What Really Matters in Life?

Follow this blog

What Really Matters in Life?
This thought comes from the text in Matthew 16:26 – “For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?”

We spend so much time trying to acquire money and the things money can buy with the idea that the more we have, the happier we will be. Although I still pursue an income, I did realize years ago that it is not about money or things. When I got a “thing” that I had wanted for some time, I quickly realized that there were still other “things” on which I was basing my happiness. Even if I could have all of the “things” I wanted, I would still not be happy.

What really gives me the most happiness is when I do something for you. It is a double joy when you recognize what I have done and express your thanks or appreciation of my efforts.
Rick Warren begins his book, Purpose Driven, with the phrase – “It’s not about you.” It doesn’t matter whether you are the richest man in the world or the poorest. It doesn’t matter if you have all the “things” you want or not. The only thing that matters is to use your life to help others and be a witness for Jesus Christ.

We can’t “buy” our way into eternal life in Heaven, but we can lay up treasures for eternity (Matthew 6:19-21) by doing things that benefit other people. The quality of work you do on your job benefits others and is a witness for how Christ is working in your life.
I often give out a wall hanging with Getting To Know Jesus – Volume 01 that says: “Only One Life – Will Soon Be Past. Only What’s Done For Christ – Will Last. To me, that says it all regarding what life is about.

Learn more about this passage and event in the life of Christ in Lesson 071 in Getting To Know Jesus - Volume 06.

You Have the Word of Life

You Have the Words of Life
“Getting To Know Jesus” – Lesson 065 in Volume 05
John 6:66-69

In John 6:66, people got discontented with Jesus and many stopped following Him. In the midst of His discouragement, He asked the Apostles if they were going to turn away also (v. 67). Peter, the impetuous one, boldly proclaims in verses 68—69 that Jesus is the only one who has the words of eternal life. They believe that He is the Son of God.

As I have talked with people about the greatest problem in the United States, I have gotten an almost universal answer: “We’ve gotten away from the Gospel”. As a nation, our people have gotten caught up in following the ways of the world instead of following Christ. Our churches have become increasingly afraid to stand up for what Jesus taught and did and try to “not offend anybody”. As a result, we have rampant sin, even in our churches, and a bunch of ignorant “Christians” who love Jesus but know little about His life and teachings.

It seems odd that most people see the problem, but seem hesitant to apply it to their own lives. We can always see another person’s faults better than we can see our own. We believe that we “know” all about Jesus and don’t realize how much we need to learn. We also seem to forget that regardless of our knowledge, we need to be teaching others who are even less knowledgeable than we are.

Getting To Know Jesus goes through every event in Jesus’ life so the student (disciple) can become fully knowledgeable of Him who has the words to eternal life. Find out how much you don’t know and help those around you to get to know Him better through your Getting To Know Jesus Bible study group.

Let’s get to work turning this nation back to Christ by starting in our own communities. After all, Jesus has the words of life. Don’t you want to know more about Him and see how He can make your life even better than it already is?

How to Avoid the Guilt of Sin

Follow this blog

How to Avoid the Guilt of Sin
Getting To Know Jesus - 109 in Volume 09
Matthew 19:3-9

One of the most common sins that we have tried to hide, justify, legalize or avoid the consequences of from the beginning of time is sexual immorality. The Bible is full of warnings that sex outside of marriage is wrong. Proverbs is full of admonitions to stay away from sexual immorality. Jesus taught that sex is for a husband and wife (see Matthew 19:3-9 for just one example). The Apostles repeated Jesus’ teachings in their writings. Any kind of sexual relations outside of the institution of marriage (between a man and a woman) is wrong. Have we listened? Not near enough.

In Matthew 19:3-9, Jesus is confronted by some Pharisees who are trying to justify their practice of divorcing their wives. They are trying to justify their sin as “okay” and remove their guilt according to the Mosaical Law. Jesus exposes that they have misinterpreted what God told Moses. In doing so, He reminds them that sex outside of marriage is wrong.

In the 60’s, we encountered a “sexual revolution” where young people were told: “if it feels good, do it”. Instead of respecting God’s greater design and save sex for marriage, the incidences of sex outside of marriage increased dramatically. Along with that, divorce, pornography, prostitution, rape, incest, pedophilia and a host of other sins became much more common. Those who advocate abstaining from sex until marriage were looked down on as old fashioned and out of touch with “today”.

