Following the Book Ministries

01/14/2024

Receive Jesus Christ and Live

The world seems to become more violent and dangerous year by year. Truly mankind cries, “Peace and safety,” but there is neither peace nor safety. According to the Geneva Academy there are over 110 armed conflicts going on in the world at this time. Criminal gangs are growing more powerful and challenge even the most powerful nations in the world. Crime is running rampant and law enforcement is becoming less effective and increasingly corrupt. Religion is being used to foment hatred and genocide against entire ethnic groups. Nuclear weapons threaten the very existence of mankind.

In the days of Noah, God saw the corruption of the people of the earth and said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” Genesis 6.7 (NASB) He decided to flood the earth and remove men from the earth except for eight people. God commissioned Noah to build an ark, a ship, so that he could save the animals that God chose and the members of Noah’s family that the earth could be replenished with life.

Jesus compared the last days of the age to the days of Noah. “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be” Matthew 24.37-39 (NASB). Jesus said that He would return in that day to rescue His own church and bring a terrible judgment on the earth. How are we to escape the violence and hatred of this present day and avoid the coming judgment? Jesus told us how,

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not condemned; he who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the condemnation, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” John 3.16—19

And,
“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11.

If we have faith in Jesus enough to repent of our sins, humbly confess them to God, and receive Jesus, we will be born anew by the Spirit of God and be saved from the wrath to come. We will have eternal life assured in heaven. Thanks be to God!

Receive Jesus Christ and live! He is the ONLY WAY!

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05/05/2021

When Christ Calls – Romans 6

“When Christ calls a person, He bids them come and die.” So wrote Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a writer who has greatly influenced the way that I think about my walk with Jesus. Dying with Christ is also what the Bible urges me to do. By faith, we who follow Jesus have been united with Christ in the likeness of His death and have been raised to new life. Therefore, we need to live life as newly born people, creatures that are new. The old ways are gone. The ways of sin are passed and a new walk, a new way of living has come about. This is one of the great themes of the Bible. The Apostle Paul proclaimed that the grace of God appeared in Jesus Christ to teach us to live a godly life. (Titus 2:11—14) But Paul also told us how we are able, by the Spirit and grace, to break free from sin and live a new life. Paul exhorted the Christians in Rome to find a new way of living through “death.”

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:1-4 (NASB)

The death that we die with Christ is a spiritual; not a physical one; a death to sin. It is dying to our pride. It is dying out to our self-will and our instance on living our way and not God’s way. It is becoming dead to the urgent appeals of lust and sexual immorality. Think of Jesus in Gethsemane! We do not have that kind of agony. But we must commit to the will of the Father and take up our cross, no matter the personal cost. Just as a seed dies to give new life to the vine, so when we are baptized into Christ’s death we are raised with Him to newness of life. Crucify self-will and be raised again!

“O Lord, I want to participate with you in the likeness of your death. I pray, O Lord God, that you would help me to walk in newness of life. You have raised me to new life! Keep me from sin today, Lord. Lead me away from temptation. Help me where I am weak and give me grace where I may stumble. And I pray, O Lord God, that you would fill me with your spirit so that I may walk worthy of the one who has called me out of darkness into the light. I pray in Jesus name, Amen.”

03/31/2021

HOPE FOR THE WORLD

Sometimes it seems there is no hope for this world. There seems to be violence at every hand. It is easy to see there is something wrong with the world and it is shown on every continent. All a person has to do is pick up a newspaper or watch a news program. Why are people so quick to use force and violence to further their politics, religion, greed or lust? This Holy Week offers hope through a new birth for the world in Jesus Christ.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

Jesus' teaching that we are to "Love God with all of our heart soul mind and strength, and our neighbor as our self...doing unto others as we would have done to us," could bring a paradise about in all of our cultures. But the naturally evil heart of mankind will not let love rule. Jesus Christ was born, lived a perfect life, and became the sacrifice offered to the whole world for the remission of sins. He was raised to life to give the world hope of eternal life. It is my prayer and hope that all men, women, boys and girls at this season will sincerely repent and believe the good news. May the agape love of Jesus fill each heart. May love rule.

