Going Somewhere?

“He stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Luke 9:51 

When Jesus steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, He immediately ran into a dreaded detour.  A tiny, Samaritan village, an unnamed wide spot in the road stood in the way.  Every noble aspiration gets bogged down in perspiration.  Paul said, “I fought a good fight, I kept the faith, I finished my course.”  Nobody does anything good without a fight.  Nobody finishes the course without the temptation to quit.  But consider Jesus.  “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.” Hebrews 12:2.

Today, I am a fellow traveler.  I started my journey a few years ago, but I have not yet arrived at my destination.  You’ve caught me a few days past the mid-point.  I am traveling because I chose to leave the place where I used to reside; I made up my mind that nothing was going to stop me; I picked the right road to travel; and I’m going to someplace important.  

First, you’ve got leave something behind!  Too many get excited about a new venture—until they realize that they must leave some things behind before they go. “One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind.”  Philippians 3:13. Nostalgia gets in the way.  Nostalgia is the people of Israel wanting to go back to bondage after they crossed the Red Sea.  It’s wanting to give up the freedom to go back to the leeks, garlic and onions of Egypt.  And guess what?  The “good old days” that people long for were never that good to begin with!  The devil can paint a picture that makes your past look better than your future.  But an unknown future with Jesus is better than a known past. 

The second thing you need to do is set your face.  I can’t tell you how important it is to have a made-up mind. “God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”  2 Timothy 1:7. A sound mind is a mind that can’t be changed.  You will never go to your New Jerusalem without being tested by the fires of adversity.  You are going to hear the sneers, feel the hurt and sense the rejection of people on your way.  Parents of some folks kicked them out of their homes when they came home with salvation.  But, never let your adversity make you waver.  “Ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” James 1:6.  

Third, make sure you pick the right road.  Be very careful here.  Jesus said, “Enter in at the strait gate.” Matthew 7:13. “There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end are the ways of death.” Proverbs 14:12. I don’t know how many times I’ve turned onto a road that looked like it would take me to my destination. It was wide, well lit, smooth and well-traveled—but it was the wrong road.  Everybody taking the wrong road doesn’t make it right; nobody taking the right road doesn’t make it wrong. 

Last, you need to know where you’re going.  Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem to take care of important business there.  Everything that had to do with our salvation was going to happen in Jerusalem.  No prophecy could be fulfilled unless Jesus went to Jerusalem.  It couldn’t happen in Babylon, or Damascus, or Philistia. He had to go to Jerusalem. 

Are you going to the New Jerusalem? You must leave some things behind.  Make up your mind.  Make sure you’re on the right road. You’re going to a city whose builder and maker is God! “He who overcomes … I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem.” Revelation 3:12. Final call!  Are you going?

Is Jesus God?

“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.” Hebrews 1:3 

Who is Jesus? Fasten your seat belts, because we must dig deep into this archetypal Scripture to find out. The phrase express image in our text comes from the Greek word charakter. It is the only occurrence of the word in the New Testament. It means “to impress upon, or stamp,” denoting an engravement from a tool, which impresses an image into a piece of metal or other substance. The word person is translated from the Greek word hupostasis. From this word we get the term “hypostatic union,” the union between deity and humanity in the man Christ Jesus.  We understand hupostasis as “essence of being, or the substance of a thing.” It is like the foundation under a building, or that which underlies, makes up, or supports a thing. Hupostasis is to God as air is to wind; hupostasis is to God as water is to wave; hupostasis is to God as notes are to music. The only other time the word appears in Scripture is Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is the “substance” (hupostasis) of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is the underlying support, or foundation of things that are hoped for. 

