Pastor John Collins, Love That Cross, Wyoming: Proud country, failing salvation

Pastor John Collins, Wyoming evangelist: Pride and lack of humility

Pride and humility.  We are a proud people here in the United States.  We have so much that we have accomplished, the rest of the world sometimes looks at us in disgust because we give the appearance of not being satisfied.  It’s never enough and we draw attention to ourselves where ever we go.  Celebrities are recognized and lifted up as examples for us to live by.  Through all of the media, it’s “look what I can do”.  God resists the proud. Pride will not get any soul into heaven.

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18

Our faith as Christians today doesn’t measure up to the faith of Abraham, of Noah, of Moses, of David.  These men were humble to begin with and knew the value and spirit of humility before God.  Our pride gets in the way.  How would God choose from among us today?  We often don’t have the strength of faith to worship Him, let alone look beyond what our human hands and minds create and put before God.  Our offerings of ourselves lack humility.  We need to let go of pride and ego, let go of the pride that we have accomplished something and let God and Jesus Christ work in our lives. 

Evangelist Pastor John Collins began a revival of awakening in Wyoming. 

That awakening stirs the spirit of those who hear him.  From a pulpit or behind the microphone of a recording studio, his words are Biblically correct. Being Biblically correct in a very politically correct world is difficult for most of the strongest of Christians today.  Pastor John Collins says it well and puts pride and humility into this perspective:

“Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him, and said to them, ‘Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all will be great.’” Luke 9:46-48

Who is worthy to be lifted up? How does God choose those that He would separate and use for His purposes? He chose Abraham and Abraham was considered a friend of God’s. He chose David and David was a man after God’s own heart. He sent His Son who died for us all.  Even those who walked with Jesus thought of themselves and the impact that they would have on this world. This is so wonderful to know that the human instinct to desire to rise above and be great was felt in those men who walked with Christ. This allows us to recognize this in ourselves and work to overcome that ego. They were corrected and they learned what true humility is. They witnessed their Lord humble Himself to the Cross. Yet there are so many that want to be great in the name of the Lord. They call attention to themselves and think highly of themselves. But, God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Believe me when I tell you that God knows what He is doing and He knows our hearts.

Pastor John Collins of Love That Cross Wyoming Revival continues on: God has no use for pride.

God does not want servants that think highly of themselves and their eligibility. God wants people to serve Him that are humble of heart. When we choose to walk with Jesus it should be with a pure heart and a true devotion to obedience to the Lord. We should never seek our own acclaim. We should not care what others think of us. We should be concerned only with whether we are an asset to the kingdom of God or a burden. If we have selfish ambition in our heart and a desire to stand out and be important, we are seeking status in this life and we are then unworthy to be a true servant of the Lord.

We must be careful when we desire to leave a name for ourselves, to want to be recognized for our importance or to be valued among men. A truly worthy person that will serve God well is a person that has no ambition in his heart. This person thinks of salvation when he looks upon the souls of this world. This person has sadness in his heart because of the condition of the human race. This person worries of the state of others’ faith in their lives. This person considers opportunities to share the gospel and help others come to Jesus. This person wants to see others go to heaven and lives his life as an example. This person will sacrifice and find ways to be a light in a world of dark. This person will please God.

“Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” James 2:5

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:3-6

Learning to be humble takes a commitment to become obedient to God.  In order to become obedient to God, we need to learn to draw near to Him in prayer and through the words in the Holy Bible.  God wants each of us to have the opportunity to come to know Him, so that we all can go home to Him one day.  That is the reason He sent His Son Jesus Christ, for our salvation through His sacrifice on the Cross.  Jesus humbly accepted the punishment of our sins, died publicly in humility and obedience.  God won’t ask us to do anything that He won’t equip us to handle.  We can become obedient and humble ourselves before God, just as His Son did.  God wants us to come to know Him and His love, to help us with our lives and be part of our lives here in this world.   

Pride and ego turns us from God.   

To be meek, to be poor in spirit means to be humble; we need to learn the humility of Christ. Bring back God in our lives, come humbly to the foot of the Cross.

“God is never secondary in my life, He is always Primary”- Pastor John Collins, Evangelist.

