Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I’m joyful and excited this week, like a little kid on Christmas Eve. Easter week includes so many fun things to enjoy. Today we had Women’s Connect at church, which is always a fun and encouraging experience. We are usually around 50-100 women per meeting and it’s a powerful thing to see so many women come together to walk through life’s ups and downs together encouraging each other. On Friday, my friends and I are planning to have a picnic in the park after the Good Friday service, hopefully the weather will be nice! On Saturday, we will have family over for Easter dinner and on Sunday we go to church again to celebrate the resurrection. This whole week feels like a party to me.

This week we are reminded of how amazing, loving and kind God is. We serve a God who isn’t a distant God. God chose to come down to our level and walk with us for 33 years. The all-powerful God Almighty himself chose to take on human flesh for a short period of time. What would you do if you had all the power in the whole universe? My guess is you would not use it to walk in humility and love like Jesus did.

If I was God I would be a terrible God, in the garden of Gethsemane I would have given up and said: “That’s it, I’m not doing this. I don’t care if people will go to hell unless I get on that cross to save their souls. I’m NOT doing it!” Jesus was fully human, and at the same time fully God. I’m just human, I’m imperfect. I’m grateful and in awe that God would do what he did for me, that he would give up everything to save my soul. He laid down his life for me and now he is calling me to do the same for others. I’m called to stop living for my own pleasures, wants and dreams alone and to live to love God & love people. We can’t please God without committing to loving people. We can’t love people well without committing to God.

I have a heart that is divided. I’m loving and at the same time I’m selfish and cold. I have strengths and I have weaknesses. I have beautiful gifts and talents but I also have some really messed up issues. I’m a mix of good and evil, we all are. The day I decided to ask Jesus to come into my heart I decided to give him access to my whole heart. I didn’t wake up a saint the next day, I still have my issues to work on, but God started to do a work in my heart from that day forward. God will continue to transform me until the day I die, all I need to do is spend time in his presence and let him soften my heart and make me new. God’s spirit (the Holy Spirit) now lives in me. The more I let God transform my heart the more the fruit of the Spirit will appear in my life.

“But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

Galatians 5:22-23 (AMP)

This week is a very special week, it’s a week when I take the time to go to church twice and praise God for everything he has done in my life and will do in the future. It’s a time when I’m in awe of how holy, righteous, kind and gentle God is. I’m also reminded that although the darkness in this present world is widespread God is bigger. God has the last word. This life will be difficult, painful and overwhelming at times but no matter what I’m going through God will be with me giving me strength to keep fighting the good fight. Life in this present world will be difficult, but it’s temporary. When it’s all over I will stand in front of God and be allowed to spend eternity in heaven, not because I’m a good person but because of Jesus’ work on that cross. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross opened the door of heaven wide open. Today, because of Jesus, anyone who chooses to believe and to ask Jesus into their heart will receive the Spirit of God and be forgiven for all their sins. I can’t think of anything more beautiful than that. God’s love for each one of us is the most beautiful love story of all.

A Response to National Pain

We live in tumultuous times and if we only look at what we see in the news this world can seem hopeless and scary. We face many different problems in our world; political problems, climate change, human trafficking, racism, natural disasters, war, terrorism etc. It’s easy to become so over-whelmed by these problems that we become fearful, worried, angry and start blaming and hating on each other. We look for quick explanations and someone to blame for all the disasters that we together as a human society have created. Finding someone to blame might make us feel better for a little while, but it won’t make the problems we face any smaller. Each one of us get to choose if we will be a part of the problem or a part of the solution. As Christ-followers we are called to be carriers of the answer, not carriers of anger, carriers of hate, carriers of prejudice or carriers of “I told you so.”

We all have very different opinions on the situation and the tremendous problems we face but in the end the only thing that matters is what God thinks. What does God ask us to do in times of trouble and despair? Judah Smith teaches a sermon about the racial injustice in America but this message can be applied to any problem we face because it all comes down to how we choose to live.