In 1973, in an effort to try to remove the guilt of their sin, someone persuaded a liberal United States Supreme Court that aborting a baby before it was born was okay. Since then, millions of babies have not had the chance to live outside their mother’s womb because they were burned with a saline solution or sucked apart into little pieces by an abortion doctor’s pump.

The leading argument for abortion is that “women have a right to choose”. However, we forget that the right to choose also is the right to say “NO” to sex outside of marriage. Few seem to want to advise women that they should not allow a man to go that far with them. (Of course, more blame should fall on the man for not respecting the woman and not waiting until they are married.)

The result is that instead of girls being freed from exposure as being sexually immoral, also added the guilt of knowing that they murdered their baby. Most post-abortion women have suffered greatly because of their decision. They know that they have sinned whether society declares their abortion as sin or not.

Sex of any kind outside of marriage is not how God designed for us to live. Sexual immorality is fraught with all kinds of problems including: guilt, unwanted pregnancy, divorce, sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS, pornography, prostitution, pedophilia and more. Sex inside the bounds of marriage is fulfilling, guilt-free, relationship building and blessed by God.

Just because we get the government to condone abortion or declare “same-sex marriage” as “legal” doesn’t make it so. Those who are pressing for these issues are simply trying to pretend that if the government says it is legal, then they won’t be sinning by doing what they know is wrong.

It is time for Christians to return to God's standards for sexual purity and quit acting like the world. It is also time for you and me to remind the world that when we do things God's way, we get God's blessings. When we think we are smarter than God, we get all kinds of problems.

God bless,

It’s time to outlaw Viagra ads

(This article may not be appropriate for younger children.)

Have you had enough with these emails and television ads promoting Viagra or Cialas? I have!

What is this problem with the pharmaceutical companies that think they have to push these dysfunctional sex remedies on everyone? For over 6,000 years of earth’s history, men had sex with their wives without any “erectile dysfunction” drugs. If they had an erectile problem, they did without sex and were just fine.

Then in the 1960’s, a “sexual revolution” hit our culture and many people started doing “what feels good” without thinking about the consequences. They attributed the sexual morale’s of the previous generation as limiting and thought that their “free love” was freeing. Little did they realize that this “free love” was enslavement to sexually transmitted diseases, pornography, pedophilia, homosexuality, unwanted pregnancy, abortion, divorce, AIDS and a host of other problems. So much for “free love”!

It is obvious that many of our culture haven’t learned their lesson. We have magazines, radio, movies and television programs that seem to think all people want to read, hear about or see is sex. Women are treated like something to be used and thrown away. Men think they can impregnate a woman and not be responsible for raising the child if she gets pregnant. Children can be sexually violated by some pedophile and they believe that hurting this child is okay.

Now it has been taken one step further. By promoting Viagra or Cialas, we are suggesting that if older men aren’t having sex like twenty year olds, there is something wrong with them. What’s wrong with this picture? Any mature married couple knows that it is not about having sex. They can still enjoy each other sexually, but their relationship is based on something far more mature and lasting than last night’s orgasm.

It doesn’t stop here. I’ve noticed the Viagra emails that come to my computer (before I block them) and the person in the email is not an old man, but a young man who is just barely out of his teens. What in the world does a teenager or any young man (married or not) need with a drug that is supposed to be for older men who have an erection problem?

The real problem is the LOVE OF MONEY! The drug companies don’t care about the potential side effects, not limited to but including an erection that lasts for several hours (or in at least one case, weeks). They don’t care about the fact that we have existed and propagated for six thousand years without their help. They really don’t care about whether their drug could permanently harm or kill someone or ruin a marriage because someone is having sex with someone to whom they are not married. They only care about making money.

I don’t know if these “penis enlargement” pills are the same thing or something else, but again, the man’s size has never been a problem until just recently when drug manufacturers, and those who sell these drugs, decided to put profit ahead of what is right or in the best interest of society. Now men are harming themselves, spending money on something that they don’t need and that can potentially be very damaging. They do warn about not taking these drugs if you have a heart condition or some other health issues. However, they are still more concerned with making money and selling their product to a market that doesn’t need it than they are about caring about people’s greater needs.