Pastor John Collins, Wyoming Evangelist: what do you do when no one is looking?

“Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which makes a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.’” Mark 12: 41-44.

What is really pleasing to God?  Is it the rituals that a church congregation practices in worshiping each Sunday or Sabbath?  Is it the music that is sung by a choir or played by a worship band before, during, and after the service?  Is it the offering that is taken?  Is it the sermon that has been written for a specific topic preached by a seminary prepared pastor?

No.  It isn’t one of these rituals.  Evangelist Pastor John Collins began a revival in Wyoming to spread the truth of the Word of God, bring back God, and to fix the brokenness of Christianity.  Christianity is indeed broken.  Christians are treating faith as a buffet, caring for others as a pick and choose menu, treating the Holy Bible as if it is a book of suggested topics for life and choosing which passages to follow instead of taking it all in.  Pastor John Collins calls it out like it is:  the Bible was written by people who were inspired to write it by God Himself.  It isn’t fabricated, it isn’t randomly written.  The Bible ties everything together, Old to New Testaments.  What Jesus Christ taught, He meant. He meant it when He said “Love your neighbor as yourself, do to others as you would have done to you.” It wasn’t new and those were God’s words from the Old Testament. Jesus spoke them and taught by action.  That does not mean that you ignore the guy struggling to find a safe place to sleep because he lost his home and can’t get work but turn around and help out the other guy who shows up asking for money.  It does not mean that you care for the person sitting next to you in the pew but not the woman who is drinking to kill shakes at 9:00 am. It doesn’t mean sing in the choir on Sunday, then Wednesday go into the porn store. It means that Christians act like Christians EVERY day, ALL the time, not just when it suits to do so. Christians are not supposed to act like hypocrites, doing one thing and saying another.   

Pastor John Collins puts it all quite plainly:

You cannot only be a Christian when things are going good in your life and you cannot only be a Christian towards those whom you like and approve of. The whole point of being a Christian is to be Christ-like and believe me, Jesus was kind to those whom He knew to be sinners and those whom He would not approve of, which is the reason that He was sent to earth, to save those who were lost. Jesus gave all that He had down to His last breath, for us.

Many people take their own lives and situations too seriously and become defensive and ignore those who are around them. Many people justify their self-absorption by claiming tragedy, turmoil, victimhood and obligations. You cannot justify acting nasty or dismissive to others because you are not in a comfortable situation or in a place of stability. God tests you on how you behave under pressure, under stress and in the tough situations. God tests you all of the time and if you really are interested in how you are doing, just go and read the Sermon on the Mount and see how you measure up.

The words of Christ when He spoke are not to be dismissed, they are to be obeyed and that is how you will be tested. God doesn’t want you to wait until you are happy and financially stable to help another. It is your suffering that makes you able to have compassion and it is your willingness to put another before yourself that makes you rich.

Be willing to be a follower of Christ when no one is looking and be willing to open yourself up to another when they are in need. Not everyone needs money as charity. There are so many lonely people in this world that need love and faith. Be willing to offer both freely because God knows that Jesus always will. 

“Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have the glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.” Matthew 6:2”

It’s time for Christians, or those who call themselves Christians to take a good long look at themselves and how they portray themselves to others.  People ARE watching.  People who have not been inside a church for years do that because they don’t feel comfortable with the double message that is so often delivered by those inside the church to those outside the church.  What little does it take to offer yourself in truth, in kindness, and not be judgmental?  Don’t offer your hand in kindness and helpfulness then turn it over to criticize and withdraw from someone. Jesus Christ came to save us all, He didn’t pick and choose to serve us from a buffet of lesser sins.  A sin is a sin in the eyes of God, none greater, none lesser. It’s time for Christians to stand up and take a fresh look at how they are measuring up in God’s eyes because that is Who really matters, not the eyes of fellow church goers.  Are we living a biblically correct life as a Christian?  Are we measuring ourselves against the book that was given to us for that purpose?  We are all sinners, every one of us, pastors and congregations alike.  We all need to get it right to get to heaven, to get back to God and to bring back God to others.  We have to change how we are toward others in order to save ourselves.  It’s time to come back to the Cross.

