To Trust = To Depend on one’s integrity. It is the same as To Have Faith in, To Believe in, and To Rely upon. It is the opposite of Doubt or to Reject.
Integrity = To be consistent in actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations and outcome. It is the opposite of Hypocrisy.
The Lord is Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus is Trustworthy and Consistent in Goodness and always follows through on His promises.
Jesus said,
•"Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest.” Matt 11:28
•"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16
•"For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." John 6:40
•"He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:18
•"I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,” John 11:25
•"Look, I'm standing at the door and knocking. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, I'll come in and we'll eat together. Revelation 3:20
•"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. John 14:23
•"Let the person who has ears listen!" Mark 4:23
•"Blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear. Matthew 13:16
•"You believe because you've seen me. Blessed are those who haven't seen me but believe." John 20:29
•"Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 10:32
•"Turn to God and change the way you think and act, because the kingdom of heaven is near!"Matthew 4:17
•"Healthy people don't need a doctor; those who are sick do. I've come to call sinners, not people who think they have God's approval." Mark 2:27
•"If God were your Father, you would love me. After all, I'm here, and I came from God. I didn't come on my own. Instead, God sent me. John 8:42
•"Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. John 17:5
•"Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. John 17:24
•"No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. John 15:15
The Bible says some things about why you need Jesus and why it is such a big deal that Jesus is inviting you to follow him and to believe in him as God, Savior, & Friend,
•"In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1
•"The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory. It was the glory that the Father shares with his only Son, a glory full of kindness and truth. John 1:14
•"This is true because Christ suffered for our sins once. He was an innocent person, but he suffered for guilty people so that he could bring you to God. His body was put to death, but he was brought to life through his spirit. 1 Peter 3:18
•"But now Christ has brought you back to God by dying in his physical body. He did this so that you could come into God's presence without sin, fault, or blame. Colossians 1:22
•"So those who are believers in Christ Jesus can no longer be condemned. Romans 8:1
•"But if God's Spirit lives in you, you are under the control of your spiritual nature, not your corrupt nature. Whoever doesn't have the Spirit of Christ doesn't belong to him. Romans 8:9
•"Don't you know that wicked people won't inherit the kingdom of God? Stop deceiving yourselves! People who continue to commit sexual sins, who worship false gods, those who commit adultery, homosexuals, or thieves, those who are greedy or drunk, who use abusive language, or who rob people will not inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10
•"Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: illicit sex, perversion, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21
•"Because all people have sinned, they have fallen short of God's glory. Romans 3:23•"The payment for sin is death, but the gift that God freely gives is everlasting life found in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
•"However, everyone who believes in Jesus receives God's approval. Acts 13:39The Bible also says what you need to do to start a relationship with Jesus Christ :
•"God is faithful and reliable. If we confess our sins, he forgives them and cleanses us from everything we've done wrong. 1 John 1:9
•I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah. Psalm 32:5
•If you say with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and have faith in your heart that God has made him come back from the dead, you will have salvation: Romans 10:9
•Do those things that prove you have turned to God and have changed the way you think and act. Matthew 3:8
•You see that a person receives God's approval because of what he does, not only because of what he believes. James 2:24
If you Trust in the Lord you can be secure in all things even when surrounded by death, persecution, disease! There is security for the One who puts their trust in Jesus Christ.
Psalm 91
1 Whoever lives under the shelter of the Most High will remain in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say to the LORD, "You are my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust." 3 He is the one who will rescue you from hunters' traps and from deadly plagues. 4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. His truth is your shield and armor. 5 You do not need to fear terrors of the night, arrows that fly during the day, 6 plagues that roam the dark, epidemics that strike at noon. 7 They will not come near you, even though a thousand may fall dead beside you or ten thousand at your right side. 8 You only have to look with your eyes to see the punishment of wicked people. 9 You, O LORD, are my refuge! You have made the Most High your home. 10 No harm will come to you. No sickness will come near your house. 11 He will put his angels in charge of you to protect you in all your ways. 12 They will carry you in their hands so that you never hit your foot against a rock. 13 You will step on lions and cobras. You will trample young lions and snakes. 14 Because you love me, I will rescue you. I will protect you because you know my name. 15 When you call to me, I will answer you. I will be with you when you are in trouble. I will save you and honor you. 16 I will satisfy you with a long life. I will show you how I will save you.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
PSALM 37:6
HE WILL MAKE YOUR INNOCENCE RADIATE LIKE THE DAWN, AND THE JUSTICE OF YOUR CAUSE WILL SHINE LIKE THE NOON DAY SUN.
I've been reading the Bible and it brings me close to my Savior. It shows me His awesome love. My Abba Father, how amazing His name is, sees beyond my sinful nature, because He has found me in Jesus Christ who is His one and only son. Nothing compares to the Goodness of God after you experience Him. When Elohim reveals Himself it is beyond words to describe, but when He does reveal His heart one realizes that there is no secure foundation before Him other then the Person of Jesus Christ. Only Jesus has what it takes to satisfy God's standard of Goodness and to make everything in our lives good, right and everlasting.
How is it that Jesus Christ is the only one who can make someone really good and eternal? So good and eternal that not even fire will be able to consume them at the judgement, nor the Accuser be able to persuade God's Justice to rightfully condemn their sin? Well, there is a blessing that comes with the answer to this question, but you will only be able to experience it when you finally put your faith into the One who defines Goodness. Believe me your effort no matter how much is required to finally receive this blessing will be worth it!
Who defines Goodness?
There is only ONE who is Good: He is
THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB!
HE IS THE LIVING GOD THREE SEPERATE PERSONS IN ONE!
HE WAS, IS, & IS TO COME!
HE BEGINS & ENDS ALL THINGS!
HE IS THE CREATOR OF THE WORLD AND EVERYTHING IN IT!
HE HEARS THE CRY OF THOSE WHO HAVE GODLY SORROW AND SEEK REPENTANCE!
HE BELIEVES THAT HIS MERCY IS BETTER THEN HIS JUSTICE!
HE JUDGES ALL THINGS BY HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!
Friends, if we want to know what is really good we desperatly need to fix our eyes and hearts on Jesus Christ who is the exact representation of God the Father in a bodily form. We must talk about Jesus and get to know Jesus better through the disciplined study of scripture, and we must become more aware of and yield to the ministry of the Holy Spirit whose major purpose is to point out Jesus Christ in all things and magnify Him in this world so that God the Father will be glorified.
So when I stand before God ALONE I know I am the furthest away from innocence and being considered radiant. Basically, I'm not good in my nature. Rather, I stand there guilty because I do and think what I should never do and think, and as a result I am the Chief of Sinners. Ultimately, what this means is that I have sinned against God alone and I am guilty before Him alone.
If you are thinking, "Wow Hank! What did you do that was so bad to make you the Chief of Sinners?," you are headed down the wrong thought process. It doesn't matter what I have done to sin against God because to Him my sins and your sins are all the same in his eyes. You may be thinking, "There is no way that stealing candy carrys the same verdict as murdering your fellow man!" If you are thinking this way you are still misunderstanding the heart of God. You are not realizing that it is God who sets the standard of what is good or not good. Not people.
You see, God can not lie because that is His nature and the Bible is His heart expressed to us on paper. The Bible says that all have fallen short of God's GOODNESS, and that among men there is not one who is good. Not even one! So if you have ever told a lie, big or small, it's because you are a liar by nature which means you are not good in God's eyes. This does not mean God doesn't love you. Another example is within sexuality, if you have even lusted after another person or thing in your thoughts (doesn't have to be just in your behaviors) this means that you are an adulterer by nature, and God does not see you as good. To clear the confusion, the problem is not heterosexuality, homosexuality, bestiality, polygamy, incest etc. All people who are defined by these labels have the same problem: LUST. Whether a human being lusts in their nature after the opposite sex, the same sex, or other things the bottomline is that they are breaking God's standard of being good and instead they are commiting adultery which ultimately is idolatry. And what about anger? If you hate someone you are murdering them in your heart, and God does not see you as good. Envy? pride? selfishness? greed? gossip?....think about all the thoughts and behaviors that are born out of these things that are naturally in us. I say this with brokenness and gentleness: You are not good deep down inside and that's a hard truth to swallow, but it is indeed true.
God knows that you have nothing in yourself that is good enough to satisfy His standard of PERFECTION. He knows that it is only by His nature that your guilt and shame can ever be erased so that your nature can become innocent in order to enter eternal life. The hard truth is that the world is teeming with billions of people who are not good by nature. Even though so many sincere influential and powerful people are saying the opposite they are sincerely wrong according to the bible. Honestly, people who say that human beings are naturally good have not realized the weight of their sin before the living God nor do they realize what God's perspective of sin is and how he has chosen to deal with it. God sees all things and nothing is hidden from His eyes even the things done in secret. So how is God dealing with this sin nature problem that we have?
God has the highest expectations, and He has a hard standard that can not be avoided, ignored or changed. His standard must be met by us. His standard is:
GOODNESS/HOLINESS/RIGHTEOUSNESS or PERFECTION
You see in God's eyes it is not that we have sinned that is the real problem. The real problem is that WE ARE SINNERS BY NATURE. In a sense, sinning is what we do for a living. Who we are at the heart of hearts is the problem, and it is only His nature that can save us. The fact that we are sinful by nature is obvious by the typical response we have to the one issue that matters most: We turn our backs against God's ways because we don't want God deep down inside. We would rather be god of our own personal life, and yield to nothing other then our own desires, opinions or the "good" ideas of others rather then surrender our life to Him, the very Creator all things, so He can take Lordship of our lives. The perfect example of this is that we do everything in our own rationale to reject that Jesus Christ is the only way into heaven even when God said about Jesus, "This is my Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him" in John 3. People will kick and flail and throw temper tantrums and get very angry when faced with this absolute truth. Jesus is God in the flesh and consequently the only one whose NATURE is prestinely GOOD, HOLY, RIGHTEOUS, and PERFECT in God the Father's eyes. This is the final frontier of human pride. It will either die here by choice or thrive by choice. Either a person accepts this truth humbly or rejects this truth in pride. And the good news is that humbly receiving Jesus as your Lord through faith and grace means that God the Father will NEVER see your sinful nature. He will only see Jesus' nature on you because you believed the truth about Jesus.
Imagine wearing a red robe stained with all the sins of your lifetime and you come to realize that Jesus lived the perfect life with no sin, even in his thoughts, and then finally shed his innocent blood on the cross for you. As you realize this you begin to see what God really thinks about you even while you are yet sinning. You begin to see that God's standard of GOODNESS, HOLINESS, RIGHTEOUSNESS, PERFECTION, is being lived out and met by Jesus and that God's nature of LOVE, FORGIVENESS, MERCY, & GRACE is at the same time being revealed in the death of Jesus....ALL FOR YOU! Finally, you begin to grasp God's power and authority as you learn that He RESURRECTED Jesus from the dead. All this so that today you would have the opportunity to believe and replace your guilty red robe for the innocent white robe Christ is for you. Believing means confessing that you are a SINNER BY NATURE and need to be BORN AGAIN by the Spirit through repentance which is turning away from your life & nature of sin and entrusting your life to JESUS for what He has done for you.
Have you realized the magnitude of your sin before God yet? Your sin nature is so serious that God had to die for you. And He willingly did because he loves you and does not want you to be condemned to hell which was originally for Satan and his demons and all the garbage they have been spewing on humanity and their rebellion against God. If you spend time with God and seek Him with ALL your heart you will find Him! The Word of God is the Bible and He can be found there in a personal and intimate way. When you read the Bible you will begin to understand the truth about what God really thinks about your sinful nature, as well as His love for you despite that nature. God is for you not against you! He is not willing that anyone should perish but that all would come into eternal life through Jesus Christ. But when you finally see the truth of who you are before God you will correctly turn your head away from Him and cry out like the prophet Isaiah:
"I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said,“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts,The whole earth is full of His glory.”4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said,“Woe is me, for I am ruined!Because I am a man of unclean lips,And I live among a people of unclean lips;For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Isaiah 6:1-5
Isaiah saw and heard the Holiness of God and his first inclination was WOE IS ME and this is the right response. What happened next basically reveals who God is. How loving and kind he is to Isaiah!
I sincerely hope you will experience brokenness and a healthy fear before the living God. It is the right road to begin walking on. I hope you will tremble before God because that is what you need. It is what I need. We all need to begin to fear God in reverance. We need to see God in his rightful Character and we desperatly need to realize again or for the first time, who we really are compared to Him. This is the only way to grow properly in faith and into His Image and to experience Psalm 37:6
He will do the unbelievable and unexpected in your life when you finally see who you are before God! Yes, He will lift your head with his powerful and mighty hands and gently whisper to you, "Have you considered my son Jesus?" The one true God will love you instead of judge you in His MERCY! Abba Father, the Creator of your soul, body, personality, has a Daddy's heart! Run to Him with your childlike heart and be healed.
God Bless YOU!
HE WILL MAKE YOUR INNOCENCE RADIATE LIKE THE DAWN, AND THE JUSTICE OF YOUR CAUSE WILL SHINE LIKE THE NOON DAY SUN.
I've been reading the Bible and it brings me close to my Savior. It shows me His awesome love. My Abba Father, how amazing His name is, sees beyond my sinful nature, because He has found me in Jesus Christ who is His one and only son. Nothing compares to the Goodness of God after you experience Him. When Elohim reveals Himself it is beyond words to describe, but when He does reveal His heart one realizes that there is no secure foundation before Him other then the Person of Jesus Christ. Only Jesus has what it takes to satisfy God's standard of Goodness and to make everything in our lives good, right and everlasting.
How is it that Jesus Christ is the only one who can make someone really good and eternal? So good and eternal that not even fire will be able to consume them at the judgement, nor the Accuser be able to persuade God's Justice to rightfully condemn their sin? Well, there is a blessing that comes with the answer to this question, but you will only be able to experience it when you finally put your faith into the One who defines Goodness. Believe me your effort no matter how much is required to finally receive this blessing will be worth it!
