What's Wrong With Simple?

The word simple carries with it different connotations, both positive and negative. Calling a person simple may refer to that person being unsophisticated, even stupid. Definitely a negative connotation. On the other hand, simple can mean easily understood, easy to do, uncomplicated. Positive simple. Somehow, life isn't so simple anymore. There's so much going on, so many things to do, too little time for the, well, simple things of life-depending on what you call simple. Who remembers planting flowers, vegetables, or watching the sunset? When's the last time you actually read a book, without doing anything else? Who still rides a bike for the fun of it? How often do stars command your attention, even though they're billions of miles away?

Jesus used simple things to convey spiritual truths. Corn, wheat, grass, flowers, sparrows, barley, and mustard seeds were all used to teach lasting principles of life. People from all walks of life understood what Jesus was teaching from Him using something simple as a means to convey truth.

God's Word, the Bible is, for the most part, simple. Profound? Yes. Life changing? That's God's plan. But still simple. And God wants us to build our lives on truths which are simple but, oh, so lasting. Confessing Jesus as Lord with our mouths and believing in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead for us (Romans 10: 9,10) are simple truths to position our lives for eternity. God, through John, desires that we prosper and be in health, even as our soul (mind, will, emotions) prospers (3 John 2). Simple truths which children easily believe. Adults sometimes take longer.

I know that there are things in the Bible which take time to learn. For the most part, however, God puts things in His Word which we can easily accept and build into our lives. Things like forgiving, serving others, and tithing. These take effort (at least on my part), but they're pretty simple, don't you think?

God's smart. If God wanted to be complicated, who would ever understand what He's saying? I'm so glad God comes down to our level to make things simple enough for people like me to understand. People like you and those next door to all of us.

What are some simple truths you have learned from the Bible which guide your life, even today? Who have you been able to share these truths with?

© Hubert Gardner Ministries 2016-2024

Where's Jesus?

A lot of people are curious about Jesus as a person. More and more people are looking for Jesus, each for his/her own reason(s). How would you respond to someone asking you the following question: "Where's Jesus." Or, how about, "How do I find Him?" First of all, Jesus isn't lost.  It's just a matter of knowing where He is, so people searching for Him can know where to look. To find where Jesus is, let's start by eliminating where He is not. Let's start with the Cross, where Jesus died, becoming sin for us. Is He there? No, He's not. The old wooden Cross is nowhere to be found. Not to take away from the significance of the Cross, but Jesus isn't there.

Next, let's stop by the tomb where Jesus was buried and left, following His resurrection from hell. As much as I'm thankful for the Tomb, Jesus isn't there either. No, Jesus isn't at the Cross. He's not anywhere near the Tomb. So, where's Jesus? Just exactly where is Jesus?

According to Scriptures (Ephesians 1:20; Hebrews 10:12) Jesus is now in Heaven, seated at the right hand of God Himself. Yes, Jesus went to the Cross. He went to hell in our place, paid the penalty for sin, was raised from the dead by God, then left the Tomb.

But Jesus isn't on the Earth. To get people to Jesus we need to take them to where He is right now, on His Heavenly Throne, not where He used to be. People looking for Jesus ought to be brought to where He's been for nearly 2,000 years, offering Life to all who call upon His Name. Once someone comes into a saving knowledge of Jesus, just come into His Presence, before His Throne, anytime at all. He's there.

In Heaven, on His Throne-that's where Jesus is. That's where you'll find Him, even at Christmas and on Easter. That's worth knowing.

Never forget where Jesus was; what He did for you. Where Jesus is now, however, is where we are to bring others-and come ourselves.

God's Busy

God's a busy Person. Just think about it: He's created a universe that He's keeping in order. He created Earth, the crown jewel of our universe. He created a wonderful Plan of Redemption for all Mankind, then sent His only Son to consummate it through His death, burial, and resurrection. On top of all that, God is continually watching over His every Word to make sure they all come to pass. Okay, so God's busy. After all He's, well, God. But is He too busy watching over the universe and His Word to have an eternal interest in you, in what you're doing?  Is God too busy to want-and be able-to help you get from where you are to where you want to be?

I don't think so. In fact, I know so. How can I be so sure? Because the Living God, Who is upholding the universe He created,  loves me with an everlasting love. He loves you with the same love that He loves Jesus with (John 17:23). It's so, so believe and accept it. God has an intimate interest in you. To take this one step further, He is now the Heavenly Father of all those who have believed on and confessed Jesus, God's Son, as Lord of their lives. Is God your Heavenly Father? If so, great. If not, He can be.

A father cares about his children. Although busy, good fathers make the time for their children. Good fathers are vitally interested in their children for who they are-not just what they can do for Daddy. God's that-and more.  God wants to be a part of every moment of your individual life, helping you to become and be the person He created you to be. He's made available the resources of Heaven to make it so.

