Allison Janelle

[Trevor Sheatz @TrevorSheatz]

Believers, we show our love for God when we:

• Obey his commands even when it is hard
• Forgive those who have caused us deep pain
• Share the truth of the gospel with our neighbors

Our obedience is the proof of our faith.

[Pastor Rich Bitterman @w_bitterman]

One day, a man discusses the future of countries. The next, the country discusses him in the past tense. He was gone between two sunsets.

A dead man’s calendar can still look busy. Meetings remain written in their squares. Unanswered messages wait inside a glowing screen, each one addressed to someone who can no longer reply. Death does not clear the desk before it enters the room. It simply comes.

Lindsey Graham’s sudden death still places a cold hand upon every living shoulder. It reminds us that tomorrow has never signed a promise to return. We build our lives upon the quiet assumption that another day waits nearby. Forgiveness is saved for later and hard conversations remain buried beneath the hope of a better hour. Christians sit across from people they love, talk about weather, politics, ball games, grandchildren, and supper, then swallow the name of Jesus because the moment feels uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, the clock keeps moving toward an appointment written on a calendar we cannot see, “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

That word, appointed, removes death from the realm of chance. God knows the hour when each heart will beat for the last time. We often reschedule dentists, cancel lunches and move meetings into next week. This appointment remains fixed. Our ignorance of the date never changes its certainty and scripture refuses to paint death with soft colors. Death entered the world through sin. God formed Adam from the dust, breathed life into him and placed him beneath the goodness of His rule. Adam rebelled, and then humanity followed. Every grave now carries us back to Eden, where the creature reached for God’s throne and found dust waiting beneath his feet.

Death feels unnatural because it is an intruder. It tears souls from bodies, husbands from wives, parents from children and voices from rooms that still remember their sound. Beneath every funeral lies a greater terror. After death comes judgment.

Power cannot bribe that court. Reputation cannot sway its verdict. Religion cannot hide the stains we carried beneath our Sunday clothes. Every secret enters the light, where excuses fall silent. The holy God before whom angels cover their faces will judge us with perfect righteousness.

Our need reaches far deeper than a longer life. We need a Savior. Jesus entered our world of hospital rooms, funeral clothes and sealed tombs. Outside the grave of Lazarus, He heard the broken voices of two grieving sisters. He saw tears running down familiar faces. Then the One who knew He would soon raise the dead stood beside them and wept. Those tears reveal the heart of Christ. He never treats human sorrow as a lesson to be delivered from a safe distance. Christ steps close enough to feel the ache. Yet compassion alone could not rescue us. Guilt required payment. Death required a conqueror.

So Jesus turned His face toward Jerusalem. Soldiers drove iron through the hands that had touched lepers and lifted children. The mouth that spoke peace to storms tasted sour wine. Darkness covered the land while the sinless Son of God stood in the place of sinners. The lies we defended, the pride we fed, the lust we concealed and the worship we withheld were laid upon Him. All of it was ours. The sentence fell upon Christ.

At Calvary, God did more than show us love. He satisfied His justice. Jesus bore the wrath our rebellion deserved and offered His righteous life for guilty people who possessed none of their own. His blood purchased forgiveness. Through His death, the way home opened.

A criminal hung beside Him with minutes left to live. The thief could repair nothing. His hands were fastened open. That stained record could never be rewritten. He could climb down from the cross neither to repay his victims nor to prove that his repentance was sincere. All he carried into those final breaths was guilt.

He turned his dying face toward Jesus and asked to be remembered. Christ gave him far more, “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Grace reached a man at the edge of eternity. Paradise opened to empty hands because the Savior beside him was paying the cost. The thief brought his sin. Jesus supplied everything else. Then Christ died. His body was wrapped in linen and carried into a borrowed grave. A stone closed the entrance. Saturday passed beneath a terrible silence. His disciples hid behind locked doors while grieving women prepared spices for a corpse. Early Sunday morning, they walked toward the tomb expecting death to remain where they had left it. The stone had moved.

Mary later heard her name spoken by the voice she thought had been silenced forever. Hands pierced by nails were warm with life. From the mouth that cried, “It is finished,” came words of peace for frightened disciples. Jesus rose bodily from the grave. He did not survive as an idea, a memory, or a cause. The crucified Christ stood alive.

History’s great shock came from an empty tomb. Death entered certain of another victory and came out carrying its own defeat. Christ lives and everyone joined to Him through faith will live with Him. This is the gospel. You have sinned against the God who made you. Judgment waits beyond your final breath. Jesus lived the righteous life you have failed to live, carried the guilt you could never remove, died beneath the sentence you deserved and rose in triumph from the grave.

Turn from sin and lay down the right to rule your own life. Rest the full weight of your soul upon Christ, His blood, His righteousness, and His resurrection. He receives ruined people. A filthy past cannot exhaust His mercy. An accusing conscience cannot overpower His promise. The Savior who welcomed a dying thief still welcomes sinners who come with empty hands.

Perhaps years remain before your appointment. Your name may be spoken in the past tense before another sunset. Come today. Then think of the people whose names live in your phone. Picture the chair they occupy at your table. Hear the voice you would give anything to hear again if death entered tonight.

