Category: Food For Growth

¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. ~ John 3:17

It’s all about grace, the opportunity to be saved. Jesus invites us into a real relationship with Him, and today is the day because tomorrow is not promised to anyone.

Jesus ushered in a divine shift from bondage to blessing, from toil to rest, although we haven’t received our rest as yet, but it’s on its way.

We’re called to go into all the world, starting where we are at. In our hometown. We are to make disciples teaching them to obey all that Jesus taught and commanded. We are called to be the light. Let us light our part of our world and then take it as far as we can get before Jesus comes back.

Are you ready to work? Are you ready to win souls? Are you ready to make disciples? 

[9] Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. [10] For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! [11] Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? [12] And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. ~ Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Something I’ve been working on lately is allowing myself to let out pain instead of bottling it up inside. And what I’ve learned is that the pain doesn’t destroy me like it used to. Yes, it hurts, but allowing myself to breakdown and just cry has really helped. It sounds absolutely crazy, but it does help.

When the world keeps dumping on you, finding someone you can trust that you know loves you more than words can say and letting out your pain with them unburdens your soul. I don’t know why, but it does. Someone holding you as you cry in their arms, it releases that pain that has been burdening you down for so long.

When things begin to take a toll on you and you feel like you might burst, it’s okay to lean on someone else. It doesn’t make you weak. It doesn’t make you less. It means you are growing up and you understand that no one makes it through life alone.

So, find someone you can depend on. Someone you can unburden with and can in turn can unburden you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Find Another Strand.

[19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. ~ Matthew 28:19-20

Today is World Mission Sunday. We as Christians, are called to go to the ends of the earth and proclaim the Gospel. As I was scrolling through reels (shorts) on my phone, I saw a movie trailer for the movie “Last Days.” The comment section was filled with negative comments. In fact, every single comment on there was negative. “Stupid idea for a movie.” “He got what he deserved.” “We all knew what would happen.” Many of these people were self-professing Christians.

See, “Last Days” is a movie based on the last days of John Allen Chau who died on November 17, 2018 at 26 years old. He was an American evangelical Christian missionary who attempted to share the Gospel with an isolated tribe in the North Sentinel Island. On his second attempt to share the Gospel with the Sentinelese people, he got in a kayak and made his way to the tribe. He was shot with an arrow and died from the wound.

His actions were condemned across the internet. He was accused of neocolonialism. He was called an idiot and arrogant. Condemned by the majority of commentary. All because he wanted to share the Gospel with those who had never heard. He wanted to fulfill the Great Commission as we all should try to do. To share the Gospel with all people.

We’re not all called to extreme mission work but we’re all called to mission work. We’re all called to share the Gospel and make disciples of all nations. This is the call of all people in the Church. What are you doing to fulfilling this call? Are you sharing with anyone willing to listen? Are you making yourself uncomfortable in order to share the Gospel with someone and possibly save a soul?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Live Like Chau.

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. ~ 1 Corinthians 15:1-2

Paul said that he wanted to remind his readers, the Corinthian brothers, about the gospel that he had preached to them. He said that they had received the good news, that they were standing in that faith, and by grace they were being saved, if they would hold fast to that good news that he had preached to them.

In other words, they had not arrived; they were still being saved. It was not all said and done; they had an obligation to hold fast to the word that Paul had preached to them.

Imagine a man caught in a storm at sea, clinging to a lifebuoy thrown to him from a rescue ship. He is being pulled from the water, but he is not yet on the ship. The waves are still crashing, the wind is still howling, and the danger is not yet behind him. His only hope is to keep holding on to that lifebuoy until he is brought safely aboard.

That’s the picture Paul paints in 1 Corinthians 15:1–2. The gospel is the lifebuoy. We have received it, we are standing in it, and we are being saved by it—but only if we hold fast. Not because our grip earns our salvation, but because letting go would reveal that we never truly trusted the One who saves.

This is not about living in fear or uncertainty. It’s about perseverance in faith. Hebrews 3:14 echoes this truth: “For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” And Jesus Himself said, “The one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13).

