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In Jeremiah 30:17, outcast means "thrust out of society" or "degraded person", in other cases it means "exile". Who do you think of when you hear these descriptions? An addict? Someone who suffers with mental illness? A person who is homeless? The truth is, all of us are or have been an outcast. You can be the outcast at your job, within your family, at your church or school, even amongst your friends. Every one of us has felt singled out, unloved, misunderstood, or unwanted at some point in our lives. It is easy to believe that God has forgotten about you when you are feeling so low but this is NOT true. He welcomes you right where you are at. Outcasts were used by God many times in the Bible. In the New Testament, one of the first stories to remember is the life and ministry of Jesus leading up to the cross. He was often ridiculed, misjudged, and was very familiar with being an outsider. He came to this world to set us free from our sins and was rejected over and over again. There isn't an emotion or situation that we have had that Jesus has not felt or been through. He knows and loves our brokenness to an extent that we are incapable of understanding. Another outcast that comes to mind is Saul of Tarsus. He was a Pharisee known to arrest and question Christians. Saul was an enemy to the believers of Jesus Christ. He even went so far as to approve and be present for the stoning of the apostle, Stephen, for his belief that Jesus was the Messiah. In Acts 9:1-7, Jesus appeared to Saul on Damascus road and converted him. Now, instead of arresting and killing Christians, he would begin preaching to them. Acts 9:26 says "When Saul went to Jerusalem, he tried to join the group of followers, but they were afraid of him. They did not believe he was really a follower." When Jesus converted him, Saul then became an outcast to the Christian community because of his past. Saul was later given the name Paul after he was baptized into Christianity and went on to become one of the most well respected men in the Bible. God uses the most unique opportunities to show us that those who are viewed as the LEAST will become the GREATEST! Jesus did not hurt and degrade the outcasts He met . Instead, He created a renewed sense of personal value in them . He did this by   loving and accepting them  . And their hearts often melted when Jesus approached them warmly and lovingly . Jesus loves us and wants to have a relationship with us through our thoughts, our actions, and our words. If you would like to find out more about how to have a relationship with Jesus, need prayer, or a Bible, please ask one of the Feed Your Soul team members!

Jesus talked a lot about self-righteousness. And he condemned  it. This is what the word “condemn” means: to express total, complete, and absolute disapproval of something. Jesus rejected self-righteousness. He condemned it publicly and repeatedly. He hated self-righteousness then. He still hates it today. In His harshest condemnation of self-righteousness, Jesus went after the Pharisees, the religious leaders of His time. Here’s what Jesus taught the people about the Pharisees. He told the people to listen to what the Pharisees said that was written in Scripture because the Scriptures are 100% true. So, if the Pharisees were speaking from Scripture, what they were saying was true and therefore should be obeyed (Matthew 23:3). But Jesus immediately told the people not  to behave like the Pharisees—their behavior was out of sync with what they taught. They were hypocrites. In Matthew 23, Jesus slammed the Pharisees. I mean, He really let them have it right between the eyes. Jesus skewered them for lying, greed, selfishness, and putting on a show of acting holier-than-thou. He blasted them for their lack of mercy, injustice and unfaithfulness to what God’s Word actually said. You see, the Old Testament always taught that loving God and loving others was what He desired from true believers. God has always wanted people to genuinely love Him and love others. Acting in supposed “holy” ways – putting on a show and saying the “right” words has never been acceptable to God. Self-righteousness was not just a problem in Jesus’s time. We all have this problem. I do and so do you. We all think we have some degree of goodness in us. Why is that? Because we compare ourselves to others. It’s always easy to look at someone else, and think, “Thank goodness I’m not like that  person.” Here’s the problem with that thinking: God is not comparing you to other people. God is not looking at what you’ve done in order to decide if you make the cut or not. He’s looking at your heart, at what you believe in your heart. You see, what you believe in your heart is known by the Lord because He knows everything about you. There’s nothing He doesn’t know about you. There’s nothing He doesn’t know about me. That means there’s no hiding anything from God—not what you’ve done and not what’s in your heart or mine. God knows if you truly have put your faith in Jesus or if you’re depending on your own self-righteousness. If you want a yardstick to compare yourself to, to get an idea of what God thinks of your goodness, your self-righteousness, look at Jesus. He’s the One to compare yourself to, not others. He was sinless. He was perfect. Try telling yourself you’re good against that standard. It’s impossible. That’s what makes Jesus, His sinless life, His death, and His resurrection so precious. He gave His sinless life to pay for the sins of all who would believe in Him. The self-righteous heart says, “I can do this on my own, I don’t need Jesus.” The humble heart prays for mercy, repents of sin and seeks the forgiveness that is only possible through the Lord Jesus. I pray this will be the day that the Holy Spirit moves on your heart and brings life to your soul. If you would like prayer or a Bible, let me know.

