Wyoming Evangelist Pastor John Collins: The Love of God

Montana: John Collins, Pastor and Evangelist of Love That Cross Ministries, for the love of God.

Pastor John Collins is determined to bring back God into each person, each church, one person and one church at a time.  John Collins is a pastor and an evangelist who is bringing that word of God across the United States in a new series of Hope and Trust.  The Truth of God and of Jesus Christ is being preached so that all can understand it in down to earth words so that we all can once again understand the words of Christ and what was meant when Jesus came to be our Savior from death over 2000 years ago. 

Pastor John Collins does not cut corners, does not pad the truth, and does not pull his punches.  

Is God great?  Is God loving?  Is God real?  Why am I here?  These are the questions that people are still looking for, even after the Hope that is Christ was sent here to us so that we could know these answers.  Our faith is nothing compared to what those in the Holy Bible had.  The generations of people from the time of Jesus until now have watered the message down so much that the very words of the current Bible translations change the meaning of the message that God has for us! God is there for us.  

Pastor John Collins says:

“Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ So, Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God’” Luke 18:18-19 (NKJV).

God is not only good, but great! God is just fabulous. God is faithful and true, merciful and kind, righteous and just and He loves you. God does want the best for you but He also wants you to learn to want what is best for you and that is not by your standards or the standards of the world but by His standards.

God does know what you need and I am not talking about material things. God knows what you need to assure that your soul is saved. It takes more than just a casual ‘belief’ that Jesus died on the Cross for you in order for you to obtain salvation and entry into heaven. It takes a true faith in Jesus and that faith will produce a belief in His sacrifice that is so strong that it will lead you into obedience to His will.

God will test you and you will go through tough times that will challenge your faith and belief. You will be put in situations that will give you different opportunities and the choices that you make are what adds up to a lifetime of testimony and what will ultimately be the fight of your life. Free will demands that you choose the paths of your life and each day will present itself with different choices. Are you loyal to God? Are you considering God when you make your choices and are you taking your salvation into consideration as you live your life?

Some people may think that God is absent from their lives, or that God has let them down. God is there and God is watching, waiting, and giving you the freedom to choose Him or not. God knows that the hardest lessons in life are the ones that we learn the best. Do your best to limit your frustrations in life by taking a moment to remember that life is short and what we do here matters. Remember that most of what seems overwhelming today may be forgotten a year from now. Trust that in the good times and in the bad times, God is there and has your best interests at heart. God wants you to learn to do what is right but more importantly, God wants you to want to do what is right.

God is amazing and is so beautiful and strong and capable. You can trust God and you can rely on God and know that He won’t let you down even if you may be struggling to deal with tough times in your life there is hope because God loves you. God knows what is right and good and will not let you down. Trust in Him, obey Him and believe in His Son and salvation is yours.

“The Lord bless you and keep you;

The Lord make His face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,

And give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26”(NKJV).

What isn’t being preached in the pulpits today is that we have to make the commitment to Christ and to God to do what is right.  We have to make the commitment to act Christ-like, to love others, to serve, to obey what His Son taught over 2000 years ago.  God IS real.  God’s NOT dead.  God IS there.  He has never stopped loving us humans, even when we deny Him, blame Him, ignore Him.  He IS the loving Father that we all want.  He loves us so much He knew we would be just this way, and He gave us the chance of salvation by sending Jesus Christ to us to help us understand, to teach us.  We all have that place for God built into our hearts.  

Pastor John encourages us to open that Bible, to read about God and His Son, to pray and to simply ask God and Jesus for help.  That’s what is expected of us.  To seek Them, with all our hearts. 

LOVE THAT CROSS, PASTOR JOHN

Pastor John Collins, Wyoming Love That Cross: Our celebrity is not what God glorifies

Pastor John Collins, Wyoming: Pride and self glory does not delight God.

"Thus saith the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory in his riches.  But let him that glorieth glory in this: that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord who exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight,” saith the Lord." Jeremiah 9:23-24.

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 asks what really pleases God?

Let's see....I'll believe in this, but I won't believe in that.  I'll obey this commandment, but that one doesn't matter.  I'll listen to the gospel of Jesus Christ here, but not there.  Is this really how we are supposed to look at the Holy Bible and Christianity?  Is Christianity broken?  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.  None of it is pleasing to God.

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:

“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.

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, Evangelist