The first thing we need to know is that our pain matters to God, God is grieved by our pain, but God is not worried or fearful. God is the answer to our pain and He is totally and fully in control. The second thing we need to know is that how we choose to live our lives matters. When we look at our problems in the world it can be tempting to say: “God, how could you allow this to happen?” The answer is simple; from the beginning of time we have been given free will by God. We are where we are today, both in our personal lives and as a society, because of our choices. We all have free will and over history we have (and we continue) to put ourselves in these painful situations because we don’t choose God and His ways, we choose our own way. The Bible calls this pride.

Judah Smith talks about how although our political systems and experts are important in our societies we will end up in despair if we put our hope in them. God doesn’t call us to believe in people, because humans can not save this world. God calls us to put our hope in Him. If we look to our experts and politicians to save this world we will constantly be disappointed and let down because we are placing a burden on them that was never meant for them to carry. It's a burden too heavy for any human to carry. God sent Jesus to carry this burden for us, so that we wouldn’t have to carry it. Jesus didn’t come to Earth just to save us from the grip of evil, he came to save us from ourselves. We tend to be quite self-destructive in our ways sometimes. It’s not surprising that we continue to end up in trouble and despair when we insist on living our lives apart from God. Outside of God’s will the enemy is waiting and he will be quick to use our free will to steal, kill and destroy everything that is good in our lives and in our societies.

Every human-being, whether expert, politician or regular person is flawed, but God is flawless. As Christ-followers we put our hope in God, not in people. Humans don’t have what it takes to save the world. We need God. There is no hope for humanity without God because the enemy won’t stop fighting to have our souls. This truth is often one of the hardest truths for humans to accept because our pride is strong within us. We want to be able to say: “We’ve got this! We don’t need God.” I’ve been in situations like this many times, where I have been insisting on overcoming a struggle on my own without asking God for help or guidance. When we act like we don’t need God it feels like swimming upstream, you work hard but you get nowhere. Children can’t make it in this world alone, every child needs his/her parents, and in the same way we were created to need God. Our pride pushes God away and we don’t want him, but that doesn’t change the fact that we need him.

We all carry a responsibility on our shoulders to take good care of the world we live in, but if we exclude God and think that we will be able to save this world on our own we will become exhausted, hopeless and fearful. We were never meant to face these gigantic problems on our own, we have a God who loves us dearly and who is fighting for us every minute of our lives. Why do we fight against a God who loves us and wants good things for us? Pride is the answer. How many times have we experienced the same situation with our own children? We know what’s best for our children and we try to help them but they don’t want to listen to us.

For some of us, the first thing we need to do in the battle for a better world is to come to God on our knees and let him carry our troubles, to cast our cares on him. We were never meant to carry these burdens alone. When we seek God’s help in our troubles He will give us His peace, joy and strength. When we take on our battles in life with the protection, provision and guidance that God offers us the journey will look very different. It won’t be an easy life but we will no longer have to live weighed down by fear, worry and anxiety. God will make a way through every storm for those who seek Him and His will for their lives. I know these things to be true not just because I’ve read about them in The Bible but because I’ve seen God do amazing things in my own life. I get tears in my eyes as I write this because I am so humbled as I think about how great God’s love is for me. I don’t deserve this great love in any way but He keeps giving it to me anyway and I will make sure I’m always ready to receive it.

“Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.”

Psalm 55:22

“Commit your works to the LORD and your plans will be established.”

Proverbs 16:3

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

1 Peter 5:6-7

“Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ – eternal and glorious plans they are! – will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.”

1 Peter 5: 9-11

We need other people's help to stay strong

We all go through struggles in life, but we were never meant to go through them alone. Something incredible happens when we discover the strength that can be found in sharing your weaknesses with others. Pastor Jonathan Josephs teaches a great sermon about the importance of inviting other people into our struggles in life. We are all prideful by nature, we want to cover up all our mistakes and weaknesses and we want to appear like we have it all together, although the opposite is true. Jonathan talks about how the Israelites in The Bible were able to keep building the wall around the city in the midst of great setbacks and discouragement. The key to their success was that they would help each other whenever there was an attack on the city in the weak places. In the same way each one of us needs to let other people help us where we are weak to be able to make it in times of trouble and despair. Our weaknesses may look very different, but we all have them, and we need each other to stay strong.


