Category: Hank’s Place

Welcome to Hank’s Place — 

Where I’ve been reading the book of James! James is an unusual book because, unlike the other epistles, it was written to the 12 tribes dispersed abroad, not gentile Christians. James 1:1. Some of those Jews were Messianic but many were still in need of Jesus. James knew he had two very different audiences for his letter — no wonder this book sounds so different!

My point for today comes from the 4th chapter. James begins describing worldly behavior. Must be for those unbelievers, right? But then he says, “You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures.” Hmmm. Is he correcting believers?

Why are they not asking? They don’t ask because they are too proud. They say, “I’ve got this.” But they don’t. “I can do this.” But they can’t. “I don’t need God.” Yes, they do. Or if they do ask, it is only for selfish reasons so they do not receive.

Now verse 4: “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world MAKES HIMSELF an enemy of God!”

Is he reaching out to Jews or believers? Or both? The passage goes on to speak of the greater grace God gives. Grace not for the proud, grace for the humble. To get this grace we submit to God and resist the devil who is tempting us to be friends with this world.

A friend of the world doesn’t have to be a murderous Cretan. Could be a Christian! It is someone who makes life choices from a worldly point of view instead of walking by faith. Relying upon human effort and knowledge instead of resting in God’s grace.

As I pondered this I realized I’ve been there. Thinking God could really use me because I had certain talents and abilities and knowledge. Imagine, wanting to help God out with what I’d learned from the world. Then running ahead without checking in with God.

My friend, that’s a form of misinformed pride. Leaving God out of our ‘helping God out’ thinking. It’s not that we have to fall on our faces and pray until we hear from heaven about every decision, but it IS about asking for wisdom. And understanding. And heaven’s knowledge. And having a listening ear for His replies. That’s what James is referring to in verse 6, “But He gives a greater grace.”

If you have already made a mess, it’s not too late. Don’t reach for the fig leaves of, “I can fix this” thinking. Acknowledge your mistakes, and humbly ask God for grace.

His grace is extravagant. His grace causes us — COME ALIVE!

NEW BLOG NOTIFICATION

Be notified when a new blog posts

Thanks for joining Hank's Place!

Name

Email*

Welcome to Hank’s Place — 

NEW BLOG NOTIFICATION

Be notified when a new blog posts

Thanks for joining Hank's Place!

Name

Email*

Welcome to Hank’s Place — 

Hebrews 12 begins with the encouragement that we have a great cloud of witnesses, men and women of faith, who have gone before us. Their witness encourages us, Hebrews says, to let go of every wound that has pieced us and resist the sin of unbelief, for unbelief can prevent our receiving God’s promises.

Then, verse 2, urges us to look not on the natural realm around us, but instead to look to Jesus. Here’s how it reads in the Passion Translation:

“We look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus, who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection.” Or “He is the author and finisher of our faith.”

The verse goes on. In the NASB it says of Jesus, “who for the joy set before Him endured the cross….” Let’s hear it in the Passion Translation (I love this translation for it expresses the PASSION of God). It says, “His example is this: Because His heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be His….” What does that mean?

It is the joy of OUR salvation. The Passion notes explain that Jesus placed before His eyes the bliss we would forever share TOGETHER WITH HIM, which empowered Him to go through His agony. Instead of remaining in heaven’s glory with the Father and all the angels, He chose YOU and me as the joy set before him. He desires US to the point of laying down His life and being God for all eternity — to be with US.

He pursued us, not seeing our weakness and failures but what we will be. He can see what we will be in the end from the beginning. This was the JOY that prompted Jesus to become a man. He endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation. He thought nothing of its shame, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God!

This might help your understanding. Suppose you are a parent with young children — at Christmas you scrimp and save and do without personally, going the extra mile, just for the JOY you will see on your child’s face when they open that extra special gift. It’s THAT JOY that made your sacrifice worthwhile to you.

And it is the JOY of our salvation – the JOY we experience in realizing we are united with Jesus for all eternity — without reference to sin or performance — that prompted Jesus to become a man and endure the agony of the cross.

My friend, won’t you share salvation’s joy with someone today — they may COME ALIVE!

NEW BLOG NOTIFICATION

Be notified when a new blog posts

Thanks for joining Hank's Place!

Name

Email*

Welcome to Hank’s Place — 

John chapter 4 features an awesome, insightful story of Jesus encountering a woman at Jacob’s well in Sychar, Samaria.

The conversation begins about water – moves on to living water, – and moves further to worship. Our mountain in Samaria or in Jerusalem of the Jews, says the woman. “Who is right,” she asks.

Jesus responds in verse 21,“Believe me, dear woman, the time has come when you will worship the Father neither on a mountain nor in Jerusalem, but in your heart.” Passion Translation. He adds, “From now on, worshiping the Father will not be a matter of the right place – but with a right heart. For God is a Spirit, and He longs to have sincere worshipers who adore Him in the realm of the Spirit and in truth.”

A matter of the heart — hear that? The heart, not a building, not a pilgrimage to a distant location. We can worship any place, at any time, for worship comes forth from our hearts!

There’s even more great news here. The woman goes back into the village and says, “Come and meet a man at the well who told me everything I’ve ever done! Could He be the One we’ve been waiting for?” Hearing this, the people come streaming out of the village to see Jesus. No doubt, this woman was the talk of the town. Having had five marriages, she was well known. For her to say these words was an honest confession of her past. There is a miracle here in that the people believed her and went out to see for themselves!

Then they asked Jesus to stay with them and He stayed two more days, and many more came to faith in Him because of His message. They told the woman, “Now we’ve heard Him ourselves. We no longer believe just because of what you told us, but we’re convinced that He really is the true Savior of the world!”

Think about it. The woman with a ‘difficult’ past is the first New Testament evangelist, and she wins an entire city to Christ. WOW!

Maybe you have had a ‘difficult’ past as well. But you have met the Savior of the world, haven’t you? Our past does not prevent us from telling others about Jesus, God’s son, our Savior. We can all be like this woman: honest to tell others that Jesus knows everything we’ve ever done and He still loves us!

So today, may you tell someone YOUR story of the Savior so they — may COME ALIVE!

NEW BLOG NOTIFICATION

Be notified when a new blog posts

Thanks for joining Hank's Place!

Name

Email*

Welcome to Hank’s Place — 

Here at Hank’s Place I like to remind everyone that it is the grace of God that makes the Good News, GOOD NEWS!

1 Peter 5:10 reads, “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

In this earthly life all of us will experience sufferings, but they are temporary and fleeting compared to eternity. Here Peter refers to the God of all loving grace. All love and grace originates — with God. Grace is what the unconditional love of God looks like from our side. He reigns from the throne of grace where we receive mercy and grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16.

Did you notice in this verse that it says God Himself will perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish us. We are saved, kept, strengthened and established by GRACE.

Mary and I have received His mercies and grace in time of need, countless times, praise to our Lord Jesus! How about you? Remember, God is gracious towards us because He loves us, not because we get things right.

Most Christians know that it is on account of God’s grace that we are saved. That’s Acts 15:11, Ephesians 2:8, and 2 Timothy 1:9.
By grace we are also forgiven, Ephesians 1:7.
It is by grace we are justified, Romans 3:24 and Titus 3:7.
And Ephesians 2:5 declares we’ve been made alive with Christ.
There’s more. Ephesians 1:3 says ALL of God’s blessings come by grace.
His grace builds us up. That’s found in Acts 20:32.
It empowers us to do good works, Galatians 2:9.
Grace makes us fruitful, Colossians 1:6.
It prospers us, 2 Corinthians 8:9, gives us hope 2 Thessalonians 2:6, and enables us to reign in life. Romans 5:21.
God’s Grace is for all of us, every day.

This passage also says He Himself will perfect us, that is, bring us to completion. Religion says we have to fix ourselves, but the gospel of grace says we can trust the Lord to complete the good work He has begun in us, Philippians 1:6.

Let’s have faith in God and give Him the glory today for His amazing grace — we’ll COME ALIVE!

NEW BLOG NOTIFICATION

Be notified when a new blog posts

Thanks for joining Hank's Place!

Name

Email*

Welcome to Hank’s Place — 

In Paul’s very emotional closing words to the elders of the church at Ephesus in Acts 20:24 he says, “…I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of God’s grace.” This Good News is seriously GOOD NEWS, for it declares GOD’S GRACE to whosoever. It’s the grace of God that makes the Good News, GOOD NEWS!

Paul dedicated his life to the gospel of God’s grace. This message was so important, he said, that anyone who preached a different gospel should be cursed. Galatians 1:9.

The gospel of grace is far from a license to sin; in fact, it offers God’s power dwelling within us, for us to resist sin!

It is the grace of God that saves us, sanctifies us, and keeps us secure to the end. It’s the love of God that comes to us through his Son and empowers us to be who God made us to be. It is so incredibly awesome – can you imagine that Almighty God, who reigns supreme, sits upon a throne of grace towards us! And wants to share His life with us. This life is found in His Son, JESUS!

Here are some truths from the Bible that are true because of God’s grace; they are not dependent upon our efforts or achievements:
God loves us unconditionally
God accepts us just the way we are
God has forgiven all our sins
God holds nothing against us
God justifies us and makes us righteous
God makes us a brand new creation
God adopts us into His family making us co-heirs with Christ
It is God’s grace by which we are saved and kept
Through God’s grace He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ

God’s grace is better than anything we can dream or imagine. Being justified by His grace, no enemy can condemn us. If by grace His has given us His son, what is there that He won’t give us? Romans 8:31-39.

