Hank’s Place

Welcome to Hank’s Place in 2022

All the OLD Testament prophets cried, “Repent FROM your sins, wicked ways, or God will smite you.” That was the OLD order. Then when Jesus came on the scene, He instituted a NEW order.

Jesus comes on the scene and cries Repent “TO” – Mark 1:15 “The time has come,” Jesus said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” BIG BIG difference, turning TO the Kingdom of God. The focus – is God’s awesome Kingdom, not the miserable wretch that we were.
Hebrews tells us that the Old has become obsolete and has passed away. Hebrews 8:13, Instead of performance before blessings, God gives us promises – promises we cannot fulfill.

We do however, receive them — by FAITH. ONLY by faith. And that’s pretty awesome.

Here’s another tidbit for you: Hebrews begins by saying in times past God used the prophets to speak to us, but NOW God has spoken to us in His Son. Let’s keep looking to Jesus as our model both for ministry; and for OUR righteous living in this life.

Then, in Hebrews 1:3 it says, “…After making purification for sins, Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High.” In eternity Jesus made purification for ALL sins – ALL SINS – and SAT DOWN – indicating there was no more work needing to be done regarding sin. Unlike in the Old Covenant where there was no seat for the high priest in the Holy of Holies for his work was never done. The sin problem infecting you and me and all humanity, has been taken care of at the Cross – we believe in Jesus – we receive Him as our savior – and our sin has been removed, and we are changed, hallelujah!

And now get this treasure, in Ephesians 2:4-8 Paul writes, God, Who is rich in mercy, has caused us to become ALIVE with Jesus, and together with Jesus has raised us up and SEATED US in the heavens, so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Not only did Jesus sit down, WE have been made to SIT DOWN with Him – our ‘works’ of trying to please God, are finished as well, thanks to God’s immeasurable GRACE toward us.

Dear friend, SIT DOWN, stop striving to please God, stop wearing yourself out trying to pray more, read more, serve more, do more more more so God would be pleased with you. SIT DOWN, for you pleased Him eternally when you believed in His Son. Now, let His kindness envelop you!
Yes, cease striving — but sit down — you’ll COME ALIVE!

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Let’s talk about God and His Word. All the words God has spoken to mankind are for our benefit. He believes them. He tells the truth; He cannot lie. HE has given us promises. Gives us wisdom, understanding, knowledge. How about those promises. Are they coming to pass in your life? Being fulfilled? Do you even know what some of them are?

Ah, that’s a key, dear friend. Find some – in the bible. Then, choose to BELIEVE them, after all, the Almighty God, who cannot lie has spoken them. Then YOU speak them out. In faith. It’s YOUR FAITH that, I could say, that ACTIVATES His promises toward YOU. Like Joshua. Like Caleb.

Heb 3:12-13 in the Passion translation exhorts we believers, “So search your hearts every day, my brothers and sisters, and make sure that none of you has evil or unbelief hiding within you. For it will lead you astray, and make you UNRESPONSIVE to the living God. This is the time to encourage each other to never be stubborn or hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. For we are mingled with the Messiah, or, we are sewn together with the Messiah, if we will continue unshaken in this confident assurance from the beginning until the end.

It’s not that we fall out of Christ, but His power toward us is limited by our unbelief. Like being given a ticket to today’s Super Bowl. We hold it in our hand, but don’t believe that it’s for real. It IS for real, it HAS BEEN GIVEN, it’s valid, like all the promises of God that are “Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus,” but it will do us no good if we do nothing with it.

So, as Heb 3:6 says, let us continue courageously, to hold firmly to our bold confidence and our victorious hope! For unbelief, verse :13, will lead us astray – render us unresponsive to the Living God. We cease listening to His voice; we become the living dead!

Hear His voice – really LISTEN and HEAR dear friend. In the desert following the Red Sea crossing, they heard His voice, with UNBELIEF, NOT FAITH. They heard, and disregarded the voice of GOD. Hardening their hearts against Him, they went their OWN way! Verse :19 says “They wrapped their hearts in unbelief.”

And aside from Joshua and Caleb, they perished in the wilderness, something that was never God’s intention, never His will.

TODAY, if you should hear His voice, and just ask Him if you are not sure – LISTEN – don’t disregard – LISTEN — and BELIEVE. If you hear promises, believe them. Speak them aloud. Cling to them, for they are His Word – to you. If you hear instructions, wisdom, guidance, BELIEVE, do that ‘due diligence’ to follow up on what you hear.

Many times that ‘due diligence’ will be along the lines of not being anxious, not being fearful, but RESTING in Him.
So listen, believe, you ARE a Joshua, you ARE a Caleb — so COME ALIVE!

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Welcome to Hank’s Place in 2022 

Last message I passed along a word of admonishment from the book of Jude: that we build up our faith — Jude explains by praying in the spirit – that’s a topic for another day – and to keep ourselves in the love of God. That’s for today. I want to share with you from Hank and Mary’s experiences in keeping ourselves in the love of God.

Mary: I fell out of the love of God when I didn’t go to Jesus and tell Him how I felt when someone stabbed me in the back, ridiculed me, ignored me, rejected me. In pretending everything was ok, with those hurts buried in my heart, I was shutting myself off from God’s love.

Unlike David in the Psalms where he told God exactly how he felt and expressed his emotions when his enemies were triumphing over him, I was not allowing myself – to be real – God wants us to be real with Him. I was not being honest. I was pretending to be a victorious Christian woman.

If we tell Him how we feel and ask for the way out – you know what I found? Jesus WILL show us the way out!

Hank: I’ve had many bad/sad/disappointing experiences both in the church, in the secular workplace – and most everywhere. Just like you. There was a common thread: the spirit of rejection. Being rejected in some way, and pressuring me to believe God was rejecting me too. I would feel judged as lacking, simply not good enough. And even if I did really well, there were the driving words to not only keep it up but do better next time. There was such pressure to depart from living in the love of God, and get on a performance bandwagon of trying to please God.

I would overcome only when going to Jesus, quietly usually, and baring my heart. Or loudly, almost angry, well, angry – shouting – or crying. But being REAL with Him and how I felt inside.

My friend, TELL JESUS something — even if in the pain of the moment you can only whisper, JESUS – then whisper JESUS – He’ll come running to you and lift you up. He’s faithful. Really.

Mary: What has helped me many times, and this may be personal to me because I love Handel’s Messiah, was listening to the song from Isaiah 53. It’s about 12 minutes long and begins, “He was despised and rejected” – He was – JESUS WAS — so all of us could be accepted in the Beloved….
That we — could COME ALIVE!

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Last week I shared Escape2Reality’s GRACE-full description of New Covenant living. The revelation that the Bible is not a “rule book” by which we find approval before God. Instead, by simply LOVING our wives, Jesus, the brethren, we find we are keeping ‘the rules’ – without effort.

Now, in John 13:34 Jesus said, “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” “A new commandment.” The Greek word used here implies freshness, the opposite of outworn. Doesn’t mean recent or different. It isn’t that this commandment was just invented, but it is presented in a new, fresh way. Old: seen as impossible rules – New: simply love.

Well, not simply, because Jesus said “as I have loved you,” and we cannot love others as He has loved us: impossible in our strength – we need supernatural help, and that is the love of God in us. 1 John 4:19, “We love, because He first loved us.” So then, there is this amazing love of God that is ours to experience and to share with others.

There’s an old 70’s song by Kurt Kaiser, “Oh How He Loves You and Me.” One line says, “He gave His Son, what more could He give.” Don’t you see His love for you? Don’t fear rejection, my friend; open up and RECEIVE His marvelous love – only then can we love as He loved us. But we might MISS IT!
Jude admonishes in verse 20, to build ourselves up in our most holy faith and keep ourselves in the love of God. Faith – in God, and keeping ourselves in His love. How could we mess that up? Well, it’s pretty easy in a world filled with devils!

If we fall prey to doubt, fears of rejection, judgment by God, well, we could stop receiving His love. And it is His perfect love that drives out fear, 1 John 4:18. Easy to do when devilish lies come blasting at us. If we listen, faith evaporates; we stop keeping ourselves in His love, and life becomes tough sledding.
Something like living on the dark side of the moon. The sun is always out there, always shining, but we are never in a position to receive its light or warmth. Like the Prodigal Son of Luke 15, who was always loved by the father, but for a time he did not benefit from that love.

So, keep in faith. Keep yourself in the love of God. You know what? Soon you’ll be loving like Jesus, and those you touch — will COME ALIVE!

NEXT TIME I’ll share Hank and Mary’s experiences with keeping ourselves in the love of God. Don’t miss it!

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Welcome to Hank’s Place in 2022 — Marriage Rules — CLASSICS

Dear friend, I want you to understand that Jesus loves us, and wants us to receive His love, which will enable us to keep His commandment – found in Jn 15:15, that we love one another as He has loved us.

Consider this illustration, found in “The Gospel in 20 Questions” by Dr. Paul Ellis. Suppose it’s your wedding day, and right after the ceremony the minister gives you a book “The Marriage Rule Book” and says, “Read this, for inside is the secret to a happy marriage.”