Who defines Goodness?
There is only ONE who is Good: He is
THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB!
HE IS THE LIVING GOD THREE SEPERATE PERSONS IN ONE!
HE WAS, IS, & IS TO COME!
HE BEGINS & ENDS ALL THINGS!
HE IS THE CREATOR OF THE WORLD AND EVERYTHING IN IT!
HE HEARS THE CRY OF THOSE WHO HAVE GODLY SORROW AND SEEK REPENTANCE!
HE BELIEVES THAT HIS MERCY IS BETTER THEN HIS JUSTICE!
HE JUDGES ALL THINGS BY HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!
Friends, if we want to know what is really good we desperatly need to fix our eyes and hearts on Jesus Christ who is the exact representation of God the Father in a bodily form. We must talk about Jesus and get to know Jesus better through the disciplined study of scripture, and we must become more aware of and yield to the ministry of the Holy Spirit whose major purpose is to point out Jesus Christ in all things and magnify Him in this world so that God the Father will be glorified.
So when I stand before God ALONE I know I am the furthest away from innocence and being considered radiant. Basically, I'm not good in my nature. Rather, I stand there guilty because I do and think what I should never do and think, and as a result I am the Chief of Sinners. Ultimately, what this means is that I have sinned against God alone and I am guilty before Him alone.
If you are thinking, "Wow Hank! What did you do that was so bad to make you the Chief of Sinners?," you are headed down the wrong thought process. It doesn't matter what I have done to sin against God because to Him my sins and your sins are all the same in his eyes. You may be thinking, "There is no way that stealing candy carrys the same verdict as murdering your fellow man!" If you are thinking this way you are still misunderstanding the heart of God. You are not realizing that it is God who sets the standard of what is good or not good. Not people.
You see, God can not lie because that is His nature and the Bible is His heart expressed to us on paper. The Bible says that all have fallen short of God's GOODNESS, and that among men there is not one who is good. Not even one! So if you have ever told a lie, big or small, it's because you are a liar by nature which means you are not good in God's eyes. This does not mean God doesn't love you. Another example is within sexuality, if you have even lusted after another person or thing in your thoughts (doesn't have to be just in your behaviors) this means that you are an adulterer by nature, and God does not see you as good. To clear the confusion, the problem is not heterosexuality, homosexuality, bestiality, polygamy, incest etc. All people who are defined by these labels have the same problem: LUST. Whether a human being lusts in their nature after the opposite sex, the same sex, or other things the bottomline is that they are breaking God's standard of being good and instead they are commiting adultery which ultimately is idolatry. And what about anger? If you hate someone you are murdering them in your heart, and God does not see you as good. Envy? pride? selfishness? greed? gossip?....think about all the thoughts and behaviors that are born out of these things that are naturally in us. I say this with brokenness and gentleness: You are not good deep down inside and that's a hard truth to swallow, but it is indeed true.
God knows that you have nothing in yourself that is good enough to satisfy His standard of PERFECTION. He knows that it is only by His nature that your guilt and shame can ever be erased so that your nature can become innocent in order to enter eternal life. The hard truth is that the world is teeming with billions of people who are not good by nature. Even though so many sincere influential and powerful people are saying the opposite they are sincerely wrong according to the bible. Honestly, people who say that human beings are naturally good have not realized the weight of their sin before the living God nor do they realize what God's perspective of sin is and how he has chosen to deal with it. God sees all things and nothing is hidden from His eyes even the things done in secret. So how is God dealing with this sin nature problem that we have?
God has the highest expectations, and He has a hard standard that can not be avoided, ignored or changed. His standard must be met by us. His standard is:
GOODNESS/HOLINESS/RIGHTEOUSNESS or PERFECTION
You see in God's eyes it is not that we have sinned that is the real problem. The real problem is that WE ARE SINNERS BY NATURE. In a sense, sinning is what we do for a living. Who we are at the heart of hearts is the problem, and it is only His nature that can save us. The fact that we are sinful by nature is obvious by the typical response we have to the one issue that matters most: We turn our backs against God's ways because we don't want God deep down inside. We would rather be god of our own personal life, and yield to nothing other then our own desires, opinions or the "good" ideas of others rather then surrender our life to Him, the very Creator all things, so He can take Lordship of our lives. The perfect example of this is that we do everything in our own rationale to reject that Jesus Christ is the only way into heaven even when God said about Jesus, "This is my Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him" in John 3. People will kick and flail and throw temper tantrums and get very angry when faced with this absolute truth. Jesus is God in the flesh and consequently the only one whose NATURE is prestinely GOOD, HOLY, RIGHTEOUS, and PERFECT in God the Father's eyes. This is the final frontier of human pride. It will either die here by choice or thrive by choice. Either a person accepts this truth humbly or rejects this truth in pride. And the good news is that humbly receiving Jesus as your Lord through faith and grace means that God the Father will NEVER see your sinful nature. He will only see Jesus' nature on you because you believed the truth about Jesus.
Imagine wearing a red robe stained with all the sins of your lifetime and you come to realize that Jesus lived the perfect life with no sin, even in his thoughts, and then finally shed his innocent blood on the cross for you. As you realize this you begin to see what God really thinks about you even while you are yet sinning. You begin to see that God's standard of GOODNESS, HOLINESS, RIGHTEOUSNESS, PERFECTION, is being lived out and met by Jesus and that God's nature of LOVE, FORGIVENESS, MERCY, & GRACE is at the same time being revealed in the death of Jesus....ALL FOR YOU! Finally, you begin to grasp God's power and authority as you learn that He RESURRECTED Jesus from the dead. All this so that today you would have the opportunity to believe and replace your guilty red robe for the innocent white robe Christ is for you. Believing means confessing that you are a SINNER BY NATURE and need to be BORN AGAIN by the Spirit through repentance which is turning away from your life & nature of sin and entrusting your life to JESUS for what He has done for you.
Have you realized the magnitude of your sin before God yet? Your sin nature is so serious that God had to die for you. And He willingly did because he loves you and does not want you to be condemned to hell which was originally for Satan and his demons and all the garbage they have been spewing on humanity and their rebellion against God. If you spend time with God and seek Him with ALL your heart you will find Him! The Word of God is the Bible and He can be found there in a personal and intimate way. When you read the Bible you will begin to understand the truth about what God really thinks about your sinful nature, as well as His love for you despite that nature. God is for you not against you! He is not willing that anyone should perish but that all would come into eternal life through Jesus Christ. But when you finally see the truth of who you are before God you will correctly turn your head away from Him and cry out like the prophet Isaiah:
"I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said,“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts,The whole earth is full of His glory.”4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said,“Woe is me, for I am ruined!Because I am a man of unclean lips,And I live among a people of unclean lips;For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Isaiah 6:1-5
Isaiah saw and heard the Holiness of God and his first inclination was WOE IS ME and this is the right response. What happened next basically reveals who God is. How loving and kind he is to Isaiah!
I sincerely hope you will experience brokenness and a healthy fear before the living God. It is the right road to begin walking on. I hope you will tremble before God because that is what you need. It is what I need. We all need to begin to fear God in reverance. We need to see God in his rightful Character and we desperatly need to realize again or for the first time, who we really are compared to Him. This is the only way to grow properly in faith and into His Image and to experience Psalm 37:6
He will do the unbelievable and unexpected in your life when you finally see who you are before God! Yes, He will lift your head with his powerful and mighty hands and gently whisper to you, "Have you considered my son Jesus?" The one true God will love you instead of judge you in His MERCY! Abba Father, the Creator of your soul, body, personality, has a Daddy's heart! Run to Him with your childlike heart and be healed.
God Bless YOU!
Saturday, March 07, 2009
They laughed at Noah, yet they did not believe in the pending Judgement and scoffed at repentance and they continued in their violence, immorality, witchcraft, rebellion and wickedness....full of pride.
Dear family and friends,
The following is a letter written by Pastor David Wilkerson, founder of Teen Challenge, World Challenge, Times Square Church in New York City and many other ministries on Thursday 3/5/09. He sent this letter out to everyone on his email list.
I’ve been personally listening and following Pastor Wilkerson for a number of years and I trust him whole heartedly as a man of God full of the Holy Spirit.
Please be prayerful about what God would have you to do during the coming days and months and forward this on to your loved ones as you feel lead.
There is no doubt in my mind that things of this nature, things we have never seen before, are going to be coming upon the earth. Jesus has warned us faithfully throughout the Word of God. In the Gospels and in Revelation it is clear, and the Holy Spirit through many like Peter has warned in 2 Peter and the book of Daniel and Ezekial, Psalms, Micah, Joel, Zacheriah, Isaiah and all over the Word of God.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS THAT YOUR ARE READING THE BIBLE YOURSELF AND SEEKING GODS FACE
God Bless you as you spend time in the word of God as it contains the promises of God to you if you have placed your trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and received him as Lord of your life.
If you have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior please read the book of John in the Gospels and cry out to God to open your eyes to and to make you born again.
God loves you tremendously and will protect you.
Tuck this away in your hearts: PSALM 91,
With Love,
Hank
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I am compelled by the Holy Spirit to send out an urgent message to all on our mailing list, and to friends and to bishops we have met all over the world.
AN EARTH-SHATTERING CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN.
IT IS GOING TO BE SO FRIGHTENING, WE ARE ALL GOING TO TREMBLE—EVEN THE GODLIEST AMONG US.
For ten years I have been warning about a thousand fires coming to New York City. It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires—such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago.
There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting—including Times Square, New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God’s wrath. In Psalm 11 it is written,
“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (v. 3).
God is judging the raging sins of America and the nations. He is destroying the secular foundations.
The prophet Jeremiah pleaded with wicked Israel, “God is fashioning a calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh, turn back each of you from your evil way, and reform your ways and deeds. But they will say, It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart” (Jeremiah 18:11-12).
In Psalm 11:6, David warns, “Upon the wicked he will rain snares (coals of fire)…fire…burning wind…will be the portion of their cup.” Why? David answered, “Because the Lord is righteous” (v. 7). This is a righteous judgment—just as in the judgments of Sodom and in Noah’s generation.
WHAT SHALL THE RIGHTEOUS DO? WHAT ABOUT GOD’S PEOPLE?
First, I give you a practical word I received for my own direction. Lay in store a thirty-day supply of food, toiletries and other essentials. In major cities, grocery stores are emptied in an hour at the sign of an impending disaster.
As for our spiritual reaction, we have but two options. This is outlined in Psalm 11. We “flee like a bird to a mountain.” Or, as David says, “He fixed his eyes on the Lord on his throne in heaven—his eyes beholding, his eyelids testing the sons of men” (v. 4). “In the Lord I take refuge” (v. 1).
I will say to my soul: No need to run…no need to hide. This is God’s righteous work. I will behold our Lord on his throne, with his eye of tender, loving kindness watching over every step I take—trusting that he will deliver his people even through floods, fires, calamities, tests, trials of all kinds.
Note: I do not know when these things will come to pass, but I know it is not far off. I have unburdened my soul to you. Do with the message as you choose.
God bless and keep you.
In Christ,
DAVID WILKERSON
DW:bbm 3-05-09
Dear family and friends,
The following is a letter written by Pastor David Wilkerson, founder of Teen Challenge, World Challenge, Times Square Church in New York City and many other ministries on Thursday 3/5/09. He sent this letter out to everyone on his email list.
I’ve been personally listening and following Pastor Wilkerson for a number of years and I trust him whole heartedly as a man of God full of the Holy Spirit.
Please be prayerful about what God would have you to do during the coming days and months and forward this on to your loved ones as you feel lead.
There is no doubt in my mind that things of this nature, things we have never seen before, are going to be coming upon the earth. Jesus has warned us faithfully throughout the Word of God. In the Gospels and in Revelation it is clear, and the Holy Spirit through many like Peter has warned in 2 Peter and the book of Daniel and Ezekial, Psalms, Micah, Joel, Zacheriah, Isaiah and all over the Word of God.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS THAT YOUR ARE READING THE BIBLE YOURSELF AND SEEKING GODS FACE
God Bless you as you spend time in the word of God as it contains the promises of God to you if you have placed your trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and received him as Lord of your life.
If you have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior please read the book of John in the Gospels and cry out to God to open your eyes to and to make you born again.
God loves you tremendously and will protect you.
Tuck this away in your hearts: PSALM 91,
With Love,
Hank
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I am compelled by the Holy Spirit to send out an urgent message to all on our mailing list, and to friends and to bishops we have met all over the world.
AN EARTH-SHATTERING CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN.
IT IS GOING TO BE SO FRIGHTENING, WE ARE ALL GOING TO TREMBLE—EVEN THE GODLIEST AMONG US.
For ten years I have been warning about a thousand fires coming to New York City. It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires—such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago.
There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting—including Times Square, New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God’s wrath. In Psalm 11 it is written,
“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (v. 3).
God is judging the raging sins of America and the nations. He is destroying the secular foundations.
The prophet Jeremiah pleaded with wicked Israel, “God is fashioning a calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh, turn back each of you from your evil way, and reform your ways and deeds. But they will say, It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart” (Jeremiah 18:11-12).
In Psalm 11:6, David warns, “Upon the wicked he will rain snares (coals of fire)…fire…burning wind…will be the portion of their cup.” Why? David answered, “Because the Lord is righteous” (v. 7). This is a righteous judgment—just as in the judgments of Sodom and in Noah’s generation.
WHAT SHALL THE RIGHTEOUS DO? WHAT ABOUT GOD’S PEOPLE?
First, I give you a practical word I received for my own direction. Lay in store a thirty-day supply of food, toiletries and other essentials. In major cities, grocery stores are emptied in an hour at the sign of an impending disaster.
As for our spiritual reaction, we have but two options. This is outlined in Psalm 11. We “flee like a bird to a mountain.” Or, as David says, “He fixed his eyes on the Lord on his throne in heaven—his eyes beholding, his eyelids testing the sons of men” (v. 4). “In the Lord I take refuge” (v. 1).