Enough is enough. It is time to inform the general public and put a leash on the drug companies. At least make them stop the advertising or limit their advertising to not include young or unmarried men. Help them to understand that what they are doing is hurting our society, not helping it. If a man really feels he needs help with his sexual life, he should not be able to buy a drug without some sort of medical screening to see if it is in his best interest to do so.

It is also time to start learning that there is too much emphasis on having sex and too little on having a life-lasting relationship with your husband or wife. Speak up and tell Hollywood, television and movie writers and producers that it is time to clean up their media and return to family values. It is time to tell the pharmaceutical companies that they need to put the dollar on a lower priority and only promote their products to a more appropriate audience.

There, I’ve said what I think about it.
God bless,

No Mosque at "Ground Zero"

No Mosque at "Ground Zero"

I am disturbed at all of this talk about the Muslims wanting to build a mosque at “Ground Zero”. To do such a thing is extremely insensitive, if not outright – in your face – offensive to those who lost loved ones in the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001.

While we consider that most Muslims in the United States don’t engage in terror and many probably do not condone such behavior, to have a mosque so close to where a few extremist Muslim terrorists committed such a serious atrocity against the citizens of the United States is more of an endorsement of their religion and a disregard for the lives of those who were murdered by the extremists. Allowing a mosque condones their act of violence against non-Muslims.

If the Muslims need to have a mosque, let them find somewhere closer to where they live and farther away from where extremists from their religion attacked private citizens of the United States. A mosque at “Ground Zero” would appear to condone, and even honor, what members of their religion did. There is no separating that connection.

Christians never endorsed violence as a way or propagating their religious views. Christians evangelize by love and gentle persuasion, not threat of murder if you don’t convert. That is a sharp contrast to the Muslim’s way of conversion.

To double the hypocrisy of the decision makers in New York, the Greek Orthodox church that was destroyed by the Trade Center collapse has not been allowed to rebuild their church, but the city wants to approve a mosque. Something is not right about this scenario. The Greeks should have had their building approved and rebuilt by now, yet are being denied while Muslims are being given the city’s approval.

Another equation in this entire discussion is the determining of moral absolutes. God determines what is right or wrong. Much of the reasoning behind the pending mosque is because some government leaders have forgotten God and decided that they can decide what is right or wrong for themselves and others.

I believe that all Christians should stand beside the Greek Orthodox’s desire to rebuild and insist that the Muslims relocate to a less sensitive area.

God will bless America only as long as America blesses God.

BEYOND – Following Jesus to a place you have never been (applied)
My Observations of the North American Christian Convention – 2010 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

By Glen M. Copple,
Minister of the Word
New Hope Gospel Ministries
Home of Getting To Know Jesus

I would like to share some observations from attending the North American Christian Convention July 6-9 in Indianapolis. Although I have attended other NACC in previous years, this is my first time to have a booth to promote the Getting To Know Jesus Bible study ministry that God has called me to. It was a wonderful experience and a great opportunity to present the solution to the problem most stated at the convention. Let me explain.

I listened with intensity as Ben Cachiaras and Brian Jones talked about the problem that the United States and our churches have gotten away from the Gospel. In the opening session on Tuesday evening, Ben specifically said that the church in America is losing ground. He inquired as to whether people are being transformed by Christ. He called us to repent and believe. Ben called us to join Jesus in what He is doing, but the only way we are going to know that is to study His life and teachings from the Annunciation to the Ascension. That can powerfully be accomplished by Getting To Know Jesus – a complete Bible study of every event in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

On Wednesday morning, Brian Jones challenged us to trust Jesus to lead us. Isn’t Jesus smart enough to do so? He mentioned the ignorance of the Christians in our churches. The solution is to study every event in Jesus’ life. We should desire to build a passionate, personal and powerful relationship with Jesus so we will become more like Him. Brian lamented how many churches evangelize, baptize and then say to the new believer, “You are now on your own. Grow and flourish.” Yet they don’t teach them about Jesus so He can come in and complete His work in their lives.
Brian ended his message with a call: “Who is going to make this happen?” I wanted to scream, “Here I am, send me.” God has already put in place a Bible study series of every event in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ to address the main issues of this convention. Getting To Know Jesus is a study tool that is designed to stop the continuing trend of churches getting soft on the Gospel and not being strong institutions in their communities.

