Rick Costa's Blog

This might sound wacky but if you catch what I’m saying it will blow your mind. Imagine all your sin is a credit card debt. God is the credit card company and has a record of all your sin as credit card debt. He says only those who are debt free may enter into Heaven. If you still owe money on your credit card then sorry but you can’t come in. Jesus said you know what I may not be able to break that law but I still can fix this. So Jesus went into your credit card account and paid all your debt for you. And this He did with His Own Blood which is acceptable currency in Heaven. So now all those who have connected with Jesus and are His have had all their credit card debt taken care of. Heaven is now accessible to you! You are debt free! Not everyone of course but those who have turned their lives over to Him.

Jesus should be Lord of your life, not just your “get-out-of-jail-free” card.

When someone comes at you in anger the first thing we want to do is retaliate right back in anger to defend yourself. DON’T. Anger multiplies itself quickly. Remain calm and deal with the source of the issue rationally and clearly.
PROVERBS 15:1 – “A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.”

“Religious” people will judge you or make fun of you if you hang with people who aren’t like them. It happens to me and it sure happened to Jesus so I’m in good company! Jesus said we should be the salt of the earth. Why should I only spend my time with other “salt-people” when the unsalted need it more? Too much salt doesn’t taste so good! Spread it around where it’s needed! He also said we are to be a light. What’s better…to have 2 light bulbs in one room and leave the other dark or to have them in separate rooms so you can see equally in both of the rooms? This “sticking with my own” mentality isn’t helping anyone and is frankly selfish. You have something the world needs. Did you forget what a mess you used to be and how happy you were when you found the Truth? If the person God used to bring you to Him had this attitude of “I only hang with church people” then you would still be in your mess!!!

If your ministry is simply pointing out the faults of other ministries you are not in ministry. You are a bully trying to validate yourself by putting others down. A true follower of Christ is too busy loving people into the Kingdom rather than being obsessed with fault finding. The devil will fool you into thinking you are spreading the “truth” and “they must know the deception” but Jesus is the truth so just bring Him to people. The Holy Spirit can correct what needs to be corrected but it takes time. You didn’t become “super-Christian” overnight so don’t get upset when others don’t meet up to your standards. Our only standard should be Jesus anyway and we all fall miserably short of that!
– Work out YOUR OWN salvation (Philippians 2:12)
– Carry YOUR OWN cross (Luke 14:27)
– Don’t try to take the speck out of your brother’s eye (Matthew 7:3)

You may be saying, “Ok Rick you’ve finally lost it.  You think you’re a cheetah now?  You need help!”

Well maybe I do need help but no I don’t think I’m an animal.  There’s actually a point to this believe me and be patient as I break it down.  Ultimately this post is going to have nothing to do with me nor with cheetahs…REALLY!

Ok, so the backstory…
So when my son was little we were outside walking along the road near our house.  And like kids do he started to run ahead of us a little bit.  We of course kept an eye on him and he wasn’t that far at all.  All of a sudden a car came around the corner and the Dad in me went into panic mode and I ran as fast as I could to go grab my son before anything could happen.  So once I had him in my arms his mother looked at me cracking up.  Naturally I asked why she was laughing and she said, “I had no idea you could run that fast!  You were like a cheetah!”

I never forgot that because it was really funny to me.  Ok now you’re saying, “Cute story Rick but is your point coming soon because I have things to do!”  Yes and thanks for bearing with me.

So my son’s Mom said that I seemed to run as fast as a cheetah could.  That’s an exaggeration of course but the point was for that moment in her mind I was seemingly no longer human but as fast as one of the fastest animals on earth.  Now did my body somehow morph into a 4 legged animal with spots?  No of course not!  The point was I was running really fast…

…LIKE A CHEETAH
…AS FAST AS A CHEETAH
…IN THE SAME MANNER AS A CHEETAH
…IN A WAY A CHEETAH WOULD

So my action reminded her of the way another creature does a similar action.

“Ok Rick I get it!  What are you trying to say!”  I’m getting there, trust me!

Am I a cheetah?  NO!  Do I walk on all fours?  NO!
I simply did something in a similar way that something else does.  Ok now that we have that established…

We can finally get to the point!

In Luke 3:22 we see that Holy Spirit came down upon Jesus LIKE a dove.   Does it say that Holy Spirit is an actual dove?  NO!  Remember in Genesis when God said let US make man in OUR image?  If Holy Spirit is a dove then why don’t we have beautiful white wings that can fly?  People, He isn’t a white birdie!  He is the third Person of the Godhead!  Holy Spirit came down on Jesus…

…LIKE A DOVE
…AS GENTLE AS A DOVE
…IN THE SAME MANNER AS A DOVE
…IN A WAY A DOVE WOULD

Please don’t insult Him by thinking He is a bird flying around your church building on Sunday!  He is not a bird!  He’s a Person just like Jesus and the Father are!

Oh wait I’m not done!  I got another one!  The devil gets this kind of treatment too and he loves it!

In 1 Peter 5:8 we read that the devil walks around AS or LIKE a roaring lion.  It never says he IS a roaring lion.  The only lion I wanna know about the Lion of the tribe of Judah and in case you don’t know who that is it’s Jesus Himself!  Isn’t it just like the devil though to try to steal a symbol used to represent our Lord for himself?

He likes to make himself look better and greater than he is but we see in Isaiah 14:16 that one day we will look at him and say, “Is THIS the one that made the nations tremble?” as if to say, “You gotta be kidding me!  This little creature did all that?  Him?”

Folks the devil is not a lion!  He wishes he was that majestic king of the jungle!  No, no in that verse Peter is simply saying that the devil’s strategy is the same as a lion’s.  What’s that you ask?  They hide and lay in wait for easy prey.  If there’s a herd of animals passing by he will study the group and see which one looks the easiest to take out and then they pounce!  That’s how the devil works.  He grabs the weak ones first.  But is the devil a lion?  NO NO NO a million times NO!  The enemy is not a lion at all but rather he is…

…LIKE A LION
…AS CUNNING AS A LION
…WORKS IN THE SAME MANNER AS A LION
…MOVES IN A WAY A LION WOULD

Perception is a big deal.  Do not give the devil more credit than he deserves!  And don’t insult Holy Spirit either by calling Him a passive little bird.  He is God almighty just as much as Jesus and Daddy God is!

When we read the Bible we must pay attention to what it actually says and not put our own spin on it.  God says what He means and means what He says!  Oh that we would all be the same way!

So remember!

Rick is not a cheetah!

Holy Spirit is not a dove

And the devil is certainly NOT a lion!

I agree with this.  Show me one perfect person (besides Jesus) who never made mistakes.  How does one sinner get to judge another sinner?  That’s like a pig yelling at another pig, “Hey you!  You are a sloppy pig!”  Umm, ok and you’re not?  What’s the point of that conversation?  There is none.  Most times I find when someone wants to fault find that they are actually diverting attention from themselves who probably are dealing with issues even worse than the person they are accusing.  It’s all ridiculous and immature.  Plus if you’ve given your life to Christ it’s all under the Blood of Jesus anyway so why are you REMEMBERING what God has chosen to FORGET?  Sounds demonic to me.  Remember the one of the names of satan is “The Accuser Of The Brethren.”  Is that really how you want to be known?

Bosses don’t promote those who do the bare minimum.  Neither does God.