So today, let us examine our hearts. Are we holding fast to the gospel in word and in deeds? Are we trusting in Christ alone—not just once, but daily? Salvation is not a one-time transaction; it is a lifelong transformation. And the good news is, the One who began a good work in us will bring it to completion (Philippians 1:6)—if we do not let go. Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of Your Son Jesus. Help me to live daily for You, and when I fall short, correct me and bring me back in alignment with Your Word. In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.

[11] Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. [12] For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. [13] And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. ~ Hebrews 4:11-13

There is nothing in all of creation that can be hidden from God, nor can He be bamboozled into accepting someone who has rejected Him. But know this: “Everything is opened and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).

What I want you to understand is this: It’s like what Charles Spurgeon said: “The Gospel that does not change me will not save me.” Jesus spent time with Pharisees and tax collectors, and wayward people, but He did not leave them the way He found them. Their lives were forever changed for the good by their encounter with the Savior.

Let us consider the caterpillar and its transition to a butterfly. The caterpillar doesn’t just believe that it’s a butterfly; it actually becomes a butterfly. He builds a cocoon and seals himself inside, and goes through a complete transformation.

When he emerges from the cocoon, he is unrecognizable because the old caterpillar has passed away and the new butterfly has emerged.

In contrast, the Gospel doesn’t polish up the outside; instead, it transforms the inside by removing all fleshly, sinful, and selfish desires and replacing them with Godly desires. Therefore, the Gospel doesn’t make us better caterpillars; it makes us entirely new creatures.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let His Religion Change You.

[8] But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. [9] The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ~ 2 Peter 3:8-9

When Peter tells us that a thousand years is like a day with the LORD and a thousand years like a day, he’s referring to the coming of the LORD. Now, what does this have to do with the Feast of Booths since it’s the final day of the feast? Well, if a thousand years with the LORD is like a day and a day like a thousand years, and is all in connection to the coming of the LORD, then there is a subtle or hidden message in those words.

There’s seven days of creation and roughly somewhere over six thousand years since creation. Where does that leave us? For six days God worked, but on the seventh day He rested. For six thousand years the earth has been worked by man, but for a thousand years we will rest with the LORD. What a reward. What a fulfillment.

Everything God has authored in His Word has meaning. It’s never just for no reason. Today is the last day of the Feast of Booths, take time today to search His Word and learn more about the LORD and what He has in store for His people.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look To The Millennia.

² Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. ¹⁰ But after His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He also went up, not publicly but in private. ~John 7:2, 10

⁸ So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” ~ Luke 22:8

The Gospels directly records Jesus keeping only three (though technically two) of the seven God ordained or appointed feasts. Why technically two? Because Jesus is never actually physically recorded in Scripture as celebrating the Feast of Unleavened Bread as it is not the same feast as Passover.

See, by the time of Jesus, the two feasts, Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, had been morphed into one feast. But Jesus is only recorded as celebrating Passover and the Feast of Booths, not the Feast of Unleavened Bread as He died on Passover before the Feast of Unleavened Bread was celebrated, which is the next day.

So, with that said, why is Jesus only recorded as celebrating those two? Because these two are the first and the last of the feasts. Jesus brought the new and better covenant when He came the first time around. At His final return, He will fulfill all covenants.

It’s almost like the LORD is foreshadowing Jesus claiming the titles of the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last in the book of Revelation. Everything in the Bible is written intentionally. Everything has a meaning. I believe this is, at the very least, one of the reasons these are the only two feasts we see Jesus celebrate in Scripture.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look For The Final Fulfillment.

³³ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁴ “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the Lord.” ~ Leviticus 23:33-34

The Feast of Booths was the final feast given by God to the people of Israel. It was to be observed in the seventh month on the fifteenth day of the month. Why? When we look at the date God gave us for this Feast, we have the seventh month, which is the number of completion. And we have the fifteenth day, which in Hebrew isn’t actually the number fifteen, but the numbers ten and five. Ten is the number of covenant and five is the number of the Church.

So what does this mean? This Feast, like the Feast of Passover, looked back at something, but also looked forward at something to come. It foreshadows the fulfillment of the covenant God has with His Church. His final covenant. His perfect covenant. The completion of wandering this earth without a true eternal home, and then receiving the eternal home of the New Earth.

This is what we have to look forward to. The fulfillment of our promised land. Our eternal New Earth.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look Forward To Eternity.