Apologetics & Evangelism – Tattoo It On Your Heart

Road to Rabbi: A Messianic Jew’s Journey to Jesus

What an adventure, an education, and blessing to converse with the lively and jovial Rabbi Henry Morse of the Sha’ar Hashamayim Messianic Congregation in Stoughton, Massachusetts. I first encountered the Rabbi as he led his merry band of people down the hill after the If My People prayer event at the National Monument to the Forefathers in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 2021.

May the Source Be with You

Darkness enveloped me. A chill gripped my chest, hope ebbed, and weariness set in. Obviously, I’d taken a turn off the favored road. I’d trudged the circuitous miserable miles to nowhere only to wind up stuck, deep in the mire, when someone called out to me.

“Hey, do you want help? Do you desire to be free?” the voice said.

Did Jesus Really Die on Good Friday and Other Fascinating Questions

We rob ourselves when we skim the surface of scripture rather than exert the effort to dig deeper for the treasures of truth embedded in God’s Word. Bible study leader and award-winning author Stephanie Pavlantos mined God’s Word to bring us a greater understanding of the intersection of Old Testament prophecies about Jesus, (God incarnate, the Messiah) and His New Testament fulfillment. Stephanie brings to light the fascinating Hebrew religious law and culture, the many intricate events leading up to, and the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Did Jesus really die on Good Friday? What is the significance of the Passover feast and the Passover lamb? See God in the details, how He overlooks and wastes nothing and much more in this faith building thought provoking presentation. And there’s more!

How a Mail Carrier’s Mistake Saved Me from Suicide

Disappointment set in when there was no response, but I figured the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association had thousands of correspondence to monitor a day and probably wouldn’t see mine.

“Lord, I just want some of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association team to see my article and be blessed by what I said about Billy and their magazine.” I prayed when I tweeted the link to my 2018 blog post entitled What #BillyGraham Meant to Me in answer to a #HealthyFaith Chat question on Twitter.

Several days later, I was stunned to receive the following message from BGEA’s Twitter account:

“Hi Rachael! I’m a website writer at Billy Graham. My team recently came across your incredible testimony involving Decision magazine, and we’d love to have an interview with you and write an article. Is that something you’d be willing to do?… — Lizzy Long”

Michael Duncan ~ Author, Pastor, Master of the One-line Sermon

He calls himself “a sinner saved by grace. A pastor who has fought against dragons and won. A sojourner going from here to there with a story to tell.” I call him the master of the one-line sermon. Once again, I’m honored to host Pastor Duncan, husband, father, preacher, speaker, poet, musician, US Air Force Veteran, and author of the newly released book, For King and Crown: Conversations on the Christian Life. Don’t miss this video interview—it’s gold.

A disciplined life is born of effort, not excuses. — Pastor and author Michael Duncan

Think not yourself a Christian if you hate the righteousness God loves and love the sin He hates. — Pastor and author Michael Duncan

Jesus Is

Jesus Is – not just for Easter!

Jesus Is

A friend and fellow writer put out the challenge to fill in the blank in a Tweet with the following words, “Jesus is______.”

I replied with my short answer. Here is my long list in progress. In these turbulent times we need to remember who God is and that He is in control. We can find calm amid chaos, comfort during crisis, peace in a panicked world because:

JESUS Is

ALPHA, He is Almighty, He is the Anointed One. — He is Alive! He is the Answer, and the Answer for All that Ails Us. He is my All-in-All. He is Adonai.

HE is the —

BURDEN Bearer and the Bondage Breaker. He is Beautiful and Blameless; He is Bulwark and Bastion. He is He is the Balm of Gilead. He is our Banner. He is the Bridge and the Bridegroom.

And HE is —

COMING!—Are you ready? — He is the Christ; He is the Cure. He is Creator and Cornerstone. And yes—JESUS is my Comfort and my Crutch. I like to lean on Him.

HE is the —

DESIRE of Nations, the Divine Deliverer, the Designer of our Destiny. Jesus is the Devil-damner and the Defeater of Death and our great Defender. He is The Dayspring; He is The Door.

JESUS is —

ETERNAL, He is Everlasting, He is Emmanuel. He is the Exonerator, He is Everything We Need, He is Elohim. He is Enough.

