Category: What do you think?

God has a real plan for your life and wants you to seek him to discover what it is

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TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

God has not left people to figure life out on their own; he has a plan, a purpose, and a will for every person, and he has chosen to carry that out by living in and through those who belong to him. That is not a vague promise but a direct invitation to seek him with everything you have, trusting that he will make himself known.

The reason anyone is able to find God when they seek him is not because they are good enough or smart enough to track him down; it is because he chooses to reveal himself to those who call on him. When God says he has plans for you, that is worth paying attention to and worth pursuing. The practical step is to call on him, seek him genuinely, and then be willing to follow wherever that leads, knowing that his plans for your life are better than any you could come up with on your own.

And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13

The defeat of death is not just a future hope but a certainty already secured in Christ

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TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

Our culture tends to avoid the subject of death as much as possible, and when it cannot be avoided, it tries to push it further away through medicine and technology and anything else that might buy a little more time. And yet no matter how hard we try, death remains the one thing no one has ever managed to escape on their own. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:25-26 that Christ must reign until every enemy has been placed beneath his feet, and the final enemy to be destroyed is death itself.

The resurrection of Jesus was not simply a personal victory for him. It was the moment when death received a wound from which it will not recover. The fear that death has held over people for all of human history has already been weakened, and its final destruction is assured because of what Christ accomplished. One day death itself will die, and life will reign without end. That is not a wish or a dream. It is a promise backed by an empty tomb and a risen King.

But when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.

1 Corinthians 15:54

Receiving Jesus means accepting who he is and what he did for you

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TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

Accepting Jesus as your personal Saviour means more than agreeing with a set of ideas; it means personally trusting that he is God’s Son and the only way for people to be forgiven of their sins. When you receive Christ, you are accepting that he died for your sins and that this applies directly to your own life by faith.

God the Father and God the Son have both spoken clearly in scripture about who Jesus is and what he came to do. When you place your faith in him, you are taking God at his word and trusting that belief in Christ brings salvation. That is not a small thing; it is the most important decision any person will ever make.

Finding peace in the risen Christ

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DON HEBERT

Many of us go through life feeling small, insignificant, or vulnerable. The world can feel hostile, our resources limited, and our influence tiny. When opposition rises against our faith, or when we lose battles within our own hearts, fear and anxiety can take over. Yet these feelings, while honest, should not lead us to despair or to live as though Jesus is still in the tomb. The resurrection changes everything about how we see ourselves and our circumstances.

When Jesus rose and met his disciples behind locked doors, his first words were not blame or rebuke, even though they had abandoned him just days earlier. He simply said, “Peace be with you.” This was grace beyond what any of them deserved. That same peace is offered to us today. Because Christ rose, we are made right with God, no longer his enemies but his friends and children. We can stop fearing the future, stop dreading death, and stop carrying the shame of past failures. The wounds Jesus showed his followers are proof that the price has already been paid.

This peace also moves us outward. The same Jesus who spoke calm into a frightened room then sent his followers into the world, breathing his Spirit on them. We are not left alone to do this work. The Spirit lives in us, giving us strength we do not have on our own. Our task is simple: carry the message of forgiveness to others. We cannot forgive sins ourselves, but we can tell people the good news that God will forgive those who turn to him. When we feel weak, we remember that the One who lives in us is greater than anything we face.

If you feel small or afraid, picture the risen Jesus standing near, speaking peace over your heart. Receive his forgiveness, accept his Spirit, and join the work he has set before you. The same words spoken in that locked room are spoken to us now.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Romans 5:1

How Romans 8 and Jude 21 fit together on the question of salvation and God’s love

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JEFF TURNER

Romans 8 says that nothing in all creation can separate a believer from the love of God, which settles the question of whether salvation can be lost. But Jude 21 seems to place some responsibility on the believer, saying “keep yourselves in the love of God.” Read quickly, these two verses can seem like they are pulling in opposite directions, but they are actually speaking to two entirely different things.

Romans 8 is addressing the permanence of salvation itself. God’s love holds the believer securely and nothing can undo that. Jude, on the other hand, is writing to people who are already saved and encouraging them to live in such a way that they experience the full blessing that comes with that love. Building up faith through scripture, living in obedience to God’s word, these are the things that keep a person walking in the place where God’s love flows into everyday life in a meaningful and noticeable way.

Security in salvation and a call to pursue godliness are not contradictions; they are two sides of the same life of faith.

and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

John 10:28