For Those With Ears to Hear

Scripture

I believe the Bible to be the written revelation of God, complete and sufficient in all respects. I believe the Scriptures to be “God-breathed” and therefore fully authoritative in and of themselves; they rely for their authority upon no church, council, or creed, but are authoritative simply because they are the Word of God. The Scriptures, as they embody the very speaking of God, partake of His authority and His power.

God’s Sovereignty

I believe in one true and eternal God, unchanging, unchangeable. I believe God is the Creator of all that exists in heaven and in earth. The God who is described in the Bible is unique; He is unlike anyone or anything else in the entire universe. God has all power, all knowledge, all wisdom, and is due all glory, honor and praise. All that comes to pass does so at the decree of God. All things will, in the end, result in the glory of God.

God’s Deity

I believe the Bible teaches that there is but one being of God, yet there are three Persons who share this one being of God: the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Each Person is fully and completely God, each is described in Scripture as possessing the attributes of God. The Father, Son, and Spirit have eternally existed in the relationship described by the term “Trinity.”

God’s Plan of Redemption

I believe that man was created in the image of God. Man rebelled against His Creator, and fell into sin. As a result, man became spiritually dead, totally unwilling and indeed incapable of seeking after God. God, from eternity past, having foreordained all things, joined a certain people to Christ Jesus, so that He might redeem them from their sin and in so doing bring glory to Himself. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died in the place of this elect people, providing full and complete forgiveness of sins by His death upon the cross of Calvary. No other work can provide for forgiveness of sins, and no addition can be made to the completed and finished work of Christ.

Salvation

 I believe that God, in His sovereign grace and mercy, regenerates sinful men by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by any action of their own, bringing them to new life. God grants to them the gifts of faith and repentance, which they then exercise by believing in Christ and turning from their sins in love for God. As a result of this faith, based upon the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, God justifies or makes righteous the one who believes. God’s gift of faith, and the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the elect, will result in good works. These good works flow from true, saving faith; they are a necessary result of faith, but are not to be considered necessary to the gaining of justification, which is by God’s grace through faith alone, so that no man can boast.

The Church

I believe Jesus Christ established His Church, which is made up of all the elect of God. His Church, as an obedient bride, listens to His Word as found in the Bible. All who believe in Christ are placed in His body, the Church. The local expressions of the Church are very important, and each believer should be actively involved in such a fellowship.

The Return of Christ

I believe that Christ is coming again to judge the living and the dead. This promise is found throughout the inspired Scriptures. Until His return, believers are to live lives that bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. The Church is to be busy doing the work of evangelism and discipleship, proclaiming the pure, uncompromised Gospel of Christ by teaching the Word of God.

Perseverance of the saints, or an even better term to use is preservation of the saints. Means that those who are truly saved by God’s grace will persevere in their faith until the end. This means that genuine believers, once they have been regenerated (born again) and justified by faith, will never fully and finally fall away from their state of grace or lose their salvation.

John 10:28-29

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”

Jesus promises that those who belong to Him have eternal life and cannot be taken away from Him, emphasizing God’s power to keep believers secure.

Romans 8:38-39

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Paul assures believers that nothing in creation can separate them from God’s love, underscoring the permanence of salvation in Christ.

John 6:37-40

“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those He has given me, but raise them up at the last day.”

Jesus promises that He will not lose any of those the Father has given Him and that they will be raised up on the last day, affirming security in salvation.

Philippians 1:6

“…being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Paul expresses confidence that God will complete the work of salvation in believers, indicating that God is faithful to finish what He started.

Ephesians 1:13-14

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory.”

Believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of their inheritance, suggesting that salvation is secure and will be fulfilled.

2 Timothy 1:12

“That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

Paul’s confidence is in God’s ability to keep and preserve what has been entrusted to Him, reinforcing the idea of eternal security.

1 Peter 1:3-5

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Peter describes an inheritance that is “kept in heaven” and “shielded by God’s power,” emphasizing the believer’s secure position.

Hebrews 10:14

“For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

This verse highlights the completeness and permanence of Christ’s sacrifice, indicating that those who are in Christ are made perfect forever.

These passages collectively emphasize that:

Believers are kept by God’s power and love.

Salvation is a completed work by Christ that God promises to finish.

Believers are marked with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee.