As Christians we are all called to treat each other like brothers and sisters, when somebody among us is suffering we are called to reach out to that person and offer to help in any way that we can. As Christians we are also called to be humble, to let others help us and to choose to reveal our vulnerabilities to others in our community so that they will know where we need help. Other people can't offer to help us if we are keeping all our weaknesses a secret. It requires a humble heart to share one's vulnerabilities and to let others offer their help, and it requires an unconditional brotherly love to make oneself available and offer help to others in times of need. This is the kind of lifestyle each Christian is called to live out, it's what we call Christian community. 


Living in Christian community with others might mean that we decide to bring a meal over to someone who is sick or to a family who just had a baby a few days ago. It might mean offering to fill up the fridge for someone who is going through a tough time financially at the moment. It takes a generous heart to choose to live in this way and it takes a humble heart to be able to receive help when offered. One of my friends was on bed rest during her pregnancy and her Christian friend offered to come over and clean her house since she wasn't allowed to move. It required great humility from my friend to let another person serve her in this way.


A couple I know in church have two cars and live in a neighborhood where some neighbors can't afford even one car, anytime they see a need they offer their neighbors to borrow one of their cars. Sometimes it's small things God asks us to do for one another and sometimes it's something that requires great sacrifice from us. Every act of kindness matters to God and this is the way we are all called to live, serving each other in love. It's the way Jesus lived during the years he walked on this Earth. Jesus didn't use his time on Earth to make himself rich and live in luxury, instead he made himself poor so that through his sacrifice others could become rich. Wherever he went Jesus shared the good news about the Kingdom of God and healed those who were hurting. Jesus set an example for how we are all meant to live; to share the good news about God and to offer to serve others wherever we go. I love the gospel, this world can be really cold and sometimes over-complicates things, but Jesus shows us that life doesn't have to be that way. We simply need to talk about the love we have found in God with others and use our personal gifts to serve those who are suffering among us.

The boot camp of spiritual growth

God's ultimate goal for all humans is to soften our hearts and to make us more and more like Jesus every year; loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled. Code Orange Revival is an event at Elevation Church where different pastors and Christian speakers from all over the world visit Elevation and speak on different topics that can help us grow. Code Orange Revival is a little bit like a boot camp for spiritual growth.


Christine Caine speaks on the topic of timing in this sermon. Most of us are fully aware of our personal issues that we need to work on but instead of dealing with our issues today we say "tomorrow". We postpone dealing with our issues until tomorrow or until next year. Personal growth is uncomfortable, a bit scary and quite inconvenient, so we put it off until tomorrow and let our issues continue to mess up our lives. We let our relational issues sit there undealt with and one day they may ruin our marriages and lead to divorce. We let our financial issues be postponed until next year and one day they may grow so big that personal bankruptcy is the only option left. Change is always possible with God. God is willing & able to change us and heal us but it starts with us saying "I am willing". I will deal with this issue today, not tomorrow. What issue in your life is plaguing you like the frogs in the story about Pharaoh?


Most of us sincerely want a breakthrough in our lives, we want to see a change but we keep coming up with excuses why we can't do it today or why we are too busy to deal with our issues this year. Freedom is awaiting us and God did not create us to live in bondage. God wants to set each one of us free from what is holding us back in our lives. It all starts with me deciding to take that step of faith and say: "Today is the day to deal with this issue".


It is also good to remember that the enemy wants to keep us stuck in the past, so instead of beating ourselves up for not changing we can be aware of the reality that there is a power working against us. We have the power to choose who we follow. We can either choose to keep listening to the voice in our head that says: "You will never succeed at this so don't even try it" or "You will never change". We can choose to listen to God who says: "For I know the plans I have for you. Plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11) God has the power to heal every broken thing within us. The enemy's goal is to kill, steal and destroy every good thing in our lives. We get to choose who we will give our allegiance to, the enemy or God.

Alan's Legacy

As I was reading the news story about Alan Kurdi's family and how they are doing one year after Alan's tragic death it made me think about where I should be going next. We were all upset one year ago and like the Toronto Star writes the conscience of Canada and the world was awaken to the Syrian refugee crisis after the news about 3-year-old Alan's death. Alan's aunt Tima Kurdi, who lives in Canada, says in the Toronto Star's September,2 2016 issue: "It was very hard and emotional for me with the reality we live it, that it took a tragedy until somebody would take action,"Kurdi said. "It's the power from God to wake up the world to help the suffering people," added Kurdi.

