Nick’s Walk

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). The truth—and it is painful to admit—is that no matter how good we are, we will never be good enough to satisfy God’s holiness. And that doesn’t change even after becoming a Christian.Packiam, Glenn (2010-01-01). Secondhand Jesus (p. 128). David C Cook. Kindle Edition. If a parent told his children that they would never be good enough, he would be scorned and probably end up in court, but he would be truthful. I have know so many who, although they could accept they were not perfect, they believed that they were “good enough.” God doesn’t grade on the curve. He requires perfection, 100 %. We can’t make that grade. Coming to grips with not being “good enough” should bring us to our knees. Thank God, He has provided an answer to this problem. The essence of sin is we human beings substituting ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for us. We … put ourselves where only God deserves to be; God … puts himself where […]

You may protest, but the question we may never have bothered to ask ourselves is if our desire to serve Christ and our drive to succeed in life are mutually agreeable goals. Packiam, Glenn (2010-01-01). Secondhand Jesus (p. 88). David C Cook. Kindle Edition. Some of us grew up in a very legalistic Christianity. It seemed that anything fun was not appropriate for the Christian. If it made you smile, it must be sinful. We were told that those happy in this life were forfeiting eternal bliss. It’s no surprise that many of us ran from Christianity as soon as we could. The modern church has tried to call us back. There is a new message, “Christianity can be fun.” I believe in that message, but like most of man’s endeavors it has gone too far. In not getting the word of God directly, we have fallen victim to rumors about what the Christian life is. We have “learned” that Jesus can get us what we really want: wealth, popularity, good health, success. The prosperity gospel has become very popular. In some forms, it’s ridiculous: Send me $1000 and God will make you rich. But other forms are less […]

Have you heard fellow Christians complain that they are not “getting fed” or that the teachings at their church are too shallow or basic, that they want more “depth?”  What do they really mean? What can a pastor, preacher, teacher or even a blogger, do to address these concerns. Sometimes what they really mean is “I have heard that before.” In response, let me say that the gospel is really simple to state, but apparently difficult to absorb, and a continuing struggle to apply. If you want each new sermon or teaching to reveal biblical facts you didn’t know before, you don’t understand scripture. The whole of scripture could be named the Revelation of Jesus Christ. It’s all about Jesus from Genesis to Revelation. Every time we look at scripture we should come away fixed on Jesus. If that seems like the same old stuff, sorry about that. We don’t need more facts, we need more application of the facts we already have. The solution to every great murder mystery doesn’t come with the revelation of new facts, but with an understanding of the facts we had all along.  If you hunger to learn more from the less preached […]

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 NKJV) Somehow we get the idea that as Christians we should live a life free of trouble. So when we have trouble, we doubt our position with Christ. Our “Christian Friends” may counsel us to “have faith.” They may ask like the disciples, “Who has sinned?” Christ promised us peace, not a trouble free life. Recently I was told I had a urology problem. It could be stones, or a tumor, but it must be something. I was troubled, but peaceful. I think as a Christian that’s where I should have been. Turned out there was really nothing significant wrong. But that’s not because I’m a Christian or because of my work with Kairos or because I do a daily blog. It’s because God is good. He doesn’t owe me good health. God is not a coke machine, dumping out goodies in exchange for something we do. A couple of years ago, I had a knee condition removed by prayer, when some great Christian friends ended […]

Jeremiah 24:7 English Standard Version (ESV) 7 I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart. Jesus sent His son, who gave his life, that we might be able to know God, to have relationship with Him. Why do we settle for less? We seem willing to know “about” God. We shun first hand knowledge. Even with His word, we prefer to hear interpretations of what it means, shying away from reading it for ourselves and letting it speak to us directly. We don’t seek His face. We would rather hear from folks who say they have seen His face and get their interpretation of who He is. Man has long had this problem. The children of Israel wanted Moses to go up and get the word from the Lord. They wanted a King. We want an intermediary. We want to forget that the temple curtain was torn and we have direct access. We are comfortable with other men as priests. We are happy sitting in pews and being told about God. As […]

When you think of porn, what images come to mind? Okay, I could have phrased that better. I don’t mean pornographic images. I mean who do you imagine watching or reading porn and where do they get it? Don’t you think of dirty old men or curious teenage boys? Don’t you envision the dark recesses of the internet or slimy book stores on back streets? Not any more. Now porn is sold at Barnes and Noble and to women, even little old ladies. Fifty Shades of Grey is a trilogy containing not just sex but S and M. The “Fifty Shades” books have sold 15 million copies in three months, evenly split between e-readers and paperback as the novels jumped the barrier from the cyber-equivalent of plain brown wrapper to prominent display at your local bookstore. To put this in context, the publisher, Vintage, says it took three years to sell that many copies of the “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” series. The Tattoo series was one of the most popular series of novels ever, until now.You might think that if little old ladies are reading it, it can’t be that racy. And lots of the ladies say they “skim over the […]

“Do something different today. Your soul craves variety” Joyce Meyer It’s going to be a strange week. My grandkids are in Florida for TWO weeks. Miss them already. We have a holiday in the middle of the week. On Monday, I’m already looking forward to Wednesday morning when I have an early morning prayer and share, but two of my best friends, Terrell and Gary are out of town, and Wednesday is a holiday. Our Wednesday morning meeting won’t be the same. On Thursday I have an appointment with a new ortho. I like my current guy, but he doesn’t do knee replacements. It’s going to be different. I have been preparing for and doing Kairos for weeks. That’s over. I miss my Kairos family and the men we were called to serve. It’s going to be different. We heard a potential new pastor preach on Sunday. He was great. But I like things the way they are. Things will be different. Maybe I’m just getting old. Different doesn’t have the same draw or excitement that it used to. My God is the same, yesterday, today and forever. I need to remember that each new day brings new challenges […]

  Significance – Important, having meaning. If we break it all down, our common goal in life is to be significant, to be important, to have a life of meaning. It’s sad that those who choose not to marry designate their “partner” as their “significant” other. This apparently is meant to indicate that the person is important and that the relationship has meaning. The person is apparently not important enough to pledge eternal fidelity to, or to proclaim before God and mankind, but that’s another story. Our search for God is, at it’s essence, a search for confirmation that we are important that our life has meaning. God has placed this need for significance in our hearts. We have a need that, ultimately, can only be filled by relationship with the creator. Our mission, then, is to make others realize their significance. To do that we have to convince them they are important to us before we can show them they are important to God. This idea is at the heart of the Make a Friend, Be a Friend, Bring a Friend to Christ method of evangelism. Significance is important not just in defining our relationship with God or […]