Well, you want a happy marriage. You open the book and inside you discover all sorts of rules for a happy marriage. Be honest. Be kind. Always tell the truth. Keep your promises. Listen well. Be on time. Say ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ Freely forgive. Don’t covet your neighbor’s wife. It sounds like GOLD! It’s got all the answers to a happy marriage. 

You determine to do them all. But there are more rules. Rules for special days, for church activity, for celebrations, for seasons; what to wear, rules on property rights, on intimacy, on family planning, and hundreds more! “Wow!” you may think, “I had no idea marriage was going to be so hard; I’m not sure I can do all this.”

You skip hundreds more rules and come to the last page of the book. There you find these words, “If you love your spouse, disregard this book: YOU DON’T NEED IT. You will keep all the rules effortlessly.”

But there are so many Christians who will NOT do this. They keep looking to the book ‘just in case.’ They get weary. They get condemned. Their legalism kills their marriage. There is no ‘just in case.’ There is NO situation where rules can replace TRUE LOVE!

So friend, DO NOT treat the Bible like a book of rules for how to be married to Jesus. DO NOT be fooled into thinking you will have a happy marriage to Jesus if you DO everything the Bible says. It is NOT a rule book; NOT an instruction book to obey.

TRUE LOVE does not work that way. If you love Jesus, you do not need a rule book. If you don’t love Jesus, a rule book is not going to help, because love comes from the heart, not out of a book.

L O V E — and you will Come Alive!

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When asked what makes Christianity unique among world religions, CS Lewis replied, “That’s easy: it’s GRACE.” Grace puts the “good” into the Good News!

Dr. Paul Ellis of New Zealand, in his Escape 2 Reality blog on FaceBook, just posted an article about grace – it’s worth sharing, which I am doing here! By the way, I highly recommend you subscribe to Escape 2 Reality.

Grace isn’t a doctrine. Grace is not a bunch of rules. Grace is God blessing you for no other reason than He loves you. Grace is a Person living His life through you. In a word, grace is Jesus. 

Grace is the goodwill, lovingkindness, and favor of God freely given to us. Grace supernaturally empowers us to be who He made us to be.

The Biblical noun for grace (charis) means favor or kindness, and is related to a word (chairo) which means to rejoice, be cheerful and well off. The grace of God leaves us cheerful and rejoicing. It leaves us better than it found us.

Grace is what the unconditional love of God looks like from our side. Grace is the love of God reaching down and gathering us in His arms.

Grace is God blessing us with Himself for no other reason than it pleases Him to do so.

Grace is the confident assurance that with God on our side, we can’t lose. Grace is His strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.

Grace is freedom from sin, guilt, and condemnation. Grace is freedom from the need to prove ourself. Grace is divine permission to be who God made us to be.

Grace is heaven’s cure for the world’s woes. Grace is the power of God that turns sinners into saints, haters into lovers, and orphans into sons.

Grace is realizing we have been adopted, are a dearly-loved child, the apple of our Father’s eye, and a co-heir with Christ Himself.

Grace is God honoring us with His presence. Grace is the adventure of life shared with Christ.

“Well, Hank,” you might say, “it sounds like life is all about Jesus and not about us?” Yes!

This year, I invite you live in the grace of God more than ever — you’ll COME ALIVE!

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As the new year gets underway, many of us make resolutions. Usually they are retreads of last year’s, since we failed at those. Maybe we’ll do better this year, right? Ha!

New year resolutions are an example of trying to live by the LAW. The power to accomplish these things lies within us. We humans have limitations. Weak flesh. And our resolutions tell us to do good but they do not give us the power to do so. Am I right?

My friend, I suggest there’s a better way we can live life – and that, is by the grace of God, not our labors. As an old song from the 70’s said, “Learning to lean, learning to lean, I’m learning to lean on Jesus — finding more power than I’d ever dreamed, I’m learning to lean on Jesus.”

Take salvation — “…whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. Not our performance, but JESUS. “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”— “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. Acts 16:30. “Leaning” on Jesus we could say.

Back to those resolutions. Perhaps, your bathroom scale is inexplicably reading 15 pounds higher in this new year. You can make a resolution to drop those 15 new pounds in the next 30 days, Googling the best new diet plans, buying expensive supplements guaranteed to melt fat away while you sleep. Counting calories. Maybe by sheer will power you drop some pounds. But we know that like Frosty the Snowman, they’ll be back again someday. 

How about we humbly ask God to help us lose that weight? Then we ‘lean on Jesus,’ learning to walk by the Spirit – as He leads us to smaller portions, better food, passing the second helping, perhaps some exercise. We may, as we ‘lean,’ find our appetite changing. 