My husband and I decided to get together with a small Anglican church in Toronto and privately sponsor a family of four Syrian refugees to come to Canada last fall. Together we were able to raise enough money to sponsor this family with a mom, a dad, a toddler and a baby to come to Canada and to support them in every way for a full year. You can't help everyone, but you can help someone.

As the new school year begins next week it's time for us to start thinking about what our role should be for the upcoming year. As Christians we all carry a great responsibility on our shoulders, from the day we become saved by Christ we no longer live for ourselves, we live to serve God and to follow in Jesus' footsteps. God loves us dearly and because he loves us he saved us and healed us, but he didn't save us just so we could go on living "happily ever after" as saved Christians. God wants us to live joy-filled lives but our lives are no longer just about us. God saved us because He loves us, but God also saved us so that through us He can save and heal others. God doesn't just love us, He loves the whole world.

Every year each one of us has a responsibility to think about how we are spending our time, money, resources and gifts in our lives this year. How much are we spending on ourselves and how much are we spending on helping others? God blesses us so that we can bless others, not just keep it all to ourselves. Every year my husband and I make a plan for how we want to use what we have been given in three different categories. We ask ourselves: "What should we focus on in our inner circle, in our community and internationally this year?" Each year we want to take part in some form of outreach project internationally and in our own city where we live. We also ask ourselves what our focus should be in our inner circle this year. Who is going through a tough time among our family and friends this year that we might need to prioritize above others? What outreach program that does work internationally do we want to focus on supporting this year? What outreach project can we support and volunteer at in our own city this year?

It's a big world and we can't do everything. It's wise to pick three or four outreach projects per year where we can volunteer and support the ministry, more than that and the quality of the work will go down. When we all come together supporting different organizations and volunteering at different positions, together we will make a big impact. From the day God saves our souls our lives become a mission, a mission to serve the poor and needy around us wherever we are. Complacency is no longer an option available. Jesus demands us to love our neighbors as ourselves and we love others by serving them. Who will you serve and fight for this year?

Love your inner circle, love your city & love the world. That's the "job description" for life on this Earth.

I know it's wrong, but I still want to do it!

The Bible starts with the story about Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Everything is beautiful and good in the garden and they can do whatever they want, except eat of the forbidden fruit, and of course that is exactly what they choose to do. Somehow I feel like this story reminds me of my own life. I can do whatever I want, except choose evil, and still every day I'm tempted to choose evil. I know that everything that is evil will eventually destroy me and those around me, but it can still be really tempting. I don't think anyone who decided to have an affair for example, wanted to destroy their own lives and hurt their spouse and kids on purpose, but the sin so easily entangles us.


The great news in the Bible is that on our own we will never be able to always choose what is good, but through God's strength we can do the impossible. One thing I have noticed over the years is that when you grow spiritually the sins that used to tempt you before become less and less tempting over time. As a new Christian I would have to make the choice to stay away from things I knew that were evil although it was tempting to enjoy these things. Gossip is one example. I used to love reading gossip magazines for entertainment but as I became a Christian I knew it was wrong to be entertained by other peoples' hardships and challenges in life. In the beginning I had to choose not to buy these magazines anymore although I wanted to buy them, but over time I didn't even want to buy them anymore. I started feeling bad for all these people whose private lives are invaded so that people like me can be entertained by the gossip about their lives. This is just one example. We all have habits in our lives that we know are wrong, but we find ways to justify our behavior.


The good news is that when we spend a lot of time in God's presence he softens our hearts so that our conscience comes alive again and we start to feel bad about the habits that we used to justify. When we make the choice to let Jesus into our hearts we will never be the same again, day by day and year after year he restores our hearts and fill them with love. It's not an instant change, but every time we spend time in God's presence he has an opportunity to continue to heal what is broken inside of us. Psychology and personal development is great, but it can only take us so far, but when God starts to do work in us we will be surprised by the results He can create.

Are you tired?

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Matthew 11:28-30 The Message

The whole Bible can be narrowed down to two main commands: “Love God!” and “Love people!” We are all familiar with loving people, we understand that loving people is all about being there for others through both the good times and the bad times. Loving God can seem a bit more difficult, how can we love an invisible God? We love God simply by spending time with him. We can talk to God through prayer and we can read his word in the Bible.

Establishing a routine of opening up the Bible and reading it for a few minutes each morning is a great way to ensure that we will start the day with a peaceful heart. Reading God’s word daily helps us stay focused on what matters throughout the day, it helps us stay self-controlled, kind, gentle, patient and loving. As a new Christian I had a hard time understanding the Bible in the beginning so I loved reading devotions, which helped me understand different passages in the Bible.

Last week I bought a new devotional book called “Peace for Today” by Sheila Walsh. This book has devotions that help me find peace every morning. A devotion is a short text about a particular topic followed by a few Bible references on the same topic. The devotion explains what a short passage in scripture means so that it becomes easy to understand it. Once I understand a passage I can see how it relates to my own life today.

This morning I read a great devotion called “When the journey is too much”. It’s a devotion about the importance of taking time to rest in between everything important that we are doing in our lives. God is not a demanding God, God understands our limits and he wants us to take time to rest. Sheila Walsh writes about how we have all experienced exhaustion at some point in our lives, even the mighty prophet Elijah in the Bible experienced this. So what did God do when Elijah got exhausted? Here’s what Sheila writes in “Peace for Today” (pages 32-33):

“Immediately after his desperate prayer, Elijah fell asleep under the broom tree (v.5); he was exhausted. And what did God do? He didn’t lecture Elijah about his calling or tell him to toughen up. No. Instead, God tenderly cared for Elijah.”

I find it helpful to know that although I live in a world that places a lot of demands on me, God is not a demanding God. God won’t ask me to push myself beyond my limits. God has given me a body with limits for a reason, a body that needs rest, sleep, food and time alone. When we learn to listen to our bodies’ signals, and choose to give our bodies what they need, we are honoring God with our bodies and lives. God is not asking us to live lives where we are constantly sleep deprived, stressed, and unhealthy. If we love God we will choose to take good care of the body he has given us.

“The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”

Mark 6:30-31

Greg's Story

I find it interesting to listen to people's stories about how they found God. Every story is unique because every person has had a unique experience in life. Greg is a doctor who had everything he thought he needed to be happy. He had a successful career, an expensive car and nice clothes. He had also achieved success in sports like running and triathlon, but he still felt empty inside and wasn't content. Greg was an arrogant person and an atheist so his Christian neighbors really irritated him. Greg decided that he would read through the Bible so that he could prove to his neighbors that they were hypocrites.


As Greg studied the Bible he was blown away by the fact that Jesus claimed to be God in human form. He had never heard that before. As time went on Greg wanted to change in a few areas of his life where he knew he wasn't a good person, but he couldn't change himself. One day he decided to get down on his knees and ask God to forgive him for his sins and change him as a person. Greg felt a peace from that day on that he had never felt before and it became evident to Greg's wife that her husband was a changed man. Greg had started caring about other people in a way that he had never done before.


Greg explains that the difference between Christianity and other world religions is that all other religions are about people trying to reach God, while Christianity is about God himself coming down to reach people. Greg says that when you invite Jesus into your heart your life will never be the same, and the ultimate proof of Jesus being God is the change he creates in each person who has encountered him.

The Gospel of The Kingdom

The gospel of the Kingdom of God is a story that puts everything in our worldview on it's head. It's what Jon and Tim call "The upside-down Kingdom". Us humans learn early on that the way you get respect and power is to exalt yourself above others in any way possible. We try to make more money than others, be a little more beautiful than others, have a little bigger and nicer home than our neighbors etc. We learn from our culture that the more beautiful, powerful, rich and successful we are the more exalted we will become in this world. When Jesus entered this world 2016 years ago he started talking about something entirely different. Jesus talked about how God only cares about the heart, not how beautiful, powerful, rich, intelligent or successful a person has become in people's eyes.

