You can't bribe God

So you think you can bribe God? If you do then you are so very, very wrong. You Can't Bribe God. No matter what you cannot do it. It is not possible. Now you might be asking what do I mean by this? Simple, you can't say to God, "I'll do this my way but I'll put more money in the collection plate on Sunday to make up for not listening to You." He does not work like that.
The meaning of a bribe is to either pay a sum of money or other incentive to get your way or to persuade someone to act the way you want them to act. (Taken from an online dictionary.) You can't bribe your way into heaven. It just isn't possible. That is not how God works. You can't think oh He will understand. No He won't. You need to put God first and for most always. That is what will make Him happy. Not the extra money in a collection plate.
Look at the apostle Paul, do you really think that he ever thought to himself, well I am just going to preach my way instead of the way of the Lord and I'll just make up for it later. NO! He never thought that. All he wanted to do after his vision of Jesus when he was going to Damascus, was to please God in every way possible at every moment possible. He gave it all up for God. He was from a wealthy family, had a high position in the Sanhedrin, He gave up having a wife and a family. He gave up everything to do God's will. It never once thought that he could bribe God into giving him the ultimate reward of eternal life in heaven. He just thought, this is God's will for me so I am going to do it to the best of my abilities no matter how many times I am put in jail, no matter how may times people beat me, no matter what happens to me, I am doing God's will.
Another example to look at is the apostle John. He was the only one that stayed with Jesus through the crucifixion. He was the only apostle that God's will. He did not run away and hide. He did not leave Jesus' side. He stayed until the end. Then after Jesus had risen, came back, and ascended into heaven, he continued to do God's will. All the way through his life until he was an old man, he still spread the word of God with his letters. He never thought that he could bribe God. He did what was asked of him and he did it to the best of his abilities at tall times. He put his maximum effort into the job he was given. He never thought to bribe God. He was rewarded eternal life in heaven because of his faithfulness and loyalty.
So the next time you think that you can bribe God, think again. It is not possible. Don't think just because you put extra money into a collection plate to make up for not listening to God that it will suffice. He doesn't work like that. Do what God's wants. Do his will. Please God.
As PASTOR JOHN COLLINS says at BRINGING BACK GOD in BRISTOL, TN salvation is found by repenting your sins, being baptized, becoming a new you, become a true Christian, come back to the cross, and do what God wants.
PASTOR JOHN COLLINS can also be heard on BlogTalk Radio. Or visit BRINGING BACK GOD in BRISTOL, TN or MARIETTA, PA.
God Bless You,
The Church Goer-Girl

