By Way of The Cross Christian Magazine

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Tyler as a Brave

The Who Not The Where

And this is eternal life, that they
know you the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom you have sent. John 17:3

Kids are honest, brutally honest. They
call things like they see it. If they
do not want to be around someone, you
know it. They will squirm, kick, and
cry to let everyone know that they are
not happy. And believe me, when they
are letting everyone know they are not
happy, they are not the most delightful
little ones to be around. However, have
you ever seen them when they love the
person that they are with? You see big
smiles and joy overflowing in these
kids, and it sure is contagious. Have
you ever seen anyone frown when they
are holding a smiling baby? No, because
if the baby is happy, then everyone is
happy.

Whenever I have a conversation with a
kid, I can see their eyes light up when
they want to share something about
their week. They invite you in on
everything. They tell you what they had
for breakfast, what they did at school,
their favorite color, or even what mom
said to dad about the neighbors down
the street. They invite you into every
part of their world. Sons tell Dads
when they scored a touchdown, how to
fix their bike, or that they are
hungry. Daughters tell moms about the
color of their dress, about what the
teacher said, or if they beat any of
the boys at sports that day. Some kids
will stop a game, run, get the person
they love, and bring them to the place
where they are having fun just so they
can share the moment with the person
close to their hearts. These times are
precious, for they are the times that
are shared with someone else. It is in
these moments that it does not matter
where you are, but who you are with.
Kids remember vacations not because of
what they did or where they went, but
because of who they spent them with.

When we begin to see, like children do,
we realize life is more about the who
we live with and who we live for than
about the where. A man looks forward to
marriage not because of what marriage
in simple definition is, but because of
who his wife will be. Parents enjoy a
house not because it is a big house,
but because they get to fill it with
children they love. Home feels like
home not because of where it is, but
because of who it is with. Some may
think that this idea is romanticized or
naïve. However, the who we get to live
life with gives us hope for the life
hereafter. The pictures of the
relationships we have are mirrors to
what is to be hoped for in the life
hereafter. It is to be anticipated.

If you have not guessed it yet, I am
talking about heaven, not the place,
the person. Let us be clear, heaven is
not great because it is heaven. Heaven
is great because of who is there, God.
Heaven is the promise of His presence
with us always. This presence with God
is set in the hearts of people on this
earth. All have an eternal quest that
can only be quenched by His presence.
May we not miss what the fickle things
of this world point us to—the unmoving
presence of a Father who loves. He has
invited us to come and sit at His table
as His children. He has offered to
adopt us as sons and daughters, and He
sent his own son to pay the price of
this adoption.

For those who read this and think this
is fantasy, a romanticized dream, I
understand. You know too well
relationships that have hurt you,
scarred you, and left you feeling
rejected and alone. You might say that
the home that you know is not welcoming
because of who is there. How do you
know that the Father of heaven is then
good, if our relationships are mirrors
after all? I ask you this; doesn’t the
acknowledgment that something is
radically wrong indicate that there is
something greater than what is now
perceived? In fact, God did not come to
earth only to invite us, but to take on
our suffering and pain, to be rejected
and despised so that you and I would
know that He is a God who understands.
He saw what was evil in this life and
endured it in hopes to invite man into
His family so that man might live in
the presence of God.

The place of heaven is a wonderful
thing to think about. What kind of food
will we have? Will we see our friends,
our parents, our spouse, our children?
Will we ever cry again? Will there be
sports, shopping, learning? It is only
when we come to Jesus because of His
love for us that we start to truly know
the person of heaven, and realize that
it is the person and not the place that
we long for and our hearts yearn after.
When we grasp the idea of the
significance of the person of heaven,
these other questions become tertiary.
The beauty of heaven, the place, is
overpowered by the beauty of who heaven
is about. It is in this truth that we
realize that life is not about where we
go or what we do. We will find that
those things take a back seat to the
who we do those things with. In view of
Christ, we get to do life with Him now
and in the hereafter, my prayer is that
you realize that Eternity touches you
now. We do not have to wait for heaven
to experience life abundantly on earth.
Thank you Jesus.

Tyler English

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No Work Required!

"For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it
is the gift of God: Not of works, lest
any man should boast. For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them."
Eph 2:8-10

The other day some Jehovah's Witnesses
came to my door. They came to convert
me to their belief.

I use to admire them for their
commitment to witnessing until I
realized that it is a requirement for
them to have everlasting life. They
were witnessing to me for their
benefit, not mine.

Being a Christian, I witness knowing
that my salvation is secure because of
what Jesus has already done, not
what I must do. Therefore when I
witness, the benefit goes to the person
who hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now what happens after death?