Love them enough to speak. Speak of the cross. Point them to the empty grave. Tell them Christ saves.

Someone you love is a wisp of smoke passing through a keyhole.

Speak before the room is empty.

[Scott Roberts @ScottRoberts]

Imagine standing before Christ one day and hearing:

"You watched thousands of hours of entertainment.
You read and watched endless news.
You argued and bickered online.
You scrolled for years.

But you barely opened the Book I gave you."

That thought convicts me. It reminds me to keep returning to Scripture, because no voice matters more than the voice of God speaking through His Word.

[Pastor Rich Bitterman @w_bitterman]

You are surrounded by things you cannot keep.

Walk through your house and you will see it. The truck in the driveway..the tools in the garage. The fishing gear stacked in the corner. The mower, the phone, the bills on the desk, the clothes in the closet, the old boxes you keep meaning to sort through. Even the house itself, with its repairs, memories and laughter is passing through your hands for a little while.

Put a sticky note on all of it that says “temporary.”

Jesus asks, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” Matthew 16:26. That question walks through my house and turns on every light.

I hate admitting how quickly my heart settles down when my stuff feels safe. Ever since I grabbed a toy as a child and yelled, “Mine,” I have been rehearsing a lie Psalm 24:1 came to kill: “The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains.”

At the cross, Jesus purchased what my money could never ransom: a soul ruined by sin and raised by grace. If Christ owns me, my stuff can lose its throne. Possessions can serve love. Money can serve mercy. Time can serve eternity.

People endure into eternity. Scripture will stand. Love spent for Christ follows us home.

So hold things loosely before they own you, love souls deeply, give freely and live like every receipt already has God’s name on it.

[Trevor Sheatz @TrevorSheatz]

A true disciple doesn't just call Jesus Lord with their mouth while living like the world.

Our obedience to his commands is the real proof of our love for him.

[Trevor Sheatz @TrevorSheatz]

We must stop measuring the success of a church by the size of its crowd.

A faithful church is measured by its obedience to the word of God. Full stop.

[Tammy, follower of Jesus Christ @TammyDoodleDo]

I was up literally all night, on my face in tears & prayer, over a conversation with a beloved who was considering a path of sin. My counsel to them was labeled as "rigid," "old fashioned," and other "Christians" had not told them clearly what I was but had given tacit approval to this path.

Well, I'm not your girl for that, and I'm not all because of one song from this man, Keith Green. I became "radicalized" to "no compromise" in my faith in 1987, five years after his death, by the words of this man, Keith Green, calling me to discipleship. With 27 words, I was pierced with the sword of truth & I went from a moral person who went to church, to a disciple of Jesus Christ, at any cost. All these years later, I still cannot hear even the first words of that song without crying (I'll link in the first comment below).

"Make my life a prayer to you.
I wanna' do what you want me to.
No empty words & no white lies.
No token prayers.
NO COMPROMISE."

This morning, my person is no longer considering the wrong path. I hope its because I was clear with them, that obedience is important. I do not believe salvation hinges on it, BUT a Holy God asks for it, and a loving Savior is WORTHY of it. Don't sugarcoat sin, don't feel powerless to stop it in yourself or others you in accountability relationships with. Truth matters. Sin destroys! Jesus is worthy of living a life of no compromise.

[Renatta Oxendine @Renatta]

I will never become a trillionaire.

I will never become a billionaire.

I will likely never become a millionaire.

But I have Jesus, and that makes me wealthy beyond measure.

[Faithfulness Okom @AttorneyF_]

It is hard to read this and just scroll past as a parent. I am not here to judge them, far from it, but I want to raise a point I haven’t seen raised.

Scripture has never identified biological variance as humanity’s core problem. Romans 3:23 does not say “all have chromosomal anomalies.”

The deficit the Bible diagnoses across every human being is moral, volitional, and relational. A sundering of the image-bearer from its Creator. That is what required redemption and that is what cost God something.

By that exact metric, Jesse and Ashley
are the defective ones in the room. They are fallen, morally accountable, and spiritually broken adults who require the blood of a covenant to stand before God. The child, not yet at the age of accountability, had not entered that reckoning. David said of his dead infant: “I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” He was not despairing, but was locating the child somewhere.

The one they considered too broken to live may have been more secure before God than either of them.

It is unfathomable to me that God looked at a spiritually deformed, rebellious, broken humanity and rather than calculate the burden, project the dependency, or conclude the defect was too great, he entered the limitation himself. He took on flesh, was born in a manger, learned to walk, got tired and even wept. The logic of the Incarnation runs in the exact opposite direction from the logic of that termination.

God’s response to the broken was to become vulnerable alongside it.

The final indictment is that Jesse and Ashley exist only because God operates by a completely different currency than the one they applied to their son. The mercy that sustains two spiritually broken adults was not extended to a child whose only defect was an extra chromosome rather than a fallen will.

Down Syndrome is not currency before God, sin is. And on that ledger, the child was significantly richer than his parents.

