Pastor John Collins, Montana Tour: Not an innocent world

From community pulpits across Montana, east coast and Midwest, John Collins is redeeming the gospel, one church at a time through revivals.  

Pastor John Collins’ dynamic style compels us to examine where our faith is, where our hearts truly are, and where we are headed in eternity.  His down to earth preaching makes it easy to hear what God is telling us, has been telling us, for the ages.  It’s time for the United States to come back to God.

Evangelist Pastor John Collins is spreading the Word of Christ throughout the United States.   

In a nationwide tour, John Collins, Pastor of Love That Cross Ministries is bringing truth of the Bible and God back to the small community churches that have been left behind in the rush of creating megachurches that do not fill the soul and in reality fill the pockets of those who run them through prosperity doctrine. 

John Collins, Pastor and Evangelist says:

“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6.

This world is not innocent. So, why do so many take things so personally and get so offended by the grief that comes with life? Why do so many place the blame squarely upon the shoulders of God? What is wrong with sorrow and grief? It teaches you to appreciate the joy and hope. What is wrong with sickness and death? It teaches you that there are seasons to life and health is not a guarantee. What is wrong with loss? It teaches you to appreciate what you have. There is beauty and wonder that we have feelings at all. Life is precious and filled with the ability to emotionally connect with others and death is filled with hope because Jesus has made it possible for you to continue loving those that you love.

People want to feel wounded and offended that they have suffered in this life and they want someone to blame and want to complain about it all, to be the victim. There are victims in this life and there are terrible things that happen, but that is part of living among others who have the same opportunity as you have and that is free will. There are bad people in this world and there is evil in this world and that is something that we all have to deal with for now. It doesn’t mean that anyone has the right to blame God or to sit on the pity pot because as long as there is breath in your body, there is hope for salvation and you will not be gaining salvation while there is resentment for God and bitterness toward Him because you find your sufferings too big to accept.

Jesus did not grow old. Jesus did not get gray hair and lose His eyesight. Jesus did not raise a family and rock His child to sleep. Jesus did not take vacations and travel around the world to see different places. Jesus did not have the luxury of a long life. Jesus came to this world and from His earliest age was doing the work of His Father. Jesus concerned Himself with His people, His land and the salvation of this world. Jesus taught others and took the time to heal others and be kind. Jesus is perfect and yet He suffered for you. Jesus was ridiculed and mocked, beaten and hung on a cross to die. For you.

This is not a fairy tale that you have outgrown. This happened. Jesus is not just some man that lived long ago. Jesus is the Son of God and your Savior. Think about just how much you do have to be thankful for this week. As you make your plans to gather together for a meal and rejoicing, think about the times that Jesus gathered with His people for a meal. Jesus always was thinking of others, the salvation of souls. In the end that is what counts because the soul is eternal and we should all be thinking in that manner, maybe then awareness of the enormity of the gift that Christ has made possible for us all would truly sink in and gratefulness, the kind that produces life, would follow.

“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until the day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.’” Matthew 26:26-29.

John Collins presses the compelling point: where is your heart?   

Does it truly belong to God?  Can you withstand the judgement of a just and very real God if you had to stand before Him today?  Are you doing everything you can to get back to God, get back to Jesus when you leave this life?  It’s surely a choice of heaven or hell.  Jesus is real, Heaven is real, Hell is real.  This world is not the be all and end all for us once we die, and God is not to blame for how things are.  It’s time to turn to Christ, to God and hear what our hearts are telling us.

