Dear Neighbor,

It is a cool fall morning outside and I am in my study having read the word of God. I am currently reading through Luke. My first post was on June 19, 2010; therefore, I have been writing to you for over 11 years. I have gone from writing articles to writing a daily, sometimes semi-daily letter to you. I do not personally know you or know where you are but I know that you are special because if you were created in the image of God. 

Life in this world can be harsh and lonely but I know that God loves us because the scripture says, even while we were yet sinning Christ died for us. Who would do that except someone who truly loves his people? And you are one of his if you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

Today is the Lord’s day and what does that mean? God created all things in six days and he rested on the seventh day but we who believe in Jesus call the first day of the week the Lord’s day because it was on the first day of the week that God raised Jesus from the dead. He is risen and he has ascended to the righthand of the Father God, the Almighty, and he will return to judge the living and the dead. Before his death, Jesus said to the thief on the cross beside him: today you will be with me in paradise. And he promised his disciples that he was going to prepare a place for them in his Father’s house. There is a place for you in the house of God if you repent and believe in Jesus, he is the Christ, the Son of God. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus!

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

Dear Neighbor,

I am writing this letter as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am not a preacher, I am just a man who has read the Bible a lot. Sometime after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ I desired to go deeper and gain knowledge of the Christian faith. I looked at certificate programs because at the time, I had an Associate degree in nursing. I decided to obtain a bachelor’s degree in nursing so that I could attend a seminary. I decided on Midwestern Baptist theological seminary after watching a documentary about the late English Baptist pastor Charles H. Spurgeon. I started my first class in mid-march of 2016 and graduated with a masters degree in theological studies on May 3, 2019. I studied the genres in scripture and was given a hermeneutic by which to study and interpret scripture. I studied church history from the book of acts to the present age. I studied systematic theology and I studied the practical theologies of ethics, church administration, apologetics, evangelism and discipleship, and missions. 

After studying all of those things and I must tell you that I truly enjoy church history because it helps me to understand why things are like they are but I also must say that I am where I was before going to seminary; nothing has really changed. I am a registered nurse who reads the Bible and nothing more than that. It is not studying genres or hermeneutics that saves a person. It is not church history that saves a person. It is not systematic theology that saves a person. It is not the practical theologies that save a person. It is the word of God that saves. If I could encourage you to do one thing, it is to just pick up a copy of the Bible translated into a language that you can understand and just read it. When you have read through the Bible, read it again!

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

Repent, Believe, Persevere and Overcome

Dear Neighbor,

Sin separates man from God. God is righteous and just but we are neither righteous nor just. It is not a sliding scale by which we are judged but it is perfection that we must obtain, the perfection of God. Jesus said: “You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” But we are not perfect, everyone has sinned and falls short of God’s glorious standard.

We cannot turn back to God because only that which is perfect can be allowed in his presence. But God rich in mercy has made a way for sinful man to be righteous in his sight. Jesus said: “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. He lived a righteous life pleasing to God. He willingly died on a cross for our sins and rose again. Because Jesus was a perfect sin sacrifice, God can be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

There are two things that you must do; you must repent and believe. Repentance is a change of heart, mind and action. I was going my own way but now I am going to follow Jesus Christ. I believe that he is the way and the truth and the life. I believe that I can and will have a right relationship with the Father God through Jesus Christ.

However, you must continue to repent and believe all the days of your life. There are so many things in this world to distract us from the prize, which is eternal life with the Father and the Son in the paradise of God. Therefore, we must persevere in our repentance and faith; by doing so, we will overcome Satan, the world and the flesh for these are our true enemies.

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

October 13, 2021

Dear Neighbor,

Jesus was transfigured on the mountain to whom Moses and Elijah appeared in glory, speaking to Jesus of his departure from this world that was to be accomplished at Jerusalem. 

Peter wanted to make three sacred tents; one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Moses represents the Law, the first five books of the Bible. Elijah represents the prophets. In a Jewish context, the prophets are not only the writings of the prophets but what we call the historical books of the Old Testament; therefore, Moses and Elijah represent the two halves of the Old Testament which was the Bible for the New Testament writers.