I will say to my soul: No need to run…no need to hide. This is God’s righteous work. I will behold our Lord on his throne, with his eye of tender, loving kindness watching over every step I take—trusting that he will deliver his people even through floods, fires, calamities, tests, trials of all kinds.
Note: I do not know when these things will come to pass, but I know it is not far off. I have unburdened my soul to you. Do with the message as you choose.
God bless and keep you.
In Christ,
DAVID WILKERSON
DW:bbm 3-05-09
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
A Prayer for Those Who Want God but Don't Know What to Say
Dear Lord Jesus,
You are Wonderful and have proven yourself Faithfull over and over again. Your life, and death and resurrection prove that your love is undeniable and available to all who seek it and ask for you to forgive them. You have done so many awesome and generous things for us and your Word is so true and revealing of your pure heart to save the lost and heal the sick and lame. But this world is blinding us to your pure light because our eyes and hearts are not fixed on you and we will to do our own thing moment by moment and do not acknowledge you or wait for you. Our eyes have not rested on You alone long enough to start to see who you really are. We can not see. Please forgive us for our insistent hearts to continue in our idolatry. We love our phones, tv shows, shoes, sleep, blogging, cars, money, looks, food, internet, beer, sex, power, position, achievements, our selves, and our casual hearts tread carelessly over You: The Savior! as we neglect your Holy Word: the Bible. You are Holy and you said that it is not the healthy who need a doctor but those who are sick, and I need your help to show me where I am sick. I know I have been running in this life in the opposite direction of where you stand. My life shows evidence that I am not alive in your Holy Spirit and Truth, but on the contrary that I am living for myself, my family, my job, my dreams. I am completely incomplete without you. I confess that I am not yours and that I have not laid down my life before you in humility and faith. I confess you are not my Lord and that I have made myself the god of my life. I have not yielded my will to your way and I am going down the wrong path. Jesus, please convict me of my sins and clean me from the core of my being outward until I am completely yours. Forgive me of my sin nature, my wrong thoughts, and actions, my pride, anger, gossip, selfishness, rebellious heart, sexual sins, pride. I have been blinded and have not realized how my actions all these years have wounded you. You went to that cross to save me from your Father's anger towards my sin and His Justice towards my unrighteousness. I believe you are the One man in all history who lived a perfect life before your Father. I believe you lived the life I could never live, but had to live in order to be saved. So I rest my trust on you alone. I believe you died the death I could never have avoided, so that I would never have to be apart from you. I believe you were raised back to life after you died, so that my soul could also be resurrected into your life. Please walk with me from this moment on and guide me by your Spirit as I read the Bible. Please come into my life and be my Lord and Savior forever. Thank you for your Mercy that has changed me and will meet me every morning. Thank you for being kind to me by dieing on that cross even though I don't deserve it. I love you Jesus. Glory be to your name all the days of my life!
Dear Lord Jesus,
You are Wonderful and have proven yourself Faithfull over and over again. Your life, and death and resurrection prove that your love is undeniable and available to all who seek it and ask for you to forgive them. You have done so many awesome and generous things for us and your Word is so true and revealing of your pure heart to save the lost and heal the sick and lame. But this world is blinding us to your pure light because our eyes and hearts are not fixed on you and we will to do our own thing moment by moment and do not acknowledge you or wait for you. Our eyes have not rested on You alone long enough to start to see who you really are. We can not see. Please forgive us for our insistent hearts to continue in our idolatry. We love our phones, tv shows, shoes, sleep, blogging, cars, money, looks, food, internet, beer, sex, power, position, achievements, our selves, and our casual hearts tread carelessly over You: The Savior! as we neglect your Holy Word: the Bible. You are Holy and you said that it is not the healthy who need a doctor but those who are sick, and I need your help to show me where I am sick. I know I have been running in this life in the opposite direction of where you stand. My life shows evidence that I am not alive in your Holy Spirit and Truth, but on the contrary that I am living for myself, my family, my job, my dreams. I am completely incomplete without you. I confess that I am not yours and that I have not laid down my life before you in humility and faith. I confess you are not my Lord and that I have made myself the god of my life. I have not yielded my will to your way and I am going down the wrong path. Jesus, please convict me of my sins and clean me from the core of my being outward until I am completely yours. Forgive me of my sin nature, my wrong thoughts, and actions, my pride, anger, gossip, selfishness, rebellious heart, sexual sins, pride. I have been blinded and have not realized how my actions all these years have wounded you. You went to that cross to save me from your Father's anger towards my sin and His Justice towards my unrighteousness. I believe you are the One man in all history who lived a perfect life before your Father. I believe you lived the life I could never live, but had to live in order to be saved. So I rest my trust on you alone. I believe you died the death I could never have avoided, so that I would never have to be apart from you. I believe you were raised back to life after you died, so that my soul could also be resurrected into your life. Please walk with me from this moment on and guide me by your Spirit as I read the Bible. Please come into my life and be my Lord and Savior forever. Thank you for your Mercy that has changed me and will meet me every morning. Thank you for being kind to me by dieing on that cross even though I don't deserve it. I love you Jesus. Glory be to your name all the days of my life!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Why is Jesus Christ the only way to heaven?
This question may be the most important of a lifetime. The answer is more simple then we think.
Let me first say that getting to heaven is not the ultimate purpose of our lives. The purpose of our lives, OUR - meaning all people everywhere, is to first come to know and put our complete trust in the saving work of Jesus Christ alone, who is God's one and only Son. Then it is to live life according to His will in a personal relationship with Him that is motivated by Love for Him.
The Bible states that it is impossible to please God without faith, and real faith requires that we depend on Jesus Christ 100% and believe all that the Bible speaks about Him....
... Jesus lived a life that was sinless. He did not sin even once. In thought he was perfect and in deed he was perfect. Therefore in His Father's Just eyes Jesus was the only one whose life could qualify as an atoning sacrifice for not only the sins you have committed but the sin that you are. God doesn't aim for perfection He demands it and the truth is that not one of us is perfect. We are all sinful by nature and therefore guilty of breaking God's law. God has said that the wages of sin is death. The only way to be - not guilty - before God on judgement day and to escape the verdict of eternal death is to do something right now: Accept God's choice provision for you that will make you live! God chose to save you even while your back has been turned against him because He is Loving and Merciful. He does not want you to spend eternity apart from Him. To put your trust in God the Father's ONE AND ONLY Son means that you are depending on Christ to save you from God's Justice. You are, by faith, depending on Christ's perfect life that you could never live to mke you perfect. God would not be Good or Just if he looked over your sin. But He is Good and Just so He never will. He will either look at you as righteous or wicked. If you have genuine faith in Christ your life will demonstrate that through repentance and God will see you as righteous. If you deny Christ your life will demonstrate that through unrepentance and he will see you as wicked.
Jesus is the only way to heaven because in God the Father's just eyes no man that has ever lived or will live is perfect except Him and no one can make you perfect except Christ.
This question may be the most important of a lifetime. The answer is more simple then we think.
Let me first say that getting to heaven is not the ultimate purpose of our lives. The purpose of our lives, OUR - meaning all people everywhere, is to first come to know and put our complete trust in the saving work of Jesus Christ alone, who is God's one and only Son. Then it is to live life according to His will in a personal relationship with Him that is motivated by Love for Him.
The Bible states that it is impossible to please God without faith, and real faith requires that we depend on Jesus Christ 100% and believe all that the Bible speaks about Him....
... Jesus lived a life that was sinless. He did not sin even once. In thought he was perfect and in deed he was perfect. Therefore in His Father's Just eyes Jesus was the only one whose life could qualify as an atoning sacrifice for not only the sins you have committed but the sin that you are. God doesn't aim for perfection He demands it and the truth is that not one of us is perfect. We are all sinful by nature and therefore guilty of breaking God's law. God has said that the wages of sin is death. The only way to be - not guilty - before God on judgement day and to escape the verdict of eternal death is to do something right now: Accept God's choice provision for you that will make you live! God chose to save you even while your back has been turned against him because He is Loving and Merciful. He does not want you to spend eternity apart from Him. To put your trust in God the Father's ONE AND ONLY Son means that you are depending on Christ to save you from God's Justice. You are, by faith, depending on Christ's perfect life that you could never live to mke you perfect. God would not be Good or Just if he looked over your sin. But He is Good and Just so He never will. He will either look at you as righteous or wicked. If you have genuine faith in Christ your life will demonstrate that through repentance and God will see you as righteous. If you deny Christ your life will demonstrate that through unrepentance and he will see you as wicked.
Jesus is the only way to heaven because in God the Father's just eyes no man that has ever lived or will live is perfect except Him and no one can make you perfect except Christ.
And don't forget......Jesus rose from the dead. He is alive. Death could not contain Him because He is the spiritual LIFE we are desperately looking for and need. HE IS LIFE! Now we are souls living in temporary bodies and in a material world, but soon our souls will be in eternal bodies in the spiritual world. But not all of us will spend eternity in the same place. Please listen to the 6 audio clips on the sidebar to develop a correct understanding of what it means to have Faith in Jesus Christ.
God Bless You!
A side note,
We live in very dangerous and deceptive times! People are popping up who are misinterpreting the Word of God and teaching lies about Jesus Christ, and about what is and isn't sinful. The bible must be read and interpreted in context to itself. It must be accepted in whole not in part. It does not contradict itself and is very clear about who Jesus is, what sin is and what the consequence of sin will be. I'm asking you to be careful when listening to someone talk about what the bible is saying. Including myself. Why would you trust men over the actual book itself? If you do not read the bible yourself then I encourage you to start in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Spend time in the bible yourself and you will be surprised at how it encourages you. It is a living book that will open your eyes to what the truth is and reveal how incredibly awesome Jesus' Love is toward you. You do not need the book of Mormom, or the Catechism, or the Watch Tower Society newsletters to help you interpret the Word of God. You do not need anything other then a hunger for what is true, a desire to know God for who He really is and a little faith that the Bible really is God's message to you. You will not regret it.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
"TERRIBLE UNFORGIVING..... THAT'S HOW I SAW GOD...PUNISHING US IN THIS LIFE, COMMITTING US TO PERGATORY AFTER DEATH. SENTENCING SINNERS TO BURN IN HELL FOR ALL ETERNITY. BUT I WAS WRONG! THOSE WHO SEE GOD AS ANGRY DO NOT SEE HIM RIGHTLY, BUT LOOK UPON A CURTAIN AS IF A DARK STORM CLOUD IS BEING DRAWN ACROSS HIS FACE. IF WE TRULY BELIEVE THAT CHRIST IS OUR SAVIOR THEN WE HAVE A GOD OF LOVE AND TO SEE GOD IN FAITH IS TO LOOK UPON HIS FRIENDLY HEART. SO WHEN THE DEVIL THROWS YOUR SINS IN YOUR FACE AND DECLARES THAT YOU DESERVE DEATH AND HELL TELL HIM THIS, " I ADMIT I DESERVE DEATH AND HELL. WHAT OF IT! FOR I KNOW ONE WHO HAS SUFFERED AND MADE SATISFACTION IN MY BEHALF. HIS NAME IS JESUS CHRIST, SON OF GOD AND WHERE HE IS THERE SHALL I BE ALSO!"
A QUOTE FROM THE MOVIE LUTHER:
"AND DON'T FORGET...DON'T EVER FORGET. YOU'VE PROMISED TO BECOME A NEW MAN. 'I PROMISE. WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?' JEAN VALJEAN, MY BROTHER, YOU NO LONGER BELONG TO EVIL. WITH THIS SILVER I BOUGHT YOUR SOUL. I'VE RANSOMED YOU FROM FEAR AND HATRED AND NOW I GIVE YOU BACK TO GOD!"
A QUOTE FROM THE MOVIE LES MISERABLES
A QUOTE FROM THE MOVIE LUTHER:
"AND DON'T FORGET...DON'T EVER FORGET. YOU'VE PROMISED TO BECOME A NEW MAN. 'I PROMISE. WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?' JEAN VALJEAN, MY BROTHER, YOU NO LONGER BELONG TO EVIL. WITH THIS SILVER I BOUGHT YOUR SOUL. I'VE RANSOMED YOU FROM FEAR AND HATRED AND NOW I GIVE YOU BACK TO GOD!"
A QUOTE FROM THE MOVIE LES MISERABLES
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Everyone has fallen short of the glory of God
A message to those who are hard towards God
Does it make you uncomfortable when someone begins to talk to you about your personal sin nature and that you will be held accountable before God for breaking His law? Are you a person who can take responsibility for your wrong doing and accept that there is such a thing called Justice, or are you in a place where you won't accept that Justice will fall upon you after you die ...that is... if your sin nature has not been forgiven?
Think on these questions: Are thieves good people, are liars good people, are adulterers, murderers, rapists good? If someone lusts after another person or thing, or gossips about others and slanders them, or commits acts of sexual immorality and impurity are they good? What about those who blaspheme God's name, or covet their neighbors wife or husband or possessions? Are these good people? Have you done any one of these things? If so, you are not good no matter how small the act or thought. What about selfishness and pride or anger and greed? These are in the heart of man and they are not good.
Even though man has good intention at times it is obvious that he is by nature falling short of God's good standard. The bible says that the heart of man is exceedingly wicked, who can know it. The thought life of man and the behaviors of man are riddled with sin. Have you accepted this hard truth: that you have fallen short of God's glory and that you are not good by nature? If every thought and intention and action that you have ever had in your whole life was put on a reel and played so that all could really come to know you, would those watching conclude that you are a good person?
Personally, it has always made complete sense to me that if I do something that breaks the law and is morally wrong that there will be some sort of a consequence to pay. Obviously, if I get caught the law demands justice be served, but if I don't get caught am I really safe? Has justive been avoided? Can I really hide from God? It is not difficult to reason that I am responsible and will also be held accountable for all of my wrong actions at some point ...especially if I don't get caught now. You should realize this about yourself also. Even if you do not believe in God this does not change what is true.
