My Message for Easter and Passover:  Seems like nearly everyone is excited about the Easter Bunny!    

 So many decorations, sweet treats & excitement over eggs and bunnies.  It’s nice to have seasons and holidays we look forward to.  Yet there is something we don’t look forward to, nor do many prepare for.  This event will happen to each of us.  Some sooner, some later.  It’s dying – passing from life on earth to WHERE????      Some say we just sleep forever, others think we return for a do-over in life as an animal or human.  Some think we go to an in-between place (purgatory) where our loved ones can pray or pay to get us out.  Others believe we go to Hell, eternal torment (and many do!)  But God’s word, the BIBLE tells us much more about the final destinations and the true way to get to Heaven.    Do you see yourself as the sinner you are?  Even One sin keeps you out of God’s Holy Heaven.   Thankfully God LOVES US and provided a way for us to be cleansed and forgiven of our sins. You see the important Holy Day of this season was Passover.  Whoever marked the doorposts of their house with the blood of an innocent lamb, was spared when the death angel passed over.  In homes without the blood, the first born in every family died.  That event was a picture for us.  Jesus is our innocent LAMB OF GOD. The BLOOD that he shed when he was crucified on the cross of Calvary is what you can trust to forgive and cover your sin.  He declared  “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me.”(John 14:6) Life is deeper, richer, more satisfying when you KNOW you’re forgiven and have a relationship with the Living God.  Jesus was crucified, buried and then came up from the grave one Sunday morning nearly 2000 years ago.  May I invite you to come learn more and celebrate what God has done for us.  GraceWay Baptist Church, Sundays 11 AM, Hill Center, 921 Pennsylvania Ave SE.  202-618-5833

My Thanksgiving Card:   

THANKSGIVING IS COMING!  It’s my favorite time of year.  The chill and colors of Autumn, the delicious special recipes and warm aromas that families include in their celebrations, the gathering of kin and friends, the pause in life to be thankful.  So lovely.     But who do we thank?  This year ads are encouraging us to be thankful NOT for what we have but who we have.  And I agree with that emphasis.  I have also been given much by the God of Heaven and I believe He deserves my constant Thanksgiving.  You see over 40 years ago, I was very afraid to die.  Why?  Because I knew I wasn’t worthy of Heaven and God’s Holy presence.  The circumstances in my life were a MESS, and when I couldn’t bear the load any longer, I fell on my knees and cried out to Him.  I didn’t know how real and active He wants to be in our lives, but I found out.   His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, made it possible for me to be forgiven and confident that I have a home in Heaven.  Wow, I knew just how undeserving of both I was.  I’ve learned that our sin requires a payment and that the shed blood of Jesus Christ on that rugged cross was accepted by God the Father as payment for my sin and everyone else’s.  BUT each person must see that their sin has separated them from God who LOVES them.  May I encourage you to ask Jesus Christ to forgive your sin.  Desire to do right in His eyes.  Your life will settle down.  It won’t be problem free, but you will sense that God is there with you.  You will personally know the One who deserves our constant Thanksgiving!  Find a KJV Bible then open and read something in it every day.   Genesis will clue you into why Israel is in the news and much more.  Psalms & Proverbs will give you instruction and wisdom.  The Gospels:  Matthew, Mark, Luke & John will show you Jesus is truly the Son of God and the many miracles he did to show His Power and love.   Romans will teach you that neither money, good works nor faithfulness to religion will make you right in God’s eyes.  It’s only available through Jesus Christ, God’s Son.  Here is a church on Capitol Hill that invites you to come and learn more:  www.GraceWayDC.com        First Floor at Hill Center    Sundays 10 AM  Thursdays 7 PM

My little Christmas card is meant to bring you a word of encouragement in these strange and troubling times.  Christmas  is a special time of year to most of us.  It comes with many memories, some good and some hard.  It is a season we always hope will be joyous.  Today our world is topsy-turvey in nearly ever imaginable way  but it wasn’t intended to be.  GOD IS REAL.  When He created man he gave man something very powerful, free will.  We weren’t made to automatically look to God, God wanted us to CHOOSE to look to Him.  Have you noticed that God is being left out, even forced out of nearly everything?  That first man, Adam was told he could eat of every tree in the garden of Eden except the one in the midst called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.1  He chose (by his free will) to eat of that tree and right then something awful came into the world…SIN.  Sin is doing what we want to do instead of what God has said.  Look at the mess we make of life even when we are trying to do right.  That’s where Christmas comes in. God made a promise to send the answer to sin and he kept it.  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” 2 

This Holy child born of a virgin did not have the sin of Adam that you and I have inherited.4  He was God’s only begotten Son and therefore Holy just as God is Holy.  He healed the lame and lepers.  He brought some who had died back to life.  These are MIRACLES that only God could do.  He told a crippled man his sins were forgiven5 and the man rose up and walked as never before.5  He had the power to forgive sin because Jesus was God in the flesh.  What good news this is for us.  When He died on the cross it wasn’t because cruel men caught him and put him there. He said, “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.”6  The blood that was shed on that cross is what can cleanse us from all sin.7  You may know this truth or you may be reading this news for the first time.  A simple prayer of faith to the God of the Bible, admitting to Him that you are a sinner8 and need the shed blood of Jesus Christ to wash your heart clean will change everything for you this season.  If you are sincere when you pray, a peace that passes all earthly understanding will fill your heart..  You will  know God’s forgiveness and have a confidence that Heaven awaits when your life on earth is done.  Begin to read the Bible and talk with God in prayer…your Christmas and life from this day on can be AWESOME!!!