Pastor John Collins, Evangelist: Reviving Faith in Montana, One Church at a Time

In a revival series that was launched in fall, 2016, Pastor John Collins continues to spread the word of God, redeeming the Gospel, across the United States.  This blog post reviews excerpts from the revival tour as it traveled across Montana. 

Pastor John Collins is a leading evangelist in the United States today.   

His vibrant, no nonsense style of preaching brings the Word of God, the teachings of Jesus to life.  He reaches the hearts of those who hear him. 

Pastor John Collins strives to bring God back to the United States.   

He often preaches that we as a country turned our backs on God, one person at a time, one church at a time.  It’s time to change that and bring God back into our lives, to bring hope to ourselves and to our country, one person at a time, one church at a time.  Through our own choices to serve our own will, not God’s, we as a whole have turned away from God.  The result is that our country is in the turmoil it is in now.  As the Holy Bible says, if we turn back to God with all our hearts and cry out to Him, He will hear our plea and heal our country.  More than ever, we need God.  Pastor John Collins is answering his call by God to bring the gospel to as many people as he can reach with the words that he preaches.

Pastor John Collins says:

“It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.”  John 6:45 (NKJV).

The teachings of Jesus were insightful and revealed the heart of the law.  He came with miracles and truth and compassion and mercy.  He came with clarity and sadness for the people.  It is sad to see people refuse to get right with God, to see people rebel in their hearts and choose their own will over God’s will.

It is sad to watch people choose to be sinners and choose to harm others to lift themselves up.  Believe me, there is still plenty today for Jesus to weep over.

Our world is filled with people choosing to self-govern and claim rational thought for themselves and believing that there is no God, that their own moral code will sustain them and see them through this life and that there is no cause to concern themselves with an eternal life.  There are people on the pulpits sharing the good news without teaching the requirements of being a follower of Christ.  There are stubborn people who choose to believe that there is not a right or a wrong way to worship God and that we get to self-determine our God and how we navigate our faith in our life and have concluded that by doing so we will enjoy the outcome that we have decided upon.  It doesn’t work that way!  God came and gave instructions on how to worship Him.  Jesus came and gave insight into the law and gave instructions on how to worship Him.  Nothing has changed.

Grace is given and faith is free but obedience is required to claim them.  You cannot claim to be a person of faith and have fellowship with God when you are living a life of selfishness and unfaithfulness.  If you are a greedy, lying, cheating, vain, malicious, gossiper and drunk then you are not obeying God.  If you are full of bitterness and resentment and refuse to forgive those who you believe have done you wrong then you are not in obedience with God.  If you are consumed with materialism and are obsessed with your looks and your appearance then you are not in obedience with God.  If you are abusing drugs and your body and are not a believer then you are not in obedience with God.  If you are not in obedience with God then you will not see the kingdom of heaven when you die.  It really is that simple.

You must obey God to claim the gifts of God.  Salvation is claimed by those who believe because those who believe will submit to the will of God and will obey God.  I am not talking about casual belief but the belief that produces results in a life, belief that produces change and purity in a life and belief that transforms a life of darkness into one of light.  There is always an opportunity to truly claim Jesus as your savior, not in word only but in truth.  You know whether your life is truly a life that would have God’s stamp of approval and there is just no reason to live in denial.  There is not any time to waste on self-indulgence and sin.  It is time to examine your existence and if you are not right with God then it is time to get right with Him.  Believe in the Son and claim salvation. 

“I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”  John 15:5-6 (NKJV).

PASTOR JOHN

Do we want eternal life?  Then we need to listen and hear what Pastor John Collins preaches about obedience to God.  The road to destruction is wide, but the road to heaven and salvation is narrow as it says in the book of Matthew.  The United States has been traveling the wide road to destruction for a long time, turning our backs upon God and all the blessings that He gave us when this country was founded.  We need to claim salvation for ourselves, to hear the word of God, to read the works of Jesus and the messages in the Holy Bible in order to gain back the blessings that were ours as a country, and ours as individuals.  What does God want from you?  Simple-talk to Him in prayer and start reading a good translation of the Holy Bible that does not twist the Gospel to suit the purposes of the writer or confuse the reader with what is called transliteration-man’s explanation, not God’s inspired words.   God wants us back.