Man is not Just, But God is and He created you with a free will to choose to love Him. Why else do you have a conscience that speaks of what is right and wrong deep within your soul? It is somewhat confusing to me that you try to make yourself feel better by ignoring your conscience so you can dodge what is true. This is a wasteful game to play that only hurts you in the end, because you will still stand before God alone one day, just as I will. We only live once, then we will face the judgement.
When I was 12 I got caught breaking and entering and vandalizing a home. Nothing but my sin nature lead me to do this. I was caught in the act and had to face the just punishment. I was guilty and was expecting the worst even though I was only 12. I deserved more then what I got not because I was guilty, but because the punishment didn't fit the crime. At 12 I didn't realize the magnitude of the mercy I received, but on the next crime I did. When I was 14 my dad caught me with a stash of wallets and other stuff I stole from a department store. $100's worth. The way he dealt with his "thief of a son" changed my life forever. I walked in my house from an afternoon of playing with friends and I saw it in his eyes. A seriousness that would silence any room. He said, "go to your room." I walked into my room and saw the stash of stolen goods on my bed and realized I was caught and deserving of punishment. I was expecting the belt, grounding forever, not being able to hang out with my friends anymore. He came in sat on the bed and spoke to me as an adult. My Dad explained to me where my life would lead if I continued stealing and lying. I believed him. He didn't raise his voice, didn't ground me, nor whip me with that belt. He told me I had 2 choices: 1: throw the stash in the trash or 2: Take the wallets back to the manager. I chose #2 because thankfully I realized I was experiencing moments of virtue and honor and I wanted to respect my Dad for dealing with me kindly when I didn't deserve it, and because of his kindness I wanted to do the right thing. So I packed all the stuff in a briefcase and my Dad drove me to the store and I went in by myself and asked for the manager. We sat down in his office, I showed him what I stole, apologized and then was anticipating my punishment because I was guilty. I wasn't trying to run away from my problem even though I knew I could be be doing community service for a long time. He said, "It looks like you are learning something. Thanks for bringing this back to me. You are free to go and please don't steal from me again." When I was walking out of the doors I cannot tell you adequetly enough how free and thankful I was to be pardoned or forgiven and shown mercy when I didn't deserve it. From that moment on I wanted to do the right thing even more and not take advantage of the gift of mercy I received from my Dad and the store manager. It was Mercy that changed my life. Mercy = Not getting the Justice that you deserve
If you are hard towards God do you want to know something....it's not his fault. It's because of your choices and possibly the choices of others you know that you are angry towards God and don't want anything to do with Him. But the truth is that both you and they are sinners by nature. Please understand that God has already shown you mercy even though you are guilty before him. Just as I was guilty before my dad as a thief and vandal, I am also guilty before God as rebellious and falling short of His perfection. In the same way you are also rebellious and falling short of God's perfection, and we really deserve to go to Hell
BUT
He took the wrath you deserve and instead poured it out upon his own Son, Jesus Christ. He wanted to prove to you that He really loves you inspite of all your sins and inspite of your rebellious nature, so Jesus died for you even while you were still sinning against him! He is not angry at you, He does not hate you. He has proven otherwise. But why do you blame God and others still for what has happened to you and for who you have become. It is only because this is a rebellios world and you are a rebellious person. I am being so direct because it is necessary, but please believe me it is in love and with hope that you will see the amazing truth of God's love for you. His Mercy is available to you the moment you believe on Him as your personal Lord and Savior. The only thing that will keep you from believing on Jesus is your personal pride and selfishness, and desire to live for your self. The Bible says that if you hear God calling you do not harden your heart towards Him. It says that TODAY is the day to be born again and to start a new life with Christ that is by FAITH.
If you are wanting to humble yourself because you know what I am sharing is true, please go and pray and talk to God wherever you are at. Look around you and wake up to the truth. That God's Son really did die for you personally so that all your sin nature could be forgiven and your eternity will be with God. Find a bible and start reading the Gospel of John. The God who created you is faithful and loving and desires that you come to know him personally. Don't delay!
With Love,
Hank
A message to those who are hard towards God
Does it make you uncomfortable when someone begins to talk to you about your personal sin nature and that you will be held accountable before God for breaking His law? Are you a person who can take responsibility for your wrong doing and accept that there is such a thing called Justice, or are you in a place where you won't accept that Justice will fall upon you after you die ...that is... if your sin nature has not been forgiven?
Think on these questions: Are thieves good people, are liars good people, are adulterers, murderers, rapists good? If someone lusts after another person or thing, or gossips about others and slanders them, or commits acts of sexual immorality and impurity are they good? What about those who blaspheme God's name, or covet their neighbors wife or husband or possessions? Are these good people? Have you done any one of these things? If so, you are not good no matter how small the act or thought. What about selfishness and pride or anger and greed? These are in the heart of man and they are not good.
Even though man has good intention at times it is obvious that he is by nature falling short of God's good standard. The bible says that the heart of man is exceedingly wicked, who can know it. The thought life of man and the behaviors of man are riddled with sin. Have you accepted this hard truth: that you have fallen short of God's glory and that you are not good by nature? If every thought and intention and action that you have ever had in your whole life was put on a reel and played so that all could really come to know you, would those watching conclude that you are a good person?
Personally, it has always made complete sense to me that if I do something that breaks the law and is morally wrong that there will be some sort of a consequence to pay. Obviously, if I get caught the law demands justice be served, but if I don't get caught am I really safe? Has justive been avoided? Can I really hide from God? It is not difficult to reason that I am responsible and will also be held accountable for all of my wrong actions at some point ...especially if I don't get caught now. You should realize this about yourself also. Even if you do not believe in God this does not change what is true.
Man is not Just, But God is and He created you with a free will to choose to love Him. Why else do you have a conscience that speaks of what is right and wrong deep within your soul? It is somewhat confusing to me that you try to make yourself feel better by ignoring your conscience so you can dodge what is true. This is a wasteful game to play that only hurts you in the end, because you will still stand before God alone one day, just as I will. We only live once, then we will face the judgement.
When I was 12 I got caught breaking and entering and vandalizing a home. Nothing but my sin nature lead me to do this. I was caught in the act and had to face the just punishment. I was guilty and was expecting the worst even though I was only 12. I deserved more then what I got not because I was guilty, but because the punishment didn't fit the crime. At 12 I didn't realize the magnitude of the mercy I received, but on the next crime I did. When I was 14 my dad caught me with a stash of wallets and other stuff I stole from a department store. $100's worth. The way he dealt with his "thief of a son" changed my life forever. I walked in my house from an afternoon of playing with friends and I saw it in his eyes. A seriousness that would silence any room. He said, "go to your room." I walked into my room and saw the stash of stolen goods on my bed and realized I was caught and deserving of punishment. I was expecting the belt, grounding forever, not being able to hang out with my friends anymore. He came in sat on the bed and spoke to me as an adult. My Dad explained to me where my life would lead if I continued stealing and lying. I believed him. He didn't raise his voice, didn't ground me, nor whip me with that belt. He told me I had 2 choices: 1: throw the stash in the trash or 2: Take the wallets back to the manager. I chose #2 because thankfully I realized I was experiencing moments of virtue and honor and I wanted to respect my Dad for dealing with me kindly when I didn't deserve it, and because of his kindness I wanted to do the right thing. So I packed all the stuff in a briefcase and my Dad drove me to the store and I went in by myself and asked for the manager. We sat down in his office, I showed him what I stole, apologized and then was anticipating my punishment because I was guilty. I wasn't trying to run away from my problem even though I knew I could be be doing community service for a long time. He said, "It looks like you are learning something. Thanks for bringing this back to me. You are free to go and please don't steal from me again." When I was walking out of the doors I cannot tell you adequetly enough how free and thankful I was to be pardoned or forgiven and shown mercy when I didn't deserve it. From that moment on I wanted to do the right thing even more and not take advantage of the gift of mercy I received from my Dad and the store manager. It was Mercy that changed my life. Mercy = Not getting the Justice that you deserve
If you are hard towards God do you want to know something....it's not his fault. It's because of your choices and possibly the choices of others you know that you are angry towards God and don't want anything to do with Him. But the truth is that both you and they are sinners by nature. Please understand that God has already shown you mercy even though you are guilty before him. Just as I was guilty before my dad as a thief and vandal, I am also guilty before God as rebellious and falling short of His perfection. In the same way you are also rebellious and falling short of God's perfection, and we really deserve to go to Hell
BUT
He took the wrath you deserve and instead poured it out upon his own Son, Jesus Christ. He wanted to prove to you that He really loves you inspite of all your sins and inspite of your rebellious nature, so Jesus died for you even while you were still sinning against him! He is not angry at you, He does not hate you. He has proven otherwise. But why do you blame God and others still for what has happened to you and for who you have become. It is only because this is a rebellios world and you are a rebellious person. I am being so direct because it is necessary, but please believe me it is in love and with hope that you will see the amazing truth of God's love for you. His Mercy is available to you the moment you believe on Him as your personal Lord and Savior. The only thing that will keep you from believing on Jesus is your personal pride and selfishness, and desire to live for your self. The Bible says that if you hear God calling you do not harden your heart towards Him. It says that TODAY is the day to be born again and to start a new life with Christ that is by FAITH.
If you are wanting to humble yourself because you know what I am sharing is true, please go and pray and talk to God wherever you are at. Look around you and wake up to the truth. That God's Son really did die for you personally so that all your sin nature could be forgiven and your eternity will be with God. Find a bible and start reading the Gospel of John. The God who created you is faithful and loving and desires that you come to know him personally. Don't delay!
With Love,
Hank
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Becoming More Complete.
Imagine finding a treasure of priceless worth! Do you think it would be somewhat of a challenge to learn how to manage it properly? Materialistically, if I became a multi-millionaire, I would heep onto myself a lot of extra responsibilities that if not achieved and respected with excellence, would quickly get me into trouble if not full on bankruptcy. For example, I would get into trouble if I had the mindset, "Now I can go buy that ? that I've always wanted, I can go to that place I've always dreamed of, I'm free at last!" And all the while with that type of managing I would be quickly eroding and self imploding. But if I learned to manage it right, meaning in Godliness, the riches would multiply miraculously, unbelievably and I would still look the same as I do today.
Spiritually speaking I already have the pearl of great price, in Christ.Heaven, Salvation, all the promises of God, and I ask myself, " Am I managing this inheritance right?", "Am I experiencing the power?' The answer is no because I am floating around, it's as if I am taking it for granted because I am not appropriating it right. I will always have this inheritance, meaning I am eternally secure and Justified in Christ no matter what! But the waffling, distracted life of my Christian walk comes from a lack of managing my spiritual wealth properly. The Lord is showing me how much I desperately need him to have his abundant life overflow out of me.
Living in this abundant life is my #1 desire.
I say all this because how many Christians waffle, waist time, miss the point of Christian living? We know the answer is many, and I personally am not satisified yet in my Christian walk. I know there is more, much more and this realization is always pressing in on my heart and mind because the Holy Spirit is saying, "there's more don't give up on believing that and searching for it." I'm so glad our lives are in God's hand and timing. He is going to truly bring us into the abundant life inspite of us, and I believe I am coming into an area of study, that many people already know, that will help accomplish this abundant life.
I am only right at the beginning stages though. It's like I have that multi million dollars in my control and I am desiring to manage it right, and share it with others responsibly. I'm thinking about it, and feeling the Spirit confirm to me, "yes go this way" no matter the opposition, no matter the opinion or pressure. I really believe that the Lord is going to bring his whole Church into this knowledge so that they may become wise virgins fully and completely ready for his return.
So many already know about it and are being blessed and becoming even more spiritually strong. But at the same time so many Christians shake their head and by doing so automatically forfeit the blessing that awaits because they just can't let go of their own understanding on the issues. But Oh, if we would all just let this truth sink into our hearts so that it guides our every step!: "Lean NOT on your own understanding, but in all your ways AKNOWLEDGE GOD and He will make your path straight." Speaking to the Believers in Christ, have we forgotten that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob works super-naturally among his people and in ways we do not understand?
My weakness is my FLESH! My strength is the Faith God has given to me. I'm ready to see the supernatural unfold before me. It is going to happen in our coming days and whether it comes from evil motivation or Godly it won't surprise me or deceive me, that is if I lean on God in faith.
I thoughtfully say, what I believe God wants us to DO in the coming days of difficulty is enter into this realm of study that will fill our lamp stands with oil so that our lights keep shining in the darkness....supernaturally.The days that are coming are going to be super natural days. The Holy Spirit will DO his work through us and we just need to DO the work of preparing our hearts, minds, and bodies to live refined and SET APART. The Holy Spirit is going to move among us like the wind. Some will have food stored, some will find food miraculously appear, some will be hungry but sustained by the Spirit I already have many friends who have stored up 2 years worth of food.
I’m asking the Lord to help prepare my spirit so that I can receive and know his TORAH in my heart. Only those who will have TORAH will have the WAY, the TRUTH, and LIFE.
The big Question is how do we Study TORAH Correctly? If we're not careful we'll judge based on what many people think TORAH means: "LAW" and therefore "LEGALISM" but that approach is not correct and won't lend to the right understanding in the right context. Jesus Fulfilled the Law and Psalm 119 testifies to the outcome for those who live according to TORAH in the correct Spirit. TORAH means 'teaching', 'to hit the mark', 'to be lit up.'
The riches of the Word of God are wonderful and the way I have been studying it all these years has helped me tremendously. Now, I am beginning to see that there is more to be understood about Jesus Christ and His Word. I am excited to study the bible in a new light.
The following links are excellent resources for letting your roots go deeper when studying the Bible:
First Fruits of Zion
Messianic Bureau International
El Shaddai Ministries
Living Word Pictures
Jewish Voice Today
Israel My Glory
Imagine finding a treasure of priceless worth! Do you think it would be somewhat of a challenge to learn how to manage it properly? Materialistically, if I became a multi-millionaire, I would heep onto myself a lot of extra responsibilities that if not achieved and respected with excellence, would quickly get me into trouble if not full on bankruptcy. For example, I would get into trouble if I had the mindset, "Now I can go buy that ? that I've always wanted, I can go to that place I've always dreamed of, I'm free at last!" And all the while with that type of managing I would be quickly eroding and self imploding. But if I learned to manage it right, meaning in Godliness, the riches would multiply miraculously, unbelievably and I would still look the same as I do today.
Spiritually speaking I already have the pearl of great price, in Christ.Heaven, Salvation, all the promises of God, and I ask myself, " Am I managing this inheritance right?", "Am I experiencing the power?' The answer is no because I am floating around, it's as if I am taking it for granted because I am not appropriating it right. I will always have this inheritance, meaning I am eternally secure and Justified in Christ no matter what! But the waffling, distracted life of my Christian walk comes from a lack of managing my spiritual wealth properly. The Lord is showing me how much I desperately need him to have his abundant life overflow out of me.
Living in this abundant life is my #1 desire.
I say all this because how many Christians waffle, waist time, miss the point of Christian living? We know the answer is many, and I personally am not satisified yet in my Christian walk. I know there is more, much more and this realization is always pressing in on my heart and mind because the Holy Spirit is saying, "there's more don't give up on believing that and searching for it." I'm so glad our lives are in God's hand and timing. He is going to truly bring us into the abundant life inspite of us, and I believe I am coming into an area of study, that many people already know, that will help accomplish this abundant life.
I am only right at the beginning stages though. It's like I have that multi million dollars in my control and I am desiring to manage it right, and share it with others responsibly. I'm thinking about it, and feeling the Spirit confirm to me, "yes go this way" no matter the opposition, no matter the opinion or pressure. I really believe that the Lord is going to bring his whole Church into this knowledge so that they may become wise virgins fully and completely ready for his return.
So many already know about it and are being blessed and becoming even more spiritually strong. But at the same time so many Christians shake their head and by doing so automatically forfeit the blessing that awaits because they just can't let go of their own understanding on the issues. But Oh, if we would all just let this truth sink into our hearts so that it guides our every step!: "Lean NOT on your own understanding, but in all your ways AKNOWLEDGE GOD and He will make your path straight." Speaking to the Believers in Christ, have we forgotten that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob works super-naturally among his people and in ways we do not understand?
My weakness is my FLESH! My strength is the Faith God has given to me. I'm ready to see the supernatural unfold before me. It is going to happen in our coming days and whether it comes from evil motivation or Godly it won't surprise me or deceive me, that is if I lean on God in faith.
I thoughtfully say, what I believe God wants us to DO in the coming days of difficulty is enter into this realm of study that will fill our lamp stands with oil so that our lights keep shining in the darkness....supernaturally.The days that are coming are going to be super natural days. The Holy Spirit will DO his work through us and we just need to DO the work of preparing our hearts, minds, and bodies to live refined and SET APART. The Holy Spirit is going to move among us like the wind. Some will have food stored, some will find food miraculously appear, some will be hungry but sustained by the Spirit I already have many friends who have stored up 2 years worth of food.
I’m asking the Lord to help prepare my spirit so that I can receive and know his TORAH in my heart. Only those who will have TORAH will have the WAY, the TRUTH, and LIFE.
The big Question is how do we Study TORAH Correctly? If we're not careful we'll judge based on what many people think TORAH means: "LAW" and therefore "LEGALISM" but that approach is not correct and won't lend to the right understanding in the right context. Jesus Fulfilled the Law and Psalm 119 testifies to the outcome for those who live according to TORAH in the correct Spirit. TORAH means 'teaching', 'to hit the mark', 'to be lit up.'
The riches of the Word of God are wonderful and the way I have been studying it all these years has helped me tremendously. Now, I am beginning to see that there is more to be understood about Jesus Christ and His Word. I am excited to study the bible in a new light.
The following links are excellent resources for letting your roots go deeper when studying the Bible:
First Fruits of Zion
Messianic Bureau International
El Shaddai Ministries
Living Word Pictures
Jewish Voice Today
Israel My Glory
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The Bible Speaks on the Issue
Let me first say, if you commit to studying the bible you’ll see for yourself that it is a book of authority, truth and redemption for your life. In the time that I’ve personally spent in the bible, I have come to see this and believe that it is a book of power and is really from the heart of God… not just a bunch of books that men alone came up with, but men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. That Inspiration is the difference! The truth is I would never have known it to be if I had just listened to critics or not thought about what it had to say introspectively when reading it. Contrary to popular vote, the bible does not contradict itself. It does not contain lies, and therefore it can be trusted. If you start reading it and observe the world around you in context to the scriptures it will make sense of everything. It will become your resource for life and wisdom. But to find the treasure you must read it for yourself with a desire to know the truth about who you are in the eyes of God. Everyone loves a rose, but will you be thankful for it’s thorns too. God is awesome and His book is beautiful but it also contains a ferocious bite that people avoid like the plague. The amazing thing is that the bite is not a bite of death, rather it is a bite that leads to life. It will hurt you before it heals you in every way: Physically, Emotionally, Intellectually, and Spiritually. “For a seed to bare its fruit, it must first die.”
On the Subject of Middle East Peace:
On the Subject of Middle East Peace:
Relevant and Current news headlines:
Date: 09/12/08-What 'yes' means
Date: 12/12/08- What Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu faces from Washington
Date: 12/15/08- Jewish Settler Population Doubled in 12 Years
Date: 12/16/08- Quartet: US-led Middle East Talks 'Irreversible'
Date: 12/16/08- Rice Sites Middle East Peace Moves
Date: 12/16/08- Rice moves to bind incoming Israeli Prime Minister
Date: 09/12/08-What 'yes' means
Date: 12/12/08- What Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu faces from Washington
Date: 12/15/08- Jewish Settler Population Doubled in 12 Years
Date: 12/16/08- Quartet: US-led Middle East Talks 'Irreversible'
Date: 12/16/08- Rice Sites Middle East Peace Moves
Date: 12/16/08- Rice moves to bind incoming Israeli Prime Minister
Date: 12/16/08- Adopting Text on the Middle East Conflict- Security Council Reaffirms Support of Annapolis Outcome
Date 12/16/08- Secretary Rice with Other Members of the Quartet Deliver Remarks after Meeting on Middle East- Video
Date 12/16/08- Secretary Rice with Other Members of the Quartet Deliver Remarks after Meeting on Middle East- Video
Date 12/17/08- Israel Issues New Warning on Iranian Nuclear Arms
Date 12/17/08- Russia Provides 10 MiG Fighter Jets to Lebanon for Free
Date 12/17/08- Russia Provides 10 MiG Fighter Jets to Lebanon for Free
Date: Today- But What Does The Bible Say?
IN CONTEXT, WHAT DOES GOD’S WORD SAY ON THE SUBJECT OF THIS ‘LAND FOR PEACE’ DILEMMA IN THE MIDDLE EAST?
There are a number of facts to become aware of in order to really make sense of this.
As you consider the scriptures and research the history you will find them both to be true.
Fact #1.
IN CONTEXT, WHAT DOES GOD’S WORD SAY ON THE SUBJECT OF THIS ‘LAND FOR PEACE’ DILEMMA IN THE MIDDLE EAST?
There are a number of facts to become aware of in order to really make sense of this.
As you consider the scriptures and research the history you will find them both to be true.
Fact #1.
The Jewish people are the Chosen People:
(Deuteronomy 7:6 , Isaiah 43: 10-11)
Fact #2.
The Land of Israel belongs to God:
(Psalm 24:1, Deuteronomy 32:8-9)
Fact #3.
The Chosen People needed a Chosen Land, and so the God of Israel strategically chose the Land of Israel for the People of Israel:
(Ezekial 5:5)
Fact #4.
The Land of Israel was given by God to the descendants of Abraham as an everlasting possession:
(Genesis 12:7, Genesis 17:7-8)
Fact #5.
Even though Abraham had many sons, the Land of Israel wasn't given to Ishmael, or to any of the other sons of Abraham, but only to Isaac:
(Genesis 17:18-19, Genesis 26:3-4,Genesis 25:5-6)
Fact #6.
Even though Isaac had two sons, the Land wasn't given to Esau, but to Jacob:
(Genesis 28:13, Genesis 35:11-12)
Fact #7.
There is no doubt about Israel's God-given borders because they are described for us in detail in the Holy Scriptures:
( Genesis 13:14-17, Genesis 15:18-21, Exodus 23:31)
Fact #8.
In addition to the everlasting covenant (which includes the Land), God swore an oath to give the Jewish people this Land:
(Hebrews 6:16-18, Psalm 105:8-11)
Fact #9.
Israel's sin and resulting exile from the Land of Israel never annulled God's covenant with His Chosen People, nor did it permanently abrogate their right to the Land of Israel:
( Leviticus 26:44-45, Deuteronomy 30:1-5, Luke 21:23-24)
Fact #10.
In His prophetic Word, God promised to regather Jews to "their own Land":
(Ezekial 36:24, 28, Ezekial 37:21, Jeremiah 16:14-15)
Fact #11.
In His prophetic Word, God calls this restored Land "Israel" - not "Palestine":
(Ezekial 37:12)
Fact #12.
God, speaking to Israel through the prophet Ezekiel, informs them that this Land is specifically reserved for the Jewish people:
(Ezekial 36:8-10)
Fact #13.
2,500 years ago the Lord also told us that the Jewish return to the Land would provoke a reaction from Israel's neighbors:
(Ezekial 36:2-5)
Fact #14.
God will severely judge any nation who divides up any part of this special Land:
(Joel 3:1-2)
Fact #15.
Eventually this conflict over the Land of Israel will entangle the entire world:
(Zechariah 12: 1-3)
Fact #16.
This conflict will be a time of great difficulty for the Jewish people, but they will be miraculously delivered out of it:
(Jeremiah 30:7, Consider Ezekial 36-39 as you watch Russia, Iran and other Countries Allign Militarily)
Fact #17.
Many Christians won’t accept these facts because they accept the erroneous teaching of ‘Replacement Theology’ which claims that God is finished with the Jewish people, and has replaced Israel with the Church.
(Jeremiah 33:24-26, Romans 11:17-24)
Fact #18.
All of God’s promises to the Jewish people will literally be fulfilled
(Jeremiah 33:24-26)
The land that nobody wants Israel to have really belongs to God:
Psalm 24:1-2: “1 The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness,The world and those who dwell therein.2 For He has founded it upon the seas,And established it upon the waters.”
Leviticus 25:23: “23 ‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.”
God chooses Abraham and promises to give the whole land of Canaan to his descendants as an everlasting possession.
Genesis 17:7-9: “7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. 8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” 9 And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
God keeps his promise to Abraham and chooses his son Isaac to inherit the whole land of Canaan
Genesis 26:2-5: “2 Then the LORD appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4 And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
God keeps his promise to Abraham and Isaac and chooses Isaacs son Jacob to inherit the whole land of Canaan.
Genesis 28: 13-15: 13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: “I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
Jacob was chosen not Ishmael or the Arabs
Isaiah 41:8-9: “8 But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen,The descendants of Abraham My friend. 9 You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its farthest regions, And said to you, ‘ You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away.”
God commands Moses to lead the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob into the land God gave them after the Egyptian Captivity.
Exodus 33:1-2: “1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it. 2 And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.’”
God says he will re-establish Israel as a Nation after being scattered throughout the nations for many years. In 1948 Israel became a nation again and God has been bringing them back ever since!
Ezekial 37:21: “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;
God proclaims that his covenant with Israel will never be broken.
Psalm 89:34: “34 My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.”
The land that nobody wants Israel to have really belongs to God:
Psalm 24:1-2: “1 The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness,The world and those who dwell therein.2 For He has founded it upon the seas,And established it upon the waters.”
Leviticus 25:23: “23 ‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.”
God chooses Abraham and promises to give the whole land of Canaan to his descendants as an everlasting possession.
Genesis 17:7-9: “7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. 8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” 9 And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
God keeps his promise to Abraham and chooses his son Isaac to inherit the whole land of Canaan
Genesis 26:2-5: “2 Then the LORD appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4 And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
God keeps his promise to Abraham and Isaac and chooses Isaacs son Jacob to inherit the whole land of Canaan.
Genesis 28: 13-15: 13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: “I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
Jacob was chosen not Ishmael or the Arabs
Isaiah 41:8-9: “8 But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen,The descendants of Abraham My friend. 9 You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its farthest regions, And said to you, ‘ You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away.”
God commands Moses to lead the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob into the land God gave them after the Egyptian Captivity.
Exodus 33:1-2: “1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it. 2 And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.’”
God says he will re-establish Israel as a Nation after being scattered throughout the nations for many years. In 1948 Israel became a nation again and God has been bringing them back ever since!
Ezekial 37:21: “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;
God proclaims that his covenant with Israel will never be broken.
Psalm 89:34: “34 My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.”
Today there are no descendants from the Canaanites. They were utterly destroyed in this battle.
Numbers 21:2-3: “2 So Israel made a vow to the LORD, and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.” 3 And the LORD listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of that place was called Hormah.”
Interesting Charts
Hebrew Bible Genesis Offspring
Tribes of Jacob Chart
Deeper Outline:
God's Covenant Through Moses
God's Covenant Through Moses
Monday, December 08, 2008
Bottom Line:
BOTTOM LINE: I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ...that's the understatement of my life! My personal relationship with Jesus Christ is a powerful and real thing... truly beyond me. Knowing Jesus personally is better then having fresh air to breathe, or a cold glass of ice water, or a hot plate of food before me when I'm hungry. It's actually better then life itself. No matter what happens in my life I know Jesus is the same and He will always be faithful to what is written in the Bible. I would be lost if I didn't read the bible for myself. I wouldn't know the rich promises it contains that really apply to me personally, and as a result, and in the context of working out my own personal salvation with fear and trembling, all I care about is if I remain faithful to him and love people as he loves.