To the Jehovah's Witness,144,000
(already reached) will live as spirits
in heaven. The rest of the righteous
"the great crowd" live on earth and
must obey God perfectly for 1000
years or be annihilated.

The Christian believers go to be with
Jesus. After death all people await
final judgment. Both saved and lost
people will be resurrected. Those who
are saved live with Jesus in Heaven.
Those who are lost suffer the torment
of eternal separation from God in hell.

Jesus' bodily resurrection guarantees
believers that they too will be
resurrected and receive immortal bodies.

It takes perfection to enter heaven. I
am flawed and have sinned. We all have
sinned. The Bible says, "For all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of
God." Romans 3:23

The only way to heaven is to be clothed
in the righteousness of Christ. Why?
Because God in His holiness must
require perfection. The only person to
meet that standard is Jesus.

All religions require you to work to
get to heaven like the Jehovah's
Witness having to witness. Christianity
is not a religion. It is a Person,
Jesus Christ.

Your faith in Jesus and His work on the
cross is what gets you to Heaven. So
remember, Jesus has done it all. All
you have to do is accept His completed
work. Jesus on the cross said, "It is
finished."

Accept Christ today and then
go to work for Him.

God bless,

Gerald English

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Linda Davis

Are You Persecuted, Mocked
And Treated With Scorn?

Before Jesus was taken to the cross to
be crucified, He was persecuted, mocked
and treated with scorn by the people
and the soldiers. Even though He
suffered more pain and torture than you
and I will ever endure, our precious
Lord and Savior never harbored any
thoughts of bitterness, or revenge. On
the contrary, He spoke these words:
“Father forgive them, for they know not
what they do.”

The Love and Compassion that consumed
Jesus during his time of suffering, is
a living example for you and I to
follow. There are going to be times in
our life, when we are persecuted,
mocked and treated with scorn. We have
a choice to let our natural man strike
back in anger and retaliation, or allow
our spirit man to operate in peace and
forgiveness. I used to give in to my
flesh, more times than I want to admit.
When I did, I would lose my Peace and
the Joy Of The Lord. I am no longer
willing to compromise my Joy and my
Peace, under any circumstance.
I strive daily to allow His Spirit
to dominate my flesh.

In order to win this constant battle
with the flesh; it is mandatory that we
do not conform to the ways of the
world. We must be transformed by
renewing our mind daily with the Word
of God. We must keep looking to Jesus,
who is the author and finisher of our
Faith. We must allow the Love Of God to
be shed abroad in our hearts. All evil
comes forth from the heart and proceeds
out of the mouth. We need to ask God to
“set a guard over our mouth.” Proverbs
18:21 says, “Death and life are in the
power of the tongue, and they who
indulge in it shall eat the fruit of
it.”

I remember, back when I was in grade
school, the kids would always say:
“sticks and stones may break my bones,
but words can never hurt me.” That
statement is absolutely false! Words
can cut deep like a knife; or they can
sooth like a healing salve. Words can
build up or they can tear down. Words
can bring Hope or they can bring
destruction. Words can bring success or
failure. Words can bring health or they
can bring sickness. You have the power
to prophesy to yourself.
Choose today…
to use your words to bless…
not to curse.

Jesus warned his disciples clearly:
“Because I have chosen you out of this
world, the world will hate and revile
you, just as they hated me.” The
evidence is very clear…the world hates
the message of the Gospel. There are
satanic cults, internet games and all
kinds of evil activity raising their
ugly heads all around us. This is no
time to back down. If God has called
you into ministry, and you are being
persecuted, mocked and treated with
scorn; the Bible tells us to count it
all Joy when we encounter various tests
and trials. The testing of our Faith
produces steadfastness. We need to have
steadfastness in full effect, that we
can be made perfect and
complete…lacking in nothing.

Let me make this very clear…
WE NEED TO BE MORE LIKE JESUS!!

Linda Evans

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Debbie Penner

Is Salvation Permanent?

Many people live in constant fear that
something they do may offend God, and
cause them to be turned away when they
attempt to enter Heaven. There are many
aspects to our salvation, but most
people use the word to mean that our
sin has been covered by the blood of
Christ, and our entrance to Heaven has
been secured.

This aspect of salvation is called
"Justification" and the Bible tells us
that once we receive this unspeakable
gift from God, it cannot be lost.

By definition, salvation
is eternal life.

John 3:16 tells us:
For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.

Jesus didn't say "live forever", but
"have everlasting life." The life is
something we possess in the present
tense, and one of it's qualities is
that it is everlasting.

In I John, we are told John's purpose
for writing the letter.

These things have I written unto you
that believe on the name of the Son of
God; that ye may know that ye have
eternal life, and that ye may believe
on the name of the Son of God.
(1 John 5:13)

We do not hope, wish or speculate about
whether we have eternal life.
We know it. It is sure.