Jesus does not just represent God.  He is the visible impression of God’s invisible substance. He is God’s essential nature expressed in humanity as the Son of God. He is the corresponding engravement of God in human form.  He is the adequate imprint of God. At Bethlehem, God rolled out, as it were, a blank sheet of humanity over the invisible essence of divinity and embossed a visible image that humans could see.  When Mary held up the baby, we could trace all the divine attributes of God through the transference of his image into the flesh of Jesus.  Jesus is everything about God permanently settled in the body of Jesus. “For in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Colossians 2:9. The NIV says “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” Jesus did not merely possess some divine attributes. He possessed every aspect of deity. One preacher said, “The question is more ‘How could He?’ than ‘Who was He?’ How could the God of Mary become the Son of Mary and never cease to be the God of Mary?  How could the Eternal God become Time’s Man and never cease to be the Eternal God?” 

Are these just confusing theological semantics? Absolutely not! “The Word made flesh” (John 1:14) demonstrated how God fully loved us.  God identified with us in every way, even to the point that He limited His divinity, so He could face the same challenges that we face.  It is the way that he could fully understand what we face in this existence.  It is the way He could become our example and offer help in the time of need. The incarnation is profoundly relevant to us today.  It is the way that He showed us to rely strictly upon the Holy Ghost for strength to overcome temptation and be perfectly led of the Spirit.  Jehovah-Jesus knows what you are going through. When you feel forsaken, so did He on the cross. When you are struggling with the will of God you can rest knowing that Jesus also struggled the same way in the Garden of Gethsemane. He prayed that His Father would change His will.  Jesus is your example for ministry, overcoming temptation, and empathizing with others.  (2 Corinthians 1:3-7.)  Christology further demonstrates to us how Christ’s person affects our salvation. If He was not perfect man and perfect God He could not have saved us. When we experience salvation, it is not a mere experience, but it is an encounter with Jesus Christ, the King of Glory! 

Oh, how I love Him!  How I adore Him! My breath, my sunshine, my all in all!
The great Creator became my Savior, and all God’s fullness dwelleth in Him!

Don’t Come Down

“I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.” Nehemiah 6:1-3

When you get a summons from the throne room of God, it is undeniable, irrepressible, incomparable and impossible to resist.  It has to be this way—it’s the only way God works!  Why?  Because you are in for the fight of your life!  In this story, the Jews were in exile, and Jerusalem had fallen into shambles.  Nehemiah, the Jewish cup bearer to the Persian King, Artaxerxes, lived far from Jerusalem. Nehemiah couldn’t get it off his mind.  God’s holy city lay in ruins.  A burden grew in his heart to go back and rebuild the walls.  This was a case of God elevating a person to a place of His calling.  The Bible speaks of a hopeful calling, a high calling, a holy calling, and a heavenly calling.  Nehemiah had never heard of Sanballat, or Tobiah or the many other enemies of what he was planning to do.  He was about to find out.  “When Sanballat, and Tobiah heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, they were very wroth, and conspired to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.” Nehemiah 4:7-8.

Right choices always stir up hostile spirits.  If you are living a normal, secular life like everyone else, people are fine.  But as soon as you announce that you are going higher in the things of God, or that you are going to pursue ministry in some way, WWIII breaks out. The only people the devil doesn’t bother are the people that don’t bother him!  But when you decide to move up higher, look out!  Satan doesn’t want you to find the highway of holiness. You have to fight to get your calling; you have to fight to keep your calling.  You have to say, “This is who I am; I’m not coming down!”  You’re not just reforming yourself, or just choosing a different way of life, or just joining a different church.  You have heard from God!  This defines salvation from religion.  You can say, “I’m not coming down!”  You will fight off every jeer, every criticism, every temptation, every discouragement, every defection of a friend, every well-intentioned advice from a relative, every attack and every threat.  You go up to your new work, your new life with a new attitude.  Like Nehemiah, work with determination and persistence. 