Jesus teaches that the most powerful person in the Kingdom of God is he who is the weakest, the one who chooses to serve and love others. When God looks at us he doesn't see what people see, God looks at the heart. Do we have a cold, hard heart where we have allowed hate to live? Or do we have a warm, kind heart that is generous and loves others even when it is extremely difficult?

Jesus was sent to Earth to set an example for all of us. Jesus showed us what love looks like. Jesus showed us that true power comes from self-sacrificial love and he is inviting each one of us to follow his example. We all get to choose if we want to follow Jesus or if we want to follow the ways of this world. God could have chosen to take back the power over evil in any way he wants, but he chose to do it through free will.

It's a beautiful thing to see someone who has been chained to sin walk away from their selfish ways and choose to live life God's way. We celebrate every time someone who was lost is found again. At the same time it is devastating every time we see the result that comes when someone has chosen to run away from God and choose evil instead of love.

Deny Yourself

We are all selfish by nature so to follow in Jesus' footsteps and deny ourselves isn't something that comes naturally. Lisa Chan talks about how she herself has struggled to do the will of God when she rather wants to choose to be selfish and comfortable. God will always call us outside of our comfort zone because that is where he can transform our hearts and watch us grow.

As Christians we are aware that our lives are not only about us, it's about something greater, but this doesn't mean that we won't struggle to do the will of God. When God asks us to forgive we rather want to stay bitter. When God asks us to be generous we rather want to hold on to our money. When God asks us to trust him we rather want to listen to our fears. The battle is always won (or lost) in the mind.

When we choose to do life God's way we always gain, we grow and we experience greater joy and peace in life. We often miss out on a lot of the joy and fulfillment that God has for us in life because we are so stubborn and we just won't follow his ways, we resist him and try to hold on to our selfishness. Jesus said: "If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it." (Luke 17:33 NLT)

Is Jesus really God?

Lord? Liar? Lunatic? Jesus actually claimed to be God. How can we possibly know if he was telling the truth? The Curiosity Collective brings together thought leaders, authors, philosophers and theologians to explore this difficult question.

Shift Your Perspective

Christine Caine shares a bit about her story in this video. Christine grew up in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Sydney, Australia and as an adult she found out the shocking news that she had been adopted at birth. She had been left unnamed and unwanted in the hospital as an infant and her adoptive parents had chosen not to tell her that she was adopted. Christine was also sexually abused for twelve years of her life. Christine's painful childhood left her filled with hurt, anger, shame and hopelessness. She became a Christian in her early twenties which would change her life radically, her life went from being hopeless to a life filled with hope, purpose and destiny.


As we look at the world around us today it's easy to feel hopeless and become afraid of the future. Christine Caine talks about how we can either focus on our current circumstances or we can choose to shift our perspective and zoom in on the things that are right in our lives and in our world. If we choose to be grateful for the things that are right in our marriages for example, rather than to focus on what is not yet the way we would like it to be, it will change how we feel about our lives. When we stir up the gift of faith we have within us and get our eyes set on Jesus we can find hope in the midst of hopelessness.

The Law

There are a total of 613 commands in the Bible which make up the law, so are we supposed to follow all of these rules or just some of them? What about the 10 commandments? The commands in the Bible can seem confusing at first look but they all play a part in telling a story, a story about humanity. When Jesus came he said that he was the fulfillment of the law, but what did he mean by that? Jesus also gave us the great command; to love God and to love others as ourselves. Jesus claimed that if we live according to the great command the entire law of the Bible will be fulfilled through that one great command.

True Manhood

Lecrae explains what Biblical Manhood looks like. Jesus was the perfect example for true manhood. When we read about Adam in the Bible we see a man who is selfish, passive and unwilling to take responsibility for his actions. Jesus on the other hand wasn't selfish, he was selfless and willing to sacrifice himself for others. Jesus wasn't passive, he was actively living out his purpose in life and not shying away from the hard stuff. Jesus didn't quit when life got really hard. Jesus was also willing to embrace responsibility in life, he both walked in authority and respected authority, versus Adam who when caught sinning chose to blame it all on Eve.