JESUS is —

FATHOMLESS, He is Faithful, Friend, and Fortress, He is Faultless.

JESUS is —

GOOD and Glorious; He is the Gracious God. He is the Grave Robber, the Gateway, and the Great Physician.

HE is —

HOPE for the hopeless, Help for the helpless. He is our Healer and Hiding Place. He is the Hell-raider; He is our Hedge. He is Humble; He is Holy.

JESUS is the —

INITIATOR. He is the Intercessor. He is Indescribable, my Inspiration. He is Indomitable, Incomprehensible, Invincible. He is Infinite, He is Inimitable. He is the great I Am.

JESUS is —

JUST, He is the Judge. He is Jehovah. He is my Joy.

HE is —

KING of kings, He is the Key, He is Kind.

JESUS is the —

LOGOS, the Light of the World and a Lamp to our feet. He is Life. He is the Limitless Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah, the Lord of Lords and the Lilly of the Valleys. He is Lowly, He is Love and He is the Lover of my Soul. —Do you know Him?

HE is the —

MAJESTIC Messiah, Mighty God, He is our Maker He is our Master. He is the Mender of the Breach, the Mediator. He is Merciful; He is Mine. —Do you want Him too?

JESUS is —

NAME above Names; He is Never-failing, Never-ending.

HE is —

OMNIPOTENT, Omnipresent, the Omega, the Overcomer.

JESUS is the —

PRINCE of Peace, the Pardoner, the Propitiation. He is my Protector and Provider. He is the Purpose. He is my Passion and the Possessor of my Soul. He is Perfect.

HE is the —

QUALIFIER, the Quickener, the Quencher of Thirst, the Quaesitim.

HE is the —

RIGHTEOUS Redeemer and Restorer. He is Royal; He is Regal. He is The Rock and The Reason, our Ransom and Regenerator. He is the Rose of Sharon, He is my Resting Place. He is Risen!

HE is the —

SON of God. He is Sovereign. He is Servant and Savior and Sanctifier. He is The Steadfast Sustainor, a Strong Tower, a Shield. He is the Satan-stomper and the Storm Stiller. He is the Shepherd of my Soul. He is our Strength. He is Sufficient; He is Supreme. He is our Salvation.

JESUS is —

TRANSCENDENT, He is Triumphant. He is Truth, He is My Testimony.

HE is the —

UNDERGIRDER; He is the Underpinor. He is Unprecedented, Unparalleled, Unfathomable, Unfailing. He is Unmatched.

HE is the —

VINDICATOR. He is Victor. He is Virtuous.

HE is —

WORTHY, Wise, Wonderful. JESUS is The Way and the Way Maker, and the Wellspring. He is The Word.

JESUS is the —

X in CHRISTMAS. He is Xristos – Χριστός

HE is —

YESHUA and Yahweh.

HE is —

ZION and He is The Zenith.

JESUS is ____

This piece, Jesus Is, is an unfinished project. It’s going to take a while to complete all the ideas I have for developing it, but I decided to share it as is for now.

HE is Risen

Inspired by a sermon on early Christian church history which tells of believers greeting each other with the words, “He is risen!” and their response of, “He is risen indeed!”

I tried to quell the yearning for a greater something, a purpose greater than the here and now

I chased all manner of both good and evil earthly pursuits

But nothing fulfilled. Not even religion

It was all vain distraction

But then, He found me

I met mercy and forgiveness on the way called grace

Mercy withheld judgment

Forgiveness wiped away my transgression

Grace translated me from servant to friend, from abandoned to adored

Do you want this?

God created you for Himself, for Heaven

That is why everything else misses the mark—just as we do

I fall short, but Jesus is the difference maker

Yes! My Creator is my crutch. I like to lean on Him

He is my healer, redeemer, restorer.

He is the Way and the way maker.

He wants to be yours too

I am a riverbed whose banks cannot contain the rushing water

He rains on me; He reigns in me.

I overflow

He compels me

But I do not walk alone

Here is a highway.

This is my rooftop

Hello, world!

Can you hear me?

Do you know my Jesus?

Because He is risen, I have hope

Because He is risen

I know Him

Because He is risen

I can come boldly before His throne

I do not fear death

Because He is risen

I have been translated

From dead in my sin to alive in Christ

From slave to set free and daughter of the King

From bound for Hell to Heaven bound

He is risen indeed!