Understand where you are.  You have been raised up to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus!  You are breathing rarefied air.  You’re in the church.  You can sleep with a clear conscience.  You’re making right decisions.  You are not bound by alcohol, or drugs.  You’re faithful to your spouse.  Why would you ever want to come down from the high place where God has put you?  Why would you want to go back to the old life?  No! I’m not coming down!  I’m saved; I don’t want to be unsaved. I’m found; I don’t want to be lost. I’m living for God; I don’t want to waste my life living for the devil. I’m right; I don’t want to be wrong. I’m rich; I don’t want to be poor. No, Devil!  I’m not coming down! 

There is One who resisted all calls, all pressure, all temptation to come down. “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Matthew 27:40. If you had been there, which crowd would you have joined?  Would you have said, “It’s too much pain; come down!  It’s too hard; come down!  Don’t do this; come down!”  No!  Your salvation depended on Him staying on the cross! Had He come down, his blood would have been shed in vain—no burial, no resurrection, no ascension.  No upper room, no Pentecost, no salvation!  Jesus is your example.  You have a cross.  You have a calling.  You have a consecration.  You have destiny!  Don’t come down! If you are in the midst of the battle, get a better grip on the trowel in one hand and the sword in the other.  Never come down!

Boundaries and Blessings

Your boundaries and blessings will never go unchallenged.  Regardless of how much you achieved yesterday, it is never enough.  You may have won the victory last year, last month or last week and thought you had settled things once and for all.  Sorry, but things do not remain the same.  Constant change occurs in every area of life.  Take the case of Goliath who taunted the armies of Israel.  King Saul had lived through that old scene before.  He knew what it was like to fight the Philistines.  His armies beat them back, then they would come again and score victories.  Saul would establish his boundaries, and then they would be moved by the enemy.    

“And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.” 1 Samuel 17:3. Your boundaries are in your valleys.  You can easily see the boundary from your mountaintop experience.  You are far from it and you may think that you will have no problem maintaining it.  It is when you descend into the valleys of life that you find yourself face to face with your boundary.  On the mountaintop, your boundaries seem immovable.  In the valley, those same boundaries seem unsustainable. 

This is precisely why Jesus told us how to pray.  “Give us this day our daily bread.”  If the only spiritual sustenance you receive is on Sunday morning or Sunday night, you are seriously malnourished.  You need to put your feet under the table of the Lord every day!  Satan always challenges you when you are at your lowest point, when you are most vulnerable.  Exercise extreme caution here!  It’s paradoxical.  It is when you don’t feel like coming to church that you need to be in church!  It is when you don’t feel like praying that your need for prayer is most critical!  If you don’t want to read the Word of God, the devil planted that thought.  Dive into the Word as soon as possible.  “Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and thy staff comfort me.”  Psalms 23:3-4 

Saul should have been the man to go out against Goliath.  He was anointed king of Israel. He had gone against other strong men.  He knew that Goliath symbolized the strength of the Philistines. But, Saul allowed Israel to fall into a dysfunctional kingdom.  He allowed it to be ruled by fear, to fall into low self-esteem, to suffer inner conflict, and to practice scapegoating.  Worst of all, Saul permitted Goliath to dictate the terms of the battle.  Spiritual “political correctness” scares many church goers today.  Many fear that they might make the devil mad if they speak too plainly.  But, living in the will of God also means you are living against the will of the devil.  You are swimming upstream; you are climbing up hill.  Every day you live victoriously you make the devil mad.  He is constantly probing your weaknesses, your vulnerabilities and your lapses in faith.  

The younger Saul wouldn’t have lent an ear to Goliath; it was the old Saul, the fearful Saul, the carnal Saul who did.  It wasn’t the Saul fresh from a prayer meeting that gave Goliath a forum to speak; it was a Saul whose prayers were stale and cold.  It wasn’t a Saul who walked in the strength of the Spirit who listened to Goliath: it was a Saul who flexed his own muscles and polished his own sword and shield.  It wasn’t a Saul who walked in the fear of God who let Goliath speak; it was a Saul who walked in fear.  But, David knew better.  Goliath had no right to defy the armies of the living God.  David didn’t measure Goliath by armor and spear.  By defending Israel’s boundary, he secured the Israel’s blessing.  