As 2025 unfolds, let’s take to heart Paul’s warnings not to listen to those who preach something other than the gospel of grace.
How do we tell the difference? In short a grace-based message will leave you praising God and thanking Jesus. A graceless message on the other hand, will place a burden upon you, have you making promises you can’t keep and then condemn you for not keeping them.

Give God the glory today for His amazing grace — you’ll COME ALIVE!

NEW BLOG NOTIFICATION

Be notified when a new blog posts

Thanks for joining Hank's Place!

Name

Email*

Welcome to Hank’s Place for 2025 —

Who is a Christian? Are you? Paul said in Romans 10:13 it was anyone who confesses or calls upon the name of the Lord. The apostle John in 1 John 4:15 says, “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” Have you?

We are not saved because we spoke some magic words of a prayer; we are saved because we called to a Savior and He heard us. How can we be sure this Savior can save? Because He is the Son of God sent by God for the purpose of saving us.

When John says “God abides in him,” he was speaking of the Holy Spirit taking up residence in our hearts. “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you FOREVER.” John 14:16. The Holy Spirit does not come and go. He will never forsake us or abandon us. Hebrews 13:5. When God moves in, it’s for eternity. Eternal life is more than just living forever. It is knowing God and living out of our union with him.

Now listen to1 John 4:16, “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

We can know something in our head without believing it in our heart. And we can believe in our heart without knowing why. But when we both know and believe, we are what the bible says is “fully persuaded.” Because the Son of God was sent to save us, we can be fully persuaded that God loves us.

Under the old law-keeping covenant, we were commanded to love the Lord our God with all our heart. Deuteronomy 6:5, 10:12. It was up to us to manufacture that love. But in the new covenant, where grace abounds, we love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19.

Many people struggle because they do not know the love of God. Others struggle because they have heard that God loves them but they don’t believe it. But when you know and believe that God loves you with a love that never gives up, you find rest. To abide or dwell in God is to be settled in this matter of His love for you.

In this new covenant where grace abounds, God takes all the initiative. And as we receive from the abundance of His love, we are able to love, forgive, and accept others.

Don’t wait! Receive God’s love today — you’ll COME ALIVE!

NEW BLOG NOTIFICATION

Be notified when a new blog posts

Thanks for joining Hank's Place!

Name

Email*

Welcome to Hank’s Place for 2025 —

1 John 2:24 gives us believers wonderful guidance for the new year: “let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.” What’s John saying?

We began our journey at the feet of Jesus; so let us stay there says John — and let nothing move us. When Jesus saved us we ‘naturally’ understood we were saved by grace, but then for most of us we heard messages that urged us to pray more, read more, give more, work more. Perform. Produce for Jesus. Receiving those messages will result in falling from grace, Galatians 5:4. Still saved, but the joy of our salvation is nowhere to be found. Still got that joy?

Not only that, being distracted from Jesus can result in being tossed and turned by every wind of teaching. Ephesians 4:14. So John tells us to stick with what we heard at the beginning, the message of God’s grace. And love.

God IS love. John, the disciple Jesus loved, especially declares it. When I stepped out of that church pew January 18, 1976 to give my life to Jesus and declare Him my Savior, I was immediately, instantly, overwhelmed by my Heavenly Father’s love. He was real! And He was LOVE. And He immersed me in a tidal wave of love, love never ending.

Let’s stay at the feet of Jesus where we first began. OK? Where grace and love reside. Do this and our hearts will be at rest and our minds will be at peace.

What happens to us if we should stray? Just look at the next verse, “This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.” We still have eternal life. We cannot fall out or lose our salvation. It’s a promise of God. Remember John 3:16 “Whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Are you straying already in the new year? Turn and run, dear friend! Run back to Jesus! Run into the arms of your Heavenly Father. They will never shut you out or stop loving you. Confess your fears, anxieties, struggles, false steps, selfishness, whatever, and sit again at Jesus’ feet.

Their plans for you are wonderful — beyond what you could ask or even think!
Plans to will cause you — to COME ALIVE!

NEW BLOG NOTIFICATION

Be notified when a new blog posts

Thanks for joining Hank's Place!

Name

Email*

Welcome to Hank’s Place – 

NEW BLOG NOTIFICATION

Be notified when a new blog posts

Thanks for joining Hank's Place!

Name

Email*

Welcome to Hank’s Place 

NEW BLOG NOTIFICATION

Be notified when a new blog posts

Thanks for joining Hank's Place!

Name

Email*