After Peter said to Jesus: “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (Luke 9:33) Peter did not realize what he was saying, for Jesus is greater than Moses or Elijah because he is the Son of God.

While Peter was saying this to Jesus, a cloud began to form and overshadow them; and Peter, James and John who had gone up the mountain with Jesus began to become afraid, fear gripped them. Then they heard the voice of God: “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!” (Luke 9:35)

God will not have us worship the Law or the Prophets but only his beloved Son. The Law and the Prophets are written to point us to Jesus. If the Law and the Prophets do anything but point us to Jesus, then they have not accomplished what they were designed to do. 

The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 3:19-20:

Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

And in Galatians 3:24-25 he wrote:

Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

Look to Jesus, he is the Son of God, the Christ, and listen to him!

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

October 12, 2021

Dear Neighbor,

I believe that one of the most fascinating parables that Jesus told was the parable of the sower. (cf. Luke 8:4-15) For one, it is one of the few parables that Jesus explains. Two, it explains why some follow Jesus Christ and others do not; though they may do so for a while and fall away, or may think that they are following the Lord when they are truly raped up with the things of this life.

In this parable, the seed is the word of God and the soils represent the hearts of those whom the word of God is spoken too: beside the road, rocky soil, thorns, and good soil. Anyone who has done any type of planting knows that to grow a fruitful crop the soil must be prepared by the sower. It is the prepared soil that is the good soil, the good soil bears much fruit. The hard packed earth, like a road, has not been prepared by the sower. The rocky soil has not been prepared by the sower. The thorny soil has not been prepared by the sower. In fact, the word is not intended for these but falls on them; the word is intended for the good soil.

Jesus told the Pharisee Nicodemus: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) For a person to hear, believe and bear good fruit in abundance; they must be born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:13)

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

October 11, 2021

Dear Neighbor,

What are the actions of a thankful person?

In Luke 4:38-39, there is a very short story about Jesus’ healing of Simon’s (Peter’s) mother-in-law. Jesus had been teaching in the synagogue, and the people were amazed at his teaching because unlike the rabies, Jesus spoke with authority. After leaving the synagogue, he came into Simon’s (Peter’s) home. Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever. 

I do not know how Jesus came to be in Simon’s home. Did Simon (Peter) invite him or did Jesus suggest it? The text does suggest invitation because the text says that they asked Jesus to help hear. Jesus demonstrated compassion towards Simon’s (Peter’s) mother-in-law and for the household of Simon (Peter). Jesus stood over her, he rebuked the fever and it left her.

If Jesus commanded that an illness or demon depart, it did what Jesus commanded. The high fever departed from Simon’s (Peter’s) mother-in-law upon Jesus rebuke of it.

What does she do after the fever left her? Does she curse God for giving her a fever? Does she say, “Why did you give me a fever, a good woman, and a descendant of Abraham?” No, she immediately got up and served them. She served the Lord and his disciples. Service is a true demonstration of thanksgiving!

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

October 10, 2021

Dear Neighbor,

This is the day that the Lord God has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Ps.118:24) Psalm 118 is a Psalm of Thanksgiving for the Lord’s saving grace. 

Every single day is a blessing from the Lord our God. Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, makes us right in his sight. He did this through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ; presenting him as the sacrifice for sin. Therefore, all are made right with God when they repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. God is just to forgive the sins of all who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom.3:23-26)

Therefore, everyday is a day to rejoice and be glad because the Father God has given his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish (as the Law demands) but have eternal life in the new heaven and new earth. We should rejoice because there is no judgment against anyone who believes in Jesus. (Jn.3:16-18)

It was early on the first day of the week that Jesus rose bodily from the dead; therefore, Sunday is the Lord’s Day. The secular world calls this day Sunday, but to those who believe, it is the Lord’s day because on the first day of the week, we gather with the local believers to baptize the new converts, share the Lord’s Supper, and listen to the word preached. So, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake