Second Stage Ministries

Of course, you will. Of course, I will. We aren't perfect, and we will never be. The Bible says this: “As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”” Romans 3:10, 12 NIV “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8 NIV In two different places in the Bible, we see that sin is a part of our life and that no one is exempt from sinning. So if that is true, why is "you will always sin" such an impactful voice on our lives? Because the Devil says it in our ear right after we have done something wrong. The Devil will push you toward something, and when you finally cave in, the Devil then says things like: “You're no good.” “Why did you even try to stop that addiction? You know you can't.” “You're worthless.” “You are what they tell you.” “God doesn't care.” “You

This is part two of a series of posts entitled "Voices". I encourage you to go back and read part one. In the last post we talked about loneliness and how all of the different voices we hear can drown out what God is trying to say to us. God has great things to say about us -- by the way -- and we need to try with everything we are to mute the voices that are competing with God's voice. Here is another phrase that we can sometimes hear - "You can't have a successful life." For this post I want to travel back to the Garden of Eden where we left the last post. Adam and Eve had just eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and God has provided them with clothes. Then God sent them out of the Garden: “So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard th

Life can be lonely. I'm sure that is a redundant statement. Many people would probably follow a statement like that with - "Duh!" I totally understand that.  Life can be lonely. People come and go in our life. People abandon us. People aren't always there to help when you need them. Let's be honest, people fail us.  But what do you do when you feel like God is failing you? When all you have is God and it feels like He isn't there?  Hebrews 13:5 says this: "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'" Over the summer, I was met with the feeling described above. I really didn't know what do with all of this emotion. I knew the words in bold. I knew that God was there and that He would never leave, but I was still battling this feeling of loneliness. People told me that God was there with me. I heard pastors

On Thanksgiving Day, I was at a family gathering. I walked by a table that had a gold Bible figurine on it. It was laying open to John 14:1-4. I have read this passage many times in the NIV version of the Bible. I have posted the verses below and I have highlighted verse two as it will be the focus of the post. In these verses, Jesus is speaking to his disciples. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms ; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” - John 14:1-4 NIV So when I read verse two, I picture Heaven as a place that is HUGE and has a lot of rooms. Just a big house. But you see that is the problem with this verse. The modern translations of the verse hurt the imagery of what is trying to be

I could not think of a better post to start off the new year. I know it's not Christmas anymore, but we have one more section of John 3:16 to look at. This last part of the verse is an invitation and the invitation is for anyone.  "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” -  John 3:16 NIV The verse says it plain and simple and that's what it is.... simple. Whoever In Jesus' own words, He says that WHOEVER believes. This tells us that Jesus wasn't excluding anyone from the invitation to believe. Believes in Him What exactly are you being asked to believe in though? The verse just says, in Him. In order to find the answer to this question we have to look in the book Romans. “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and