LOVE THAT CROSS, BELIEVE THAT! Pastor John Collins, Wyoming Evangelist

PASTOR JOHN COLLINS, WYOMING EVANGELIST: A WORLD WITHOUT COMPASSION

Anger. This world is being torn apart by anger. Our society is driven by anger. Walking down city streets, people don’t make much eye contact and smiles are rare. The media contains story after story of murder, deaths, police conflicts, race baiting, child abuse, bullying and terrorism. More often a scowl and harsh words exchanged by couples are seen than kindness or soft gestures.  The kindness that Jesus taught so long ago is lost in simple every day contacts. We are a world that has no compassion or caring.  It doesn’t take so much to sit down and talk to someone who is obviously struggling.  In coming to know that person, even for a little while, we can give compassion in simply caring about what they have to say.  It doesn’t take the time consuming decisions of a committee or the actions of a community group to provide compassion.  Anger and pain can be lifted simple by sitting down and talking to someone, one to one, listening, and if it’s possible, helping in some way.  Showing that we care about each other has got to start with one person at a time, one Christian at a time giving a hand up, an ear, a few minutes that it takes to lift someone’s spirits.  It only takes a minute to say “God bless you, thank you”.  It could be the nicest thing someone hears all day and it does make a difference. These are words that are preached and taught by Pastor John Collins, evangelist, of Love that Cross Ministries and Revival.

Evangelist Pastor John Collins began a revival of awakening in Wyoming.  That awakening stirs the spirit of those who hear him.  From a pulpit or behind the microphone of a recording studio, his words are Biblically correct.  Anger that is of resentment, jealousy and hate is keeping us from the love of God, and angry words meant to hurt and sting are not Christ-like.  Anger and the repercussions of it have been part of the human process ever since Adam and Eve were evicted from the Garden of Eden.  They had two sons, Cain and Abel.  Cain worked the fields and Abel kept flocks.  Through their faith in God, they gave an offering to God of their efforts.  God looked favorably on Abel’s but Cain’s God did not.  Cain became jealous of Abel and angry.  God taught Cain that if he would do right, his would be accepted, but if he didn’t do right, sin would take over, that Cain needed to rule over sin…that of jealousy and anger.

“Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.” Genesis 4:8-10.  Cain murdered his brother out of jealousy, envy, and anger and in turn lied to God.

Evangelist Pastor John Collins puts it this way: “Cain killed Abel. Esau sold his birthright and Jacob stole Esau’s blessing which resulted in hatred and animosity that grew between Edom and Israel.  The sons of Jacob, brothers of Joseph, sold Joseph into slavery out of jealousy. The Benjamites, a tribe of Israel, were nearly destroyed by their brethren, all the other tribes of Israel.  The house of Saul and the house of David were at war a long time, Judah and Israel fought against each other.  These are only a few examples within the family of God’s chosen people. The Gentiles have their history of fighting and wars against themselves just the same as the Jews. We have our reality of wars around the world within countries that are not our own. In our country we have gangs, murders, and families at war with children fighting, parents fighting and friends fighting too.

Just because something has been done since the beginning of time does not make it okay for it to continue. What is driving the anger and lack of compassion and kindness in our time? When will we learn that the smallest seeds of bitterness and resentment as well as jealousy and envy will grow to become hatred and hurt if watered? Why do we not realize that the ground is screaming from the blood that has been shed? Why do we not stop and realize that our Lord is not served in our anger and vengeance? God has said that vengeance is His and so it is. It is not for us to take out our anger on another. It is not for us to engage in bickering and arguing that just leads to more and more anger. It is not for us to hold on to these hateful feelings and be consumed by them.

We can do better. We can become peaceful people, if we choose. We each choose our own actions and reactions and that is where our faith will lead us to choose the right and righteous path if we rely on Jesus Christ to guide us. You see, it may not be for you to solve the world’s problems but you can definitely solve your own with the help of the Lord. You can pray for those that are caught up in civil wars and you can make sure that your world is one of peace. You can encourage love and kindness in others by living a life that serves Christ.”

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3-10