50443006

.. .. .. .. .. ..I am a Christ follower and I believe that is all that matters in this short life living here on Earth. I believe that we Christians are but strangers in a foreign land and the more we love each other the greater God will add to his Kingdom. Fulfilling the great commission is the highest calling.I am married to my lovely bride, Tracy Jean--for almost 9 years now. I am a father of two beautiful daughters: Alauna,6, and Avery,4. I love going to concerts, conferences, churches, and other gatherings. I love making new friends. I love listening to and singing loud, rocking worshipful music. I devote time to developing fully devoted worshippers and seekers of God's will.I accept the bad days with the good ones because there is peace in midst of pain and brokenness in the midst of victory. Because of the CROSS we realize that life is paradox- you only find it when you lose it. Yeah, I know that sounds religious but I just really believe it. ____________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ THE FOLLOWING IS A PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE FROM THE BIBLICAL WRITER, JOHN. It's about how much God love's us and how we can respond to His love. (1 John 2:28-5:5, NIV) <--Children of God--> 28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. 3 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ?2? Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,?a? we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ?3? Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. ?4? Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. ?5? But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. ?6? No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. ?7? Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. ?8? He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. ?9? No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. ?10? This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. <--Love One Another--> ?11? This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. ?12? Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. ?13? Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. ?14? We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. ?15? Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. ?16? This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. ?17? If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? ?18? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. ?19? This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence ?20? whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. ?21? Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God ?22? and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. ?23? And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. ?24? Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. <--Test the Spirits--> 4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ?2? This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ?3? but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. ?4? You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. ?5? They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. ?6? We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit?a? of truth and the spirit of falsehood. <--God’s Love and Ours--> ?7? Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ?8? Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ?9? This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son?a? into the world that we might live through him. ?10? This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for?b? our sins. ?11? Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ?12? No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. ?13? We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ?14? And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ?15? If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. ?16? And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. ?17? In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. ?18? There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. ?19? We love because he first loved us. ?20? If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ?21? And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. <--Faith in the Son of God--> 5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. ?2? This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. ?3? This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, ?4? for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. ?5? Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."