Christ is joy and joy is Christ

I'm so happy my joy is not found in earthly pleasures. My bank account and my health and even my college GPA do not determine my happiness because I have a greater joy, Christ. I started a study on the book of I John today. I love I John... I love how his writing is usually simple yet personable. The first 4 verses is all I read today. I didn't know what to look for at the start of this Bible study. I really wanted a fuller understanding of the book and I really didn't know how much I was going to get out of studying this small book. I've read these verses plenty of times before and I had learned from them in the past. The awesome part about today is that I learned more about my Savior than I knew yesterday.

The gospel is central to our lives. John starts out writing stating the gospel. The word of life... obviously this is Christ. He is the word (John 1:1) and he gives life (John 14:6)... put them together and you have the total authority on life. John and a lot of the people he was writing to saw Christ first hand. They literally saw Christ and heard him speak and even touched him. John was proclaiming this man to them. John wanted more than anything for others to be able to have this joy that he had that was only found in Christ. He wanted to have perfect fellowship with those he came into contact with. John knew the hope that is found in Christ and wanted to share it.

The only way to be joyful is to be in fellowship with the word of life. He has given his life so we can have the opportunity to have this fellowship with him. I am only joyful when my eyes and eyes are fixed on the Savior. He is my Lord, my master, and now I am his slave. Its a loaded word but Christ gave his life for me... shouldn't my response be to give him my life? "I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today", I love the words to this hymn. I want Jesus... I want joy. Christ is joy and joy is Christ.

Hope For Every Fallen Man

So blogging is a great idea when you as a person actually write lots of post. I for one have never been able to do so. This is another attempt at me trying to write my thoughts in a blog. This really is a good way for me to collect my thoughts and hopefully have an impact on someone through them reading what I have to say. There is a hope for every fallen man. I'm not one of those religious nuts... I'm more of the kind of guy that will give you what I believe and you can take it or leave it. I pray that you take it, hopefully God will use it to change your life, and you will become a follower of God as I am.

Hope is something that each of us have deep down in us. We all want to have hope. Most of the time, our hope is in ourselves and we as humans can't get far on our own hopes. Out hopes must be grounded in something more powerful than us, something that can actually control our circumstances. Our hope lived a perfect life 2000 years ago. It seems crazy that our hope was a baby in a manger. Jesus Christ didn't grow up with riches untold, nor did he have powerful parents that would give him whatever he wanted. He had everything already. He was God and he was man. Right now you probably think I'm crazy. Our hope did nothing wrong ever in his entire life. He was punished for doing nothing. He was beaten and crucified by those that previously loved him because he gave them everything. He died on a cross... for nothing that he did, but because of what you and I have done.

He was laid in a tomb and laid there for three days. Think about it, God robed in flesh, laying in a tomb built by man's hands that he created. The story gets even more unbelievable. Jesus raised himself from the dead. I know that seems impossible, but Jesus Christ did. He claimed victory over sin for us, becoming our hope for eternal life and salvation. Our hope is secure and it is something that we can have here on earth. You might think i"m some crazy Bible believer, but I know because of my hope found in Christ Jesus that I am right.