Yes, God's busy. After all, there are so many things to do when you're God. Just remember though, that, because He's God, He can do so many different things at once, including taking care of you, hearing and answering your prayers, spending time with you whenever you want (hopefully often), and letting you get as close to Him as you want to be. As busy as God is, you can't get too close to Him; you can't know Him too well. Quite a Father, now isn't He?

God's busy-busy desiring your love, trust, fellowship, and needing you to help Him carry out His Plan of redemption in the Earth today.

It's time to get busy knowing the Living God Who's always busy, yet has all the time in eternity, so to speak, to live in and through you.

If you have not yet received Jesus as your Savior, click here to do so now.

To Hell With Religion

To Hell with religion. There, I said it. No apologies made, for religion is the worst thing that's ever happened to Mankind, outside of the Garden of Eden. Why is this? What's so bad about religion? Religion is bad for several reasons. Here are a few of them:

1.  Religion bases belief on experience. Every religion is based upon someone's personal experience that he/she came to embrace as truth. Enough convinced seekers later and, voila, a new religion is born.

2. Religion has no relationship. In religion, people pray, at best, to some mystical, far-off deity who no one knows on a personal basis. No conversation, no personal interaction, no intimate knowledge of a Living God because, in religion, none exists.  Fables, fabrication, and fairy tales, yet millions around the globe give their possessions, time-even lives-to follow what someone else told them is truth.

Spiritual blind leading other like-blinded.

3. Religion maintains its status quo through fear, intimidation-even death. With no relationship to draw from, religion  resorts to fear to keep its members. Fear of being isolated from those you're leaving. Fear of failure to merit approval of those in the know. Fear of forfeiture of reward in the afterlife. Intimidation-even death-is another tool religion uses to prevent once ardent followers from revealing insider secrets of the truth about its plans, purposes, and pursuits.

Do you have religion, or a relationship? Does your god love you as you are, or is unconditional love still on your bucket list of things yet to accomplish?

Check out my next post, as I talk about the opposite of religion, and what it means for you.

Where Are Your Roots?

Tree roots provide a tentacled anchor, enabling trees to withstand winds, adverse conditions, and seasonal changes. Having a healthy root system provides the basis for mature growth and development of trees. A tree's very life originates within its unseen roots.

Like trees, our lives need roots. We need roots to ensure our personal growth and development has something to draw from. Our roots are critical to succes in our lives-even life itself. The quality of our lives can be traced to the quality of our unseen anchor-our roots if you will.

Where are your roots? Who or what is your life's root system? When the storms of life come what anchors your life? What sees you through? What sustains you? Again, where are your roots? Your answer may reveal who/what you have chosen to draw your very existence from.

The Bible has already given us an answer that will work everywhere, all the time, in every situation. In Colossians 2:6,7 God instructs us to be rooted in Christ. This includes being rooted in the knowledge of who and what we are as Christians, as children of God. This is a truth no crisis can prevail against. Acting on the knowledge of who and what we are, in Christ, is part of the unseen root system God designed and made available for each of our lives. The length and breadth of that system is limited only by our willing obedience to God's Word in our own lives.

So, where are your roots? In yourself, the hope of having someone else's experience to draw from, or in the Word of God-especially the Epistles (letters written to Christians)? There are a lot of root systems around, however only one system works. Which root system are you relying on for life, strength, and health? Where are your roots?

God’s root system begins with His written Word. God’s written word is His will to us through, primarily, the letters written to the churches, Romans through Revelation. I’m not saying neglect the Old Testament. A former businessman said that we could run a business using the book of Proverbs. The 23rd Psalm is so beautifully written, for our benefit. The book of Isaiah has much we Christians can learn from. And the book of beginnings, Genesis, tells us what took place before and after Adam sinned, clueing us that the Messiah (Jesus) would come and defeat the devil (Genesis 3:15).

Hebrews 8:6 says that, as Christians, we have a better covenant, established upon better promises. Therefore, spend most of your time in the new covenant, written to us Christians. New is better than old, for sure. The Old Testament (covenant) has much to say about curses. In the New Testament we are told, in Galatians 3:13, that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law.

That’s one reason why the New Testament is much better than the Old. Plus, the Old Testament was written to spiritually dead people, because Jesus hadn’t yet come to redeem us. The letters written to us Christians tell what happened when Jesus went to the Cross for all mankind. The Old Testament proclaims the fact of Jesus’s coming. The Gospels tell us what happened, but only in the letters written to Christians do we find out why Jesus did what He did, for all mankind.

© Hubert Gardner Ministries 2014-2024

Is All Faith The Same?

Faith. It's one of the most misunderstood words to people today, including Christians as a whole. With so many talking about it, it's surprising just how few people really understand what faith is. To meet this need, why haven't more people made things simple by explaining, in simple language, what faith is?  Hopefully today's post helps bring simplification to faith. Faith is faith. Faith for salvation, faith for healing, faith for prosperity, a new/better job-it's still faith.