Loving as Jesus Loves Whew! That is a tall order ...but a very Sweet order. The reality is that loving like Jesus loves consistently is the greatest and most challenging goal he has placed on my life. The problem is that I don't always love people right. I still have this flesh nature to wrestle with. This flesh in me causes me to get bothered by things more then I used to, to give into those things that are not good for me and when I choose what's not good my relationship with him and others suffer. In many ways, I have become more like myself rather then Jesus and in other ways I have learned to be like Jesus. But the truth in all my changing is that Jesus has never changed. In His constant faithfulness he reminds me that I have a fresh and clean slate to begin with every moment of my life since I believe on him. This means even in my failures he gives me the assurance of hope that I can change and become more loving as I yield to and choose his ways because my life is wrapped solid in his forgiveness and mercy. I fear no condemnation for my sins because that's what he promises me because I trust in him. I know God has tranformed my life because I hate to sin against him.
BOTTOM LINE, all that I experience in my walk with Christ is because he already won the eternal battle of death in me during those days of his perfect living, perfect dying and powerful resurrecting. Because he hasn't changed from the beginning nor will he for eternity I am relieved and free! So he's the secure ROCK that I aim to stand on even in the daily grind of working hard to become more like him. My grind is the ever present battle inside of me to take captive the things in me that are contrary to his Word, and yield my life to his will by the power of His Holy Spirit and not my own efforts.
Another reason I'm so grateful for Jesus is because he knows me completely for who I really am at the BOTTOM LINE. And Who I really am is a Good, Bad, and Ugly Sinner with a capital S. I take no pride in this because it is not good. By nature I am not good. I've lied, stolen things, lusted after other people in my heart, which is adultrey in the heart, I've used God's name in vain which is blasphemy. So when I am completely honest with myself I know that I am guilty of being a liar, a thief, a blasphemer, an adulterer at heart. I am guilty of breaking Gods law. realizing this about myself was good and accepting what the bible says about me was good. I realized that being a Sinner ends in eternal death in hell for me unless Jesus' blood is applied to my life. I learned that Jesus' blood is the only ransom worth eternity in the eyes of God the Father, and when I accept Jesus in faith as the payment for my Sin Nature, God the Father graciously justifies me and makes me right in His Holy eyes. He saves me and changes me. Imagine having clothes of excrement and then being given clothes that are as white as snow. That basically what jesus has done for me. Thank you jesus! I admit the truth of my nature as a man before God and others because it is the only way of becoming really free. Free from myself and the consequences of living for myself and free to live in a new way that is really alive.
BOTTOM LINE, I would know nothing about Jesus Christ if I just listened, watched or read the media, or only read Christian books, or only listened to Pastors as they speak of who Jesus is. I would actually only get a skewed perspective of who he is. As I have witnessed the world turn in my 32 yrs and honestly assessed who I am as a person in nature, and as I learn from people and history about who people are by nature, the evidence is totally obvious that what the bible says is absolutely true. It is the only faithful book that has put into me the assurance of who Jesus Christ really is.
BOTTOM LINE: I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ...that's the understatement of my life! My personal relationship with Jesus Christ is a powerful and real thing... truly beyond me. Knowing Jesus personally is better then having fresh air to breathe, or a cold glass of ice water, or a hot plate of food before me when I'm hungry. It's actually better then life itself. No matter what happens in my life I know Jesus is the same and He will always be faithful to what is written in the Bible. I would be lost if I didn't read the bible for myself. I wouldn't know the rich promises it contains that really apply to me personally, and as a result, and in the context of working out my own personal salvation with fear and trembling, all I care about is if I remain faithful to him and love people as he loves.
Loving as Jesus Loves Whew! That is a tall order ...but a very Sweet order. The reality is that loving like Jesus loves consistently is the greatest and most challenging goal he has placed on my life. The problem is that I don't always love people right. I still have this flesh nature to wrestle with. This flesh in me causes me to get bothered by things more then I used to, to give into those things that are not good for me and when I choose what's not good my relationship with him and others suffer. In many ways, I have become more like myself rather then Jesus and in other ways I have learned to be like Jesus. But the truth in all my changing is that Jesus has never changed. In His constant faithfulness he reminds me that I have a fresh and clean slate to begin with every moment of my life since I believe on him. This means even in my failures he gives me the assurance of hope that I can change and become more loving as I yield to and choose his ways because my life is wrapped solid in his forgiveness and mercy. I fear no condemnation for my sins because that's what he promises me because I trust in him. I know God has tranformed my life because I hate to sin against him.
BOTTOM LINE, all that I experience in my walk with Christ is because he already won the eternal battle of death in me during those days of his perfect living, perfect dying and powerful resurrecting. Because he hasn't changed from the beginning nor will he for eternity I am relieved and free! So he's the secure ROCK that I aim to stand on even in the daily grind of working hard to become more like him. My grind is the ever present battle inside of me to take captive the things in me that are contrary to his Word, and yield my life to his will by the power of His Holy Spirit and not my own efforts.
Another reason I'm so grateful for Jesus is because he knows me completely for who I really am at the BOTTOM LINE. And Who I really am is a Good, Bad, and Ugly Sinner with a capital S. I take no pride in this because it is not good. By nature I am not good. I've lied, stolen things, lusted after other people in my heart, which is adultrey in the heart, I've used God's name in vain which is blasphemy. So when I am completely honest with myself I know that I am guilty of being a liar, a thief, a blasphemer, an adulterer at heart. I am guilty of breaking Gods law. realizing this about myself was good and accepting what the bible says about me was good. I realized that being a Sinner ends in eternal death in hell for me unless Jesus' blood is applied to my life. I learned that Jesus' blood is the only ransom worth eternity in the eyes of God the Father, and when I accept Jesus in faith as the payment for my Sin Nature, God the Father graciously justifies me and makes me right in His Holy eyes. He saves me and changes me. Imagine having clothes of excrement and then being given clothes that are as white as snow. That basically what jesus has done for me. Thank you jesus! I admit the truth of my nature as a man before God and others because it is the only way of becoming really free. Free from myself and the consequences of living for myself and free to live in a new way that is really alive.
BOTTOM LINE, I would know nothing about Jesus Christ if I just listened, watched or read the media, or only read Christian books, or only listened to Pastors as they speak of who Jesus is. I would actually only get a skewed perspective of who he is. As I have witnessed the world turn in my 32 yrs and honestly assessed who I am as a person in nature, and as I learn from people and history about who people are by nature, the evidence is totally obvious that what the bible says is absolutely true. It is the only faithful book that has put into me the assurance of who Jesus Christ really is.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
OPEN DIALOGUE:
My Friend Jeff wrote this recently in response to some relevant questions many people are asking today about Christianity:
"I am not an advocate of saying that Christianity has to be closely connected to politics. I was simply answering the question posted. For all I care, any religion can be closely connected to politics. This country wasn't founded on freedom of religion, but that's a different conversation. As for me, I am a Christian and that means that I believe in the Bible (God's Word) to be inspired by God. That means I believe it is infallible. God's Word, (not my word) says that it is only by the name of Jesus that any of us can come to the Father and have eternal with Him (John 14:6).
This is hard for any one to believe that doesn't have faith in God. No one likes to be told that there is only one way to anything, but it doesn't change the laws of God...and by the way, He is a good, loving, compassionate, and merciful God...not oppressive. I wouldn't want to be under the oppressive rule of the Church of England either. Man might have made Christianity oppressive, but then God's Word would say that people who have done that aren't Christians. 1 John 2:4 says: "Whoever says 'I know Him' but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in Him." People have come in the name of Christianity or in the name of Jesus and have done things that God HATES, and everyone sees what they have done and says, "Well, there you go, that's what Christians are like." But, if you took time to study the Bible, you would see that it is the farthest things from being oppressive...but it does say that: "At the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" Phillipians 2:10-11. This is oppressive to people who claim that they don't need anyone to be righteous, and to people who think they've got it all figured out.
If you believe that you can attain righteousness on your own, then this message will be foolish to you. But if you understand the inherent nature of man, you would say that we, on our own cannot make ourselves righteous. This is where The Bible says we must die to ourselves, give up our desires, and ask Jesus to come in to our lives and cleanse us from our filth. Then and only then can one experience any kind of enlightenment with God. Jesus, being perfect in nature, died on the cross to pay the price for our sin, then conquered death by raising up from the grave, and then ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father. that is why we can call on the name of Jesus and be saved from the consequences of our sin nature, which is the wrath of God. Because Jesus interceded for us, we can come before the Father and have fellowship with Him, and have true life with Him here in this life and after. We deserve death because of our sin, but Jesus took our place and offered to all who call on His name, perfect fellowship with God in eternity. That's not an oppressive message.
I submit to you, if you feel that Christianity is oppressive, then you have not seen a true Christian. The 2 greatest commandments that Jesus gave us were: Love God and love people! (Matthew 22:37-40)...and loving people isn't always giving them what we want. I love my son, but he's 5 years old and he wants to play with a chain saw. I will not let that happen because I love him. If he gets his hands on a chain saw he could destroy a lot of things, and possibly kill himself or others. In the same way, God loves us and wants us to live in truth so he has set boundaries around good things and bad things. As man, we have challenged God's boundaries and have reaped destruction upon ourselves and others.
God does not change, but we continue to think we can do what we want, believe in what we want and still get to the place we want to. 2+2=4. God says that there is only one way to Him, and we challenge that and say "that's not true". It's like telling your math teacher that 2+2=5. Your teacher will say no it doesn't. Know matter how much you protest or argue, then answer is still 4. If you answer 5 on the test, you will get it wrong. It is the same with God. The only way to eternal life with Him is through Jesus. If that's oppressive to you, then I pray that you wouldn't be offended, only encouraged to find out what really is true. God promises to reveal truth to all who truly desire to find it!" Shalom, Jeff
My Friend Jeff wrote this recently in response to some relevant questions many people are asking today about Christianity:
"I am not an advocate of saying that Christianity has to be closely connected to politics. I was simply answering the question posted. For all I care, any religion can be closely connected to politics. This country wasn't founded on freedom of religion, but that's a different conversation. As for me, I am a Christian and that means that I believe in the Bible (God's Word) to be inspired by God. That means I believe it is infallible. God's Word, (not my word) says that it is only by the name of Jesus that any of us can come to the Father and have eternal with Him (John 14:6).
This is hard for any one to believe that doesn't have faith in God. No one likes to be told that there is only one way to anything, but it doesn't change the laws of God...and by the way, He is a good, loving, compassionate, and merciful God...not oppressive. I wouldn't want to be under the oppressive rule of the Church of England either. Man might have made Christianity oppressive, but then God's Word would say that people who have done that aren't Christians. 1 John 2:4 says: "Whoever says 'I know Him' but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in Him." People have come in the name of Christianity or in the name of Jesus and have done things that God HATES, and everyone sees what they have done and says, "Well, there you go, that's what Christians are like." But, if you took time to study the Bible, you would see that it is the farthest things from being oppressive...but it does say that: "At the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" Phillipians 2:10-11. This is oppressive to people who claim that they don't need anyone to be righteous, and to people who think they've got it all figured out.
If you believe that you can attain righteousness on your own, then this message will be foolish to you. But if you understand the inherent nature of man, you would say that we, on our own cannot make ourselves righteous. This is where The Bible says we must die to ourselves, give up our desires, and ask Jesus to come in to our lives and cleanse us from our filth. Then and only then can one experience any kind of enlightenment with God. Jesus, being perfect in nature, died on the cross to pay the price for our sin, then conquered death by raising up from the grave, and then ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father. that is why we can call on the name of Jesus and be saved from the consequences of our sin nature, which is the wrath of God. Because Jesus interceded for us, we can come before the Father and have fellowship with Him, and have true life with Him here in this life and after. We deserve death because of our sin, but Jesus took our place and offered to all who call on His name, perfect fellowship with God in eternity. That's not an oppressive message.
I submit to you, if you feel that Christianity is oppressive, then you have not seen a true Christian. The 2 greatest commandments that Jesus gave us were: Love God and love people! (Matthew 22:37-40)...and loving people isn't always giving them what we want. I love my son, but he's 5 years old and he wants to play with a chain saw. I will not let that happen because I love him. If he gets his hands on a chain saw he could destroy a lot of things, and possibly kill himself or others. In the same way, God loves us and wants us to live in truth so he has set boundaries around good things and bad things. As man, we have challenged God's boundaries and have reaped destruction upon ourselves and others.
God does not change, but we continue to think we can do what we want, believe in what we want and still get to the place we want to. 2+2=4. God says that there is only one way to Him, and we challenge that and say "that's not true". It's like telling your math teacher that 2+2=5. Your teacher will say no it doesn't. Know matter how much you protest or argue, then answer is still 4. If you answer 5 on the test, you will get it wrong. It is the same with God. The only way to eternal life with Him is through Jesus. If that's oppressive to you, then I pray that you wouldn't be offended, only encouraged to find out what really is true. God promises to reveal truth to all who truly desire to find it!" Shalom, Jeff
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Remembering Lynette...thanks to a friend.
I was just thinking about the things that we rely upon as God’s children. Those things that can really make a difference in our hearts in any circumstance we face. Those things are the PROMISES of God and a LOVE for his Word that goes beyond just saying, “I love God’s Word” I recently read a quote that spoke loud to me. People Say I know the Word of God but what really matters is if we Know the God of the Word. That makes all the difference when taking in his promises to us because then it is about our personal relationship with him and he is the focus not our knowledge or experiences. No one can comfort except our God. When death comes upon people who are in Christ it is actually a reminder of OUR BLESSED ASSURANCE that we all WILL be RESURRECTED and will be with God and one another for eternity.
I Thessolaonians 4:13-18 talks about what will happen to her and us on that awesome day:
The Hope of the Resurrection
13 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died[f] so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.
15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.[g] 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died[h] will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.
That promise is what keeps hopelessness and despair from entering into our grief. Jesus wept when Lazarus died and we weep also but we look to that glorious day and therefore can now rejoice and celebrate the memorial of our loved ones who go into Christ presence before us…. Although we miss them terribly with tears we can truly celebrate that they are IN CHRIST or IN ETERNAL LIFE. They are not dead they are sleeping.
