When Christ came into my life, He gave me a purpose for living. Let me explain: Before I met Christ I had some purposes, but I didn’t have the faculty to discern my true purpose, and I settled for purposes of my best understanding. Most of my problems stemmed from just not understanding the design of the playing field (of life). Then, I had not a clue as to what equipment was available and necessary for the “game” on that field. So, to run with this illustration, I had no hash marks, no out of bounds lines, and most of all, no goal line. There were no “first down markers” to measure my progress, no scoreboard to keep track of my accomplishments, no referees to monitor correct conduct required for this contest. Back then, before I met my Savior, every person and purpose wore the same color on their…
Category: <span>Liberty – Redemption</span>
There’s a new world coming, with a new world order. Are we excited yet? “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.” Isaiah 11:6 On the earth, yet “not of this world,” the righteous shall enter the kingdom; Matt 25:37 teaches, “then shall the righteous answer.” and Isaiah 60:21, “Thy people also shall be righteous, they shall inherit the land forever.” In that day, “Mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Psalm 85:10 “With righteousness shall He judge the poor; righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins.” Isaiah 11:4-5 Other characteristics: Israel shall…
The times were post-modern, the setting? — anywhere U.S.A. The question then, “hath God said?” Answer, “you shall not surely die.” Heard this before? Yes, we have read it in our Bibles, pages 1-3. Quohelet later speaks in Ecclesiastes, “All is breath, and herding of the wind.” There is nothing new under the sun. Same old — same old! The dialectics tell us of new forms for reasoning, that the truth-based deductive reasoning is obsolete. They tell us we must accept both sides of the question and reject the law of non-contradiction. They want us to tolerate the lie, accept it’s right to express itself, and even exalt it to a place of equality with truth. Red dogs bark louder, my dog is red my dog barks louder. They dismiss the simple reasoning. Ho hum; the Bible calls these folks, “fools” because they have no delight in understanding —…
Behind vision, we find redemptive revelation; nothing else quite produces a vision by which people do not perish. 2 Corinthians 4:16 reminds us, “though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. “ Inward renewal keys the visionary’s gaze which is the image of Christ and Him crucified. This must be a constant for every believer or the restraints for forward movement are nullified. Folks, it remains that the image of Christ and Him crucified includes”Love” which covers the multitude of sins — those acknowledged and those denied. Yes, Love with sins’ final judgment is the vision-maker of every blood-bought believer. Standing opposed to vision are man’s many differences. These differences should find solution in the uniting of all men under the banner of Christ’s “breaking down the middle wall of partition” between individuals and groups, a by-product of His dying, and so making peace. With Christ’s…
“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. “ Romans 5:6 Expressly declares! “…while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ” Romans 5:8 “…when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.” Romans 5:10 “Due time,” signifies the precise moment which eternity met time. John Gill tells us why: “…to illustrate the love of God to them, notwithstanding this their character and condition; and to show that the love of God to them was very early; it anteceded their conversion; it was before the death of Christ for them; yea, it was from everlasting: “… to express the freeness of it, and to make it appear, that it did not arise from any loveliness in them; or from any love in them to him; nor from any works of righteousness done by them, but from…
“…we must also accept the reality of our incompleteness.” Gerald G. May M.D. From his book “Addiction and Grace.” He starts in, “We can and should do our very best to move in that direction, (to achieve the state of perfection.) struggling with every resource we have. but…”we need to recognize that the incompleteness in us, our personal insufficiency, does not make us unacceptable in God’s eyes.” “Far from it, our incompleteness is the empty side of our longing for God and for love. It is what draws us toward love and one another.” “if we do not fill our minds with guilt and self-recriminations, we will recognize our incompleteness as a kind of spaciousness into which we can welcome the flow of grace.” “We can think of our inadequacies as terrible defects, if we want, and hate ourselves. But we can also think of them affirmatively, as doorways…
In 1 Corinthians 15:10. Paul proclaims: “I am what I am by the grace of God. “There is nothing that will bend a man’s will like the recognition of divine love which is blessedness to come in contact with, and to obey.” “You may try to sway him by motives of advantage and self-interest, and to thunder into his ears the pealing words of duty and right and ‘ought,’ and there is no adequate response.” “You cannot soften a heart by the hammers of the law. You cannot force a man to do right by brandishing before him the whip that punishes doing wrong.” “You cannot sway the will by anything but the heart; and when you can touch the deepest spring it moves the whole mass.” Maclaren biblehub.com “You have seen some ponderous piece of machinery, which resists all attempts of a puny hand laid upon it to make it…
In 1976 I got saved. I was not seeking it, I was not looking for it. I don’t remember making a decision per se. No, He found me and the message He brought was irresistible. I was so ready, I was so lost. I just had never allowed myself to see the full extent of my empty, lonely, wretched state. He put a light on it and the need became apparent, then the glorious remedy appeared. I received Him so gladly. Today I revisit the day of my salvation. It happened on day-shift at the mill, a sunny day. Men fished off the sea wall; myself and others started in on bag lunches. A blond haired man, about my age, approached me. He creatively shared with me how Jesus had walked on the water, how Peter (in the Bible), had done so also, and maybe we can do this…
My childhood highlighted Easter. Not as ecstatic as Christmas, but carrying its own mixture of excitement, Easter differed from Christmas, much like death opposes birth, accentuating two poles of a man’s existence. Indeed, all the candy and gifts were affected by those Bible stories, most importantly, the one of cruel death. Memories include the emotions and guilt which filled my Childhood as I longed for release. Christmas gave a few days of solace, but Easter did not. The pre-Easter season of Lent featured the imposed fast– abstaining from certain pleasures. It was not yet a voluntary give-up for me. It lasted 40 days. Following that came the hideous picture of suffering death — we didn’t know how much blame we were supposed to assume, but we were told our sins were the reason for Jesus’ death. The Resurrection story did little to undo that mental pain — a basket full of…
David spoke, “I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord.” Psalm 26:6 David desired and sought the presence of God. However, Cain didn’t, much earlier in history. “Then Cain left Adonai’s presence and dwelled in the Land of Wandering, east of Eden.” Genesis 4:16 Our life presents these two choices; we can wander or we can seek the presence of God . “When thou saidst, seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” Psalm 27:8 “Who may go up on the mountain of Adonai? `Who may stand in His holy place? One with clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully.” Psalm 24:3-4 Job_17:9 teaches: “The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.” But Cain, built a city.…