On Thursday, Francis Chan called us to action challenging us to “Get BEYOND where we’ve been the past few decades.” He said that we have separated hearing the Word of God from living it. He inquired about what percentage of the people in our churches don’t even know the Great Commission. He asked why we receive Jesus into our heart but do nothing to lean about Him or live by His example.

I don’t know a better way to address the issues Francis put before us than to start a Getting To Know Jesus Bible study group in every church in the United States. That will fulfill the part of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) that we seem to forget: “…Teach them to observe ALL I have commanded you…” When we spend time studying the life of Jesus, our love for Him will grow. Our knowledge of right and wrong will guide us to change our behavior. Our desire to engage the world will increase to the point that we will be looking and acting like a people that sincerely loves and follows Jesus Christ.

The theme: “BEYOND – Following Jesus to a place you’ve never been” was well chosen. My challenge is how can you follow Jesus to a place you have never been if you haven’t studied His life and teachings? The solution is to study every event in the life and teachings of Jesus and teach others from what you learn. As you get to know Him more completely, He will come inside you and change you from the inside out. He will plant a passion and a power that you have either forgotten or never experienced.

We have forgotten our roots, our heritage, our calling as Christians. I have observed it from my days as a college student from forty years ago. Christians became complacent, silent, liberal in theology (God is dead, the miracles aren’t true, Jesus didn’t really die, etc.) and stopped engaging the culture. We sat silently by as the ACLU, atheists and other anti-Christian groups came in, corrupted our churches, homes, communities and government. Now we are starting to sound the alarm bells, but who is doing anything but talk about it?

The Getting To Know Jesus Bible study series starts with the Inter-testament period and touches every event recorded in the four Gospels. Instead of a theological treatise, it is written to be a life-application study of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The lessons are written with the Bible text from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John for that lesson included. Everything that is needed to get to know all about the life of Christ is in each lesson.

The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) challenges us to “…Teach them ALL that I (Jesus) have commanded you…” Getting To Know Jesus does exactly that. It teaches us all that Jesus taught and helps us apply it to our lives today. Men like Bob Russell, Joe Garmin, Joe Grana, Woodrow Kroll and others have examined the Getting To Know Jesus Bible Study Series and endorsed this study tool as a much-needed solution to the problems our churches and nation are facing today.

Let’s get down to some action! Start by teaching everyone in your church about the complete life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Let Him change them from the inside out. As Jesus becomes deeply implanted in their lives, they will pick up the “sword” (Bible) and engage the community. That will strengthen marriages, communities and help us to put leaders into government that will be obedient to God instead of thinking that they are god.

The only way we are going to seriously and lastingly get our nation back to being “One Nation Under God” is to involve everyone in our church and every church in studying the life of Christ. When we spend time studying Jesus’ life, we will naturally become more like Him. Studying His life and teachings will empower us to take on those who speak out against Christ and silence them in their shame and sin.

Many people claim to know Jesus, but an examination of the lives of so many in your church doesn’t reflect that they “KNOW” Jesus. How many men are delving in pornography? Would Jesus do that? How many couples are living together or having an affair with someone they are not married to? Would Jesus do that? How many people are cheating on their taxes, embezzling, stealing or breaking the law in some other way, yet claiming to be upstanding and committed Christians? Would Jesus do that?

There is a need for every church to be Getting To Know Jesus. There is a Bible study tool already written and available for people to be Getting To Know Jesus. New Hope Gospel Ministries has the material already written and in place. They can be reached at www.gettingtoknowjesus.org. Let’s work together to turn this nation back to Christ.

If we truly want to follow the theme BEYOND – Following Christ to a place you have never been, then we owe it to ourselves to get our friends together and get serious about studying every event in Jesus’ life as our Lord, Savior and role model.

Let’s start a revolution of Christians in the United States who are truly a RESTORATION MOVEMENT – Restoring the authority and life of Christ as our pattern for how we live and engage the world.

God Bless America (and in turn, we better be serious about blessing God)

Follow this blog