Are You Wrong?

March 5, 2017 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

wrong Everybody has an opinion on what happens after they die. Some of those opinions are: nothing happens, reincarnation, you go to heaven, and various other beliefs. I personally believe that if one has accepted Jesus Christ as God’s Son, and have asked him to forgive their sins then they go to heaven. If they haven’t then they go to hell. Either way, it’s for eternity!

I was talking about this subject with a coworker several years ago, and he believed then in reincarnation. Our conversation ended by me saying, “John (not his name), if your belief is right then neither one of us have anything to worry about, BUT, if I am right then you may find yourself in an uncomfortable situation while you are standing before God giving an account as to how you lived.” He walked away concerned.

Also, keep in mind, just because one claims to know Jesus, doesn’t mean they have accepted him, or obeyed his commandments. Consider these verses from the Bible:

Mat 7:21 – 23 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out demons in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name? And then I will say to them openly (publicly), I never knew you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly. (AMP)

So the question then is this: “Are you okay being wrong?”

Your Permanent Record

February 19, 2017 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

permanent-record “This is going on your ‘Permanent Record’ young man!” Remember hearing that in school? Has anyone ever seen their “Permanent Record”? I haven’t. Was that a threat to get us to have better behavior and grades? Perhaps.

God sees and hears everything we say and do. He also knows the attitude of our hearts when our behavior is on display. Now if anyone was going to keep a permanent record it would be Him, and in fact He does. There will be a day when EVERYONE will stand before God, and give an account for how they lived their life, attitudes, words toward others and everything.

At the end of that time before God He will simply look in a big book (The Book of Life) and see if your name has been “blotted” out, or if it still remains. If your name remains that means you had accepted God’s son Jesus, and his death on the cross paid for all of your wrong doing.

Rev 20:11-15 I saw a Great White Throne and the One Enthroned. Nothing could stand before or against the Presence, nothing in Heaven, nothing on earth. And then I saw all the dead, great and small, standing there–before the Throne! And books were opened. Then another book was opened: the Book of Life. The dead were judged by what was written in the books, by the way they had lived. Sea released its dead, Death and Hell turned in their dead. Each man and woman was judged by the way he or she had lived. Then Death and Hell were hurled into Lake Fire. This is the second death–Lake Fire. Anyone whose name was not found inscribed in the Book of Life was hurled into Lake Fire. (MSG)

Allergic to God

February 5, 2017February 5, 2017 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

end-times-2 Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they’re animals. Stay clear of these people.

Sound familiar? Like something right out of the news? Or remind you of people you know, work with, or even in your family? The above is a description of end times from 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 1-5. (MSG) Those words were written over 2000 years ago.

GOD KNOWS WHAT WOULD, IS, AND WILL HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE.

Flat and Colorless as a Shadow

January 28, 2017 / Mark Brady / 1 Comment

Ecc 8:12 Even though a person sins and gets by with it hundreds of times throughout a long life, I’m still convinced that the good life is reserved for the person who fears God, who lives reverently in his presence,

Ecc 8:13 and that the evil person will not experience a “good” life. No matter how many days he lives, they’ll all be as flat and colorless as a shadow–because he doesn’t fear God. (MSG) shadow

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my days to be as flat and colorless as a shadow. I want them to be in full living color and have substance to them, to have meaning. Whether I always know and understand that meaning or not. I do that by giving my life back to the Life Giver. To go, do, and say as He leads. To fear God, meaning respect Him, and His words written in His book the Bible. (All of them.)

Time for God?

January 16, 2017 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

You sleep, you wake, usually before you are ready.
You don’t want to be late, for this job is steady.
Your spouse deals with the kids, their lunches and more.
The kids go to school, do homework and then their chores.

The goal is to all meet back home and try together to eat,
but there are athletic games, practices, and people to meet.
There’s the business of living, and paying the bills,
of finding repairmen to fix the houses’ ills.

And on that rare evening when home you are found,
there are shows to catch up on with, or without others around.
Then weekends arrive, and you work around the house during the day,
so you can make it to the party invitations that come your way.