LOVE THAT CROSS, PASTOR JOHN

PASTOR JOHN COLLINS: BE GODLY

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. KJV.  This verse is probably the most singularly memorized verse in the Holy Bible.  God put Adam and Eve in Eden and instructed them how to act, giving them one very important rule to not eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  They disobeyed, got evicted from the garden.  Man lived without written rules from God for centuries until Moses was anointed to lead God’s people, Israel out of Egypt.  God spoke to Moses who wrote His commandments on stone tablets so that man would have the needed guidelines so that we could properly worship and serve God.  There were many other directions that were given to Moses that went along with the commandments, how to live safely in the desert, how to come humbly before God, through priests.  We still couldn’t get it right.  We needed an example to help us see and understand.  We don’t follow directions well.  God sent His Son Jesus to us so that He could teach us and show us firsthand how to be godly, how to be Christ-like.  God knew we can’t do it on our own.  He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to teach us, show us, then sacrifice Himself for us to take away the sins of the world so that we can live a Christ-like life.  All we have to do now, instead of lists of directions in the Old Testament with old blood sacrifices and priest intervention, is believe.  Simply believe.  And in believing then change ourselves to be godly, not sinners.  Jesus led by example so that we would SEE how we are supposed to act and behave.  He taught the disciples who became His apostles who went out into the world and showed all who would listen how to turn toward God through Jesus.

Evangelist Pastor John Collins of Love That Cross Ministry and Revival that began in Wheatland, Wyoming was called by God over 10 years ago to serve Him.  Pastor Collins was not a godly man, he will tell you he didn’t believe in God and had very little experience with God and Jesus in his life.  That has changed for him because he accepted Jesus into his heart as his Lord and Savior.  Now he clings to the Cross that is everyone’s salvation with all his strength and all his might.  Why?  Because he knows that Jesus is the only Hope that this sad, lost, and seemingly hopeless world has.  Wyoming was a turning point in Pastor John’s career as an Evangelist.  He had his first revival there through Love That Cross, and he has been leading more people to Christ ever since.

An evangelist is someone who is set apart by God to teach the ways of God.  God knows that people are visual and hands on learners, merely reading and hearing the words in the Bible isn’t enough, even though it should be.  We need to see how to act, too.  Evangelists are in the public eye because they are outspoken and profess their faith so plainly that it is hard to ignore them.  They make you uncomfortable because they cause you to take a look at what you are doing in your life, or at least that is what an evangelist is supposed to do. 

Pastor John Collins shows us that in order to get to God, we have to believe in Jesus.  We have to act like Jesus Christ.  We have to act like Christians.  There is where we fail horribly, to ACT like Christians.  Christians are supposed to help the poor, Christians are supposed to treat others as they would like to be treated.  The two commandments Jesus taught were to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength….to Jews this is part of the Shema and is the foundation of their faith in God…and the other commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself.  Pastor John Collins not only teaches these commandments in each and every one of his sermons, he acts them so that people can see how Christians are supposed to act.  Christians aren’t supposed to show up in a church pew on a Sunday and act Christ-like for that hour or so of worship.  Christians are supposed to act Christ-like every minute of every day.  We fall far short of that.  Pastor John teaches and walks the walk.  He lives humbly.  So many evangelists who are in the public eye have multi-million dollar homes, expensive new cars, designer clothing and pristine mega churches that they launch their ministry from.  Pastor John lives in a middle class home, drives used vehicles and preaches from pulpits of moderate to small churches all over the country.  He is quick to help the little girl who walks into a church in her pajamas and carrying a doll, not only in feeding her, but helping the family find a way to manage the reality of latchkey children left on their own.  A conversation with a diabetic woman reveals that she has no food and is unable to get out to a store because she is ill.  A phone call to an area food bank and senior center from Pastor John helps the woman get through.  An addict who needed to get into rehab couldn’t find an open bed was assisted into a rehab center that hadn’t had any beds open.  Waiting in line at a fast food drive through, Pastor John has been known to pay for the meals of the car behind him.  Taking people in off the street to allow them a meal and place to stay, opening one of his churches up on frigid nights as a shelter to those who have nowhere else to go…all are examples of being Christ-like in the life of Pastor John Collins.