There’s a story in the book of Luke, called “The Rich Ruler” (Luke 18:18–30). It’s about an encounter Jesus had as he preached and healed on the east side of the Jordan River (today, this area is the country of Jordan). As usual, crowds of people surrounded Him. So, this man, described as a rich ruler, had a question for Jesus. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” It’s not the first time someone has asked Jesus this question. Nicodemus had that question in his mind when he came to Jesus (John 3:1–21). Another time, when Jesus told the parable of the good Samaritan, that story was triggered by a man asking the same thing (Luke 10:25–37). How do I get eternal life? Good question. Now, Jesus was the master at exposing sin—especially those who thought they were without sin. So, Jesus answers this young ruler’s question by telling him to obey the commandments. But the man wants more, he’s after specifics. He asks, “Which ones?” (Matt 19:18). That tells us something about this man—he’s interested in getting the task done, so he can move along with life. He wants to check the right commandment boxes off his to-do list. Jesus patiently answers again. He gives the guy a list of commandments: Don’t murder. Don’t steal. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t lie. Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself. Now, to disobey any commandment is sin. So, the ruler says, with great confidence, “All of this I have kept.” He believed he had kept all these commandments perfectly. Really? Did you catch that last commandment? Love your neighbor as yourself. Let’s talk about that. Briefly (so much more could be said), what this involves is to treat everyone around you, day after day, hour by hour, minute by minute, with the same level of attention and care you devote to yourself. No slipping up. Can anyone truly do this? Try going for a single hour without your thoughts centering on a two-letter word: me. “Me” is at the center of all I think about, all that I talk about, and all that I do. Think about it: I’m planning this, I want that, I don’t feel good, I don’t have time, I don’t have enough, I’m tired, I’m hungry…you get the picture. It’s an impossible command. To love your neighbor as yourself is impossible without God. And that’s Jesus’s point. This man is confident he’s perfectly obedient, and Jesus is making clear that no one—including this guy—can keep the commandments perfectly. Jesus really wanted this guy to get the point. So He told the man to go sell all his stuff, give the money to the poor, and come follow Him. To give all his money to the poor would put this guy’s money where his mouth was. It would prove he was willing to take care of his neighbors the way he took care of himself. His money kept him fed, clothed, and comfortable…and his money could do the same for his neighbors—feed them, clothe them, make them more comfortable. But no. The ruler became very sad—he wouldn’t do that. Now don’t misunderstand. Jesus did NOT tell the guy to sell everything because that would “earn” him eternal life. He told him to sell everything because it forced this man to acknowledge he, in fact, was not keeping all God’s commands. He couldn’t. He was a sinner in need of Jesus. And since he refused to believe in Jesus, there was no eternal life ahead for him. He decided a comfortable life on earth was worth more to him than eternal life. Maybe later on he reconsidered and repented and trusted in Jesus. If he did, he got the message and did inherit eternal life. If he didn’t, he’s paying an eternal price in hell. The reward of faith in Jesus is life, now and forever. If you need prayer or a Bible, let us know.