Psalm 139 is a powerful revealing of how much God loves your mother in law and is in control of her life from birth to death:
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3 You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
4 You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
5 You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!
7 I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave,[a] you are there.
9 If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
11 I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
17 How precious are your thoughts about me,[b] O God.
They cannot be numbered!
18 I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me!
19 O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!
Get out of my life, you murderers!
20 They blaspheme you;
your enemies misuse your name.
21 O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?
Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?
22 Yes, I hate them with total hatred,
for your enemies are my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Another thing is that the REALITY of our faith is realized and magnified when our loved ones pass and so its also an encouragement to us who are still on this earth to keep entrusting all of ourselves to Christ and to most importantly share our faith with others and to love one another
1 Peter 1:13-25
A Call to Holy Living
13 So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”[c]
17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.” 18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.
21 Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.
22 You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters.[d] Love each other deeply with all your heart.[e]
23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. 24 As the Scriptures say,
“People are like grass;
their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
25 But the word of the Lord remains forever.”[f]
And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.
Just imagine if your mother-in-law did not have a personal relationship with Jesus. I can’t bare thinking about the eternal death of someone I know or dearly love that did not know Christ, because the Bible clearly reveals to humanity that God is perfectly Just and does not forgive a persons sin nature unless they have been washed clean by the atoning sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. God has provided no other way to be forgiven of sin. Praise God Your Mother-in-law is in the presence of Christ!!! I hope these three verses help and I’ll be praying that everyone will rejoice and celebrate all the grateness of your mother-in-laws life. Especially the one she is now experiencing in Christ's presence.
I was just thinking about the things that we rely upon as God’s children. Those things that can really make a difference in our hearts in any circumstance we face. Those things are the PROMISES of God and a LOVE for his Word that goes beyond just saying, “I love God’s Word” I recently read a quote that spoke loud to me. People Say I know the Word of God but what really matters is if we Know the God of the Word. That makes all the difference when taking in his promises to us because then it is about our personal relationship with him and he is the focus not our knowledge or experiences. No one can comfort except our God. When death comes upon people who are in Christ it is actually a reminder of OUR BLESSED ASSURANCE that we all WILL be RESURRECTED and will be with God and one another for eternity.
I Thessolaonians 4:13-18 talks about what will happen to her and us on that awesome day:
The Hope of the Resurrection
13 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died[f] so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.
15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.[g] 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died[h] will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.
That promise is what keeps hopelessness and despair from entering into our grief. Jesus wept when Lazarus died and we weep also but we look to that glorious day and therefore can now rejoice and celebrate the memorial of our loved ones who go into Christ presence before us…. Although we miss them terribly with tears we can truly celebrate that they are IN CHRIST or IN ETERNAL LIFE. They are not dead they are sleeping.
Psalm 139 is a powerful revealing of how much God loves your mother in law and is in control of her life from birth to death:
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3 You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
4 You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
5 You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!
7 I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave,[a] you are there.
9 If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
11 I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
17 How precious are your thoughts about me,[b] O God.
They cannot be numbered!
18 I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me!
19 O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!
Get out of my life, you murderers!
20 They blaspheme you;
your enemies misuse your name.
21 O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?
Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?
22 Yes, I hate them with total hatred,
for your enemies are my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Another thing is that the REALITY of our faith is realized and magnified when our loved ones pass and so its also an encouragement to us who are still on this earth to keep entrusting all of ourselves to Christ and to most importantly share our faith with others and to love one another
1 Peter 1:13-25
A Call to Holy Living
13 So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”[c]
17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.” 18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.
21 Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.
22 You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters.[d] Love each other deeply with all your heart.[e]
23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. 24 As the Scriptures say,
“People are like grass;
their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
25 But the word of the Lord remains forever.”[f]
And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.
Just imagine if your mother-in-law did not have a personal relationship with Jesus. I can’t bare thinking about the eternal death of someone I know or dearly love that did not know Christ, because the Bible clearly reveals to humanity that God is perfectly Just and does not forgive a persons sin nature unless they have been washed clean by the atoning sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. God has provided no other way to be forgiven of sin. Praise God Your Mother-in-law is in the presence of Christ!!! I hope these three verses help and I’ll be praying that everyone will rejoice and celebrate all the grateness of your mother-in-laws life. Especially the one she is now experiencing in Christ's presence.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Fresh Air and Clear Skies Awaits You!
Have you ever been stuck without air and felt that sensation of panic besetting you knowing that if air doesn't come NOW! certain death is right around the corner? It's a humbling experience and thought to realize that you would certainly flail uncontrollably and do whatever you would have to in order to get back to the surface to breathe oxygen. That's because the surface is where you know you can simply depend on your natural ability to process oxygen. Or have you ever been stuck in fog for a long period of time and didn't see clear skies or sunlight? That certain gloomy disposition creeps in on you and you just long for refreshment and clear skies. You cry, "If I could only get into the clear skies and fresh air I would be at peace and secure!" Most of us have experienced these slight panics and gloomy dispositions before and we don't desire to experience them just for the fun of it. My point in bringing this up is that we should all be very thankful that we are not like the frog who DOES NOT jump out of the water even when it has heated to the boiling point of death! Right now you and I are experiencing things today that are challenging us to the core just like water challenges our ability to breathe and fog challenges our ability to see clearly. And I have a hunch that all of us no matter our differences in belief systems, race, nationality, or gender, because we're human, are crying out inside, "If only I could hear something that would make everything make sense I would have peace!" Aren't we all crying out for PEACE AND SAFETY these days? And won't we continue to do so, with ever increasing passion, as the threats to our peace and safety rise up? Just give me peace! Just give me security! This is the hearts cry of men, women and children when things begin to threaten our values, our lifestyles, our families, our freedom and most of all who we are at the core. We're entering into an era where we ought to depend on our conscience, that is if it has not been eroded away already by the lack of yielding to and choosing to follow the truth when it is heard. Our conscience is our natural ability to discern between what is right and wrong and the frightening thing is that, just like the frog, your ability to sense danger or evil or deception, or wrong can be deadened to the point that you don't even realize you yourself are in harms way, are being deceived, wronged or lied to. Even to the point of death. But,there is only one message that can cut through the fog and suffocating elements of this life. This one message brings clear skies and fresh air! There is only one message that can rip through the deception, tear down the lies that we beleive and build our lives on, that may already have a hold of you. There is only one message that can bring you everlasting PEACE and eternal SAFETY. I hope that you will embrace the message and cling to it. You are not a creature that is senseless. You know the truth when you hear it, and I hope that you will jump out of the boiling pot when you see that the truth in this following message is the FRESH OXYGEN and CLEAR SKIES you have been looking for all your life. My friend, you were made to breathe fresh air and to see clear skies!
"Have you been feeling like there is a void in your heart? Have you ever asked the question, “Why did God create me?” or “Why do I exist?”
God created every man with a God-shaped void in his heart. All of us have tried to fill this void in many different ways: with money, prestige, possessions, power and even with people.However, none of these things will ever really satisfy us. The only thing that can totally fill this void is a relationship with God.
The Bible says:
“Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live…” 1 Corinthians 8:6 We were created for Him. God created each and every one of us to have fellowship with Him. To have fellowship means to have a personal relationship. This relationship is only possible through Christ.
When God first created man, they enjoyed fellowship. But God did not create man as a robot to love and obey Him mechanically, but rather gave man a freedom to choose. Unfortunately, man chose to disobey God, which he continues to do to this day. When man sinned, this relationship with God was broken and as a result, he was separated from God.
The Bible says:
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God” Isaiah 59:2
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 It was not God who fell away from man, but man that abandoned God. When man sinned, he turned his back on God, and in a sense said, “I no longer want to follow Your will, I would rather follow my own.” Many have tried throughout history in different ways to reach God through their own efforts, but every attempt has failed.
The Bible explains:
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12 But the Lord desired to have fellowship with man again, so He presented a solution…
God sent His only begotten Son to the world, who lived a sinless life and fulfilled the perfect standard set by God. When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the penalty for all our sins, that way all that believe in Him and accept what He did on our behalf, can be forgiven of their sins and receive eternal life.
The Bible says:
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” 1 Peter 3:18 The Bible tells us that Jesus is no ordinary person. He is more than just a good teacher or another religious leader, He is God, creator of the universe, who has come into the world as a man (John 1:1). By being fully God and man, Jesus is able to fulfill the ministry of bridging the gap between the two, dying for our sins as a man, and now acting as a mediator to bring God and man together.
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men- the testimony given in its proper time.” 1 Timothy 2:5, 6
If you would like to accept Jesus Christ into your life, and receive the forgiveness of God to have that void filled, follow these simple steps with a sincere heart:
1. Confess: This means to recognize that you are a sinner, that you’re separated from God, and that you need Him in your life.
2. Repent: Repentance is agreeing with God about what He calls sin in your life, and turning away from it. It means to leave behind the old life and to begin anew, making choices that you know will please the Lord.
3. Believe: This is trusting that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and on the third day He rose from the dead. In doing so He brings all who trust in Him eternal life.
4. Receive: Through prayer, ask Jesus to come into your life and send His Holy Spirit into your heart to teach and guide you. This is what it means to “receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior”.
5. Profess: Jesus said that if we acknowledge Him before men, He will acknowledge us before His Father in heaven (Matthew 10:32). In other words, if we are really serious about our commitment to Him, we will tell somebody about it. A pastor, a friend or a family member. Just think about how much Jesus has done for you already, this should be a real easy step.
If you would like to receive Jesus into your heart, and have all of your sins forgiven, say this simple prayer with a sincere heart:
Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and that I need your forgiveness. I believe that You died on the cross for my sins, and that you were raised on the third day bringing eternal life. Forgive me of my sins and fill this void in my heart with your love. I want You to be the Savior and Lord of my life. In the name of Jesus, Amen." by Pastor Mark Martin at Calvary Community Church.
Please call me if you want to make a decision for Christ. I will pray be glad to pray with you. 602-696-3210
Have you ever been stuck without air and felt that sensation of panic besetting you knowing that if air doesn't come NOW! certain death is right around the corner? It's a humbling experience and thought to realize that you would certainly flail uncontrollably and do whatever you would have to in order to get back to the surface to breathe oxygen. That's because the surface is where you know you can simply depend on your natural ability to process oxygen. Or have you ever been stuck in fog for a long period of time and didn't see clear skies or sunlight? That certain gloomy disposition creeps in on you and you just long for refreshment and clear skies. You cry, "If I could only get into the clear skies and fresh air I would be at peace and secure!" Most of us have experienced these slight panics and gloomy dispositions before and we don't desire to experience them just for the fun of it. My point in bringing this up is that we should all be very thankful that we are not like the frog who DOES NOT jump out of the water even when it has heated to the boiling point of death! Right now you and I are experiencing things today that are challenging us to the core just like water challenges our ability to breathe and fog challenges our ability to see clearly. And I have a hunch that all of us no matter our differences in belief systems, race, nationality, or gender, because we're human, are crying out inside, "If only I could hear something that would make everything make sense I would have peace!" Aren't we all crying out for PEACE AND SAFETY these days? And won't we continue to do so, with ever increasing passion, as the threats to our peace and safety rise up? Just give me peace! Just give me security! This is the hearts cry of men, women and children when things begin to threaten our values, our lifestyles, our families, our freedom and most of all who we are at the core. We're entering into an era where we ought to depend on our conscience, that is if it has not been eroded away already by the lack of yielding to and choosing to follow the truth when it is heard. Our conscience is our natural ability to discern between what is right and wrong and the frightening thing is that, just like the frog, your ability to sense danger or evil or deception, or wrong can be deadened to the point that you don't even realize you yourself are in harms way, are being deceived, wronged or lied to. Even to the point of death. But,there is only one message that can cut through the fog and suffocating elements of this life. This one message brings clear skies and fresh air! There is only one message that can rip through the deception, tear down the lies that we beleive and build our lives on, that may already have a hold of you. There is only one message that can bring you everlasting PEACE and eternal SAFETY. I hope that you will embrace the message and cling to it. You are not a creature that is senseless. You know the truth when you hear it, and I hope that you will jump out of the boiling pot when you see that the truth in this following message is the FRESH OXYGEN and CLEAR SKIES you have been looking for all your life. My friend, you were made to breathe fresh air and to see clear skies!
"Have you been feeling like there is a void in your heart? Have you ever asked the question, “Why did God create me?” or “Why do I exist?”
God created every man with a God-shaped void in his heart. All of us have tried to fill this void in many different ways: with money, prestige, possessions, power and even with people.However, none of these things will ever really satisfy us. The only thing that can totally fill this void is a relationship with God.
The Bible says:
“Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live…” 1 Corinthians 8:6 We were created for Him. God created each and every one of us to have fellowship with Him. To have fellowship means to have a personal relationship. This relationship is only possible through Christ.
When God first created man, they enjoyed fellowship. But God did not create man as a robot to love and obey Him mechanically, but rather gave man a freedom to choose. Unfortunately, man chose to disobey God, which he continues to do to this day. When man sinned, this relationship with God was broken and as a result, he was separated from God.
The Bible says:
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God” Isaiah 59:2
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 It was not God who fell away from man, but man that abandoned God. When man sinned, he turned his back on God, and in a sense said, “I no longer want to follow Your will, I would rather follow my own.” Many have tried throughout history in different ways to reach God through their own efforts, but every attempt has failed.
The Bible explains:
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12 But the Lord desired to have fellowship with man again, so He presented a solution…
God sent His only begotten Son to the world, who lived a sinless life and fulfilled the perfect standard set by God. When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the penalty for all our sins, that way all that believe in Him and accept what He did on our behalf, can be forgiven of their sins and receive eternal life.
The Bible says:
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” 1 Peter 3:18 The Bible tells us that Jesus is no ordinary person. He is more than just a good teacher or another religious leader, He is God, creator of the universe, who has come into the world as a man (John 1:1). By being fully God and man, Jesus is able to fulfill the ministry of bridging the gap between the two, dying for our sins as a man, and now acting as a mediator to bring God and man together.
