The word atonement is such a beautiful word when you discover its meaning. You can actually break it down in the original language to three parts – AT ONE MENT. It carries the idea of restoration of a separated person back to another person or being.
          We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Those sins separate us from a Holy God. He still loves us but He hates our sin. Because He is Holy and our sin keeps Him from looking at us and fellowshipping with us. Our sin creates a sin debt that we cannot pay and a barrier between us and Him. There is nothing that we can do on our own to pay the debt and get back in fellowship with God.
          So what we can’t do HE does for us. God sent His Holy Son Jesus to shed His pure sinless blood on the cross for us. This blood pays the price of our sin debt and removes the sin barrier that keeps God from fellowshipping with us.
          Our sin has separated us from God and we are far away from him. But the blood of Jesus causes our sins to be forgiven and removed so that we who were far away are now AT ONE MENT again with God. That is atonement. That is a picture of the beautiful restoration that is the love of God for us.
          We must be careful that we don’t take the gift of God and the grace of God too lightly. If we keep on sinning while abusing the grace of God and not repenting of our sins – the Bible says that there remains no sacrifice for our sins. Jesus said that if we loved Him we would obey Him and turn away from our sins.
 So today if you are away from God – He longs to have you back in fellowship with Him. So much so that He sent Jesus to bring you back into an AT ONE MENT with Him. God offers you His love gift today so that you can be back in a perfect relationship with Him. Won’t you accept that gift today?
–In love with Jesus – Gary Mimbs 

​“The Zits Of Sin”
 
          I woke up one morning and looked in the mirror and there was a huge zit on the end of my nose. My first reaction was “eww, gross, where did that come from?” It wasn’t there when I went to bed.
          I next had the inclination to ignore it. Then I thought that I needed to pop it and get rid of it (eww, gross again). I thought about it and wondered if I could put something like my wife’s makeup on it and hide it. After all it is on my nose in the center of my face. Nobody wants to go around all day with a huge zit on their nose. I am 67 years old not 14 but I still don’t want a huge zit shinning like a neon sign.
          So, I took and popped it (eww, gross again). I then shaved and took a shower and scrubbed my nose and face really well with soap. It was cleared up real soon and no one knew that I had even had one.
          How many times when we have sin in our life do we want to hide it rather than deal with it and get rid of it? Since it may not be seen many times, we want to ignore it and hope that it goes away. We want to cover it up and hope that no one even knows that we have it in our life.
          The best thing to cover sin with is the blood of Jesus. It cleanses us of the sin and takes away the shame and guilt associated with it. I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sin, Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Zit cream or make up may be your solution for pimples but for sin only the blood of Jesus will work.
The old hymn says, “What can wash away my sin, NOTHING but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again – NOTHING but the blood of Jesus”. The chorus says, “Oh precious is the flow that makes me whiter than snow – no other fount I know – NOTHING but the blood of Jesus.”
 That is why we celebrate Easter. Jesus came and gave His life blood on the cross so that we can be cleansed of our sin and make us whiter than snow. He then arose from the grave with victory and resurrection power to help us when the zits of sin appear.  In love with Jesus – Gary Mimbs 

​Each Sunday I do a Kingdom Kid’s pastor Children’s moment. It is one of the hardest things that I do every week. I have lately tried my hand at doing some magic tricks with a spiritual application for the kids. Some Sundays the magic trick works and they get the spiritual application. Other Sundays – not so much. Either I don’t fool them with the trick or they don’t get the spiritual application.
          One Sunday I was trying to show them how they could always trust God and not always be able to trust people. In the trick I was trying to get a young man to do something but he saw right through it and wouldn’t fall for what I wanted him to do. I went on and emphasized how I was trying to trick him and that we had to be careful with people but that we could always trust God because He would never try to trick or fool us.
At the end another little boy said, “Preacher what I learned today is that you can trust God but you can’t trust Pastor Gary”. Of course, the whole church laughed at his wisdom. Instead of getting upset I told the little brat (I mean fella) that he was right. That even people that we trusted sometimes would deceive us and we had to make sure and trust in God who never would deceive, fail, or do anything wrong to us.
The Bible tells us in Psalm 118:8 “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man”. Mainly because Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart (of man) is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”  We have a sinful heart with a sinful nature. So, we can and will do things that are sinful. Sometimes we do these things willfully and other times we do them without bad intentions but they are still wrong. When we sin, it hurts our reputation of being trustworthy as well as the reputation of God.
The Bible also tells us in Proverbs 3:5 that we can’t even trust ourselves, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”  Many times, we will even deceive ourselves. We will convince ourselves that what God calls sin isn’t really that bad and besides everyone else is doing it. We convince ourselves that our sin really isn’t that bad and we judge others whom we see as have really bad sins.
We want kids and others to be able to trust us. But we must live in such a way as to show the trustworthiness of God in the way that we live, what we say, and the love that we show. GOD trusts us to be a witness and a testimony for Him, so let’s don’t let Him down.
In love with Jesus – Gary Mimbs 

 I Want Your Mansion Right Next To Mine
           God has blessed Michelle and I in that every church that we have pastored we have been connected to at least one couple who were a bit older than us. These Godly couples took time and invested in us and helped us grow as Christians and as human beings. We called them our spiritual parents.
          I was talking with one of these couples from a previous church the other day and they made a comment that made my heart swell with love. This couple is approaching their nineties yet they are still vibrant for the Lord. The lady of the couple said in all seriousness, “We have been praying that when we get to Heaven that God will put your mansion right next to ours so that we can be together for all eternity”. WOW. What a statement.
          I know that God is in charge of mansion placement in Heaven but imagine people thinking so much of you that they want to be your heavenly neighbors for all of eternity. What a blessing to have people think of you that way. I know other people who are probably asking God to make sure that my mansion is on the other side of Heaven from theirs.
          I appreciate the sentiment of this couple but the most important thing about Heaven is that I make it there and that I get to see Jesus. It will be nice to see great Christian friends and relatives but it will pale in comparison to get to meet the one who died for my sins.
          Have you ever thought about us in Heaven getting to meet Moses, Abraham, John the Baptist, Mary, and the disciples? How awesome that will be to get to know them. These giants of the faith will now be Brothers and Sisters in the Lord. I can just see me and Peter fishing in the river of life.
          All of this is so wonderful to think about and look forward to. But it makes my heart sad to think of the millions of people who will miss out on this awesome time for all of eternity. Their experience will be quite shockingly different as they face all eternity in the torments, pain, and agony of Hell.
          So please make sure that your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life so that you can go to Heaven when your time comes. The only way to Heaven is to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and to ask Him to cleanse you of your sins. Then you must repent and try to live a life that is as close to God as you can. He will send the Holy Spirit to live inside of you and help you become a new creation that is fit for Heaven.
In love with Jesus – Gary Mimbs