Let’s talk about Jesus again today. He spent His first year of ministry in Judea, the southern part of Israel. Then, He left Judea and went north, probably because the Jewish leaders were becoming aware of His preaching on repentance and the kingdom of God—and they didn’t like it. You see, in general, the Jews (including those leaders) saw no reason for repentance of sin. As a reminder, repentance means acknowledging that you are a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness…confessing and asking God for forgiveness…and turning away from sin to God. The Jews saw no need for this. Why? Because they believed they were already good with God since they were the descendants of that great man of faith, Abraham. They believed their DNA—that being the physical descendants of Abraham—automatically made them right with God. Jesus was telling them the opposite. They were not right with God. And neither was anyone else without repentance. Jesus taught that everyone must repent because no one is right with God who does not. This made the Jewish leaders mad. So, Jesus left and went to Galilee. In Galilee, He kept on preaching about God and repentance. He worked all sorts of miracles. The miracles were not done to impress the people but to let them know that Jesus was God. He had come from heaven so that they would believe in Him and receive the forgiveness of sin He spoke about. Some believed, but most didn’t. Why? Because they thought they were fine. They didn’t need to repent, and they didn’t need forgiveness. They were good with God. Fast forward about a year. Jesus is now back in Judea, just outside the city of Jerusalem. It’s the night before He was crucified. He knows everything that is about to happen (Jesus is God, so He knows all, sees all). Jesus is praying. He’s so troubled, so agitated by what will happen that He’s sweating blood (Luke 22:44). If you know anything about crucifixion, it’s not hard to imagine why Jesus is so stressed that He’s sweating blood. But it’s not the physical pain and torture that’s got Him sweating blood. It’s the coming wrath of God…it’s complete separation from God, as Jesus pays the price for the sin of those who believe in Him. He’s sweating blood because He alone understands what this means . It’s almost more than He can bear. Now, if Jesus Christ sweats blood over the punishment of God for sin and separation from the love of God, think how terrifying it is. So if you refuse to repent and believe in Jesus—what do you think awaits you? If Jesus can barely take it, how can anyone? In the same way that the Jews trusted in their DNA to save them, we soothe ourselves by saying God is love and Jesus is love. And that is true. God is love. Jesus is love. But God is also holy. And the only way for anyone to be right with a holy God is to confess sin and repent, and believe in Jesus as the Son of God, Lord of your life, and Savior. Holy God does love you—in fact He loves you so much, He made the way for you to be right with Him. That way is Jesus. Jesus is God’s gift to sinners. If you reject Jesus, you reject God. If you decide God is all love and no judgment, you lie to yourself. Now I know, no one likes to hear this kind of message. But is it better to believe lies that are soothing but false? Or to hear truth and believe? You decide. If you need prayer or a Bible, let me know.

Let’s talk about Jesus again today. He spent His first year of ministry in Judea, the southern part of Israel. Then, He left Judea and went north, probably because the Jewish leaders were becoming aware of His preaching on repentance and the kingdom of God—and they didn’t like it. You see, in general, the Jews (including those leaders) saw no reason for repentance of sin. As a reminder, repentance means acknowledging that you are a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness…confessing and asking God for forgiveness…and turning away from sin to God. The Jews saw no need for this. Why? Because they believed they were already good with God since they were the descendants of that great man of faith, Abraham. They believed their DNA—that being the physical descendants of Abraham—automatically made them right with God. Jesus was telling them the opposite. They were not right with God. And neither was anyone else without repentance. Jesus taught that everyone must repent because no one is right with God who does not. This made the Jewish leaders mad. So, Jesus left and went to Galilee. In Galilee, He kept on preaching about God and repentance. He worked all sorts of miracles. The miracles were not done to impress the people but to let them know that Jesus was God. He had come from heaven so that they would believe in Him and receive the forgiveness of sin He spoke about. Some believed, but most didn’t. Why? Because they thought they were fine. They didn’t need