Acts

Have you ever read Acts? If not then you should. It is a really good book in the Bible. The book of Acts is about what the twelve apostles did after Jesus was crucified, come back from the dead, and risen to heaven. PASTOR JOHN COLLINS  at BRINGING BACK GOD in BRISTOL, TN has been studying it recently and has intrigued me to want to read it as well.
There is one part where a man named Stephen is speaking in front of the Sanhedrin and he is bound in chains. He is giving them the history of the people and when he gets to the part where Jesus is King, they get upset and angry. They get so upset that they take him out and they stone him to death. The entire time he is praying, "Lord, they know not what they are doing. Don't hold there sin against them." He is a true believer of God and Jesus. A true Christian,
At another point there is a magician named Simon that tries to pay for the abilities that he sees Peter has. He asks if he pays Peter will he give him the same abilities that the Lord gave Peter. Peter exclaims that he is the devil basically and will go to hell for thinking that he can buy his way into heaven. Simon then asks Peter to pray for him so that none of the things Peter says comes true.
One of my favorite parts of the book of Acts is when Saul becomes Paul. This happens on the road to Damascus when Saul is able to persecute any and all believers of Jesus. When he is close to Damascus he has a bright light that comes upon him and he sees a man that asks, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Saul asks, "Who are you Lord?" and is told, "I am Jesus, the one whom you are persecuting." he is then told that he will be blind for three days and a man named Ananias will come to him in three days time. So Saul is lead into Damascus by the hand and for three days he cannot see, nor does he eat or drink anything. Then Ananias comes and heals his eyes and baptizes him in the name of Jesus and gives him the name of Paul. Paul then becomes the biggest support of Jesus that there can be. He preaches the word of Jesus throughout the land and when the Jews continue to have hardened hearts to the word he speaks he turns and takes his message to the gentiles.
In another part of Acts Paul is on a ship and tells the centurion that the boat they are on is going to be destroyed but if everyone on the ship stays together then they will not perish. The centurion sees some of the men trying to get of the boat and ends up cutting the lines to the life boat. After many days in the storm, 14 if I am recalling correctly, Paul tells the men to eat and drink something for they have not had anything in a long time. They do and what happens is the boat comes upon some land and ends up hitting a sand barge. The men all survive and the boat sinks, just as Paul said it would. Because that is what he was told of from the Lord.
The book of Acts is a great book to read. It is one of my favorite books of the Bible. If you want to study the book even further, there is a movie called Acts. You can find it on DVD or you can find it on YouTube. It tells the story of Acts word for word and is a really good movie to study with.
If you would like to learn more about the book of Acts then come to BRINGING BACK GOD  in either BRISTOL, TN or in MARIETTA, PA. Come to one of the services on Sunday at 10:00am or Wednesday at 7:00pm and hear PASTOR JOHN COLLINS, you won't regret it. Check out the book of Acts, you'll be surprised how much you might enjoy it.
I Love You All and God Bless You All,
The Church Goer-Girl

Heroes

Hi All.

So today I want to talk about heroes. One of my favorite heroes is Paul.

What do we know about Paul? Right off the top of my head I can tell you:

1) That Paul used to be Saul

2) He was an apostle

3) http://www.prlog.org/12303782-bringing-back-god-youth-group-with-pastor-john-collins.html

4) He changed his ways and became a very strong believer of Jesus

5) He wrote many letters in the New Testament

That is the basics of Paul. But there has to be more to his story than just those five points. Think about it to yourself, what do you know about the apostle Paul?

Did you know that he was studying to become a Pharisee? Did you know that he believed in the Old Testament and everything that pertained to God? Did you know that he had a vision on the way to Damascus of Jesus? Did you know that he was blind for three days? Did you know that in today’s world we would have seen Paul (Saul) as a terrorist for all the acts he committed before he was changed?

Saul went around killing followers of Jesus Christ in the name if God. He had a declaration from the Romans stating that it was okay for him to kill Jesus followers. In today’s world that is a terrorist. Is there any other way to look at it? Not really. Would you say that any of this work is the work of a hero? My answer would be no.

PASTOR JOHN COLLINS stated at church service the other day, “God does not recruit heroes. Not many mighty are called, not many noble, not many powerful, not man great as the world count greatness are called. God doesn’t go for big names to populate heaven. He takes ordinary folks and then does extraordinary things through them. But even that isn’t the full story. When God wants to recruit some front line soldiers for his army, he goes into the enemy camp and rounds up a handful of the orneriest, meanest, toughest, roughest, and wildest looking sinners he can find. The he draws them to Christ, saves them, justifies them, converts them, sanctifies them, cleans them up, fixes them up, dresses them up, and then sends them out to do battle in the service of the King of Kings.”

Think about that. He picks ordinary people that are sinners and converts them so that they can do His will and one day makes it into the Kingdom of Heaven. If God would choose someone like Paul to do His will and convert then that gives all of us hope that we can change to do His will too.

So if you ever feel down and out or like there is no hope left for yourself I want you to think about Paul. Think about what his life used to be like until God entered it. Think about how God chooses ordinary people. Think about how God chooses sinners. If Paul can be saved and do great things than so can you and I.

If you want to learn more about Paul or have any questions about the bible, check out PASTOR JOHN COLLINS at BRINGING BACK GOD in BRISTOL, TN. Also check out BRINGING BACK GOD, MARIETTA, PA

Love you guys and God Bless You!

The Church Girl