Tag: life

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Jesus is the light.

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[Jhn 3:19-21 NASB] 19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

​[Jhn 1:4-5, 9-13 NASB] 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. … 9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, [even] to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Jesus is the Light.  Everyone who does evil hates Jesus.  Those who are doing the will of God, as worked in them by God, are the ones practicing the truth.  They come to Jesus.  Jesus makes us alive.  Death does not understand life.  Death is the wages of sin.  The sinful world of death is dark.  Those who dwell in darkness, sin, and death, do not recognize, or know Jesus/life/light.  He came to the chosen nation first.  Most of them rejected him.  As many as did not reject him, but instead received him, became children of God through adoption.  They didn’t do this from their own effort/traditions/sacrifices, or by their heritage as descendants of the patriarchs, or their circumcision of the flesh, but instead it was due to the will of God electing them in eternity past that they are regenerated to eternal life.

cultural · God · gospel · heaven · sanctification · saved · Uncategorized

Have you ever felt like you are not an adult, like you are just pretending…

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wheniwasachild

Have you ever felt like you are not an adult, like you are just pretending to be your idea of what an adult is? Do you wonder if the others are going to see through your facade and know that you are just playing at being an adult? My standard of what a man should be has always been my Father. He has been dead for about 4 years now. I know he would tell me he is proud of me, and that I’ve become the man he hoped I would be. He never showed us any doubt. He was always so outwardly confident, or perhaps that is the way it seemed to a child’s perception. I know he did have doubts and fears. I know he confided in his Wife. I have done the same thing. I wonder though, if the strength he portrayed to us wasn’t there, what kind of man would I be? Because of my Father, I can safely say, I am a more godly man than I would have been without Him. Because of His example, I took several, I mean several leaps of faith to do what I thought would have been the right thing, the thing Dad would have done, or been proud of. Ladies, this can apply to you and your godly mothers as well. I know my Dad wasn’t perfect, and he made mistakes that he privately regretted, but he was as good a Father to me and my Brother as he could have been. Now that Dad is gone, I don’t feel alone, or on shaky ground. Why? Because I’ve got another Father. A perfect Father who is not flawed. I have a Father who gave me and my Brother, and our Mother, the perfect man to accomplish His will in our lives. Dad might not have been the adult that we saw with our little eyes, and thought of with our childish minds, but he was the man that God used to bring us to Him. Dad was strong and compassionate, he was hard and thoughtful, he was self-sacrificing and forgiving. It was so much easier for me to see the character of Christ in a man most people would have called marginally Christian, than in many who put on a good show of being an adult. God the Father, in His perfect knowledge and sovereignty, “causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Because of who God the Father is, I had the human Father He wanted for me. He used my Dad to lead one of His elect to Him. I was so lost as a young man. I loved myself more than anything or anyone else. I loved my own pleasures, and hated those who would deny me. Now because of the memories of my Father, and the testimony of the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit, I am a partaker in God’s grace. I have been adopted by the true Father of all who are born again. I and my Dad, are brother’s in Christ. I hope to see him again in eternity, and worship the Lord Jesus, with him as well. I hope and pray that my Brother, and his family, my oldest Step-Son, my present, and future Grandchildren, and all of you will be with us to, as brothers and sister, unified in love, and the love of Christ Jesus. We all have doubts and fears in life. We are uncertain at times, but look to God, fix your eyes on Jesus, and what He did for you in His life, crucifixion, and resurrection. There is one God, and only one way of salvation, it is Jesus Christ. Repent of your sins, and believe. He will grant you new life and make you a new person, just like He did for me. I’m not always assured and confident in my position, but I am so confident and sure of God, and because He is good, I know that whatever I go through in life is for my sanctification. It is to shape me into the the adult man, that He wants me to be. I hope that when I am dead, the people whom God has given me to be with will be able to say the same about me that I have said about my Father.

cultural · God · Uncategorized · under God

Patriotism is not the same as Christianity.

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AmericaChristian

Let’s be careful not to conflate patriotism with our faith.  While we understand the political ideals behind sayings like, “America first!” We must understand and realize that we are not primarily Americans.  We are Christians first.  We are citizens of God’s kingdom first.  It is a fine thing to want to strengthen our country’s moral fabric, economy, defenses, industry, agriculture, and infrastructure, but Let’s not lose sight of whose kingdom we truly should be serving.  God’s word says, “…“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.…”  Matthew 6:33 NASB  Don’t be worried or anxious about America’s position in the world, or its greatness.  Our needs are not provided for by being American.  They are provided by God.  Worrying about our status as Americans, at the expense of the truths of the Christian faith, is a serious detriment to both.  So go ahead and be patriotic, and remember to preach the gospel to everyone you can.  Live to seek God.  Seek what He has said is good, righteous, and just.

After all, A Christian America, is a great America!

25“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27“And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28“And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,29yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace,will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32“For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.34“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  Matthew 6:25-34 NASB provided for context.

In context this is about worry and anxiety over the necessary things of life.  The verse cited above, is also about that.  We shouldn’t be so worried about America as to conflate patriotism with our faith.  Seek God’s kingdom first and He will provide for you.
cultural

No respect for the sanctity of marriage, family, or life.

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The way Satan has used liberal secularism to corrupt society.

