Siesta Key Sunrises

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Siesta Key Sunrises Live Cam The stream from Siesta Key, overlooking the Little Sarasota Bay. The stream is on for 24/7.Check out a video on where the camera is installed and how it was ...

My Last Post on Facebook

I am Charlie Garrett, a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This will be my last post on Facebook, and as I have tried to do – both implicitly and explicitly – over the years, I have attempted to get people to think through their status before God.

One thing is certain, if there is a God, it doesn’t matter one bit if we believe in Him or not – we are not the center of the universe; He is.

And more, if there is a God, what we think about Him doesn’t matter either. Rather, what He says about Himself is all that matters.

Our job is to seek Him out as He has revealed Himself – both through nature (generally) and through however He has explicitly done so (specially). If we fail to do this, only we are to blame. He owes us nothing.

Having said this, I will cut through all of the nonsense that “religion” provides and take you right to the heart of the matter.

Trust me on this, I have done the study –

There is a God.
We can know many things about Him without Him ever contacting us.
There is a disconnect between us and Him.
There is only one true and inspired source that tells us how that disconnect came about and how to get it corrected – the Holy Bible. Yes, He did contact us, and that love letter is recorded there.

The disconnect is sin. You know, the lie you told, the thing you stole, the dirty thing you carry around in your heart. We all have it, and it is what separates us (the disconnect) from our God.

The Bible tells how this came about. It tells about what the consequences of it are, and it tells us how to correct the defect.

The consequences? Eternal separation from God. He is perfect, we are not, that’s it. When we die, there is one – and only one – thing we can expect. That is being chucked into the Lake of Fire. He cannot accept us as we are. That’s it.

The correction? Despite what He must do because of our sin (the eternal fire thing mentioned a moment ago) God loves you enough to have corrected the problem for you. He (the infinite, glorious, and magnificent Creator of all things) united with His own creation in order to free us from the sin defect we bear. This is Jesus – the Incarnate Word of God; the God/Man.

He came, born of a woman, born under the law that He gave to Israel so that the world could understand His righteousness. And He live that life perfectly.

Born without sin, living without ever sinning, and then...

He gave His life in exchange for your sins. Jesus Christ, the God/Man, did this for us. He lived the life that we cannot live, He gave that life up in exchange for our sins, and He died.

This is the good news of Jesus Christ. He did this for the wrong we have done, and in this, He did what we cannot do.

And in this, He asks for one – and only one – thing. He asks you to believe.

If you simply believe that God did this for you, the Bible says that you will be saved. The defect is erased, the sin is atoned for, and restoration is made.

This is the hard part, though, isn’t it? We have to admit that we have offended a holy God (and that means we have to admit there is a God). We must accept that we cannot save ourselves – meaning that we have no value apart from Him. And then we must put ourselves at the mercy of Another. That is both humbling and it is scary. But this is what God asks of you.

If you can do this, and if you do it, you will be saved.

There is no other way. No other religion will suffice. Our good deeds are insufficient. We are not a part of this equation.

Jesus Christ is the way. He is the only way. And there is no other. If you are trusting in any other religious expression, you will not be a part of what God offers. Jew, Gentile, Japanese, Bolivian, male, female (yes, there are only two sexes), rich or poor – apart from God, we are just not that special. Our sin has made it so. Only Christ can make us pure and undefiled once again.

And so, I ask you today to receive Jesus Christ. Be reconciled to God through Him, and be saved unto eternal life. That which was lost will be regained. God has spoken and He will deliver. Come to the cross of Calvary and receive what God has done for you through Jesus Christ. And...

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. (Revelation 22:21).

Pelican at sunrise. Rather incredible. Please have a blessed and safe day ahead

The live stream moved here:

Siesta Key Sunrise Live Stream The stream from Siesta Key, overlooking the Little Sarasota Bay. The stream is on for 24/7.Check out a video on where the camera is installed and how it was ...