Set your boundaries and protect them from the enemy.  Your blessing resides in kept boundaries.

Home Is Where the Heart Is.

“And he arose, and came to his father.” Luke 15:11-24 

The parable of the Prodigal embraces the whole of man’s spiritual history.  First, there was the road out.  “Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.”  Luke 15:12. Note the agitation that angered him.  At some point in Junior’s life, discontentment boiled up.  “I hate this curfew, I can’t play the new music, I can’t wear my hair like I want!” Who knows what the conflict was?  It all came down to a clash of wills.  Next, note the allurement that enticed him. Take the Big Apple, for instance. Tall and sleek, its glass and marble towers fascinate viewers from a distance.  Walk the neighborhoods of Harlem, Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, however, and you see the seamier side of the glittering jewel. The “far country” for the Prodigal was too far away for him to notice the slums, the addictions, the pain and breakdowns. Third, note the action that propelled him.  Despite all attempts to stop him from certain downfall, the young man left anyway.  Why? Why did he turn a deaf ear to all the warnings? How many people wake up halfway through their lives and say, “How on earth did I get here?”  Easy.  Just do nothing, get preoccupied with trivia, major on minors and pay no attention to the weightier matters of the soul and spirit.  “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9. 

The road came to an end.  “And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine.” He lost his resources.  Sin always has an impoverishing effect.  The familiar mantra of sin is—lose, lose, lose.  He lost his respectability. This rich boy from a solid, stable family was not only feeding the pigs, but trying to eat their food.  Sin never plays nice.  The Bible says, “Be sure your sin will find you out.”  It takes clean and makes it dirty.  It takes well and makes it sick.  In the end, the prodigal lost his reason for living.  He had barreled headlong past a huge, yellow, diamond-shaped sign that said, “Dead End.”  His money was gone, his friends were gone, his dreams were gone, and with it all went meaning and hope. Something happens at the lowest point of sin.  Nothing makes any sense.  This is where much of the world we live in is at the present.  It’s called nihilism.  Nihilism holds that life is pointless and human values are worthless.  It rejects all religion and morality.  Sin is a fantastic lie.  Rather than making you wise, happy and God-like, turns you into a fool, fills you with infinite sadness and makes you into a child of the devil.  

The road home was the only answer.  It’s called a reality check. “And when he came to himself, he said, I will arise and go to my father.” Luke 15:17-18.  Going home consisted of repentance: he had to stop lying to himself; of decision: he decided to return home and to the truths he had forsaken; of restoration: he had to restore his rejoicing. In his present condition and location, he would never hear or never know rejoicing.  One more night with the pigs made no sense.  Rejoicing was back home. 

Are you homeless?  Get up, brush yourself off, and go home.  People love you there.  Everything that gives meaning to your life is there.  Your values, your definitions, your reason for being resides at a place called home.  No, not necessarily your old homeplace or locale, but your inner convictions, the tried and true elements of sustaining faith.  That’s what home means.  Admit it.  That’s where your heart really is.  “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16

The God of the Miraculous

“It was a miracle!”  Narrow escapes, risky surgeries that were successful or fortuitous blessings evoke the same sentiment in most of us.  Still, many don’t believe in miracles.  I do. I accept the reality of the supernatural based on both the scriptures and ministerial experiences. 