Pastor John Collins, Wyoming Evangelist: Facing pride and ego

Pastor John Collins, Love That Cross, Wyoming: Pride gets us no where with God

The Giant Goliath held King Saul and his army in a siege.  In his arrogance, he taunted the army threatening anyone who would stand against him. Young David, years from becoming the next king of Israel, was there and stepped up to face Goliath.  Goliath's pride and arrogance would not allow him to see the threat that David really did present.  David's faith and humility in facing that giant pleased God, and God allowed David to defeat Goliath by hitting him with a stone thrown from a sling and then David cut off Goliath's head.  Pride gets us no where in the face of God.

Pride and humility.  We are a proud people here in the United States.  We have so much that we have accomplished, the rest of the world sometimes looks at us in disgust because we give the appearance of not being satisfied.  It’s never enough and we draw attention to ourselves where ever we go.  Celebrities are recognized and lifted up as examples for us to live by.  Through all of the media, it’s “look what I can do”.  God resists the proud. Pride will not get any soul into heaven.

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18

Our faith as Christians today doesn’t measure up to the faith of Abraham, of Noah, of Moses, of David.  These men were humble to begin with and knew the value and spirit of humility before God.  Our pride gets in the way.  How would God choose from among us today?  We often don’t have the strength of faith to worship Him, let alone look beyond what our human hands and minds create and put before God.  Our offerings of ourselves lack humility.  We need to let go of pride and ego, let go of the pride that we have accomplished something and let God and Jesus Christ work in our lives. 

Evangelist Pastor John Collins began a revival of awakening in Wyoming. 

That awakening stirs the spirit of those who hear him.  From a pulpit or behind the microphone of a recording studio, his words are Biblically correct. Being Biblically correct in a very politically correct world is difficult for most of the strongest of Christians today.   

Pastor John Collins says it well and puts pride and humility into this perspective:

“Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him, and said to them, ‘Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all will be great.’” Luke 9:46-48

Who is worthy to be lifted up? How does God choose those that He would separate and use for His purposes? He chose Abraham and Abraham was considered a friend of God’s. He chose David and David was a man after God’s own heart. He sent His Son who died for us all.  Even those who walked with Jesus thought of themselves and the impact that they would have on this world. This is so wonderful to know that the human instinct to desire to rise above and be great was felt in those men who walked with Christ. This allows us to recognize this in ourselves and work to overcome that ego. They were corrected and they learned what true humility is. They witnessed their Lord humble Himself to the Cross. Yet there are so many that want to be great in the name of the Lord. They call attention to themselves and think highly of themselves. But, God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Believe me when I tell you that God knows what He is doing and He knows our hearts.

Pastor John Collins of Love That Cross Wyoming Revival continues on: God has no use for pride.

God does not want servants that think highly of themselves and their eligibility. God wants people to serve Him that are humble of heart. When we choose to walk with Jesus it should be with a pure heart and a true devotion to obedience to the Lord. We should never seek our own acclaim. We should not care what others think of us. We should be concerned only with whether we are an asset to the kingdom of God or a burden. If we have selfish ambition in our heart and a desire to stand out and be important, we are seeking status in this life and we are then unworthy to be a true servant of the Lord.

We must be careful when we desire to leave a name for ourselves, to want to be recognized for our importance or to be valued among men. A truly worthy person that will serve God well is a person that has no ambition in his heart. This person thinks of salvation when he looks upon the souls of this world. This person has sadness in his heart because of the condition of the human race. This person worries of the state of others’ faith in their lives. This person considers opportunities to share the gospel and help others come to Jesus. This person wants to see others go to heaven and lives his life as an example. This person will sacrifice and find ways to be a light in a world of dark. This person will please God.

“Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” James 2:5

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:3-6

Learning to be humble takes a commitment to become obedient to God.  In order to become obedient to God, we need to learn to draw near to Him in prayer and through the words in the Holy Bible.  God wants each of us to have the opportunity to come to know Him, so that we all can go home to Him one day.  That is the reason He sent His Son Jesus Christ, for our salvation through His sacrifice on the Cross.  Jesus humbly accepted the punishment of our sins, died publicly in humility and obedience.  God won’t ask us to do anything that He won’t equip us to handle.  We can become obedient and humble ourselves before God, just as His Son did.  God wants us to come to know Him and His love, to help us with our lives and be part of our lives here in this world.  Pride and ego turns us from God.  To be meek, to be poor in spirit means to be humble; we need to learn the humility of Christ. Bring back God in our lives, come humbly to the foot of the Cross.

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

EVANGELIST PASTOR JOHN COLLINS: YOU CAN'T PICK AND CHOOSE FAITH

“Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which makes a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.’” Mark 12: 41-44.

What is really pleasing to God?  Is it the rituals that a church congregation practices in worshiping each Sunday or Sabbath?  Is it the music that is sung by a choir or played by a worship band before, during, and after the service?  Is it the offering that is taken?  Is it the sermon that has been written for a specific topic preached by a seminary prepared pastor?

No.  It isn’t one of these rituals.  Evangelist Pastor John Collins began a revival in Wyoming to spread the truth of the Word of God, bring back God, and to fix the brokenness of Christianity.  Christianity is indeed broken.  Christians are treating faith as a buffet, caring for others as a pick and choose menu, treating the Holy Bible as if it is a book of suggested topics for life and choosing which passages to follow instead of taking it all in.  Pastor John Collins calls it out like it is:  the Bible was written by people who were inspired to write it by God Himself.  It isn’t fabricated, it isn’t randomly written.  The Bible ties everything together, Old to New Testaments.  What Jesus Christ taught, He meant. He meant it when He said “Love your neighbor as yourself, do to others as you would have done to you.” It wasn’t new and those were God’s words from the Old Testament. Jesus spoke them and taught by action.  That does not mean that you ignore the guy struggling to find a safe place to sleep because he lost his home and can’t get work but turn around and help out the other guy who shows up asking for money.  It does not mean that you care for the person sitting next to you in the pew but not the woman who is drinking to kill shakes at 9:00 am. It doesn’t mean sing in the choir on Sunday, then Wednesday go into the porn store. It means that Christians act like Christians EVERY day, ALL the time, not just when it suits to do so. Christians are not supposed to act like hypocrites, doing one thing and saying another.  Pastor John Collins puts it all quite plainly:

"You cannot only be a Christian when things are going good in your life and you cannot only be a Christian towards those whom you like and approve of. The whole point of being a Christian is to be Christ-like and believe me, Jesus was kind to those whom He knew to be sinners and those whom He would not approve of, which is the reason that He was sent to earth, to save those who were lost. Jesus gave all that He had down to His last breath, for us.

Many people take their own lives and situations too seriously and become defensive and ignore those who are around them. Many people justify their self-absorption by claiming tragedy, turmoil, victimhood and obligations. You cannot justify acting nasty or dismissive to others because you are not in a comfortable situation or in a place of stability. God tests you on how you behave under pressure, under stress and in the tough situations. God tests you all of the time and if you really are interested in how you are doing, just go and read the Sermon on the Mount and see how you measure up.

The words of Christ when He spoke are not to be dismissed, they are to be obeyed and that is how you will be tested. God doesn’t want you to wait until you are happy and financially stable to help another. It is your suffering that makes you able to have compassion and it is your willingness to put another before yourself that makes you rich.

Be willing to be a follower of Christ when no one is looking and be willing to open yourself up to another when they are in need. Not everyone needs money as charity. There are so many lonely people in this world that need love and faith. Be willing to offer both freely because God knows that Jesus always will. “Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have the glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.” Matthew 6:2”

It’s time for Christians, or those who call themselves Christians to take a good long look at themselves and how they portray themselves to others.  People ARE watching.  People who have not been inside a church for years do that because they don’t feel comfortable with the double message that is so often delivered by those inside the church to those outside the church.  What little does it take to offer yourself in truth, in kindness, and not be judgmental?  Don’t offer your hand in kindness and helpfulness then turn it over to criticize and withdraw from someone. Jesus Christ came to save us all, He didn’t pick and choose to serve us from a buffet of lesser sins.  A sin is a sin in the eyes of God, none greater, none lesser. It’s time for Christians to stand up and take a fresh look at how they are measuring up in God’s eyes because that is Who really matters, not the eyes of fellow church goers.  Are we living a biblically correct life as a Christian?  Are we measuring ourselves against the book that was given to us for that purpose?  We are all sinners, every one of us, pastors and congregations alike.  We all need to get it right to get to heaven, to get back to God and to bring back God to others.  We have to change how we are toward others in order to save ourselves.  It’s time to come back to the Cross.

LOVE THAT CROSS, BELIEVE THAT! Pastor John Collins, Evangelist