**Tragic Neglect*

         Many people in the world are very shrewd in planning their earthly life, but totally unconcerned about their spiritual life. 

!!!!!Most Important Announcement!!!!!

         Most of us know that Jesus died on a cross, but do you know why he died? The fact is that he died willingly out of love in our place to save us from sin so that we might have eternal life in heaven! If you don't know the reason or know the reason but don't care, you miss the greatest truth on which your entire existence hinges! It's all up to you now.

***To follow Jesus, No Problem**

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 14, Jesus addressed the crowds on discipleship. He said to them, "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" and "Anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple." In other words, we must love the Lord first and most, and be detached to all our possessions. It sounds hard, but you can accomplish all that effortlessly with his help. This has been my experience. First, you must get started or nothing will happen. When I first openly asked the Lord to change me in a certain way, he actually made that happen and I was surprised and excited. Then I asked for more and he delivered again. It went on like that until I was completely sold, realizing that the Lord can truly transform me easy if I abandon myself to him. So if you don't make it hard for the Lord, he can turn you into a perfect disciple!

***Beautiful Message

        Only August  24, I blogged Encountering the Lord Head-On about crying to the Lord. Here's a video message related to that. (Try ignoring any mispronounced words by the AI voice.)

****Being Nice Is Not Good Enough****

        Some people are known to be nice and are well liked by others, for they know how to get along and please everyone. If you were like that, it'd be easy to think that you're probably going to heaven. Well, nice people and people that are good enough to get into heaven belong to different categories. The latter must be Christlike. The Lord's most outstanding traits are holiness, humility, and mercy. So to be like him, you must be sin-free, egoless, and forgiving, which you can achieve all through him. Simply being nice can make you miss all three marks and end up somewhere outside heaven.

***The Lord My Fortress*

         Today's Communion experience. My spirit was raised to the level beyond the touch of any evil.

*****Our Bestest News*****

 Follow Jesus and he'll ultimately lead you to ETERNAL JOY!        

***Our Private Battle (a Warning)

         Here's one summary of the life of all those who have heard abut Christ. They fight themselves over whether to let God be their Lord or be lords themselves. The battle can go on their whole lifetime. Bless those who are humble enough to surrender to Christ and follow him, for they will have life eternal in heaven. But pity those who hold onto their pride and do not abandon themselves entirely to Christ, for they risk being cast out by the Lord in the end. All are on earth now and the split begins when they depart from here.

***On Communion Experience**

         You adore the Lord. After you receive him in the Holy Eucharist, he now dwells in you. Adoration becomes more internal. The experience humbles and sanctifies you. More peace and joy ensue.

**Communion Experience

         To receive the Lord is to surrender to him so as to let his love make you whole. 

**Rejoicing in the One Forever New**

         In this world, everything eventually perishes, but Christ remains the same forever—I could say that he remains new forever. This makes following him exciting and satisfying. He's the one to rejoice in always!

***All or Nothing with God*

        If you pray for God's protection against evil or anything, you must be willing to put yourself in his hands. If you pretty much think that you can take care of yourself, then any request for protection just can't be serious. It's like telling God that you love him but don't come too close. With the Lord God, it has to be all or nothing, for you can't possibly trust in any god who doesn't demand total obedience.

***What a Christian Looks Forward To

        The spirit within us basically seeks freedom. Follow Christ and that is achieved. You now see the day you leave this world as your day of liberation! For you now will be free with your Savior forever!

***Holy Rule*

         Never do anything to make people see or think that you are good; do only whatever the Holy Spirit prompts you to do.

***Know Our Place***

         No matter how smart we are, we can never create life, for God is the sole source of life! It's he who keeps us alive! Even if we can duplicate a human body (which we can't), it will remain lifeless. Because we have life, we have a conscience. Now, this would be even more impossible for us to create. So we need to remain humble and submit ourselves totally to the Lord God who's our sole creator and Lord. By the way, he created us out of pure love, in case you are not aware.

***Reason to Rejoice!***

         How good it is that we have a Lord who can read and loves to speak to our hearts!

***** How to Live Forever*****

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 5, Jesus called Simon, James, and John, and they left everything and followed him. What an ideal and beautiful act! This is precisely the way to be set free from sin and go to heaven!    

**A Central Truth**

         Colossians 1:13-14 from today's first reading: God delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. This statement by the Apostle Paul is important for all of us, whether Christians or not, to understand, for it's a statement of truth, not to be dismissed!