When you hear a Biblical truth that really attacks who you know you are inside, is your response a spirit of conformity with God's desires or a spirit of resistance? Do you immediately begin to pray to God to help you make the appropriate change or do you do your best to forget what you heard as soon as you can? Although these may seem like questions that are fairly simply, the truth is that the one who wants to conform is allowing Jesus Lordship in his/her life. The other is denying Jesus access, essentially removing any ability for God to grow him into something useable for His kingdom. What's more, a "crucified" attitude is one sign of the presence of God's Spirit in his heart. The other can be a sign of the absence of the Holy Spirit--someone destined to never conform in this life and to be eternally separated from God in hell. Today if you hear God knocking, don't turn away. "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

"We love you Jesus. Now leave us alone!" While that phrase may seem harsh in it's treatment of Jesus, I believe it is a good representation of what many (if not most) of those who call Him "Lord" say with the way they live their lives. We cry His name in times of trouble, and quickly push Him away when we feel we don't need Him. All the while, we cry that we feel "so far away" from God. If you find the same thread in all of my writings, I pray it is this: As Christians, what we do and say should mirror each other, and WE should each do our best to mirror Jesus to a lost world. If one of my children was to tell me he loved me, give me a goodnight kiss, and then promptly sneak out the window and rob a bank after I fell asleep, his actions would deny his words. Loving the authorities over you means obeying them relentlessly. Loving Jesus means exactly the same thing. Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching." These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. Jesus of Nazareth (John 14:23-24) Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

I used to think that God only wanted to hear me praising His name and praying for people in my circle of influence. It took a while, but I eventually learned that God is capable of handling anything I can throw at Him. He wants to hear the tough things we're dealing with, the sins we're continuing to struggle with, and even our desperation at not hearing from Him as clearly as we may like. God is a Father that cares deeply for us and never acts harshly or judgmentally like our earthly fathers may do. Honestly, can we really call what we have with Him a "relationship" if we only talk with Him about the weather? Psalm 13 1 How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? 3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; 4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall. 5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.  Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

Although the word "narcissism" may be unfamiliar to many, the concept it stands for is alive and well today. Basically, narcissism is love of oneself. It is practiced best by those who can focus almost entirely on their own needs, in spite of the condition of those around them. A "narcissist" has no problem taking care of number one! Unfortunately there's far too much narcissism in Christian circles today. There are even throngs of preachers who preach nothing else! Jesus calls us to just the opposite type of focus and thinking. Honestly, is there any of this type of thinking in your heart that God needs to root out? "Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things." Philippians 3:19 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

It doesn't take much channel surfing to realize that Hollywood has a growing fascination with mediums, spiritists and the like. Some people claim to talk to the dead, others to see into the future. They are ALL fakes, liars, demon-driven, or all three! The Bible says as much in many places. But what's probably worse is that many people who calls themselves Christians follow these crazy notions. Honestly, if Jesus died to give us direct access to the God of the Universe, why on earth would we seek out demons and sinners for advice and council? "When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead [lost] on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! [the Holy Bible] If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness." Isaiah 8:19-22 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

Humans are an ungrateful sort. I'm inundated with mail from people complaining God won't do this or that for them or griping about how He answers (or doesn't answer) prayer. One guy honestly challenged me to tell him one single thing God has done for him. My response was simple enough. "Did you make the air you're breathing all by yourself?" God is not some type of colossal candy man who does whatever we demand. He is much more interested in our growth and our Spiritual condition than He is what we think we need. "But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, 'Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in this desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!'" Numbers 21:4b-5 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

Israel once demanded God give them an earthly king so they could be like all the nations around them. Unfortunately for them, they got what they asked for. Saul, David and Solomon are no doubt familiar to just about everyone and each of them had their good and bad points. After those kings, however, most of the long list of their names aren't even household names in Israel! What's worse, most of them were terribly wicked. For generations they operated without even a hint of God's word (what Israel said they wanted in the first place). Then there came a day when a priest accidentally found a copy of God's Law and presented it to King Josiah. When Josiah heard the Word of the Lord, he did something very rare among regular people and even more rare among kings. He did what it said. He actually took God seriously and made the necessary life changes immediately and permanently. So I ask you this. When you heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, did you ignore it, believe and become a new creation or did you just morph the old self into a pseudo church-going look alike? "Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did--with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses." 2 Kings 23:25 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate

Have you ever heard the saying "Talk is cheap?" Well, it's a true saying for sure. What's more, talking big without backing it up with hard work, will make sure the only thing you can afford is "cheap!" "All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." Proverbs 14:23 God!" Hebrews 9:12-14 Pastor Jim Kilby Your donation spreads good news! www.harvestyouth.org/donate