Now, what if someone converts. Confesses Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Becomes a pastor. 40 years later says he’s decided he doesn’t believe and it’s all “hogwash” and denounces the faith. Did he lose his salvation? No. I would argue he never had salvation to begin with. False conversion. I don’t know why he played along for 40 years. But it wasn’t because he loved Jesus. Or else he would still be with Jesus. He was never saved.

Jesus had more than 12 disciples in the beginning who all claimed to believe that he was the Messiah. Yet, they had left or “fallen away” from the faith. Did they lose their salvation? This is what John had to say about them.

1 John 2:19

“They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”

John is talking about those who appeared to be Christians but later left, revealing that their commitment to Christ and the community was not genuine. This verse suggests that true believers will remain in the faith because of their genuine relationship with Christ.

Someone converts. Confesses Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Very next day go out into the street and murders someone in cold blood. Then die themselves. Do they go to heaven? I would argue again of a false conversion. If God truly calls you to Christ and you are saved the sanctification process begins in that moment. You’ve come to know Christ you’ve come to love Christ. It would be against everything in your heart and soul to kill someone after that. I would argue this person was not truly saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

God’s grace is not an excuse to sin. If you have truly received God’s grace and love Jesus you won’t want to sin.

John 14:15

Jesus says “If you love me, keep my commandments.”

Here, Jesus is linking love for Him with obedience. This statement underscores that true love for Jesus will naturally lead to a desire to follow His teachings and commandments. It’s a call to genuine discipleship, where love is shown through action and obedience.

This however doesn’t mean that we won’t ever sin. We definitely won’t be going out and killing people. But we will slip up with lust and other various sins. But the idea is that the more we grow our relationship with God the more He’s able to change our hearts and minds. When a person is saved that person will start to sin less and less.

1 John 1:8-9

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Our salvation is not in our hands. We didn’t earn it. It was given as a gift from God. If we have grace, which has not been earned. How can we lose it?

If you could lose your salvation you would. How arrogant does a person have to be to believe that it’s possible for them to lose their salvation but they haven’t.

Who do you have to think you are in order to be “I’m a christian and i’m saved and I’m on my way to heaven when I die but there’s a possibility that I can mess this thing up…. but I haven’t.”

You probably just did.

“God is love.”
That’s one of the most quoted verses in the Bible (1 John 4:8), and rightfully so. God’s love is powerful, unmatched, and eternal. It’s not a passive feeling or a poetic phrase, it’s who He is. His love is why we’re not condemned. His love is why He sent His Son. His love is what saves us.

But here’s the problem. We’ve ripped that truth out of its context, stripped it of its holiness, and turned it into a slogan for moral anarchy. The world now uses “God is love” to excuse sin, approve of rebellion, and muzzle anyone who dares speak of judgment. We’ve hijacked God’s love and turned it into an idol.

The Bible does say God is love. But it also says God hates.

Let that sit with you.

Psalm 5:5 says, “The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.” Not just the sin. The evildoers. That doesn’t fit in a bumper sticker or church billboard, but it’s the truth. Psalm 11:5 says the Lord’s soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. Proverbs 6 lists seven things that are an abomination to Him, lying, pride, murder, false witness, stirring up division. God doesn’t just “dislike” these things. He hates them.

But here’s what most people don’t understand.
God’s hatred isn’t like ours. His hatred is pure. Holy. Just. It’s not emotional, unstable rage. It’s not some cosmic temper tantrum. His hatred is a direct result of His perfect love. Because He loves righteousness, He must hate wickedness. If God didn’t hate sin, He wouldn’t be good. He wouldn’t be loving. He’d be indifferent. And indifference in the face of evil isn’t love, it’s cowardice.

Think about this, If someone broke into your home and tried to harm your family, and you just stood there smiling because you “love everyone,” nobody would call that love. They’d call it deranged. Love always protects. Love takes a stand. Love hates what threatens what it loves.

That’s why God hates sin. Because sin is rebellion against Him. Sin destroys everything He calls good. And if you’re clinging to sin, if you’re living in it, loving it, defending it, you are setting yourself up as God’s enemy. That’s not a popular message, but I’m not trying to win a popularity contest.

Romans 9:13 says, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” That’s a hard pill for many to swallow. But again, this isn’t about how we feel, this is about what’s true. God is not obligated to love everyone the same way. He’s not bound by your emotions or mine. He’s God. He gets to do what He pleases. And everything He does is right.

If you want to see how much God hates sin, look at the cross. Jesus Christ, sinless, perfect, holy, was crushed under the weight of God’s wrath for sin. Not His own. Ours. The Father poured out His hatred for sin on His own Son so that we, the guilty ones, could go free. That’s love. Real love. Not soft. Not sentimental. But bloody, sacrificial, wrath satisfying love.

And if you think that means you can live however you want, sin however you please, and just hide behind “God is love” you don’t understand the Gospel. God’s love isn’t permission to sin. It’s the very reason you should hate sin. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15). Real love for God leads to real obedience.

If you’re in Christ, His wrath is gone. You’re washed, justified, and adopted. But don’t abuse grace. And if you’re not in Christ, don’t lull yourself to sleep with half-truths. Yes, God is love. But that same God will judge every unrepentant sinner in perfect, holy hatred.

Your only hope is Christ. Run to Him. Not a version of Him that just hugs and affirms you. But the real Jesus. The one who died for your sin and calls you to repent and follow Him. The one who loves you enough to save you from His own wrath.

Don’t redefine God.
Repent before Him.

Two words. That’s all it takes sometimes to flip the script entirely.

We were dead in our trespasses, chasing empty pleasures, hopelessly tangled up in the mess of our own making. But God.

Life feels relentless, the burdens heavy, the odds stacked against us from every angle imaginable. But God.

We stumble, fall flat on our face, convinced we’ve finally ruined everything beyond repair. But God.

See, that’s the beauty. We’re great at making messes, at getting ourselves in situations so deep that rescue seems impossible. Yet, those two words change everything. They interrupt our despair, our guilt, our shame, our failures.

The world whispers we’re beyond saving. Our hearts whisper we’re beyond redemption.

But God roar otherwise.

We were sinners deserving judgment. But God sent His Son.

We were drowning in darkness. But God flooded our lives with grace.

We were chained in shame. But God shattered every link.

These aren’t just words. This is the anthem of redemption. A heavenly interruption. A divine pivot.

Wherever you are today, whatever you’re carrying, remember the power of these two simple words,

But God.

Because no matter how bleak things look, when God steps in, the story isn’t over. It’s just beginning.

Ephesians 2:4-5 –

“…we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, made us alive together with Christ…”

Not every Christian who’s stuck is lost.

Some are saved. Truly.
They believe in Christ. They’ve been forgiven. They’ve been made new.
But they’ve stopped moving forward.
They’ve settled. They’re comfortable. They’ve built a little life in the shallows, right where it’s safe.

They show up to church every week.
They say all the right things.
They’ve been walking with God for years.
And yet spiritually, they haven’t taken a single step in a long, long time.

Why?
Because tradition told them they didn’t have to.

Somewhere along the line, they confused faithfulness with stagnation.
They thought showing up was growing.
They thought routine was maturity.
They thought doing the same thing for 30 years meant they were thriving. When all it really means is they’ve been stuck for 30 years.

They’ve built their house in the kiddie pool when God called them to deeper waters.

This is what tradition does when it’s left untested and unchallenged.

It makes people feel like they’ve “arrived” because they were raised right.
Because they don’t curse. Because they’ve never left the church. Because they know the hymns, the prayers, the Bible stories, and the memory verses.

And none of that is bad.
But if that’s where it ends, it’s tragic.

Hebrews 5:12 says:
“Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.“

That verse is aimed directly at people who’ve been in the faith for years… and still haven’t grown past the basics.

Still living on spiritual milk.
Still shallow.
Still content.

They stopped asking questions.
Stopped wrestling with hard truths.
Stopped digging.
Because somewhere along the line, tradition made comfort their god.

Let’s be real.
Some of you reading this know exactly what I’m talking about.

You’re saved. But if you’re honest, you’re stuck.
There’s no fire in your prayer life.
No hunger for the Word.
No joy in obedience.
No boldness, no purpose, no pressing into God.

You know you were made for more.
But tradition has trained you to stay put.
To sit down.
To nod along.
To never challenge what’s “always been done.”

Tradition says,
“Just be faithful. Don’t rock the boat.”

But Scripture says,
“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)

Tradition says,
“Don’t question what’s always worked.”