to repent, and they didn’t need forgiveness. They were good with God. Fast forward about a year. Jesus is now back in Judea, just outside the city of Jerusalem. It’s the night before He was crucified. He knows everything that is about to happen (Jesus is God, so He knows all, sees all). Jesus is praying. He’s so troubled, so agitated by what will happen that He’s sweating blood (Luke 22:44). If you know anything about crucifixion, it’s not hard to imagine why Jesus is so stressed that He’s sweating blood. But it’s not the physical pain and torture that’s got Him sweating blood. It’s the coming wrath of God…it’s complete separation from God, as Jesus pays the price for the sin of those who believe in Him. He’s sweating blood because He alone understands what this means . It’s almost more than He can bear. Now, if Jesus Christ sweats blood over the punishment of God for sin and separation from the love of God, think how terrifying it is. So if you refuse to repent and believe in Jesus—what do you think awaits you? If Jesus can barely take it, how can anyone? In the same way that the Jews trusted in their DNA to save them, we soothe ourselves by saying God is love and Jesus is love. And that is true. God is love. Jesus is love. But God is also holy. And the only way for anyone to be right with a holy God is to confess sin and repent, and believe in Jesus as the Son of God, Lord of your life, and Savior. Holy God does love you—in fact He loves you so much, He made the way for you to be right with Him. That way is Jesus. Jesus is God’s gift to sinners. If you reject Jesus, you reject God. If you decide God is all love and no judgment, you lie to yourself. Now I know, no one likes to hear this kind of message. But is it better to believe lies that are soothing but false? Or to hear truth and believe? You decide. If you need prayer or a Bible, let us know.

My friend’s husband has a lot of health problems. He’s maybe not always been the picture of perfect health, but he’s been fine. About a month ago, he found out he has cancer. And heart problems. So, practically overnight, he went from thinking he was healthy to knowing he had life-threatening diseases. Now, his days are filled with all sorts of doctors, appointments, tests, and phone calls. Maybe you have health problems too. Maybe you spend a lot of your time driving to appointments…waiting…seeing doctors…trying different meds…getting tests done. In general, when our health takes a nose-dive, we get on it. We take action. We get help. We want to get better.  You know, when Jesus was on the earth, He performed many miracles. He healed people of all kinds of diseases. He made blind people see. He made lame people walk. He made deaf people hear. He healed—fully and completely and instantly. Part of the reason Jesus healed almost everywhere He went was because He had compassion for people who were suffering. He cared about their aches and pains and suffering. So, He did something about it. But what truly motivated Jesus to heal people was His relentless effort to show people who He was: God in the flesh. Who can fully and completely and instantly heal other than God? No one. Jesus’s miracles were proof. Now, if people could understand who Jesus was—God—they could believe in Him. The miracles were evidence that Jesus was God in the flesh so that people would believe. But why did Jesus care about people understanding who He was? Because He cared about their spiritual health . Yes, He cared about their physical health, and so He healed. But even more, He cared about their spiritual health. How is your spiritual health? I’ll tell you: without Jesus Christ as the Master of your life and your Savior from your sin, you are spiritually dead. Dead. Get that? You’re not on life support. You’re spiritually dead. Jesus offers spiritual life to those who are spiritually dead. When He was here on earth, those who believed in Him, received spiritual healing: they received life. It’s been the same ever since. We spend a lot of time on our physical health. Maybe you try to eat healthy. Maybe you try to get some exercise. Maybe you take vitamins. And when big health problems happen, like with my friend’s husband, doctors become a way of life. Our physical health becomes The Thing that consumes our thoughts, our time, our money. But what about your spiritual health? You see, we all will die one day. Taking care of our physical bodies is important, but at some point, physical health won’t matter anymore. Our spiritual bodies are eternal. Jesus does not desire that anyone—not you and not me—should perish spiritually . Spiritual life is possible only  by putting your faith in Christ. Your spiritual health matters—and the only One who can meet your spiritual health needs is Jesus. Eternal life is found only in Him. If you need prayer or a Bible, let us know.