Jesus said that if we have eternal
life, we can neither perish, nor be
separated from God. In fact as if we
might worry that He may not be strong
enough to keep us, He tells us that
both He and the Father are holding us
tightly in their hands. We are not
responsible to hang on to Jesus. He and
the Father both have a tight grip on us.
(John 10:28,29)

Whether we actually believe this and
rest on the promise that we have been
given depends on who we believe Jesus
to be. If He is indeed God incarnate,
we have absolutely nothing to worry
about. And how sure are we about that?
Peter tells us that he saw Christ's
majesty and also heard God the Father
declare Him to be His Son. He was a
personal witness to the Deity of
Christ, but we have something much
more sure than that.

We have the word of prophecy. The fact
that Jesus fulfilled hundreds of
prophecies concerning the Messiah
proves beyond any doubt that He is
indeed the Savior. (1 Pet 1:16-20)

So since we know Jesus is the Messiah
and has God's backing, since Jesus
claimed to be God in the flesh, and
since He personally promised that we
would never be removed from His grasp,
the only way we can lose our salvation
is if God can lie, or if He is not
powerful enough to keep us.

I can live with those odds.

Debbie Penner

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A Quote from Tyler English

I believe that it is the difficult
times in life that push us to be aware
of what life is, it points us to its
brevity, and the hope of another. It
illuminates what is of utmost
importance, and hopefully will point us
toward the work of Christ. May I not be
afraid of those difficult times so that
I can have full confidence that it is
in those times that I may dive into
the arms of Jesus which He
stretched for my peace.

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God-untie the knots

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Video Of The Month

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Listen!
A blessing for you today!
Enjoy.. Wow!



Click HERE to LISTEN to this beautiful voice

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My name is Gerald English

Listen To My Story

.Click Here.
.Listen to My Story.

Daily Prayer



Click The Bible To
Read The Daily Prayer

 
Dr. Joey Faucette

Sinner's Prayer

A simple prayer of faith is all you need to pray for Jesus to save you.

If in your heart you believe by faith that Christ died for your sins on the cross, and that He arose, and He is a living Savior today, then that faith can save you.

Here is the prayer you must mean in your heart:

"Dear Jesus I need you to save me. Please forgive me of my sins.  Come  into my heart.  Amen

This is what happens when you pray that prayer and mean it.

1. Eternal life is yours.  

2. Your sins are forgiven.

3.  Personal relationship
      with Jesus forever 

4.  He will never leave you.

Why not ask Jesus to save 
you today?

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Tim Perry

God Loves You

God loves you!!
Those three simple
words have confounded philosophers throughout the ages. Almighty God, who
created all the stars and planets, who created the angels, who with one word,
has all power to accomplish His will, loves us.

It is comforting to know that I have cheering me on in my corner, the creator of the universe, who has everything under control. In all events, He works them out for our good. He comforts us in our time of need and shows
grace and mercy in His
own unique way.

God wants the best for His children. He wants us with Him. Because we have all
rebelled and sinned, we could never live with Him, as He despises sin. It’s not a matter of our good works
outweighing our bad works, and hopefully the scales will tilt in our favor. It’s not a matter of being a moral person, obeying the Golden Rule and following the Ten Commandments, and
feeling that since God is a loving God, He will understand our shortcomings and let us in. That is in direct
contradiction to what the Bible says.

Sin has to be punished. Sin cannot exist in God’s 
presence. If we have
committed just ONE sin,
we cannot enter heaven. Period. God saw that the only
way to reconcile us to Him was to pay the penalty Himself, through sending
His son, Jesus. Our sins were placed on Jesus and when He was crucified, His blood covered all of our sins and
mistakes and God’s free gift is, if we just admit we are sinners, believe that Jesus died for our sins and rose again, and ask Jesus to come into our heart and save us, He will do it.

My wife and I recently watched the movie, “The Passion”. Some critics have
said that it is too graphic. Yes it is graphic, but that is reality. That was how cruel and painful the cross was. A
few things are amazing, which showcase God’s love. During the midst of His
being ridiculed and beaten mercilessly, He could have just given up on the human race and said, “Forget it!!” and instantly been rescued
by angels and taken back to heaven. But He stayed and
took the blows. Not only did He stay, but in the midst of His agonizing torture, He said “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do”. How many of us would have shown that kind of mercy. Why, we are ready to engage in a
confrontation, for something as trivial as being cut off in traffic. How pathetic we are as human beings, but how merciful God is. Something else to think about. He could have come in the period of execution chambers, and died
a much more humane death. He did not have to come during the historical period of crucifixion, but He did to
fulfill scripture and to illustrate the ugliness of sin, through the barbarity of the punishment required to
atone for sin.