But Scripture says,
“Examine everything carefully; hold fast to what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

Tradition says,
“You’ve been here long enough, you’re doing fine.”

But Paul says,
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected… I press on.” (Philippians 3:12)

Even Paul, the man who wrote half the New Testament, said he hadn’t arrived.
So what makes you think you have?

If you’ve been stuck in neutral, this is your wake-up call.
Tradition is a tool. It’s not your Savior.
Faithfulness is good. But it’s not an excuse for laziness.
Being saved is the start. Not the finish line.

There is more.

More truth.
More transformation.
More sanctification.
More joy.
More intimacy with Christ.
More wisdom.
More maturity.
More purpose.

But you’ll never get there if you stay in the shallows, gripping a tradition that keeps you comfortable instead of pushing you to grow.

So here’s a question for you.
Do you want to just survive as a Christian?
Or do you want everything God has for you in this life?

Because make no mistake, there are believers who will enter heaven having barely known God.
They’ll be saved, yes…
But they’ll have missed out on so much of what He was ready to pour into their lives because they chose tradition over transformation.

Don’t let that be you.
Step out of the kiddie pool.
Go deeper.
Let the Spirit stretch you, convict you, challenge you, grow you.

And never confuse standing still with standing firm.

Romans 1:24-27 | Genesis 1:27 | 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

We live in a world that’s lost its mind and thrown away its soul. A world that’s decided feelings are more authoritative than facts, and “your truth” is more sacred than THE truth. We’ve taken the image of God, spit on it, and called it self-expression. We’ve replaced biology with ideology, and in doing so, we’ve declared war on the God who created us.

This isn’t about hate. This is about truth.
And the truth is God does not make mistakes.

“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
— Genesis 1:27

From the very beginning, God made two genders. Not fifty. Not fluid. Not up for grabs. Male. Female. Period. That’s not a cultural opinion. That’s divine design. It’s not based on how you feel on a Tuesday morning. It’s based on what God stamped into your very DNA.

You don’t get to rewrite creation. You don’t get to un-author God.

“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie…”
— Romans 1:25

Our culture has taken Romans 1 and turned it into a how-to manual. It tells people to follow their feelings and mutilate their bodies in the name of authenticity.
What God calls sin, the world calls “brave.”
What God says is confusion, the world calls “freedom.”
And what God says leads to death, the world puts on parade floats and calls it pride.

That’s not liberation. That’s rebellion.

Don’t misunderstand me.
Love doesn’t mean approval.
Love doesn’t mean silence.
And real love doesn’t stand by while people run full speed toward hell.

“Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral… nor men who have sex with men… will inherit the kingdom of God.”
— 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

That’s the Word of God. Not a sermon clip. Not a denominational stance. That’s the holy, eternal, unchanging Word of God.

But don’t stop at verse 10.

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ…”
— 1 Corinthians 6:11

There’s hope. There’s grace. There’s forgiveness.
But there’s no forgiveness without repentance.
You can’t cling to your sin with one hand and try to hold Christ with the other.

Too many pulpits have gone soft. Too many Christians are terrified of offending someone’s feelings while ignoring the fact that God is offended by their sin.
Jesus didn’t die to affirm your identity.
He died to transform it.

You don’t get to keep your pronouns and your cross. You don’t get to drag your sin into the Kingdom and demand God accept it. This isn’t Burger King, you don’t get salvation your way.

Christ calls all sinners to repentance, liars, thieves, drunkards, religious hypocrites, adulterers, and yes, the LGBTQ community. Nobody is beyond the reach of grace. But grace never leaves anyone the way it found them.

If you’re reading this and you identify as LGBTQ, hear me clearly.

You are not hated.
You are not unwanted.
You are not beyond saving.

But you must repent.
Not just “come as you are”, but leave as someone new.
The same Gospel that saves the liar saves the lesbian. The same blood that covers the thief can wash clean the transgender individual. But only if you come to Christ on His terms, not yours.

Truth Isn’t Hate. Lies Are.

If your version of “love” tells people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear, you’re not loving them, you’re damning them gently.

We don’t hate trans people. We don’t hate anyone in the LGBTQ community.
But we refuse to lie to them, because eternity is too long to be wrong.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
— John 14:6

If this ticks you off, take it up with the Author.
I’m just the messenger.