Pastor George

03/12/2021

If you want to know something of the spiritual journey of Pastor George and his new book LOVE THE NARROW PATH due to be launched April 7, watch this interview with Rabbi Eric Walker on the Igniting a Nation Network.

Are you ready for the adventure of a lifetime? Christ beckoned us to walk through the narrow gate and join Him on the narrow path. A path filled with potenti...

12/19/2020

2020 has been a difficult year for me. But when I think of Jesus, my hardships seem light and almost insignificant. This morning I thought about Mary and Joseph carrying the hope of the world to Bethlehem. My own words rebuked my discouragement. https://followingthebook.net/raf-devotional/1212dev/1219.mp3

12/15/2020

Following the Book Ministries offers FREE daily audio devotions by Pastor George delivered each day into your inbox. Thousands are inspired by these 3 to 5 minute devotions streamed out on their desktop or mobile device. We NEVER share your email with anyone. Click here to subscribe: https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001L6CST65H5_zOB2mM4b5p8X7VkfrKh8y1PJ-4CukWyAdW3SwLNQM0CVDjZE3m5mQafyZWMTTNUVGDJZqy2eiNzSHbs1l15xToIe1nsdLD9EY%3D Opt out at anytime

08/18/2020

Work is moving forward a new devotional, Love the Narrow Path, due to be launched early 2021.

07/30/2020

"Justification" seems like a terribly theological and complicated word. It also sounds like a dull subject. But it is a very important concept to our faith and understanding of what Jesus Christ did for each of us on the cross.

Whether a person pays the fine or walks out of court acquitted, they are justified before the laws of the community. I am amazed by the people in my community who do not seek to be justified before…

04/23/2020

I pray that everyone will find their hope in Jesus Christ!

All people in the world are created in the image of God, the Imago Dei. The Bible also teaches us that all people today came from one family, the progeny of Noah and his wife. The plague that the w…

03/18/2020

There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom.

There are questions and there are questions. Whether one has faith in God or not, the world is filled with unanswered questions. I have taught the Bible for many years and have had all kinds of stu…

12/13/2019

HERE TODAY-- GONE TOMORROW – John 12

WHY ARE THINGS LIKE THEY ARE? Why do people have to suffer? Why do I have to die? Why does God allow such evil? Why does it seem that God is not concerned with our suffering? These are questions for which no human can supply a full answer. Who can know the mind of God? But, sometimes, God gives us wisdom with an insight into His purpose. This happened to a woman named Mary, after Jesus raised her brother, Lazarus, from the dead. When her brother became ill, she sent for their friend, Jesus. She knew He could heal Lazarus. But, Jesus took His time responding. By the time He got there, Lazarus had been dead four days. Mary chided Jesus, “If you would have been here my brother would not have died!” Jesus said, “I AM LIFE AND LIFE AFTER DEATH. IF YOU BELIEVE IN ME YOU WILL LIVE AFTER DEATH.DO YOU BELIEVE THAT?" Her answer was rather noncommittal. Jesus proceeded to raise her brother back to life and restore Lazarus to his sister. Later, they were having supper. Lazarus was at the table. Mary did something that showed that God had revealed something to her about Jesus; about life, death, and the resurrection.

“Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?’…Jesus said, ‘Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial.’” John 12:3-7 (NASB)

MARY HAD ONE OF THOSE MOMENTS IN TIME, where you might say, “the light bulb came on”; a sudden realization of the truth. That jar of nard was worth three hundred day’s wages. It was probably her life savings. Jesus said that Mary had realized something that no one else in the room understood. The Giver of Life, Jesus, would pay the price that every human being would pay for being born—death. Mary understood, if Jesus raised her brother from the grave, it could not hold the Giver of Life. She now knew that if she believed in Jesus, when she died, she would live again, just like the Giver of Life. Her hope had been in her savings, but now it was completely in Jesus Christ.

“Father in heaven, I believe every word of Jesus. Help me to understand that my life is just a v***r, here today, gone tomorrow. My hope lies in the One who has passed through death before me. Jesus Christ won, with His own blood, a propitiation for my sins. The grave could not hold Him, and it cannot hold me, because I have faith in His words. Eternal life! Eternal life! Thank you, Jesus. Amen.”