What if someone told you that what you believed about God was wrong? Let me tell you the story of the apostle, Paul. He wasn’t always an apostle… Paul was a deeply religious man. He grew up in what is now southern Turkey, and at some point, his parents sent him to Jerusalem to study. His teacher, Gamaliel, was the best-known rabbi of that time. Paul studied hard. I’m sure he had most, if not all, of the Old Testament memorized. Besides being super-educated, he was a Pharisee. This meant that he followed the traditions that, over the years, the Pharisees had come up with. These traditions were nit-picky, ridiculous rules. These rules didn’t come from the Bible, they were simply traditions. Keeping all of them was hard—impossible really. However, Paul was committed to keeping them. I’m sure he rarely failed. So here’s Paul, a die-hard, passionate, religious, rule-following man. But he’s also a killer—a killer of Christians. Why? Because those Christians believed Jesus was the Son of God, that He had died and then had risen from the dead. Those Christians actually believed that Jesus was alive again! They said Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy—that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. “They lie!” he thought. Paul believed in the one true God— he thought . He worshipped the one true God— he thought . It enraged Paul! I mean he wasn’t just upset. It didn’t just cause him to lose a little sleep. To him, the Christians were beyond outrageous. They deserved to die. So, he hunted them down, threw them in prison, and even murdered them. And then one day, the living Jesus appeared to super-religious, defender-of-God Paul. And Jesus said, “Why are you persecuting Me?” I can’t imagine what it would be like to have the living Jesus confront me, in all His glory…and ask me why I was doing what I was doing…meanwhile, I’m thinking what I’m doing is super-religious and super-right. And then to learn I was actually totally wrong? This would be frightening to say the least. Well, a face-to-face meeting with the living Jesus caused Paul to see that everything he had believed all his life had been wrong. It took the power of Jesus to open Paul’s eyes to truth. Paul’s understanding of the Old Testament had been completely wrong. He had thought serving God was about following all the picky rules and working at being perfect. Honoring God was simply about doing the right stuff. What Paul learned is that God wanted His heart, his faith, and his obedience . Paul had been wrong. And it had all been right before his eyes all along…in the Bible. So what about you? What if the living Jesus told you that making sure you get a baby baptized has nothing to do with being saved or going to heaven?  What if the living Jesus told you that praying to anyone other than God, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit is unacceptable to God? What if the living Jesus said eternal life is found by grace through faith in Him? What if the living Jesus said there is not one thing you can do that helps earn you a spot in heaven? What if the living Jesus told you that the Word of God is the only source of truth? He already has. In the Bible. Read it and believe. If you would like prayer or need a Bible, let us know.

There was a man in the Bible who believed a few things that people still believe today. His name was Simon (Acts 8:9-24). Simon was a celebrity in his town because of his remarkable magic tricks. Then one day, Philip, who had been one of the men chosen to help serve in the church in Jerusalem (Acts 6:5) came to town. Philip told the people about Jesus. Philip healed people…some had been paralyzed, some couldn’t walk. Can you imagine this? People listened  to what Philip was teaching them about Jesus, and many believed the good news of Jesus. Now all this fascinated Simon! Philip could do better tricks than he could! Simon decided he’d better get on board with this thing. So, the Bible says, “Even Simon himself believed” (Acts 8:13). And along with a whole bunch of people, Simon got baptized. He was saved! Or was he ? The story goes on. Simon hung around Philip and continued to be amazed by all that Philip did. I mean, these tricks were just incredible. Well, the apostles, Peter and John, heard about the people’s belief in Jesus and came to town to lay their hands on those who had been baptized in the name of Jesus. By the laying on of their hands, the truth of the people’s faith was confirmed, and the Holy Spirit was received by these believers. Simon was stunned. Just by simply laying their hands on people, the Holy Spirit could be made to come to people? Simon had to get his hands to work the same way. Note: obviously, Simon wasn’t a true believer—he obviously hadn’t  received the Holy Spirit. But, hey, this was no problem for Simon. He offered Peter and John money. He tried buy the ability to do the same thing: put his hands on people and cause the Holy Spirit to be received. Said another way, Simon thought there was something he could give  or something he could do  to get the Holy Spirit. Is that how it works? So, three things Simon thought and people still believe. 