It isn’t only the acts toward people in need, it is living the fruits of the spirit, every day, in everyday life:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  It is being truthful, having integrity, standing in faith of God in the face of the world and not caring what the world says about him.  Pastor John says frequently “Being Christian isn’t about going to church on Sunday.  Sure, it is good to go to church to worship Jesus, but it is what you get out of the sermon, what you do in your everyday life that matters as a Christian.  It’s what you do from Sunday to Sunday that counts, not showing up and putting your time in.  Just because you go into a garage doesn’t make you a car, and just because you go to church doesn’t make you a Christian.  It’s what you do that matters.”  Pastor John takes his faith seriously.  He takes his relationship with God seriously, he takes the salvation offered by Jesus seriously.  He walks that walk every day, every minute.  He admits he is a sinner, he knows that he isn’t perfect, but he also knows that people are watching and need an example to live by, just like 2000 years ago when God sent Jesus to show mankind how to act.  Pastor John strives to show how we are to act as humans, as Christians.  At the end of the day, he asks for forgiveness and repents of the sins and gets up the next day to try and try and try to be the best that he can be, for God and for Jesus. 

He means it when he says “God is never secondary in my life, He is always Primary”- Pastor John Collins

PASTOR JOHN COLLINS: A SAVING FAITH

This country is facing an epidemic of violence, continuing issues of racism, younger and younger people becoming addicted to drugs, domestic violence, child kidnappings…..all of this is drowning the United States in a wave of hopelessness.  That hopelessness is coming from the deliberate choice of the society of the United States in general turning its back on God and His Son Jesus.

This country needs HOPE

Those who are Christians who were once addicts and alcoholics, those who have turned their lives around after hitting rock bottom in prison or losing everything but their life will flat out attest to the HOPE that can be found in giving it all up to Jesus.  Jesus IS Hope.  His death on the Cross gave us the Hope for eternal life, and He gave us Hope to be able to endure the day to day pain and struggle that we deal with here that is life as a human being.  Pastor John Collins has based the ministry Love That Cross on Hope.  

Pastor John Collins began Love That Cross ministries with a focus on revival.  It began in Wheatland, Wyoming and spread across the country.  Revival of faith, revival of Christianity, not religion, but the revival of the HOPE that comes from acknowledging Jesus as a savior of mankind, ALL of us, is the central purpose of Love That Cross Ministry and Revival.  Without Jesus, there is no Hope.  The sorrow, the sadness, the pain, the anger, the violence that comes with living in the world today seems unbearable.  Pastor John preaches that it IS possible to have HOPE.  That hope is submitting all to the love that is Jesus and God.  

Who took our hope away?

To some degree, we have willingly given it away through political correctness, fear, trends of society.  We as Christians allowed men to “interject their will upon the people and Christianity has suffered. Religion will get you nowhere if you are complying with the traditions of men while ignoring the commandments of God, “says Pastor John. Knowing Jesus, allowing Him into your heart, having faith in Him to help carry us through a day has been twisted into canned sermons and litanies, false doctrines meant to sell a product rather than to save souls, or even lukewarm “God loves everyone, so be happy” attitudes:  all meant to keep people sitting in a pew on a Sunday, but not meant to stir the heart or the soul into repentance. 

Pastor John Collins calls a spade a spade. Faith is meant to save souls, to guide lives toward righteousness and to keep hope alive. Faith is meant to carry you through the tough times and to help you get to heaven. Churches continue with their traditions and doctrines that man has implemented; people continue attending them because they are comforted by the familiar.  That comfort is not providing a growing population in heaven. It is time to step out of that comfort zone and wake up.

People have got to wake up and see that Christianity is broken and needs truth and healing. People need to turn away from the glitter and the traditions that have them going through the motions of worship only to leave them without the tools to apply the gospel to their lives in any real way.  When was the last time you could recall details about a sermon given on a Sunday all the way through a week until the next service, or even a month or more after it was spoken?  THOSE sermons are the ones that have touched a heart, sparked a soul, moved someone to think about and reconsider what they are doing in their lives.  THOSE sermons make us, all sinners, wonder about whether we really are heading to heaven by saying we are Christian, or if we have work to do.  Looking at the society in which we live, it’s a pretty good indication that we all have work to do.  Not enough people know that there is a God or that Jesus even exists, not to mention those of us who profess to be Christian on Sunday but walk past the woman on the sidewalk on Tuesday who simply needs a meal or help off of the street into safety. There is a lot of work to be done.  