How does faith come? By hearing the Word (Romans 10:17) in the area you need faith. Need faith for salvation? Romans 10:9,10, 13 works just fine, a practical application of John 3:16 itself. What about healing? Psalm 103:3, Isaiah 53:4,5, Matthew 8:17, Acts 10:38, I Peter 2:24, and 3 John 2 are but a few good healing scriptures to produce faith in your heart. For prosperity, hear these faith-building scriptures: Deuteronomy 8:18, Psalm 1:1-3, Proverbs 35:27, Isaiah 48:17, Matthew 6:33, Luke 6:33, 2 Corinthians 9:6-8, and 3 John 2, among others.

The same gasoline that runs a car's engine will also power a generator, lawnmower, or a motorcycle. Cookie dough at Christmas becomes a star, tree, snowman, or a reindeer. As with faith, the application determines the end result.

Regardless of application, how we get faith remains the same: by hearing what the Bible-God's Word-has to say on a given subject. We do the hearing, God does the providing (of faith).

Is all faith the same? Yes, in that faith is faith, gasoline is gasoline, and cookie dough is, well, cookie dough. No, in that the application of faith will produce salvation, healing, prosperity, or a job, to name a few results. The same faith, applied through different verses, will produce different results.

What other illustrations can you add to make faith simpler to understand?

My Concern With Change

Change. It's a popular word nowadays. A change in seasons, the economy, politics, to name a few. And, of course, one that's been in featured in the news: climate change. Suffice to say change-perceived or otherwise-affects us all. Looking back over the 50's and 60's I've noticed that changes are occurring at a faster rate than I can remember. What used to be seen as "one for the ages" is now, well, just another super invention; just another change.  Having a touch-tone phone was once a status symbol. Now consumers expect the latest "G" on their iphones once a year, sooner being better.

Yet, with all this change, I'm concerned. My concern is that society as a whole-even Christians-have embraced change to the point that there's nothing unchanging in their lives, nothing to anchor themselves to. I'm concerned that we've become more concerned about the latest change than the unchanging things of God, which are as true today as they were thousands of years ago.

The Bible is a faith book written by a faith God, through men of faith. Unlike technology, faith never changes; it's constant. Faith in God's Word will work just the same today as it did for Jesus 2,000 years ago,  Faith for salvation, healing, and finances hasn't changed over time, because God hasn't. Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it's impossible to please God. When the Bible was written it took faith to please God; the same is true today. There's more chance of the devil being nice, than faith changing.

I'm all for change, to a point. My college senior paper was typed on a typewriter. No computers,  word processors, or spell check. Computers make for more productive lives now.  So, what's my point?  I'm saying that, maybe, in our passionate embrace of the latest and greatest change, we've allowed change to distract us from something greater than change. That something is the unchanging truths found in God's unchanging Word, the Bible. Unchanging truths which, when believed and acted upon, change us from the inside out. That's change we can all live with.

How has constant change changed your own walk with God? What steps did you take (or are you taking) to maintain your focus on God's unchanging Word?

Thermometer or Thermostat?

Many homes have thermometers, both inside and out.  Outside thermometers are usually in the shade, whereas  central heat/air conditioning units have an indoor thermometers with their thermostats.  Both indoor and outdoor thermometers serve the same function: to measure actual temperature at any given moment.  Thermostats, however, allow occupants to change the surrounding temperature from what is to what is desired-either higher or lower. I have never seen an outside thermostat. If it's 90 degrees in the shade where you live it will remain that way, until weather changes raise or lower the temperature.  As I write this, the outside temperature is 69 degrees at noon, which is great for the middle of May.  For an Oklahoma July or August? Just wishful thinking.

Inside, however, we can change the existing temperature to be either warmer or cooler, depending upon personal preference. We do this by setting our thermostat to the desired temperature, up or down. Thermostats direct the air conditioner or heater to come on, thereby producing a change in temperature-either warmer or cooler. Thank God for working thermostats!

Our tongues can be either a thermometer or a thermostat, telling the way things are (thermometer) or declaring the desired result (thermostat). Telling things the way they are results in things remaining the same, or changing without your permission. Calling for change in your situation demands making a change in your words. From what is to what you desire. From the way things are to the way you want them to be based, of course, on the promises of God's Word.

Perhaps  you're in a situation that needs changing. Whether it's your health, finances, job situation, relationships, or your walk with God, it can change. But as long as you talk about just what is things won't change. Like that thermometer, your words will be an indicator of what is. On the other hand, beginning to speak what God's Word says about your situation will initiate change in your life. Your tongue will be like that thermostat, demanding your circumstances change from what is to what's promised to you by God, in His Word.

Are you a thermometer or a thermostat? Are your words declaring what is or what's desired? What are you doing to see your circumstance change? How has reading this post helped? Who can you share this post with, to see change in someone else's life?