAY and therefore our right to receive gifts and the same goes for our children. It is not their birthdays. This holiday season, learn to restrain yourself.

“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).

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PASTOR JOHN COLLINS: LOOKING BACK

From Pastor John Collins:

“Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” Genesis 19:24-26 (NKJV).

Lot’s wife looked back. She was leaving family, her home and fortune, her status and God knew her love for these things. So often the people of this world find their identity in the family that they have created, in the things that they have acquired and in the social standing that they have established. There is also a time in which a person’s life may feel the most bountiful and full which they may at times ‘look back’ on and regret where they are or resent where they are.

Every choice, whether good or bad, for our lives takes us a step closer to where we will end up and we should never regret the bad nor place extreme attachment to the good. The bad gives you a testimony to a life lived that has brought lessons and wisdom and should therefore be savored as it is an opportunity to help another avoid similar mistakes. The good should be cherished for the appreciation that it gives you for the simplicity in the human experience that will bring you joy. The need is for you to always look forward with hope and use the knowledge of both so that your decisions can become more and more righteous with every step of the way.

Jesus Christ provides salvation, forgiveness, love, wisdom, knowledge, hope, peace, joy and a truly compassionate heart that will carry you on your journey. To know the Lord in truth is to choose to obey His commands and to keep your perspective in life. Keep it simple, don’t take things so seriously as to find yourself always offended, always defensive and always ready to strike out. Use the wisdom gained in your life to bring hope to another, to find peace in your heart and to forgive as you have been forgiven. Don’t long for yesterday, find acceptance in today and hope in tomorrow.

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 (NKJV).

LOVE THAT CROSS, PASTOR JOHN COLLINS