By the grace of God, He has given us the Holy Spirit, which Jesus said would guide us into all truth. John 16:13. Truth about the things of God, but also truth about living — lightly, freely, joyfully in our daily walk, for His ways are not burdensome.

The promptings of the Spirit are rarely loud. Gentle. Whispers. A thought. Then it’s our choice to believe and follow, leaning on Jesus – not our fleshly appetites ! Also, in leaning, we may find ourselves suddenly infused with POWER to push away from the table effortlessly!

How about we begin this year, not with resolutions, but making our requests known before God and asking for His grace to bring us the help we need?

After all, this is our year to lean upon Jesus — and COME ALIVE!

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Welcome to Hank’s Place in the year 2022

Jesus just before His arrest said to His disciples, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.] John 16:33 Amplified Bible.

Jesus offers us believers PEACE — in Him, and His PEACE is perfect. OFFERS us, for it says, “…that you MAY have peace” – like a child hearing his mother say he ‘may’ have a cookie. As the child has permission to take the cookie, those early disciples were told things to come so when the crazy things began to happen, they could choose to stay in Jesus, for in Him is perfect peace. And we, as we stay in HIM, and don’t freak out over what’s happening in the world, will also have this perfect peace.

Jesus told us, “in the world we have tribulation, distress, suffering.” Yikes!! Not a maybe: the world is — in a mess and we are in the world. Well, so what…. because, and most importantly, we are in Jesus.

Whether or not we have His perfect peace though, depends upon… our BELIEVING we are in Jesus. The Jesus who holds all authority, all power, all ability, all the all’s! We are not talking a wimpy God here! We choose to see ourselves held firmly in His mighty hands, seated in the heavenlies with Him. Eph 2:6.

Be courageous, confident, undaunted, and filled with JOY in 2022: for this is going to be a GREAT GREAT YEAR for all believers — a COME ALIVE year!

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Welcome to Hank’s Place on Christmas Day

For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.  Isaiah 9:6-7a.

God has given us His BEST GIFT: His Son, sent to redeem us from captivity and we celebrate His birth today! 

Receiving the gift means eternal life — so let others know this gift, JESUS, is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE — the Light that shines in the darkness of today’s world. 

Celebrate this Christmas day, with family, celebrate, if apart, celebrate, if working, celebrate. Let others know the joy of Jesus — they will COME ALIVE!

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In a few days we’ll celebrate Christmas! Have you been struggling with the lack of Christ in the Christmas activities around you? Is your heart crying, “Put Christ back into Christmas?”

I’ve shared before that the founders of America, the Puritans, made a covenant with God for their – our – nation to be ‘under God’ – way back in 1628. As a godly people, they outlawed Christmas; anyone caught celebrating was subject to fines and imprisonment. Why? Because at the time, back in England where they came from, Christmas had NOTHING to do with Jesus and everything to do with revelry, drunkenness and debauchery. Pope Julius 1’s effort in 350 AD to put Christ into Saturnalia and make it a Christian celebration hadn’t much of a success. People reveled in sin and repented later!

Fast forward to America. For over 200 years Christmas was not celebrated. It was – an ordinary day! Congress continued to meet Christmas Day up to 1856.

The Church in America, If they acknowledged Christ at Christmas in those early years, did so in a very subdued manner. Hank’s Place #320 has more. Christmas began changing in the latter 1800’s, becoming a relaxed family and children time, but there really was no overt worship of Jesus. Up to today. That’s why, when atheists attacked Christmas trees in government places on the basis of separation of church and state, the Supreme Court ruled Christmas Trees as part of a ‘traditional holiday’ and not a religious one. Was God in this? Thoughtful question!!

This Christmas, don’t let those atheists and merchandizing, greedy God deniers ruin your enjoyment of Christmas. What they do does not have to affect you, dear friend. No. We don’t have to get bent out of shape when we see inflatable reindeer on our neighbor’s roof. How about following your heart and putting Christ into YOUR Christmas? Setting an example of Christ in Christmas.

When our family was young we often had a Jesus birthday cake and sang happy birthday to Jesus and gave thanks on Christmas Eve. A few times we participated with the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program and our entire family worked in their warehouses filled with donated toys, selecting toys for boys and girls. What a wonderful time for our children, working in rooms filled to the ceiling with toys and gifts! For other children. Christ in Christmas. And of course having friends – or strangers – over for a meal and good time.

This Advent, I invite you to rise above the world’s distorted notions of Christmas, add Jesus add into YOUR Christmas — you’ll COME ALIVE!

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