[Allison Janelle @allisonjanelli]

@AbbyJohnson I would say any pastor that isn’t bold behind the pulpit in speaking against these atrocities is just as complicit.

[Sheila of the Most High @sheilatebra]

I’m in love with this quote:

“One day, God will replace your sadness with a kind of happiness that makes you forget how much you cried.”

Amen!

[Allison Janelle @allisonjanelli]

AMEN!! My family waited for 5 years to bring home a precious boy from China (adoption) and the Lord - in His perfect will - said “no.” We waited so patiently for our plans to prevail, and the Lord’s plans prevailed - for His purposes. Glory to HIM! All the time - God is good. ❤️‍🩹

[🌷 LIZZIE🌷 @farmingandJesus]

It’s weird when you say God is good even when he doesn’t heal you and someone “corrects” you and says it’s his will to heal everyone bodily when the time of healing for a specific issue has passed clearly for me … I can’t have kids because of this issue (no fault of my own) and it’s over and done.
I begged for healing for 10 years, he didn’t heal me FOR HIS PURPOSE. IM MORE THAN GOOD WITH THAT today after agonizing for years. He has given us peace in suffering and freedom of our old desires. We literally don’t want those things anymore by his grace.

You’re arguing with someone who has more issues now than what I was born with and is trusting God in the midst of it because it’s not always his will to heal us in the flesh.
He did not heal me. He is not wrong for that. He’s actually right to allow suffering for His purpose because he’s God and I’m not.
He doesn’t heal everyone and he’s good either way because his ways are above ours.
Stop with the prosperity message…it hurts people, not me because I know it’s wrong and the hurt we’ve gone through has refined our hearts. It would be hard to hurt myself and my husband now… but some don’t know this is a false teaching of “have enough faith and God heals all bodily ailments”

It’s toxic theology and wrong.
Paul wasn’t healed of his thorn , whatever that was it made him lean more into God.

[Princess A @cessadelove1]

Notice how angry atheists get over this tweet about Noah’s Ark.

Not because of the wood.
Not because of the dimensions.
But because the story represents humanity being judged while one man trusted God completely.

A boat with no steering wheel terrifies modern people because it destroys the illusion that they’re the captain of their own life. That level of surrender terrifies atheists addicted to control.

[Allison Janelle @allisonjanelli]

@Bubblebathgirl That is the going rate for Left vs Right. The Left has a foundation of death & decay. The Right speaks LIFE & prosperity & gratitude! ✨

[Ihunanya Chi ❤️ @Ihunanya_chi]

Christianity is actually beautiful when you truly understand it ✝️

Imagine serving a God who already knew every mistake you would make… and still chose to love you.

A God that says:
“Yes, you failed… now stand up again.” 😭

Imagine belonging to a faith where forgiveness is not weakness but strength.

A place where the greatest commandment is literally LOVE.

Not “hate your enemies.”
Not “destroy everybody that disagrees with you.”
But “love one another.” ❤️

Christianity really said:
Feed the poor.
Pray for people.
Forgive others.
Stay humble.
Help the weak.
Carry each other’s burdens.

And the craziest part?
God Himself came down and demonstrated all of it first 😭✋

Imagine praying and not needing to face one particular direction because God is everywhere.

Imagine having a relationship with God so personal that you can call Him “Father.” 😭

Christianity gives us peace.
Gives hope.
Gives purpose.
Gives assurance that we are loved even on our worst days.

I’m blessed to be a Christian. Imagine what I would have missed without Christ.👌

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

Every single time you encounter someone who you *assume* is not interested in hearing the Gospel, remember this story.

What if Jesus is sending YOU specifically to share His message with a specific person at a specific time?

God's waymaker, He can make a way where they is no way.

[Sheila of the Most High @sheilatebra]

It’s not that Christians are trying to shove Jesus down your throat 😭 it’s just… if you REALLY knew what He could do for you?? Whew.!!! The peace, the healing, the way He can pull you out of bitterness, anxiety, depression, heartbreak, anger… all of it.

That’s why we talk about Him so much. Cause when God changes your life for real, you can’t stay quiet about it. Our God is MIGHTY. 🤍

[Sheila of the Most High @sheilatebra]

GOD is raising up a different kinda Christian. Not the comfortable kind, not the polished, stage approved, not the kind raised on soft sermons or watered down Gospel. He's raising up believers forged in darkness, who weren't handed faith in a neat little packet. Who didn't meet Jesus through religion but in the wilderness, when no pastor was there, when no crowd was cheering. God pulled them out of the darkness an set them on fire with the truth. Not to blend in with the world but confront it.

[Allison Janelle @allisonjanelli]

@Bezner Whew. This is a good word! I love the distinction you made between metrics & real fruit. Numbers on a chart vs. how leadership conducts themselves within the church, and outside the church building walls...Lots to think about!

[Allison Janelle @allisonjanelli]

@thomasitsok My family felt this way for many years. We recently changed pastures & our time w/our new congregation fills our cups w/every interaction we have! We are SEEN. (We now attend a full gospel Assembly of God church.) Praying you find your place!