Our good deeds can't save us

One of the most common misconceptions about the Bible and God is that it is the “good people” who make it to heaven and those who have broken the rules in the Bible will end up in hell. I think the reason we assume this is the way Christianity works is that we are so used to this way of thinking ourselves. We marry “the one” and as long as our husband lives up to all our expectations on him and keeps all our “rules” we will love him, if he breaks a lot of the rules we will eventually divorce him. When a person in our society follows the law everything is fine, but if a person starts to break many laws he or she will eventually be thrown into prison. Us humans like the idea of karma; “you get what you deserve”, but God has a totally different way of relating to us.

When God sent Jesus to Earth it changed everything, rather than “you will get what you deserve” it became “When we do something wrong, Jesus gets what we deserve.” When Jesus died on the cross he willingly paid the price for all the sins committed of everyone in the whole world and died for us, for our mistakes. The reason someone had to pay for all our mistakes was that God is a God of justice, he won’t let any wrongdoing go unpunished. When someone murders another person God doesn’t think: “Oh that’s okay, I will just look in the other direction”.

When Jesus died he took all the sins of humanity on himself, the sins from the past, the present and the future. Jesus paid for all our mistakes once and for all, so that the day each one of us will meet God we will be faultless in front of an all-powerful perfect God. Jesus dying on the cross is as if you were being sentenced to the death penalty and Jesus shows up in court and says: “Take me instead, let this person go, I’m willing to die instead of this person.” Why would anyone do such a thing? The answer is love.

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that anyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16 NLT

Jesus died so that every single sin of mankind could become forgiven, but each one of us are free to choose if we want this to apply to our own lives or not. During our short lives on earth our main task here will be to either accept God and invite him into our lives or to reject God. This will be the most important decision we make in our lives, the moment we decide to accept God and invite him into our lives it changes everything, we become forgiven and washed clean of all our past mistakes. We become a brand new person (spiritually speaking that is, don’t expect your wrinkles to be gone).

We often tend to think that God wants peace on Earth today but the Bible makes it clear that Jesus didn’t come to Earth to bring peace, he came to bring division. God is interested in seeing who is with him, and who is against him. One of the places this is mentioned in The Bible is in Matthew 25:

“All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.”

Matthew 25:32-34 NLT 

This world that we live in today will never see peace, it will always see different forms of chaos, but when we become followers of Christ we can have peace on the inside despite the chaos that surrounds us. The good news is that this chaotic world is only temporary. The Bible makes it clear that there will be a day in the future when everything of this old world will pass away and there will be a new world where there is no more death, no more mourning and no more suffering. God will be in the world with us and we will see him face to face. The Bible talks about this in Revelation 21:

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

Revelation 21:4 NLT

The Bible also makes it clear that Jesus will come back to Earth one day and nobody will know what day that will be, we now live in what is called the end times. One day, maybe sooner than we think, we will stand in front of the God of the universe and have to answer for all our choices in life. Our days in this life are numbered, from the day we are born our clock starts ticking, we move closer and closer to death every day and we never know what day will be our last. We are not guaranteed tomorrow, we only have today. The days we are given on this Earth are our chance to decide, are we going to choose to accept God or reject God, the rest is details.

I used to work as a nursing assistant in a nursing home when I was younger and sometimes I noticed that it seemed almost like all the good people would die quicker while the really mean people would live longer. I wondered why God would let some really mean people live for so long, while others who were so loving would die at a younger age. It makes more sense to me today. Life is short for all of us, we only have a few years on this Earth to decide how we feel about God, to pick a side. Some people seem to need more time than others to make the right choice.

Once we choose to accept God and invite him into our hearts God starts to change each one of us from the inside out through the Holy Spirit. When you see someone going from being a non-believer to a Christian you might see them start doing a lot of good things, but it is important to remember that it is never a person’s good works that saves them. The Bible makes it clear that anyone who believes in Jesus, repents and asks for forgiveness for his or her sins will become saved.

Most of us understand that for example a woman who loves God and loves people will go to heaven the day she dies. We are also aware that a man who for example was a rapist and murderer and who continued to do evil up until the moment he died will go to hell. What many of us have missed on the other hand is that even the criminal who has committed many crimes but at the end of his life becomes a believer in Jesus, repents and asks for forgiveness for all of his sins will go to heaven when he dies. We also tend to miss the fact that even the woman who thinks of herself as a good person but who doesn’t accept Jesus into her heart during her life will not go to heaven the day she dies. This is radical and couldn’t be further away from how humans see things.