Sin in the hearts of the spiritually dead and dark aligned with the will of their master have been at work in this world system for a long time. What we see here in America is nothing new, but it is new to us. During the sexual revolution in the 60’s and 70’s we saw rebellion against God in the form of sensual liberty come to fruition. It was fueled by men and women who desired sex without submission to God or commitment to a spouse. This of course lead to the popularization of the, “no fault divorce.” Some of the lawmakers meant well. They sought to fix a problem with corruption and lies used to get a favorable divorce. One of those lawmakers was Ronald Reagan, who later on referred to it as one of his biggest mistakes. Here is a link to an informative article about the development of divorce in America.

Whenever we think that we can get away with condoning a sin, culture wide, in the nation we are deceived. Look at the repercussions of divorce. It is obvious the damage it has done to our society since it has become an acceptable part of our culture. Then with it has come the alleged sexual liberation of women. This is a lie from Satan. Women have actually just tightened the bonds of their slave master. They have become even more oppressed by the enemy. His hatred for God and His creations is so palpable to the regenerated that we wonder why the world cannot see it. Of course we know that they are blind and dead in their sin. We do understand. We just find ourselves in awe of the depravity masquerading as freedom. Hasn’t that always been the method, inversion of the gospel, to make Satan the liberator? Satan in the garden questioned God’s word and ensured Adam and Eve that they would not die and that God didn’t want them to become like Him. He deceives us into thinking that we shouldn’t have to be subject to God and that we should do what we feel like doing.

After divorce came rampant sex outside of marriage otherwise known as adultery. Some of you might be saying, “Hold on there! Adultery is when you cheat on your spouse, not sex as a single person with other single people.” Well, you’d be wrong. If you read God’s word it is evident that marriage between one man and one woman is the only ordained and acceptable relationship in which to have sex. This is not a thing to be redefined by society. It is a command of God. Everyone who is having sex with someone they are not married to is an adulterer. Everyone who divorces their spouse for reasons other than adultery is an adulterer. Since society has made marriageless sex culturally acceptable. We can see the consequences in conjunction with divorce. There are millions of fatherless children, millions of single mothers, millions of deadbeat dads, and to deal with the consequences, or judgments from God, we don’t repent. Instead we make abortion culturally acceptable. That’s right, murder, infanticide, America’s best way to cut down the number of, “unwanted pregnancies.” Murder is murder no matter how you phrase it. As we experience judgment from God for our wickedness, we don’t repent. We just keep on piling on the punishment. Our national notion is, “Hey, now that we have progressed socially so much let’s progress some more. We have finally beaten those stupid, bigoted, cavemen. They are silenced now by anti-discrimination laws, so let’s get all of our agenda.”

Now we have the addition of the gay agenda and gender identity sin. Homosexuality is actually a judgment of God upon a nation. We have been given over to it because of our rebellion. America is under judgment right now. Things will get worse if as a nation we don’t come to God in repentance. People will be identifying themselves as animals and marrying animals. Pedophilia will become a protected minority. It is disgusting. How long will this go on?

The things that God has set apart, the enemy has been systematically taking apart. We just sit by and cry about our situation. We need to get off our hind ends and be the salt and light. We need to take the God’s honest truth out into the world and proclaim it at all costs. Preach the gospel with words to everyone you come in contact with. Take a stand for Christ and His gospel. If we don’t obey the great commission who will? How can we expect the situation to change if people’s hearts are still bound to the darkness and the enemies will? Preach repentance and faith in Christ and some will be reborn. They will go out and preach and more will be added. The country needs more gospel and less self. Don’t be ashamed of Christ before men or He will be ashamed of you before the Father.

Theology

Theology

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Doing-theology1Theology

Theology is a Greek word that means, “The study of God.”  The first part of the word is, “Theo” from, “Theos” (Θεός) which is Greek for god.  The second part of the word is, “logy” from the Greek word, “logia” (λογία) which means, “The study of.”  So to the Christian the word, “theology” specifically is the study of God.  This is different for the lost person.  They look at theology as a study of some deity that may or may not exist.  In the secular world there are colleges and universities that have classes teaching this, dare I say, “Study of god.”  Their sources are like ours, as far as many of the texts go, but they don’t know the true God, and as such study Him with incorrect presuppositions.  It is imperative that Christians start with proper presuppositions.

First and foremost, is that God is the originator of all things, known and unknown to us.  This includes what can be learned.  All knowledge comes from the LORD.  Our ability to reason, use logic, remember, recall, convey, communicate and feel all comes from God.  We would not be able to know anything if He did not will it to be.  This seems basic, but there are books of theology that never assert this truth.  Think about this for a moment.  What does a tree know of God?  What does a child know of God?  What does a lost person know of God?  What do you know of God?  Read through those questions again and ponder the implications of each one of them, replace the, “what” with, “how.”  God is a communicative Creator.  We know this by His inclusion of the attributes essential to communication being integral to our faith and existence.  Without those attributes we could not know God the way He intended.  He planned to give us the progressive revelation of His word, in the form of the Bible.  He planned for us to be able to write, read, and relay the knowledge of Him and His good message.  We can know Christ the eternal God through what is written therein.   So it is supremely important that we ascribe God the Creator, primacy in originating all things, including theology.

We must not ascribe attributes to God that He Himself does not affirm in His word.  This would be a very dangerous endeavor.  We would be making a god for ourselves, which is not the same as the true God who reigns supreme over all creation.  Idolatry is, and has been, an insidious and cancerous evil.  It substitutes a counterfeit god who cannot save us.  The attributes or perfections of God that are taught in His word reveal to us the things that can be known by us of Him.  Let us study theology then, in true faith and repentance, humbly approaching the feet of God, giver of all things.