I am 46 years old, married to wife Vicki 25 years and have one daughter, Courtney, who is 21 years old.
I am an ordained Pentecostal minister with over 29 years of ministry.
My ministry motto encapsulates my philosophy of ministry - “Ministering To Serve, To Save and To Heal”. My passion is anointed, biblical and practical preaching and teaching that is relevant, realistic and exalts Jesus Christ!
I am also an avid hunter, LSU football fan and St. Louis Cardinals Baseball fan Grace Cookies or -- What Did We Do To Deserve This?
John Clardy
Eph 2:1-8
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
In an old "Dennis the Menace" cartoon, Dennis and his little friend Joey are leaving Mrs. Wilson's house with their hands full of cookies.
Joey says, "I wonder what we did to deserve this."
Dennis replies, "Look, Joey. Mrs. Wilson doesn’t give us cookies because we're nice, but because she's nice."
Hey, guess what? You don’t deserve any mercy or grace! Neither do I! It doesn’t matter how good we feel we are or that other people may even feel that we are good, there are none of us that will ever be good enough to deserve the goodness that God has bestowed upon us.
The Bible plainly shows that all of humanity was born into sin. We were all spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins. Because of the disobedience of the first Adam, sin and its penalty – death – has been imparted to every person that is born. Nothing you can do can ever change that! You can’t do enough or fast enough or give enough or pray enough or do enough penance! So don’t get caught in the trap of trying to earn the approval of God!
But the second Adam, Jesus Christ, loved us enough that He was willing to redeem us from the curse of the first Adam.
The above scripture text plainly shows us that it is the gift of God’s love and grace that has saved us! He alone paid the ransom! He alone has quickened us a resurrected us from spiritual death. He alone has lifted us up out of the depths of sin and placed us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus!
That is what God has done! But here is what we must do! Accept it! Accept it through faith!
Mrs. Wilson could have done everything she did to make those cookies available to Dennis and Joey, but it would have been to no avail unless they had received them from her. In the same way, everything that Jesus did on the Cross is of no effect in your life unless you have faith enough to receive it.
God is trying to love you today! God is trying to give you a handful of heavenly grace cookies! Reach out and get you a handful! Hey go ahead get you a double handful! Don’t worry about whether you deserve it or not! God just wants you to have it because He’s just that nice!