1) Was Simon saved because he said  he believed? Though he said that, those were nothing but words. And in the same way today, there are plenty of people who think that simply saying  the words, “I believe in Jesus” is all it takes. Here’s the truth: you can say anything you want. But it’s your life that tells the story. Does your life reflect a total commitment to the Lord? 2) But Simon must have been saved because he was baptized! It seemed to Simon that baptism sealed the deal. But baptism doesn’t save anyone…and yet, many churches today teach that baptism saves. Baptism is simply an action taken that declares to the world a change of heart—it tells friends and family that you are committed to loving and serving the Lord. A true change of heart means that what motivates you has changed. Is your motivation to love and serve the Lord wholeheartedly? 3) Simon believed that he had something that God wanted—his money. Seriously? Simon’s money could influence God? And yet it’s no different today. Many churches teach that what you do saves you…they teach that your giving and good deeds is the way to be saved. Back to the story: Peter called Simon out, saying, “your heart is not right before God.” Ah, and there’s the issue . A right heart. What is a right heart? The person with a right heart sees and is sick over his or her sin. The person with the right heart pleads with God for mercy and grace and forgiveness, made possible by Jesus’s death. Peter told Simon, “Repent!” Do you seriously think God is checking His records to see if you’ve been baptized, and if you have, that puts you in good standing with Him? Or that you can work way into or earn the right to be saved because of what you’ve done or not done? No. God looks at your heart. What does God see in yours?

“Don’t talk to me about Jesus. Jesus was just a man.” Someone said that to me…and In a way, this is true—but it’s only half-true. Here’s the whole truth.  Jesus was  a man. The apostle, John, wrote very plainly that Jesus was a flesh-and-blood man. John wrote about how he had heard Jesus speak with his own ears, seen Jesus with his own eyes, touched Jesus with his own hands (1 John 1:1) Matthew, who was also one of Jesus’s disciples along with John, wrote about how Jesus said to him, “Follow Me” (Matt 9:9), and then he invited Jesus over to his house for supper along with a bunch of his friends. The gospels are filled with stories of Jesus interacting with people, traveling around Israel, preaching and teaching. Obviously, Jesus was truly a man. But Jesus was not JUST a man. John saw Jesus do things no mere man could do. Jesus instantly and completely healed hundreds of sick people…He fed a crowd of 5000 in the middle of nowhere with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread…Jesus brought His dead friend, Lazarus, back to life—4 days after Lazarus died. These are just a few of the amazing miracles of Jesus. Who do you pray to when you’re sick? When you’re hurting? God. Jesus did all these miracles to let people know that He was God in the flesh, right there among them. Plus, Jesus knew peoples’ hearts. He answered Nicodemus’s question before Nick could even ask (John 3:2-3)…Jesus told the woman at the well she’d had 5 husbands and was living with a man she wasn’t married to—Jesus had never met this woman before and they hadn’t talked about her personal life (John 4:16-18). And I especially like the time when Jesus was at one of the Jewish leaders’ houses, and Jesus read this guy’s mind (Luke 7:36-50). “Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself , “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answering said to him , “Simon, I have something to say to you.” Did you catch that? The Pharisee said to himself …and Jesus answered him . No mere man reads minds and hearts. God knows the hearts of man. So does Jesus. Jesus knew the future. Here are just a couple of the many examples. He told his disciples again and again that He would die and be raised from the dead (Matthew 16:21-23, Mark 8: 31-32, Luke 9:21-22). That’s what happened. Jesus told His disciples that Jerusalem would be destroyed (Luke 21:20). That happened, 40 years later, in 70 AD. God knows the future. So does Jesus. Going back to 1 John 1:1, we read that Jesus was described as “that which was from the beginning.” This means Jesus is eternal. John also introduced Jesus in his gospel as being eternal, being with God—and being  God (John 1:1). But how did John know this? Jesus told him! Jesus said that that He and the Father were one (John 10:13). God is eternal and has always existed. So is Jesus. What’s amazing is that God bothered to send His Son, Jesus, into a world that is full of sin, and to a world of people who say Jesus was nothing but just another man. It was because of God’s great, great love for us that He bothered. It was because of Jesus’s great, great love for us that He willingly died for our sins. Jesus was not JUST a man. He was also God in the flesh who came so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Let me know if you need prayer or a Bible.

