Heart Touch Ministries - Rev. Ray and Carol Keen

09/07/2026

Today's Quote!

09/07/2026

“Forever is a Mighty Long Time, Part One" – ‘Time as always in motion. Time is always moving, every moment of every day. It never stops moving, and even if we were to observe it, the same thing applies. From one moment to the next, it would constantly advance. The march of time continues, day after day, and there are some who are convinced that they have all the time in the world. For them, commitment to God, to live one's life for Him completely, can wait until later. Well, let me tell you something; later is now. So it's time, dear friends; time for all of us to stop thinking that we 'have all the time in the world,' and time for all of us to realize that indeed time is soon to run out! I was listening to a favorite song of ours, one we sang years ago in concert. These words are as true today as they ever were. Here it is: ‘Shout it from the mountaintops, Proclaim it in the city streets, Sing it everywhere you go, Tell everybody you meet, Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming, Yes, he’s coming, Let the whole world know that Jesus is coming soon.’

Friends, it's time for us to get serious about our faith. It's time for us to stop thinking of our churches as if they were social clubs or a glorified country club. It's time to have real praise and worship teams instead of 'house bands!' It's time for real preaching of the Word instead of 'feel-good' philosophy! It's time for us to get serious about our relationship with our Lord. It's time for all of us to realize that eternity is very close at hand. Yes, forever is a mighty long time! Christian people are knowingly sinning, believing that God both understands and forgives when we knowingly sin. But that's like taking Him for granted, don't you think? I mean, should we actually have the audacity to 'wink' at God and then go ahead and sin, when our eternal destiny hangs in the balance? 'God understands me' is not an viable excuse, my friends. I’ll say it again: Forever is a mighty long time! I'm positive that God understands all of us, and more intimately than we could ever fully comprehend.

Yet that, in and of itself, is no excuse. Sin is still sin, no matter what we might think or how we might feel about it. It's still sin, even if society says it's all right. I believe it would be better for all of us to reverse this philosophy altogether. We need to truly understand God completely and become much more aware of what He expects from us! What we don’t need is to go around proclaiming that 'we can do whatever we want because God understands us.' And what about following the directives He has given us in His word? Are those Ten Commandments and God's Scripturally defined rules for Christian living only for someone else, or are they for all of us to follow, especially considering that our eternal destination is decided by how we live? Forever, as I’ve said before, is a mighty long time!’ – To be continued. – God bless you and keep you. – In the love of our Lord, Rev. Ray and Carol, 9/7/2026.

09/07/2026

09/04/2026

Today's Song!

09/04/2026

"Living Sacrifices" – ‘We'll never achieve fullness and completeness in the Lord through the Spirit until we let go of ourselves and make it all about him. We can't even cling to one iota of who and what we are. Paul put it so eloquently in 1st Corinthians 15:31: "I die daily." In that simple little sentence he's helping us to understand that it's a daily thing to keep ourselves from taking the lead away from the Lord. Yes, that's right! We must ‘crucify’ ourselves on a daily basis in order to keep the Lord Jesus Christ where he belongs, which is in the leadership role in our lives. It's about him, not us, you know! We need to 'die' to ourselves and to sin, and live unto God. It’s in the total sacrificing of ourselves that we’ll find true freedom and strength to carry on through life. That freedom? It’s something we should desire above all else! "Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more; death has no more dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died unto sin once for all, but the life that he lives he is living unto God.

Even so count yourselves also to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus." Romans 6:9-11. Jesus Christ, the one and only begotten Son of the Living God, now lives the life He is living as unto God, His Father. All the actions of His life are centered on the Father's will. We're to be just like Him, you see, counting ourselves dead unto sin and our former lives and living unto God in complete and total surrender to his will. It's the only way we'll ever known real freedom from our former lives. It’s available. It’s waiting only for the true sacrifice of ourselves. The freedom that we enjoy came at a high price, dear friends. God had to turn away from his only Son as he hung there on the cross, when Jesus took the full brunt of our sins upon himself. Yes, he bore our sins there. “I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures.” 1st Corinthians 15:3.

Yes, he died for our sins once and for all as a living sacrifice, the lamb that was slain, so that we might live. His sacrifice was great, and it was all for us. Yes, for you and me! However, we know he didn’t remain in that tomb, though, as this next verse tells us: “And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” 1st Corinthians 15:4. Yes, he was buried. Yes, his body was in a tomb, but he’s not in a tomb any more, hallelujah! He’s a living Savior, having defeated death, hell and the grave, rising victoriously to live forevermore, glory to his name! As he died, so we must die, to ourselves, to our former ways of life, to what we once were, and we’re to live now in complete surrender to him as living sacrifices, the same as he is! Again, glory to his name!’ – God bless you and keep you. – In the love of our Lord, Rev. Ray and Carol, 9/4/2026. Our fall event schedule is coming soon. Look for dates near you!

09/02/2026

“The Way And The Truth” - ‘There are people who would tell us, ‘There’s always two ways to look at things.’ They’re the same people who believe that truth isn’t fixed. They’d want everyone to believe that truth means different things to different people and that it’s subject to interpretation. I’m sorry. That just won’t do. First of all, there’s really only one way to look at things; God’s way. What’s fixed in the heavens is also fixed on earth. It’s God’s way or no way. “There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death.” Psalms 14:12. It repeats in Psalms 16:25. Not our way, not our will, not any other way than God’s way. That’s it. There’s no debate. “An highway shall be there, and a way; and it shall be called the way of holiness.” Isaiah 35:8. That’s the right way, the only way, the way of holiness. Secondly, let’s address truth. Truth is a constant. It doesn’t change simply because we want it to. It remains truth.

Truth doesn’t change from person to person. It remains what it is even if someone interprets it differently than from what it really is. “Teach me your way, O Lord my God; I will walk in your truth.” Psalms 86:11. It’s his truth, established from the very beginning of all things that we should follow and trust in. His truth is forever and ever. It doesn’t change with time, and it’s not a debatable thing. It doesn’t mean one thing to this person or another thing to someone else. It has one meaning that is rooted for all time in what it is: truth. In fact, Christ himself is the living proof of truth, and he is established for all time, too! Don’t lie. Don’t let the bo***ge of lying become part of you. Do this: “Speak every man the truth to his neighbor.” Zechariah 8:16. Since God established truth and it is a constant that doesn’t vary, we should acknowledge that we’re to live in truth.

We shouldn’t debate it, or try to rationalize it, but just live it in faith and let our words always be grounded in truth. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” John 1:17. Jesus is truth. He stands by the truth. He doesn’t waver, he doesn’t change, he remains a constant in an inconsistent world, and since that’s him by definition then it should be us by definition, too! Our words should always be honest and truthful. Our ways of life should always be factual and sincere, based upon his truth. When Christ said, “You shall know the truth,” he was speaking of the truthfulness of he and his Father. Then he made it clearer when he said, “The truth shall set your free.” John 8:32. Free to live in honesty and truthfulness. Free to be all you can be, in the Lord. It’s what we all need: the way and the truth that leads to life!’ – God bless you and keep you. – In the love of our Lord, Rev. Ray and Carol, 9/2/2026.