“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting
life.” John 3:16. KJV. This verse is probably the most
singularly memorized verse
in the Holy
Bible. God put Adam and Eve in Eden
and instructed them how to act, giving them one very important
rule to not eat
of the fruit
of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
They disobeyed,
got evicted
from the garden.
Man lived without written rules from
God for centuries until Moses was anointed to lead God’s people, Israel out of
Egypt. God spoke to
Moses who wrote His commandments
on stone tablets so that man would have the needed guidelines so that we
could properly worship
and serve God. There were many other directions that were
given to Moses that went along with the commandments, how to live safely in the
desert, how to come humbly before God, through priests. We still couldn’t get it right. We needed an example to help us see and understand.
We don’t follow
directions well. God sent His Son Jesus to us so that He
could teach us and show us firsthand how to be godly, how to be Christ-like. God knew we can’t do it on our own. He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to teach us, show us,
then sacrifice
Himself for us to take away the sins of the world so
that we can live a Christ-like
life. All we have to do now, instead of
lists of directions in the Old Testament with old blood sacrifices and priest
intervention, is believe. Simply believe. And in believing then change
ourselves to be godly,
not sinners. Jesus led by example so
that we would SEE how we are supposed to act and behave. He taught the
disciples who became His apostles who went
out into the world and showed
all who would listen how
to turn toward God through Jesus.
Evangelist Pastor
John Collins of Love
That Cross Ministry and Revival
that began in Wyoming was called by God over 10 years ago to serve Him. Pastor Collins
was not a godly man, he will tell you he didn’t believe in God and had
very little
experience with God
and Jesus in his life. That has changed
for him because he accepted
Jesus into his heart as his Lord
and Savior. Now he clings to the Cross
that is everyone’s salvation
with all his strength and all his might.
Why? Because he knows that Jesus
is the only Hope that this sad, lost, and seemingly hopeless world has. Wyoming was a turning point in Pastor
John’s career as an evangelist. He had his first revival there through Love
That Cross, and he has been leading
more people to Christ
ever since.
An evangelist
is someone who is set
apart by God to teach
the ways of God. God knows that people
are visual
and hands
on learners, merely reading
and hearing
the words in the Bible isn’t enough,
even though it should
be. We need to see how
to act, too. Evangelists
are in the public eye because they are outspoken and profess their faith
so plainly that it is hard to ignore them.
They make you uncomfortable
because they cause you to take a look at what you are doing in your life, or at
least that is what an evangelist
is supposed to do.
Pastor
John Collins shows us that in order to get to God, we have to
believe in Jesus. We have to act like Jesus
Christ. We have to act like Christians. There is where we fail horribly, to ACT like
Christians. Christians are
supposed to help
the poor,
Christians are supposed to treat
others as they would like to be treated. The two commandments Jesus taught were to love God with all your heart, soul,
mind and strength….to Jews this is part of the Shema
and is the foundation
of their faith in God…and the other commandment is to love your neighbor as
yourself. Pastor John Collins
not only teaches these commandments
in each and every one of his sermons, he
acts them so that people can see how Christians are supposed to
act. Christians
aren’t supposed to show
up in a church pew on a Sunday
and act
Christ-like for that hour
or so of worship. Christians are supposed to act Christ-like
every minute of every
day. We fall far short of that.
Pastor John
teaches and walks
the walk. He lives humbly. So many evangelists who are in the public eye
have multi-million dollar homes, expensive new cars, designer clothing and
pristine mega churches that they launch their ministry from. Pastor
John lives in a middle class home, drives
used vehicles and preaches from pulpits of
moderate to small
churches all over the country. He is
quick to help the little girl who walks into a church in her pajamas and
carrying a doll, not only in feeding her, but helping the family find a way to
manage the reality of latchkey children left on their own. A conversation with a
diabetic woman reveals that she has no food and is unable to get out to a store
because she is ill. A phone call to an
area food bank and senior center from Pastor John helps the woman get through. An addict
who needed to get into rehab couldn’t find an open bed was assisted into a
rehab center that hadn’t had any beds open.
Waiting in line at a fast food drive through, Pastor
John has been known to pay for the meals of the car behind him. Taking people
in off the street to allow them a meal and place to stay, opening one of his
churches up on frigid nights as a shelter to those who have nowhere else to go…all
are examples of being Christ-like
in the life of Pastor
John Collins.
It isn’t only the acts toward people in
need, it is living
the fruits of the spirit, every day, in everyday life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It is being truthful, having integrity, standing in faith
of God in the face of the world and not caring what the world says
about him. Pastor John says
frequently “Being Christian isn’t about going to church on Sunday. Sure, it is good to go to church to worship
Jesus, but it is what you get out of the sermon, what you do in your everyday
life that matters as a Christian. It’s what you do from Sunday to Sunday that
counts, not showing up and putting your time in. Just because you go into a garage doesn’t
make you a car, and just because you go to church doesn’t make you a
Christian. It’s what you do that
matters.” Pastor
John takes his faith
seriously. He takes his relationship
with God seriously, he takes
the salvation
offered by Jesus seriously. He walks that walk
every day, every minute. He admits he
is a sinner,
he knows that he isn’t
perfect, but he also knows that people are
watching and need an example to live by, just like 2000 years ago when God
sent Jesus to show
mankind how to act. Pastor
John strives to show how we are to act
as humans, as Christians. At the end of the day, he asks for
forgiveness and repents
of the sins and gets up the next
day to try and try and try
to be the best that he can be, for
God and for Jesus.
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