What would it take to cause you to believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior? In Acts, the book of the Bible that tells us how the church began. When the church started, it had only been about 5 weeks since Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead—not very long at all. Peter, one of Jesus’s disciples, was now the leader. Once Peter and the rest of Jesus’s followers received the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:2-4), Peter’s heart  was transformed! He’s been filled with the Holy Spirit—and now he’s preaching so powerfully and with tremendous courage to the very same people that had screamed for Jesus to be killed a month earlier. And they had succeeded—these guys did get Jesus killed. Vicious, wicked men. Not the sort you’d want to mess with. But, Peter is fearless. And why not? He’s got the Holy Spirit! So, Peter and John were in Jerusalem and they went to the temple to pray. As they arrived, they saw a man near the entrance. This man had been crippled his whole life. The only way he survived was begging for money and this was the best spot. So, every day, the crippled man sat in the temple entrance. The point is this: everyone  knew who this beggar was. They had seen him a million times. Peter came up to him. He didn’t have money for the man, but he did have something much better—the message of salvation through Jesus. And then, in the name of Jesus, Peter healed that man! Healed  him. The crippled man’s feet and ankles were made strong and he leaped to his feet—he “began to walk…walking and leaping and praising God” (Acts 3:8). It was a miracle! Everyone around there saw what happened . You’d think people would run to Peter and John to hear more about Jesus. Nope. They didn’t have a chance because the leaders had Peter and John arrested. Why? Because they were preaching about Jesus. So, Peter and John were tried for their “crime” the very next day. Peter and John stood before the same guys who got them arrested—and remember, these same guys also saw the crippled man healed. And guess who was standing right beside Peter and John—the man who had been healed! Oh boy, these leaders were in a real pickle. They couldn’t deny the truth of the miracle because they had seen it and the guy was right there. But, they refused to admit it—because if they did, then they would have to admit that all Jesus had taught and all the miracles He performed could only mean one thing: that Jesus was God in the flesh. No way were they admitting that! Instead, though face-to-face with the truth, they refused to believe in Jesus. People are the same today. We see God’s miraculous work every day—this world, His creation…and most say “Oh no, it’s all random chance and evolution.” The plain miracle of God’s creative work is rejected. Why? Because of hard hearts. The truth of Jesus just bounces off of hard hearts. Maybe you have a hard heart. The good news is it’s a heart condition that can be healed. Jesus died for the sins of those who would believe in Him. He rose from the dead, giving hope of life beyond death to those who believe in Him. He will transform your hard heart—if you truly believe in Him as the Master of your life and your Savior. Let us know if we can pray for you, or, if you’d like to start reading the Bible to learn more, let us know…it would be our joy to help you get started.

There’s an event in the Bible you might be familiar with—when Jesus fed the 5000. Here’s what happened. Jesus’s twelve disciples had just returned from a trip through Galilee. They had been preaching and healing people. Their healing of people would have drawn huge crowds. So these guys had been on this preaching tour for a while, and when they got back to Jesus they were tired. Really tired. They needed a break—some rest and time away from all the people. Now, Galilee was pretty small, only about 25 miles by 50 miles. In this small area, there were 204 villages. Very crowded. No quiet place to get away and be refreshed. So, Jesus took them across the Sea of Galilee to find a quiet place away from the crush of people. But, of course, lots of people followed. Who wouldn’t? These guys were healing the sick, the lame, the blind. The people were desperate for more. Well, the crowd got big. 5000 men, plus women and children. So, maybe there were as many as 20,000 people there, maybe more. That’s twice the size of Fort Atkinson. Jesus taught. He healed. The day was starting to wind down. Remember, this is a place Jesus had sought out because it was quiet and away from towns. So as it got later in the day, the disciples got to thinking about how the people would be hungry. The people had walked a long way, and now they’d been there all day. So, the disciples told Jesus to send the crowds away. He should stop teaching and healing, and give people a chance to get food. Time to wrap things