Humans see love as something you earn, while God loves everyone on this earth and is willing to forgive any sin as long as the person is truly regretful and wants to turn away from his or her former way of living and start following Jesus. It is not our long lists of good things we did during our lives on earth that will get us into heaven, it is our faith in Jesus that saves us. It is so simple, yet so radical. God’s love for humanity is unlike anything else you will ever discover on this earth.

Jesus is ____.

Chelsea and Judah Smith continue to explore who Jesus is in the 40-day video journey. The topic for Day 6 is: "Jesus is a friend of sinners" This is great news, since we are all sinners. We have all made mistakes and messed up in life, but Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost. We can't save ourselves, Jesus came to set us free from the grip of evil in our lives.

Jesus is ____.

Have you ever wondered who Jesus is? What's so special about Jesus? Why do people still care about a guy named Jesus more than 2000 years after he walked the Earth? Judah Smith and his wife Chelsea invites us on a 40-day-journey where they will discuss who Jesus is in a short 3 min video every day. The topic for Day 1 is "Scandalous Grace". Judah and Chelsea talk about how God's grace is a free gift that is available to each one of us, we can't earn God's love, it's freely given to every single human being on planet Earth.

Finding Freedom from Substance Abuse

Ryan Ries lived a wild life and eventually found himself stuck in substance abuse and sex addiction. He is thankful that he is alive today since he had many friends who killed themselves while high on drugs or went mentally insane from the drugs. During a tour in South America Ryan had an experience when he took so much drugs that his friends thought he was dead.


The next day Ryan realized that he had to do something drastic to change his life. He started to look through the drawers in his hotel room and found a Bible. Ryan stole the Bible from the hotel and read it for six hours straight, afterwards he felt peace inside for the first time in his life. It has been a journey for Ryan to get free from his sex addiction and substance abuse but he is passionate about living the rest of his life for Jesus and doing whatever he can to help other people. Today Ryan Ries is a part of The Whosoevers that help young people get free from sex addiction and drug addictions. Ryan also hosts a radio show that talks about topics like addictions, human trafficking etc.

Jesus: Who is He?

I remember I used to have a period in my life when I felt like I probably believe in God, or at least in some form of higher power, but I definitely don't believe in Jesus. I used to think the whole story about Jesus was weird and obviously untrue because no human can walk on water etc. I was surprised to find out that what Christians believe isn't that Jesus was some wise man or prophet but that he actually was God himself coming to earth for a little while (for 30+ years).


We call Jesus "the son of God" but Jesus wasn't just God's son, he was God. God is not like a human, who can only be in one place, God can be in many places at the same time. What we call the trinity describes God in three different forms: God above, God in the form of a human (Jesus) and God in spirit (The Holy Spirit).


All other religions follow a wise man or prophet, but Christianity is the only religion claiming that their "main character" wasn't a man but God himself. The fact that Jesus claimed to be God leaves us with only two options: either Jesus was God, or he was a totally crazy person. It's a little strange if our world has been so strongly influenced by a crazy person that we celebrate his birthday every year (Christmas) and that we count time from the day he was born (2015 years ago).


We either live in a world today where more than 2 billion people follow a person who was completely crazy (Jesus) or we live in a world where God has come near, where we no longer have to wonder what God is like, he has shown himself.

Living The Life of Love-What could that look like?

There are seven billion people on this planet so living The Life Of Love is going to look very different for each one of us. Jesus simply said "come, follow me", we are called to live a life following in His footsteps. We all have different skills and unique gifts, but each one of us were created to fill a specific need in the world. We are all very important pieces of the puzzle.

Jessie and John have hearts that ache for the orphans in this world, they have chosen to walk in Jesus' footsteps by loving and adopting orphans. What does your heart ache for? I like what Mother Teresa said about love:

"We can not do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love."
Mother Teresa

"I alone can not change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples."
Mother Teresa

"I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things."
Mother Teresa