When my youngest sons were little and in a room together, they'd be fighting within seconds. Whatever one of them focuses on, the other immediately wants! It could be a toy, a cookie, or something as small as a cookie crumb, but one thing is for sure, they will both be in one mind about what they want. Although I could write for hours on human nature, original sin, the selfishness of the flesh, etc., I'd like to take a totally different approach this time. As I was praying today I realized that without prayer, I consistently make poor decisions--essentially becoming separated from the "head" and floundering on my own. Imagine though, if I were able to have the mind of Christ (being focused on absolutely the same thing as Him), my decisions would mirror His, my motives would be perfect, and the results of my endeavors would consistently give glory to God. Unlike my two sons, focusing on the same thing at the same time with Christ would lead to harmony with God in my life and in the ministry He's called me to. Doing anything less leaves me fighting for crumbs with the demons and anyone else whose work is not aligned with God's. With these truths in mind, prayer takes on a whole new life, and Scripture reading or Bible study become a sort of check and balance system to further focus the Christ-follower. "Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow." Colossians 2:18b-19 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

I quite often get mail from teens (and even some from adults) who are wondering if the new love of their life is Mr. or Ms. Right. Generally, it's hard for me to make determinations with such little information, so I like to ask a few questions to get the person thinking. My first question is always the same. Maybe it's a question you need to ask yourself... Is the person drawing you closer to Christ, or driving you away from Him? At its root level, anything or anyone who (no matter how good them may look) is drawing you away from Jesus is doing the work of the antichrist. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:12 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

I have a close relative who is a member of a strong church in his community who recently told me an interesting story. As it turns out, he had a friend he hadn't heard from in years call him not long ago and ask him for financial help. My friend has some financial means, so, being a good friend, he flew to his friend's state, bought him a car, and then gave it to him. While he was there, he met some members of his friend's church who told him that, because he was not a member of their church, he was not going to heaven! In fact, he was going to hell for sure! At this point, my quite shocked relative remarked, "Well, if you're so good with God, why did I have to fly thousands of miles to help a relative stranger while he's a member of YOUR church? The question for today is: Which group was wrong? The answer is that both of them were! My relative is not a member of the Body of Christ, as he has never given his life to Christ and believes all religions have merit. His church often allows for all types of faith and therefore is "pluralistic" in its doctrine, and not a true Christian church. The members of the other church are wrong because even though they are possibly right about my relatives' condition with Christ, they are also far from living out their faith in love. "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." James 2:14-17 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

There is a sizeable chunk of Christianity who believe that they need not share the good news of Jesus' saving grace with the rest of the world. They believe that since the Spirit of God draws men to Himself, they need not be involved in the process. Some of them simply wait in their churches for lost souls to show up and ask them what to do. While I'm absolutely positive that not only does God draw people to Himself and that He can bring a person to walk through the doors of a church, I am also absolutely convinced that He intends to involve His Church, the Body of Christ, in this mission. That's why He gave it to us quite clearly in the Great Commission (Matthew 28). Moreover, I believe that most of the desire not to be involved is selfish, fearful, and possibly even racist, judgemental, or worse! If you're not involved in building focused relationships with unsaved people with the express purpose of leading them to Christ, then I believe you should reconsider your involvement! Truly, what is it that holds you back? It cannot be God, because He's the one pushing you forward. "As the Scripture says, 'Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.' For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' How then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom thy have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'" Romans 10:11-15 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

We live in a world where if you don't like your parents, you can tell them to "go to hell" and nobody will care. If your parents aren't happy about being pregnant with you, they can have you killed without the slightest backlash from humanity. If your parents don't like each other, they can divorce and not get ostracized by anyone, and often "anyone" includes the church where Jesus is supposed to be Lord and whose prophets cried out, "God hates divorce!" Practically every form of sin is on the rise, and "love" is often the first casualty, even among believers. I ask you, is this the world you want to live in? If not, then two things need to be done immediately! Call on Jesus and make Him your Lord, in word AND in deed. Whatever He says, do it! Make what's left of this world a better place by following Him. And secondly, set your mind not on this world, but on things unseen! What you see here will be over before any of us know it. "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

Virtually all of those who said they would follow Jesus anywhere left Him as soon as the trouble started. Today, things have changed little as many of those who call themselves Christian won't follow Him much further than the first tough decision. Sure, "feelings" about how wonderful Jesus is are great, but what good are they if they don't last when the flesh starts calling. As a dad, I love it when my children tell me they love me, but nothing, and I mean NOTHING is as good as seeing them show it by their actions. And conversely, all the talk in the world about love means nothing if they walk out and do what I've lovingly asked them not to do. "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." 3 John 1:4 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

If you ask the average person what the worst thing that could happen to them would be, they would tell you something that would involve their personal suffering. Humans don't like suffering much, and we will do just about anything to avoid it. That's unfortunate for the well-meaning Christian because suffering is quite surely part of our calling. God draws us into all types of difficult circumstances so we can pull others from eternal fire, to teach us different things, and to even help relieve the sufferings of others. The answer to the "worst possible things that could happen to us" question is not "suffering," but rather "disobedience." From that there is simply no hope if we remain in it! Now. honestly, how many openly disobedient Christians do you know? Believe it or not, the answer is not many, because true Christians, those that love the Lord like He loves them, would die suffering before they would openly disobey the One they love. Most "suffering avoiders" are just faking "Christian." "We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him." Hebrews 2:1-3 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

"'Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more. Bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes every three years,. Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings--boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do,' declares the Lord." Amos 4:5 This passage may seem a little weird to the average person living in 2000-something, but it will make perfect sense when you think about this? Have you been bragging about the things you've done for others, or things you've supposedly done for God, when you were clearly doing things He wouldn't approve of in the mean time? Of all the things God shows us that He hates in the Scriptures, this is one of the greatest--a sinner who likes to brag about all their good deeds while they continue in their sin. The right thing to do is quite simple; stop your sin, and give without looking for anything in return--even from God Himself. Only deeds done with this type of heart and covered by the Blood of Jesus make any sense at all to God. Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate