Reply by Rick C. Hodgin February 18, 20172017-02-18
Listen to this song.  It has the lyrics written out.

    Chris Tomlin - Lord I Need You
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rR_Rdb1CTE

There is comfort in coming to Jesus Christ and being forgiven.  A real
inner peace greater than the best inner peace you had as a child in the
comfort of your parent's arms.  When they held you close and told you
everything was going to be alright, and you felt so warm and safe and
secure ... what Jesus brings us is even more than that.  The pictures
in the video show that comfort in the eyes, in their countenance, and
in their embracing Jesus in those pictures as well.

Jesus fills every hole.  Seals every crack.  He sets you back on the
true path He intended for your life, and leads you to prosperity that
will endure in His Kingdom, as by service to Him in pursuit of His
righteousness, both for yourself, and more importantly, to others.

Thank you,
Rick C. Hodgin
Reply by Rick C. Hodgin February 18, 20172017-02-18
This message is for those who have a drawing from within to do so.  I want
you to know that drawing is from God.  He is reaching out to you to save
your eternal soul from the judgment for sin.

If you hear His call on the inside, then go to church on Sunday.  Seek to
learn more about this drawing, why it exists, and what it means to you.

You know that have sinned.  You know that you need to be forgiven.  You
will find Jesus, His big carpenter's hands, ready to receive you into His
arms, to forgive you for what you've done, and to welcome you into His
eternal Kingdom.

Do not silence His voice.  Embrace it.  He reaches out to you because He
loves you and wants you to be with Him where He is in Heaven.

-----
I, Rick C. Hodgin, from Indiana, am a sinner.  I have been saved by grace.
I do not have my own righteousness.  In my life I continually struggle.  I
fall down.  I make mistakes.  I come up short.  It was not until I met the
Lord at almost 35 years old that I came to know what it means to be on a
proper course.  On the right track.

Until that time I thought I had it all figured out.  What I learned from
Him was that there's more to our existence than that which we know in this
world.  There is a spiritual component, and that spiritual component is
the true life.  It is eternal life.  It is the life we do not know until
we come to Jesus and ask forgiveness for our sins.

From that day forward, we are alive spiritually, born again, and forever
changed, sealed from within by the presence of His Holy Spirit, a down
payment for the day of redemption after we leave this world.

Jesus is everything we need.  He teaches us about truth, about righteous-
ness, about holiness, about the enemy, and about His Kingdom.

-----
If you hear His call, do not harden your heart.  Answer Him.  He is
reaching out to save you from judgment from sin.  He wants you to be with
Him where He is:

    http://biblehub.com/kjv/john/14.htm
    1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also
      in me.
    2 In my Father's house [Heaven] are many mansions: if it were not
      so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
    3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and
      receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
    4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

    6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no
      man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Only Jesus can set you free from sin because of what He did at the
cross.  He made a real exchange:  His perfect righteousness for your
black-stained sin.  He set you free from judgment, and received that
judgment onto Himself.  He took your punishment in your place so that
you could be redeemed ... His gift to us as our Creator desiring to
save His creation.

All who come to Him are received.  Nobody is turned away no matter what
you've done, for how long, how bad it was, nothing.  He will forgive it
all and set you free.

Sin is our weakness, and the enemy of this world (Satan and all his
demon imps) use that weakness against us to keep us in more sin.  Jesus
is the cure because He takes our sin away.  Once we are sin free we are
again in right standing with God, such that we are alive again spiritually.
He then comes to live with us (spiritually) so that His Holy Spirit is
there to continually guide us into all truth, all righteousness.  We
still have free will, we are still in these sin-loving bodies, and we
still make bad choices and mistakes sometimes, but the ongoing direction
and movement of our lives will be toward Him from hat day forward, rather
than toward the world.

-----
If you already know this to be true, reach out to those around you and
teach them the same.  And if you are only beginning to see it, then go
to church this weekend and listen to the message.  Pay less attention
to the goings on of the people in the congregation, and more attention
to what God has to say to you through the pastor's message, and
specifically through the Bible passages.

Say a little prayer before you go asking God to guide you from within.
If you are sincere He will know this, and He will guide you.

Love you.

Thank you,
Rick C. Hodgin