• The Scriptures do not teach that miracles have ceased. Many deniers say, “But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away,” in 1 Corinthians 13:10 means that the when scriptural canon was complete, the need for miracles ceased. Not true.  This verse refers to Christ’s return for his church. As long as the church is in the world, God will perform the supernatural! 
• Jesus said that whatever we asked in his name he would do it. John 14:13-14 states, “If you ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” Asking “in his name” is not a carte blanche, but it must reflect the nature and will of God.
• Jesus said believers have promises. “In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Mark 16:17
• Jesus stated that the church would do greater works than he did. John 14:12. “Greater” refers to more in number because Jesus would not be limited to a physical body when He returned to his Father. Thus, he now extends himself and operates through his church. 
• Multitudes in the Bible were saved because they saw the miracles. “Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see.” Matthew 15:31. That prospect exists today as well.
• We must not limit God. “Yea, they limited the Holy One of Israel.” Psalm 78:41 If God works miracles today, why should we limit Him?
• The Bible instructs us to pray for healing and miracles. “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick.” James 5:14-15. If this scripture retains any value for the church today, it is because the potential for miracles to happen still exists.
• Healing gifts and the working of miracles are among the gifts of the Spirit. “To another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles.” 1 Corinthians 12:9-10. Nestled among the spiritual gifts that are resident in the church are these supernatural gifts. We must accept them along with all other gifts.
• Those who say there are no miracles imply that prayer does not work. Many sincere people believe that if answers to prayer don’t come immediately, then we should stop because it must be against the will of God. Yet, they continue to pray for peace, strength, joy, and more, even without answers. But praying is never wrong! Keep praying. You never know when and how the answer will come.
• When miracles happen, we know who to thank.  Should we thank man? Science? Nature? Chance? No. James 1:17 states, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” Miracles come from God. 

Doubt serves no spiritual purpose at all. “Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”  John 20:27. God honors faith. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him.” Hebrews 11:6. If God wants to work miracles, how could He convince us over our doubt? The testimony of millions today affirms the promises of the Bible. Too many examples of miraculous events and supernatural healings abound for us to accept the cynicism of the critics. The Healer is in the house.  Acknowledge Him and pray for Him to extend His hand of power and dominion to us!

Move Beyond Adversity

“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” Proverbs 24:10 

Are you having a tough time? That’s good!  If nobody’s criticizing you, maybe you’re not doing anything.  Real life is cut from the fabric of adversity.  Adversity paints graphic pictures in American history:  Washington and his men had to brace against the bitter cold crossing the Delaware.  The nation’s troops were overwhelmed by a bloody massacre at the Alamo. Abraham Lincoln had to bind up the wounds of a war-torn nation.  Pearl Harbor was bombed without provocation.  Add to these tragedies the Bataan death march, the explosion of the Challenger, the terrorist attacks on 9/11, and much more, and it adds up to unrelenting adversity.  Despite these foes, this is arguably the world’s greatest nation. 

Some people seem to meet and surpass all adversity.  I knew a kid who would never cry uncle, even when someone twisted his arm until it broke. I’m not talking daredevils, fate-tempters and show-offs, but people who possess a buoyant, non-suppressible spirit.  If you’ve ever seen a picture of bear raiding a beehive, you get the picture.  When your goal means more to you than the pain of adversity, you will win!  So, the question is what’s your Adversity Quotient? (Paul Stoltz).  You may have many assets, but they all have a rendezvous with adversity.  Inspiration will encounter adversity. Ingenuity will encounter adversity, as will prosperity, success, favorable circumstances and organization.  The best plan in the world won’t work if you can’t take adversity. 

No disciple of Christ will have a prayer life without adversity standing in the way.  No one will have victory in the home without adversity.  No one will achieve an overcoming life without adversity.  No one will be an effective witness for Christ without adversity.  Stolz goes on to say that you can either be a Quitter, Camper or Climber. Quitters fold and run the other way at the first sign of opposition.  Campers find a pain level that they can live with and learn to cope within their self-diagnosed limitations.  Climbers, however, battle through all adversity to reach their goal.  The tougher the opposition, the more intensely they fight. 

God has empowered the church with the best bundle of assets in the world.  The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the born-again experience, the constant companionship with Christ—everything we need and want in our relationship with God.  You must expect adversity. “In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. Every trap, snare and stumbling block is before you, sickness, tragedy, trouble, rejection, human failure, temptations—every conceivable form of opposition will fight against you.  One fabulous revival story in a foreign land took place after depression claimed the life of a missionary as a suicide victim.  Another minister saw his child murdered in front of him by governmental agents.  “Weeping endures for the night, but joy comes in the morning!”  Psalm 30:5.  