God loves you. He knows your favorite color. He knows your hopes and dreams. He knows what causes you anxiety. He
knows what causes you fear. He is preparing a place for each one of us in heaven, and he is going to have each
one of our mansions prepared exactly how we would enjoy it the most. I recently watched a DVD by Anne Graham Lotz (Billy Graham’s daughter), called “Heaven, My Father’s House”. I highly recommend watching this. She takes you
on a journey, of our eternal home, and what God has prepared. I am personally
excited that my God, who knows me better than anyone else, is preparing a
permanent dwelling place, just for me, exactly in the way that would bring me
the greatest joy.

God loves you, and He is constantly searching for you to come home. If you have not made your eternal destination secure, why not do it now? The greatest
inheritance you could leave your children is the assurance that they will see you again one day. Children, the greatest love you could show your parents, is giving them the peace of mind that
your eternal destiny
is secure.


In Christian Love,

Tim Perry

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This was submitted by
my friend Charles Odom


God's Grace

I wonder how many people will delete this without reading it because of the
title. It is a shame but this message is very true. Hope you are all as blessed as I was by this story.

There once was a man named George Thomas, pastor in a small New England town. One Easter Sunday morning he came to the Church carrying a rusty, bent, old bird cage, and set it by the pulpit. Eyebrows were raised and, as if in response, Pastor Thomas began to speak. . . .

"I was walking through town yesterday when I saw a young boy coming toward me
swinging this bird cage. On the bottom of the cage were three little wild birds, shivering with cold and fright.

I stopped the lad and
asked, "What do you
have there, son?"

"Just some old birds,"
came the reply.

"What are you going to do with them?" I asked.

"Take 'em home and have fun with 'em," he answered. "I'm gonna tease 'em and pull out their feathers to make 'em
fight. I'm gonna have a
real good time."

"But you'll get tired of those birds sooner or later. What will you do then?"

"Oh, I got some cats," said the little boy. "They like birds. I'll take 'em to
them."

The pastor was silent for a moment. "How much do you want for those birds,
son?"

"Huh?? !!! Why, you don't want them birds, mister. They're just plain old
field birds. They don't sing. They ain't even pretty!"

"How much?" the pastor asked again.

The boy sized up the pastor as if he were crazy and
said, "$10?"

The pastor reached in his pocket and took out a ten dollar bill. He placed
it in the boy's hand. In a flash, the boy was gone. The pastor picked up the cage and gently carried it to the end
of the alley where there was a tree and a grassy spot. Setting the cage down,
he opened the door, and by softly tapping the bars persuaded the birds
out, setting them free. Well, that explained the empty bird cage on the pulpit, and then the pastor began to
tell this story:

One day Satan and Jesus were having a conversation. Satan had just come from
the Garden of Eden, and he was gloating and boasting. "Yes, sir, I just caught
a world full of people down there. Set me a trap, used bait I knew they couldn't resist. Got 'em all!"

"What are you going to do with them?" Jesus asked.

Satan replied, "Oh,
I'm gonna have fun!
I'm gonna teach them
how to marry and
divorce each other,
how to hate and
abuse each other,
how to drink and
smoke and curse.
I'm gonna teach them
how to invent guns and bombs and kill
each other.
I'm really gonna have fun!"

"And what will you do when you are done with them?" Jesus asked..

"Oh, I'll kill 'em," Satan glared proudly.

"How much do you want for them?" Jesus asked.

"Oh, you don't want those people. They ain't no good. Why, you'll take them
and they'll just hate you. They'll spit on you, curse
you and kill you. You don't want those people!!"

"How much? He asked again.

Satan looked at Jesus and sneered, "All your blood, tears and your life."

Jesus said, "DONE!" Then
He paid the price.

The pastor picked up the cage and walked from the pulpit.

You are the birds
in this story.

I thank God everyday for my blessed life. I'm not rich, don't live in a mansion and don't have the nicest of
material things, but, I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back, food on my table, a family that loves me and
lifelong friends to get me through. I'd say I have a lot to be thankful for.

Anonymous

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Picture Of
The Month

The Law of Moses
will not save you. 
It shows your sin.
Only Jesus can save.

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How To Submit Articles

We at the Way of the
Cross believe the Bible
is the complete inerrant
Word of God. It was
written by the Spirit of
God with man only as the
vessel that was used.

Also we believe that the
Bible is the story of
God's Son, Jesus Christ,
and that He is the only
way to the Father.

If you believe this,
then you are welcome to
submit articles to the
magazine staff for
publication.

If you or your church
would like to submit
Articles that would be
considered for future
magazines please submit
them here.

wotcmag@gmail.com
By Way of The Cross
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The Bible

On One Page

jrsbible.info/bible

 

A quick reference

when you need it

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