Sunday morning is here, to church do you go?
You’re so tired from your week, it’s too easy to rollover and say, “No.”
Shouldn’t God get your tithe, your worship and time? Your call.
But without Him there’s no life worth living, at all!

Looking Your Best for God

January 8, 2017January 9, 2017 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

big-hat There was an emphasis on wearing your “Sunday best” when I was growing up. Every week at church most would be decked out in the nicest piece of wardrobe in their closet. “You should look your best when going to church,” was often heard. Believe it or not, in some churches, the hats worn on Easter are so large one cannot see the pastor when sitting behind such monstrosities.

Now there is certainly nothing wrong with looking nice when one attends a church service, but note that wearing your best is on the outside. God probably appreciates the effort, but what is likely more important is someone coming into God’s house looking nice on the inside. In other words, having a contrite heart, or a heart after God’s heart. A heart that is concerned for others, and where they will spend eternity.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.” Psa. 51:10 (AMP)

Knowing this, perhaps here at the beginning of a new year, it is time to clean out your “spiritual” closet. Get rid of all of the things that make you look good only on the outside. Let God examine your heart, and guide you in where changes need to be made.

What Living is Meant to Be

January 1, 2017 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

dirty-shirt-500 It’s December 31, 2016 as I am actually writing this. In a few minutes, 2016 will end, die, and the “new” year will begin. Some like new. New opportunities, new hope, a fresh start, but there are those who hang on to the old. It’s kind of like someone continuing to wear an old, worn out, dirty shirt, instead of putting on a new, clean shirt. They probably are not comfortable with something they don’t know how it will fit, or feel, so they continue to wear the old worn one. The same can go for when people accept Jesus. They know He has replaced their old rags (life) with something new, and that they “should” let go of the old life, but they struggle in doing so.

Have you ever realized if Jesus hadn’t of died there would be no new? Without his death, there would be no resurrection. God’s plan of salvation would have been nothing more than a nice gesture, or a generous thought.

2Co 5:17 “Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!” (MSG, italics mine)

It can be very difficult, but in order to truly live, our old flesh has to die. All of it. So as this new year begins, make a fresh commitment to let God work on you, inside and out. Let the old things pass away, and let new things in. May you learn to get comfortable in how God dresses you. Who knows? You may finally realize what living is meant to be.

To: You

December 25, 2016 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

jesus-gift-tag My child, know that on this Christmas morning, I have given you my greatest gift. It may not be what you wanted, but I know, it is what you need. I have given my all to you. I have not held back anything for myself.

Oh how I desire that you could see, or measure how much I love you, but even infinity is not big enough to contain it. My hope is that you will accept my gift. Please don’t put it away and forget about it, or never read the instruction book that I provided, and please don’t try to return it!

Know that if you accept my gift then we can be together forever. Also know that everything required to be with me for eternity I have provided. There is nothing you need to do, or can do. No rules to follow, no level of goodness required, and it doesn’t matter what you have done in the past. I made you. I know you. I want more than anything to have a relationship with you, and I can, if you will simply unwrap the gift I have given you and accept it.

What is this gift? My son. My only son. It’s the gift that reads, “To: you From: God”

The Greatest Plan…Ever!

December 18, 2016 / Mark Brady / 1 Comment

gods-plan The greatest love story. The greatest gift. The greatest promise…kept.

Who, but God could have come up with a plan to place his son Jesus, in a young virgin. Very few looked there. The politicians didn’t, the religious leaders didn’t, and most of the people didn’t either.

God, through his word, told what He was planning on doing, so it wasn’t a secret, but people have a tendency of not knowing God, or his word. This causes them to take God’s plans and play them out as they understand, or worse, want.

How all of this life on earth ends is also part of God’s plan. It’s not a secret, or mystery. Yet people still do not get to know God, and believe how they want to. Read God’s word. All of it. Even Revelation. Though you may not understand, believe it will happen…according to God’s plan. So far, God’s plan has worked out perfectly. Remember this, “faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb. 11:1) Faith…use it.

Close Gifts

December 12, 2016 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

red-cross Mary held him close enough to hear him breath. To feel his chest move in and out. To see every radiant color of his eyes. Her heart melted when he smiled. Just think what an honor it must have been to be that close to God. To hold God in your hands.