Pastor John calls it as it is: we HAVE turned from God as a nation and slapped Him away from our homes, families, children, our hearts. The time is NOW, and God WILL help us REVIVE our faith, IF we turn to Him and His Son Jesus.

Jesus does offer salvation to us for free. Yet, He Himself has demanded that we repent, sin no more, and that we obey His commandments. He also said for us to fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. Do we take Him seriously and adjust our behavior accordingly or are we just banking on that price being paid and going about our lives with evil hearts and evil minds acting in evil ways and speaking evil words? Think about the standard that is set by Jesus. Think about the requirements of our faith. We cannot just say that we believe. We must believe so strongly that we are moved to change our ways. Remember the young man who was obedient to the law and yet was told by Jesus to sell all and give to the poor and follow when he asked what must he do to have eternal life? We cannot do some. We must do all. If you are not doing all that the Lord has commanded you cannot be assured of claiming the salvation He offers.

God is waiting and willing to help us come to learn the truth and to embrace that truth. People must be willing to want that honest relationship that genuine faith provides.  We can’t continue to lie to ourselves that we can wait for another day.  We are NOT guaranteed tomorrow.  Only God knows just how long we have to work on our souls and our redemption.  We CAN’T wait.  It will be too late when we die, get there, and then go “Oops” because we didn’t do anything to help ourselves, even though help was available.  We no longer believe that God is paying attention nor do we believe whole-heartedly that He will intervene in our lives directly. Oh, we say we do, but it is obvious in our lack of obedience that we do not fear any real repercussions from God. We do NOT respect or revere God.  We do not fear Him.

Begin again by coming to truly fear God. Renew your faith by refocusing your priorities in life. Claim your salvation by a belief that is so strong you know that nothing else in your life matters in comparison. That is saving faith. Know that no matter what amount of faith and obedience you have today, you can always and should always seek more.  That is the faith that will give us HOPE. 

“God is never secondary in my life, He is always Primary”- Pastor John Collins.

PASTOR JOHN COLLINS: GOD'S WILL, NOT MAN'S

"Men have interjected their will upon the people and Christianity has suffered. Religion will get you nowhere if you are complying with the traditions of men while ignoring the commandments of God.”-Pastor John Collins.

Today's world is not so much different that the time of Jesus Christ and the disciples. The same sin, the same self-righteous religious leaders imposing men's rules.  Jesus Christ came to teach and preach God's word so that mankind could get it right.  We still have a chance to get it right. Difficult issues of today’s society are often avoided from the church pulpit.  Pastors and ministers do not want to hurt feelings and tread on toes in fear of losing congregation membership.  Pastor John Collins of Love That Cross Ministries does not hold back on any “hot topic” that is an offense to God.  In general, most church sermons and pastors’ preaching have become a cool zone.  Pastor John Collins will tell you he is not politically correct, Jesus Christ was not politically correct and not preaching and teaching the TRUTH from the pulpit is NOT pleasing God. Cushioning the truth behind what society deems acceptable is leading a congregation to complacency and acceptance of sin. 

Abortion, drugs, addictions, hate and racism are all part of society today.  Lies, gossip, slander, pride and ego are all part of everyday life.  These are the hard topics that pastors MUST talk about to their congregations in order to teach TRUTH.  Pastor John Collins does exactly that.

God sent Jesus to teach and preach God’s Law.  Jesus went about the countryside, living and talking among the sinners, not the ones who were self-righteous in what was taught and conceived as law by man.  Men took God’s Law from the time it was written on the tablets by Moses and twisted it to their uses and purposes.  These were the priests and holy men of the time, people who were looked to as examples of faith and religious conviction to the Jews.  Jesus came and taught what was right: kindness, love, looking after those who had need, the poor-everything wrapped up into the commandment of love your neighbor as yourself.  In other words, treat others the way you want to be treated if you were in their place. Jesus taught that what was of this world is sin.  Two thousand plus years later, Pastor John Collins began his ministry of revival in Wyoming with Love That Cross.  The very same lessons from Jesus are the lessons that Pastor John preaches in his revivals. Abortion is murder. Drugs and alcohol and addictions are gluttony, among other issues associated with them.  Hate and racism has no place in God’s creation-there is only ONE race-the HUMAN RACE.  Pastor John Collins teaches that these sins are no different than lying, cheating, or stealing. A sin is a sin, one is no worse than another in the eyes of God.  Pastor John teaches that as Christians, we do need to be tolerant, but we also need to be aware of our faith and where our hearts are in relation to the sin that is being witnessed. It is not up to us to bombard others with our faith and beliefs, but we also have to be cautious to not conform to their beliefs.  Pastor John says that we must know as Christians what our beliefs are so that we do not compromise what is in our minds and in our hearts.

Pastors, ministers, reverends, preachers are held to a higher accountability according to the Bible.  Pastor John takes that accountability seriously; God comes first in his life. Jesus taught to be aware of “false prophets”, those that look like a Christian pastor, but inside are truly a predator, a wolf in sheep’s’ clothing. Jesus taught that there was only one way to get to Heaven and that was through Him.  Pastor John preaches that pastors on the pulpit who do not know how to get to Heaven and preach otherwise, or who are there for profitable gain and not to save souls should not be on a pulpit.  The Bible very clearly shows that “there is only one way to get to the Father, God Almighty, the Creator of the Universe. That is through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Lord and Savior who died on the Cross for us and became the pure sacrifice on our behalf so that He could pay the price for our sin and conquer death and Satan once and for all; that by our belief in Him and our seeking forgiveness through Him, we are permitted access to the Father and the kingdom of heaven.” These words of Pastor John’s call it like it is.

Pastor John challenges pastors to preach without crib notes for a change. Instead of meticulously writing out a lengthy sermon or a tick list, set to fill a specific allotted time during a church service, preach from the heart.  Let go of the restriction of the mind and preach FILLED from the HEART by GOD’s WORD.  God wants us to know Him, to FEEL the Spirit within.  Pastors who are truly serving God CAN preach, just like the apostles of Jesus’ time, speaking from the HEART, where the Spirit lives.  It can be done without preparation and the fanfare of technology.  One simply must TRUST God and Jesus to put the words in their heart and then speak it on their behalf.  Pastor John challenges those same pastors to search their hearts and minds and take a stand, once and for all, on the difficult issues.  What are the difficult issues?  Sin.  The pulpit has become a soapbox to profess the love of God and Jesus, and sugar coats the reality of the Resurrection.  Sin is what keeps us from that beautiful awful sacrifice of Jesus’ life for us to be able to have eternal life with God, not eternal life in Hell with Satan. Sin has become a topic of distaste.  If pastors don’t preach from the heart, don’t talk about the difficult issues of gossip, being a busybody, lies, resentment, adultery of the heart, abortion, gluttony, greed, addictions and how it all keeps us from sharing in the grace of God through His Son Jesus, then there is no Hope.  Pastor John knows that there is Hope, and in order to bring revival, there has to be change and the difficult issues have to be faced head on.  That time is NOW.

Pastor John’s revivals confront us to take our faith seriously, to not take the Bible lightly, and to not take our belief in Jesus for granted.  The society we live in is chaotic and confusing.  So many people do not know God, do not know Jesus, and do not know the Bible.  Even those who say they know the Bible and who “know” Jesus are not as educated in the Bible as they think they are.  The lack of knowledge allows Satan to mislead many people who say they are Christians away from God and away from Jesus. Pastor John teaches that God wants us back, He wants us back Home with Him.  The only way to do this is to get back into the Bible by reading it and by coming to know Jesus and what He teaches that is written in that Bible as a blueprint for how to live. Pastor John teaches that obedience to God and to Jesus is the only way we are going to get back Home to God.  We have to stand firm in the truth, facing the hard issues with the armor of faith in God, trusting that we are held FIRMLY in His hands.

“God is never secondary in my life, He is always Primary”- Pastor John Collins.