This world is not my home

It’s just the road to where I’m going

Heaven is my home, and Jesus is my prize.

Honored to have my article, Reflections on Grace, featured on Southern Ohio Christian Voice: “Sometimes we miss the splendor of God and what He is doing when it isn’t wrapped in the trappings we expect or want….Do our desires focus more on God prospering us in worldly wealth and meeting physical needs and wants, while we turn a blind eye to our spiritual poverty? Are we more enamored with position and possessions and traditions of men than the greatest gifts—God’s grace, salvation, and Christ Himself?” Click HERE to continue reading my guest post, Reflections on Grace, on Southern Ohio Christian Voice.

The Chosen TV Series – A good choice for the whole family!

The Chosen | Official Trailer HD “The Chosen is the first-ever multi-season series based on the true stories of the gospels of Jesus Christ. It is the #1 crowd-funded media project of all time.”

More information about The Chosen here:
https://studios.vidangel.com/the-chosen/

Please Click HERE to read my guest post, Reflections on Grace, on Southern Ohio Christian Voice.

May you know Him, His comfort, and blessing more fully in this season and beyond. – Rachael

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Click here for Live Stream of Church Services from Victory Chapel –Sunday 11 a.m. & 7 p.m. and Wednesday 7 p.m. Eastern Time. – Replay available afterward.

Answering the Questioner

It’s not enough to just be right if we want God to use us to reach people with the Gospel. Our rightness only serves ourselves if we alienate people by our attitude and choice of words. Failure to show interest in people as individuals comes across as an attempt to propagate one of a myriad of doctrines and treating people as another notch on our belt.

We live in a world where many are talking, but few listening, all while broken hearts cry out, “Does anyone hear me?”

I’m no trained apologist or theologian, just small fry in a sea full of big fish—but I couldn’t resist participating in this writing competion on apologetics with the topic of: Why is it so important to answer not only the question, but also the questioner?

Pastor Appreciation, Seize the Night & Some Freebies!

Rachael-M-Colby-Tattoo-it-On-Your-Heart-Fall-Leaves.JPG

“—I passed out candy and tracts tonight (I prayed about it and got confirmation to do it.). I had MANY Christians tell me I was wrong. One said, “You have 364 other days of the year to tell people about Jesus…not today.” 😮 ” my fellow writer Angela Tweeted me last year.

“Wow.” I said. “I guess I missed the scripture about a day we weren’t supposed to tell others about Jesus. Oh, wait—maybe that’s because there is no such scripture! 🙂

When Failing Wins

Rachael-M-Colby-blogs.capecodonline.com-When-Failing-Wins

Challenges are more often like marathons than sprints. We’re most spent as we near the finish line, and when I can’t see the end, sometimes I falter and it’s tempting to quit rather than carry on.

“God,” I said, “I’m not entering any more writing contests if I don’t win something this time.” —I almost didn’t enter, but I figured entering my article on failing was appropriate since I’m so adept at it. Besides, the road to success is often paved with failure.

Rachael-M-Colby-Tattoo-It-On-Your-Heart-The-road-to success-is-often-paved-with-failure

The best will fail the most.

George Washington lost more battles than he won. Thomas Edison scrapped more “great ideas” than he ever saw come to fruition.

The well-played life is not about never falling.

Continue reading “When Failing Wins”

Messages from Missionaries

Missionaries upend and sometimes risk their lives to serve the Gospel in restricted nations. They are often bold in the face of opposition, while many people in America display passivity in the face of peace, and take for granted our freedoms rather than being grateful for them. American Christianity is uncomfortable with inconvenience. I pray these messages from missionaries who left the comforts and security of their homeland to proclaim the message of Jesus’ love, deliverance, and salvation, will stir your heart.

Anonymous Former Missionary to China: Sharing the Gospel wherever you are is all about leaving the comfortable whether it’s leaving our home or going beyond ourselves. Compassion and caring for people can awaken anyone to go beyond intimidation and our own limitations. We were missionaries in China for four years—that was our commitment. We had a house church, although a lot of our missionary friends had their church in a building. Continue reading “Messages from Missionaries”