up. Jesus said, “You give them something to eat.” What??? With what? Jesus must have been out of His mind! They were in the middle of nowhere facing 20,000 hungry people. There was no place to buy food out there. And never mind they didn’t have the money to buy food for so many people. Even if they had been able to buy food, nobody would have gotten more than a crumb. This was impossible! But not for Jesus, the Son of God. There were 5 loaves—crackers actually—and 2 fish. That’s it: 5 crackers and 2 pickled fish. Jesus thanked God, and began to give food to the disciples for them to give out to the people. The food kept coming. And coming. Until everyone had eaten their fill. The people ate as much as they wanted. When they were done eating, the disciples gathered up the leftovers. From 5 crackers, there were 12 baskets of leftovers. Imagine all of Fort Atkinson being fed with just 5 crackers and 2 fish. And they didn’t get just a nibble or a snack, but a satisfying, filling meal. And there were even leftovers! Jesus worked an incredible miracle. What’s stunning is that a few hours later, most of the people who Jesus had just fed ditched Him. Why? Because Jesus told them the truth. He said that He is the source of life. He told them that believing in Him, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was—and is—the way to eternal life. But they didn’t like that truth. So they ditched Him. You know, in the Bible, we have all these stories of the miracles Jesus did. We have the words of Jesus—we can hear and read what He taught. And then, we are just like those who Jesus fed. We turn away and say, “Nah.” Or, “Yeah, but not right now. Someday.” Believe the truth of Jesus’s words and the evidence of His miracles. I pray you believe in Him. Today.

Death. Ever thought about your own? What awaits us once we are dead? Nothing? Is it like the end of a movie—just over and done with? If you have some kind of belief in God, then you probably believe death is entry into one of two places: heaven or hell. There are lots of ideas people have about what happens after death, and many people think that heaven is the next stop for them. I used to think that, until about five years ago when God opened my eyes to the truth that I actually wasn’t a follower of Jesus. I was actually on my way to hell. But how could that be? I went to church and did lots of church work. I was doing all the supposed “right stuff.” I had believed the lie that doing all the “right stuff” meant heaven was my next stop. There was this man who went looking for Jesus (read John 3:1–21 for the whole story). His name was Nicodemus. If there was anyone on his way to heaven because he had done all the right stuff it was this guy. Nicodemus was super-religious, prayed all the right prayers at the right time, followed all the rules. He even taught others—he was a teacher of how to do all the right stuff. But there was something wrong. Nicodemus was worried. Something was missing. He should have felt absolutely secure about ending up in heaven because he was doing all the right stuff. But he wasn’t. Nicodemus was anxious. So, he went to Jesus, who was clearly from God, to find answers. Jesus was not easy on Nicodemus. He didn’t say, “Well don’t worry about it, Nick, you’re a really decent human being. You’re making a good effort. Keep up the good work.” Instead, Jesus basically said, “Are you kidding Me? You teach Scripture and you don’t know that all your goodness does nothing for you? That your good works and your religious ceremonies are worthless?” Wow. Here was the problem. Nicodemus had bought into the lie that by doing good things, he would wind up to heaven. After all, Nicodemus believed in God. Surely, that was enough, right? Nope. Nicodemus prayed. Didn’t that count? No. Nicodemus studied the Scriptures. Did that help? No. I was in the same boat. I had the same problem that Nicodemus did. I thought that doing good things and right things had something to do with me being saved and having heaven to look forward to. I thought that my own “goodness” was connected to what happens to me after I die. But I was still worried. Something was missing. Jesus had the answer, for Nicodemus and for me. He said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This is an invitation that is life-changing. Believing in Jesus is not just saying, “I believe in Jesus.” It’s admitting you are a sinner. It’s repenting of your sin, hating your sin. It’s trusting in Jesus that He might graciously forgive your sin and give you a new heart. It’s a total submission to Jesus and all that He taught. Jesus paid a high price—He died for sinners. For those who respond to Jesus’s invitation, who truly believe, you receive the best gift you could dream of: life, now and forever. Life that you can NOT obtain in any other way. If you need prayer or a Bible, please let us know.