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men- the testimony given in its proper time.” 1 Timothy 2:5, 6
If you would like to accept Jesus Christ into your life, and receive the forgiveness of God to have that void filled, follow these simple steps with a sincere heart:
1. Confess: This means to recognize that you are a sinner, that you’re separated from God, and that you need Him in your life.
2. Repent: Repentance is agreeing with God about what He calls sin in your life, and turning away from it. It means to leave behind the old life and to begin anew, making choices that you know will please the Lord.
3. Believe: This is trusting that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and on the third day He rose from the dead. In doing so He brings all who trust in Him eternal life.
4. Receive: Through prayer, ask Jesus to come into your life and send His Holy Spirit into your heart to teach and guide you. This is what it means to “receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior”.
5. Profess: Jesus said that if we acknowledge Him before men, He will acknowledge us before His Father in heaven (Matthew 10:32). In other words, if we are really serious about our commitment to Him, we will tell somebody about it. A pastor, a friend or a family member. Just think about how much Jesus has done for you already, this should be a real easy step.
If you would like to receive Jesus into your heart, and have all of your sins forgiven, say this simple prayer with a sincere heart:
Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and that I need your forgiveness. I believe that You died on the cross for my sins, and that you were raised on the third day bringing eternal life. Forgive me of my sins and fill this void in my heart with your love. I want You to be the Savior and Lord of my life. In the name of Jesus, Amen." by Pastor Mark Martin at Calvary Community Church.
Please call me if you want to make a decision for Christ. I will pray be glad to pray with you. 602-696-3210
Thursday, September 25, 2008
IF MILLIONS of PEOPLE SUDDENLY DISAPPEAR...please watch these.
http://harvestreno.org/messageVideo.asp?id=124&quality=high
http://harvestreno.org/messageVideo.asp?id=124&quality=high
RUN TO THE BATTLE! & NO SWEETER NAME!!
Dear Fellow Disciples of Jesus Christ,
The links below have been making me think about a lot of things. Please watch them. With all the coming changes we’re being given new opportunity to remain loyal to our Savior Jesus Christ, and I’ve been thinking a lot about the mindset and heart a disciple of Jesus Christ must have to really be considered one. The men portrayed in this video are warriors and I’m moved in the right direction when I remember that people really fought for what’s right in these types of battles. What courage and surrender! When their cultures changed and threats against freedom reared up they were willing to die in the fight for righteousness on the frontline. In my personal relationship with God I have asked Him to help me be focused on the right battle because there are so many to choose from. As Christians, there is really only one battle worth fighting for and worth giving up our time and our whole lives for? If we are going to call ourselves Christians then we need to accept that In God’s eyes there is only one battle that is right and we must begin or continue being focused on that one battle. Have we learned what that battle is? We must have a fresh realization that God see us only through his Son Jesus Christ and that is what we must understand. It is the empowerment we need. God does not see you alone. He sees you through his perfect Son Jesus. Get a hold of that truth and you are empowered! God the Father desires that we are a part of the offensive team rather then the defensive team of advancing his Kingdom. We are all too often on the defensive team which is not advancing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Advancing God’s Kingdom by sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only right battle for disciples of Jesus, because it is the will of God that people believe in his son Jesus Christ above all else and right now time is of essence. He has provided no other way to spend eternity with him except through Jesus. Jesus is already the KING of KINGS and LORD of LORDS and He rules over ALL. Jesus Christ rules a Kingdom of the kind that this world does not understand. It is the only Kingdom that has a single party rule that is worth being under. We are already under the LORD JESUS CHRISTS complete authority. Naturally, we belong to what has become a very confused republic called the United States of America and it is spinning out of control and out of influence. Supernaturally, which is reality, we are already part of GODS KINGDOM.
How do a small number of people within a confused republic, but who are already GODS KINGDOM members, who know the WAY to live, the TRUTH to abide in, and the LIFE to share make a lasting difference? They do two things. First, they Run to the Battle by beginning on their knees in prayer, and reading Gods word and they live carrying their cross daily so that the Holy Spirit of God reigns in their life and makes real warriors out of them. These are the ones who become BOND SERVANTS OF CHRIST. Second, they realize that fighting for the sake of Righteousness, which is the only true Holy War, is accomplished only by LOVINGLY SHARING THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST DAILY. A Christian needs to share their faith with at least one person or more a day. If you are doing the first thing you will be successful in the second because God is in control of your life! Are you willing to prepare yourself for this worthy battle of being on the offensive team for Jesus Christ? The gates of hell are already against you, your flesh is already against you, this world is already against you and you will suffer persecution if you commit to being a BOND SERVANT to CHRIST! But a reward awaits you when you enter this battle which in all honesty is not an option in the Christian life.
I’m focusing my life and encouraging my brothers and sisters in Christ so that we really reflect who we are in Christ right now, and this video makes me wonder –
What else do men and women, who already belong to the Kingdom of God, have to go through to be inspired to run to the right battle if it is not already the name of Jesus Christ?
What other purpose do disciples of the LORD of LORDS have that is greater? There is none. Will you run to the battle with warrior courage, loyalty and a willingness to fight to the death for lost souls for the sake of Christ who already saved you in the same way? If we are not we need to forfeit our Christian names. If we are Christians we must run into this battle, because it is the very thing that defines a Christ follower. Christ Followers are BOND SERVANTS to Him, and BOND SERVANTS Run to the Battle. No other name has the power to motivate you to fight the right battle other then Jesus, and there is no other reason to live on this side of eternity other than to fight the right battle so that others can have the opportunity to choose KING JESUS through your witness.
Dear Disciple of Jesus, perhaps we will not have another full week to share the good news about Christ. It is Yom Teruah Sept 29th! Get on your knees and ask God to change you today and entrust your whole life to Jesus Christ. Trust Jesus with everything you have and run into the battle today. The words of this song and the images are powerful and inspiring. May the Lord take us through what we need to go through so that we become true warriors in His eyes and for His Kingdom.
LET’S RUN TO THE BATTLE! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL7cL_p5_84
NO SWEETER NAME: http://www.ukristo.com/movie.php?m=j8lax0k90NSJ1g20EpWLtN5JX
Your fellow soldier in training!
Maranatha Come Lord Jesus Come!
In simplicity and faith, wherever Jesus may lead me, He will go before me, and if I do not know where I go, I know with whom I go. With such a companion will I dread the danger of the journey?
Dear Fellow Disciples of Jesus Christ,
The links below have been making me think about a lot of things. Please watch them. With all the coming changes we’re being given new opportunity to remain loyal to our Savior Jesus Christ, and I’ve been thinking a lot about the mindset and heart a disciple of Jesus Christ must have to really be considered one. The men portrayed in this video are warriors and I’m moved in the right direction when I remember that people really fought for what’s right in these types of battles. What courage and surrender! When their cultures changed and threats against freedom reared up they were willing to die in the fight for righteousness on the frontline. In my personal relationship with God I have asked Him to help me be focused on the right battle because there are so many to choose from. As Christians, there is really only one battle worth fighting for and worth giving up our time and our whole lives for? If we are going to call ourselves Christians then we need to accept that In God’s eyes there is only one battle that is right and we must begin or continue being focused on that one battle. Have we learned what that battle is? We must have a fresh realization that God see us only through his Son Jesus Christ and that is what we must understand. It is the empowerment we need. God does not see you alone. He sees you through his perfect Son Jesus. Get a hold of that truth and you are empowered! God the Father desires that we are a part of the offensive team rather then the defensive team of advancing his Kingdom. We are all too often on the defensive team which is not advancing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Advancing God’s Kingdom by sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only right battle for disciples of Jesus, because it is the will of God that people believe in his son Jesus Christ above all else and right now time is of essence. He has provided no other way to spend eternity with him except through Jesus. Jesus is already the KING of KINGS and LORD of LORDS and He rules over ALL. Jesus Christ rules a Kingdom of the kind that this world does not understand. It is the only Kingdom that has a single party rule that is worth being under. We are already under the LORD JESUS CHRISTS complete authority. Naturally, we belong to what has become a very confused republic called the United States of America and it is spinning out of control and out of influence. Supernaturally, which is reality, we are already part of GODS KINGDOM.
How do a small number of people within a confused republic, but who are already GODS KINGDOM members, who know the WAY to live, the TRUTH to abide in, and the LIFE to share make a lasting difference? They do two things. First, they Run to the Battle by beginning on their knees in prayer, and reading Gods word and they live carrying their cross daily so that the Holy Spirit of God reigns in their life and makes real warriors out of them. These are the ones who become BOND SERVANTS OF CHRIST. Second, they realize that fighting for the sake of Righteousness, which is the only true Holy War, is accomplished only by LOVINGLY SHARING THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST DAILY. A Christian needs to share their faith with at least one person or more a day. If you are doing the first thing you will be successful in the second because God is in control of your life! Are you willing to prepare yourself for this worthy battle of being on the offensive team for Jesus Christ? The gates of hell are already against you, your flesh is already against you, this world is already against you and you will suffer persecution if you commit to being a BOND SERVANT to CHRIST! But a reward awaits you when you enter this battle which in all honesty is not an option in the Christian life.
I’m focusing my life and encouraging my brothers and sisters in Christ so that we really reflect who we are in Christ right now, and this video makes me wonder –
What else do men and women, who already belong to the Kingdom of God, have to go through to be inspired to run to the right battle if it is not already the name of Jesus Christ?
What other purpose do disciples of the LORD of LORDS have that is greater? There is none. Will you run to the battle with warrior courage, loyalty and a willingness to fight to the death for lost souls for the sake of Christ who already saved you in the same way? If we are not we need to forfeit our Christian names. If we are Christians we must run into this battle, because it is the very thing that defines a Christ follower. Christ Followers are BOND SERVANTS to Him, and BOND SERVANTS Run to the Battle. No other name has the power to motivate you to fight the right battle other then Jesus, and there is no other reason to live on this side of eternity other than to fight the right battle so that others can have the opportunity to choose KING JESUS through your witness.
Dear Disciple of Jesus, perhaps we will not have another full week to share the good news about Christ. It is Yom Teruah Sept 29th! Get on your knees and ask God to change you today and entrust your whole life to Jesus Christ. Trust Jesus with everything you have and run into the battle today. The words of this song and the images are powerful and inspiring. May the Lord take us through what we need to go through so that we become true warriors in His eyes and for His Kingdom.
LET’S RUN TO THE BATTLE! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL7cL_p5_84
NO SWEETER NAME: http://www.ukristo.com/movie.php?m=j8lax0k90NSJ1g20EpWLtN5JX
Your fellow soldier in training!
Maranatha Come Lord Jesus Come!
In simplicity and faith, wherever Jesus may lead me, He will go before me, and if I do not know where I go, I know with whom I go. With such a companion will I dread the danger of the journey?
Monday, September 15, 2008
Part I: John 21
This is my favorite chapter of the Bible. I have a lot of favorite scripture but this one expresses where my heart is at most of the time if not all of the time. If I could place myself in any moment of Jesus' life it would be in these moments of time with him, because to me it's extremely attractive and magnificent to be in a natural environment together with my family & friends experiencing God by learning from him, watching him, sharing with him, and drawing close to him. These moments on the water and in this little beach cove, so early in the morning, with a vibrant fire, splashing fish, cold shivers, tasty breakfast, and the most raw heart to heart conversations with piercingly loving stares from the Savior of souls, God, are cutting edge life. Revealed are some of the most refreshing, challenging, healing, maturing, teachable, revolutionary, and real moments a person can ever experience. It's when I need to be revived, want to draw near to Jesus, need to readjust my priorities, or am stressed, discouraged, and needing encouragement that I think about the lessons of this passage of the Bible:
Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. Several of the disciples were there—Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples. Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.” “We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night. At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who he was. He called out, “Fellows, have you caught any fish?” “No,” they replied. Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it. Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore. The others stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards from shore. When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread. “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said. So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn’t torn. “Now come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead. After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him. Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.” “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said. A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep. “I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.” Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved—the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, “Lord, who will betray you?” Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord?” Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.” So the rumor spread among the community of believers that this disciple wouldn’t die. But that isn’t what Jesus said at all. He only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” This disciple is the one who testifies to these events and has recorded them here. And we know that his account of these things is accurate. Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.
The greatest part about this window of time to me is that it all occurred AFTER Jesus was crucified and AFTER he came back to life from being dead! These are the life experiences that produce new and cultivate stronger faith:
This is my favorite chapter of the Bible. I have a lot of favorite scripture but this one expresses where my heart is at most of the time if not all of the time. If I could place myself in any moment of Jesus' life it would be in these moments of time with him, because to me it's extremely attractive and magnificent to be in a natural environment together with my family & friends experiencing God by learning from him, watching him, sharing with him, and drawing close to him. These moments on the water and in this little beach cove, so early in the morning, with a vibrant fire, splashing fish, cold shivers, tasty breakfast, and the most raw heart to heart conversations with piercingly loving stares from the Savior of souls, God, are cutting edge life. Revealed are some of the most refreshing, challenging, healing, maturing, teachable, revolutionary, and real moments a person can ever experience. It's when I need to be revived, want to draw near to Jesus, need to readjust my priorities, or am stressed, discouraged, and needing encouragement that I think about the lessons of this passage of the Bible:
Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. Several of the disciples were there—Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples. Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.” “We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night. At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who he was. He called out, “Fellows, have you caught any fish?” “No,” they replied. Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it. Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore. The others stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards from shore. When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread. “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said. So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn’t torn. “Now come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead. After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him. Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.” “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said. A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep. “I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.” Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved—the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, “Lord, who will betray you?” Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord?” Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.” So the rumor spread among the community of believers that this disciple wouldn’t die. But that isn’t what Jesus said at all. He only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” This disciple is the one who testifies to these events and has recorded them here. And we know that his account of these things is accurate. Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.
The greatest part about this window of time to me is that it all occurred AFTER Jesus was crucified and AFTER he came back to life from being dead! These are the life experiences that produce new and cultivate stronger faith:
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