God may not take away the adversity, but he will do two things: He will give you an increased capacity to absorb it!  “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13. It’s true that whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger! It’s not that you become immune to adversity, but that never let it get the upper hand.

He will show you the way to defeat it! “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”  I John 4:4. Go on the offense.  The best defense is a good offense.  Become accountable to your spiritual authority and fellow laborers.  Commit yourself to spiritual disciplines.  Destroy the material sources—toxic relationships, evil habits, temptations —of your failures.  Your adversity must never steal your advantage. Take it and move on!                                  

Let’s Pretend

Children inhabit a world of make-believe. A million LeBron James and Duane Wades live all over the land, flying through the air, slam-dunking mini-basketballs into hoops four feet off the ground. Quarterbacks, ice-hockey stars, and Indy 500 drivers populate our neighborhoods. Little mamas snuggle life-like infants, cowboys lasso steers, and little pastors preach sermons from makeshift pulpits. It’s the pretend world, idyllic and perfect. Nothing goes wrong in this world. Nobody gets hurt, there is no lying, no cheating, no stealing, no disappointments. In the pretend world, daddies always come home, mommies always kiss away the bumps and scrapes, and kids always get new shoes. If only the real world was as good as the pretend world, pretending would disappear. Yet, many people hang on to ideas that are merely elaborate schemes of pretending. 

1. Let’s pretend that sex and violence, alcohol commercials, and constant ridiculing of God on television are not hurting our values.

2. Let’s pretend that “R-rated” movies with their raw language, vulgarity, immoral plots, obscenity, and anti-God attitudes are harmless.

3. Let’s pretend that no church attendance, prayer, Bible reading, and spiritual conversation with God are not important.

4. Let’s pretend that our children and teenagers never lie, fib, or misrepresent the truth to their parents.

5. Let’s pretend that kids know nothing about sex, that that it never enters their mind to do anything immoral.

6. Let’s pretend that our teens are immune to peer pressure about sex, drinking and drugs.

7. Let’s pretend that the old excuse that “everybody’s doing it” doesn’t work anymore to tempt our kids to do wrong.

8. Let’s pretend that STD’s can never impact us. Kids don’t need to know about such things, and anyway, it’s too embarrassing to talk about.

9. Let’s pretend that our attitudes, interests, conversation and behavior have no effect on the kids.

10.  Let’s pretend that there is no real devil.

11.  Let’s pretend that all roads lead to heaven, and that the only thing necessary for a person is to be sincere in what they believe.

12.  Let’s pretend that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary was just a small blip on the screen of time.

13.  Let’s pretend that God basically stays out of our lives and that He only wants us to be happy, guilt-free and live to please ourselves.

14.  Let’s pretend that the Bible is an out-of-touch book written by a bunch of old men hundreds of years ago and has no relevance for us today. 

Ahh, the pretend world! It’s always just right. A gentle breeze always blows, the temperature never varies from seventy-two, roses don’t have thorns, flying insects never bite, no one speaks unkind words, no enemies seek to destroy us, and there are no worries, troubles, or problems. It’s a perfect place. Trouble is, it just doesn’t exist.  “And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12. The devil is trying to sell us a bill of goods. He wants us to believe that the real world is too scary to deal with. The only way we think we can survive is to fabricate a pretend world where we can continue to believe things that are not true. 

There is a real Jesus. He gave us a real gospel. The cross was real. The death of the Son of God was real. He shed real blood.  He was laid in a real tomb. He really came back to life. He will save us from a real hell. It will take us to a real heaven. It is time for you to get real and get saved.  Get a grip on reality.  Pretending never works.  “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32.