Monthly Archives: August 2013

Hope Lives

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Look how hungry the heart is for love.  See how the arms ache for peace.  Notice how the yearning to be noticed consumes you.

You would not own these if The Holy Spirit of God were not offering them.  But who will reach beyond the flesh to take hold of those things God offers?  Who will become a student of holiness?   Who will reject the teachings and enticements of the world?  Who will forsake all to gain all?

The bounty is near.  Come, eat and have your full.  If this statement reaches your heart, why not respond.  Hope Lives.

By His Grace

Worried?

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Are you worried that you will not subdue the lusts of the flesh?  Are you stuck in an open dark field of hopelessness?  I can testify that every man has stood where you are.  What allowed them to win?  Is there ANYTHING that can be done?

They found encouragement in The Lord you are trying to grasp hold of.  They read His Holy promises and came to believe Him.

Here, I will give you a promise to ponder.  I can’t make you believe.  But I can give you reason to hope.

Mark 1:27 tells us something priceless.  Listen to the testimony of the people who witnessed Jesus.  “He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey Him”.

What’s that got to do with your doubt and worry?  If He is able to arrest evil in demons, how much more is He able to cleanse those who pine after holiness?  He is willing and able to receive those whose heart is frozen with fear because of the sin they perceive within them.

Trust what I’ve told you.  Read it for yourself.  GOD CANNOT LIE!  Take heart!  He, the Living God, sees you and knows your name.

By His Grace.

License to Sin.

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When God is a shameful belief, and joyful obedience is considered a sin against humanity,  what shall we expect to see?

When it is a badge of honor to be wicked, and the more ingenious the wickedness the more accolades are cast, what shall we expect to see?

Shall we look for proper men and women to appear?  Will the well of trustworthy adults and children be a source of joy, health, godly encouragement,  and strength?

Such a people who honor wickedness will find no honor from God.  They will weep great sobs when His beauty is revealed.  They will not enter His presence, though even now their folly will disagree with those words.  No, my fellow travelers in this place of testing, you will not enter His Eternal Kingdom dressed in your insatiable lust.

God does not lie.  There are promises for those who obey by faith.  And there are promises for those who rebell by putrid flesh.  It doesn’t matter whether you agree or not.

By His Grace.

“I love to singa”

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I Love to Singa

I Love to Singa (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The cartoon was released in 1936.  I remember watching it when I was a child.  It’s a familiar story line.  The little guy is beat down but he wins through skill and determination. Apparently he was born to win.  All the children who watch it, quickly identify with the little character.  “And they’re off”!

But wait a minute please.  Let’s talk about it for a moment.  Perhaps there’s something to discover here.

Four little owls hatch for mom and poppa.  The first three sing classical music, and play classical music on violin and piccolo.  But the fourth little owl comes out of the egg singing Jazz!

Poppa is mortified.  But they figure that they can teach him to sing classical.  In his training, however, the little guy os caught singing Jazz.  Poppa kicks him out of the house.

Undaunted, the lil dude goes on his way singing Jazz.  He comes to a gong show on a radio station.   After waiting his turn, he gets the chance to display his tallent.  The nasty lookin, cigar smokin rabbit loves the Jazz and puts it over the radio.

Momma is listening to the gong show at home.  When she hears her little one sing she grabs poppa and the brothers and heads to the radio station to give her little one support.

Owl Jolsen (that’s the little Owl’s name [ring a bell?]) Turns while he is singing and sees poppa watching.  With a sour look on his face he turns back to the mic and sings classical.

The profit driven rabbit is about to gong him.  But poppa and the family come rushing in to tell Owl to sing his Jazz.  In the end, they all live happily ever after because the little owl got his way.  And the mean ole poppa now loves Jazz AND his rebellious son.

This what they are teaching the children.  Rebell against authority.  Don’t worry if they hate you for it.  The world will love you for it.  Heck, even those staunch supporters of tradition will come and join you in the end!

Really?  Put that story line on a grander scheme.   Look around at the fabric of America.  Where is the truth of Christ?  What’s popular?  How many churches have fallen for that story line?  How many Christian families have seen their children walk (run) away from the teachings of Jesus?

That story line is in everything the world creates.  They aren’t just tearing at tradition.   They have been ripping away at the very fabric of stability for decades.  That cartoon was released on the thirties, remember?  They don’t want to inspire the children, they simply want to destroy what is secure and appropriate before The Holy Throne of The Living God.

They are on a roll now.  They won’t be stogpped.  They have corrupted the overwhelming majority of children.  And those wicked stories have left a tell-tale mark on several generations of adults.

Our nation is being run by students of cartoon university.   And we will now see bugs bunny lead us to destruction.  “Stay tuned!  You won’t believe what we have in store for you next’!   Whatever they produce for us, I tell you a truth, it won’t be innocent fun.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6MUyixyLVV8&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D6MUyixyLVV8

By His Grace.

The Paths of God

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English: Multiple paths The lower path goes ro...

English: Multiple paths The lower path goes round to the Holy Well while the upper one skirts above it. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah,[a] the Son of God,

 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way”

 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.’”  (Mark 1: 1-3)

In my mind’s eye I can see that verse as describing the advent of the body of Christ.  He comes from heaven and grows into a man.  Ready to do the will of His Father among us, His Holy words ride the obedient as if paths through ages and humanity.  What an amazing concept.  The question, however, is:  Shall we offer the Holy Spirit a twisty-turny-bumpy-garbage strewn path on which to glide through time?  How obvious can the answer be?

By His Grace.

The Beginning

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“Confess Jesus as Lord and you will be saved”.  How’s that workin out for the Church?  When you look around, in Church assemblies,  do you see people who are exhibiting the holy lives you’d expect among the people of God’s Holy Son?

Confession of Jesus’s Lordship is an essential part of Christianity.  But it’s not the first step.  Nor is it an end in itself.   People have taught that this is all that’s necessary.  That’s simply not the full story.  But they have turned to this in order to add to their numbers.

How can Jesus be Lord over a people who won’t obey His call to holiness, purity, and truth?  To cover their tracks, the people who promote such a weak gospel teach their disciples to say, “I’m just a work in progress”.  Where’s the progress?  Do you expect wings, a personal cloud and a shiny harp too?

The people who went out to John the Baptist, went to him confessing their sins.  Then they were baptised in the water of the Jordan river.  When they came up out of the water repentance became a way of life for them.  Abstaining from sin became the norm for them; not the confessing of faith for sins caused by neglect of holy duty to the Living God.

On top of that, they were given notice that the new life they were coming into would be made fully “alive” by the baptism of fire that was coming.  If what they learned from John was to live a radical new life before God, how radically different should our experience be with the baptism of God’s Holy Spirit?

If their obedience to righteousness was expected following the baptism of John, how much more following the baptism of The Holy Spirit?

I have lived my life as one of that weak gospel’s disciples.   I have found it incomplete, unproductive, and thus a lie.  However, listening to what The Lord teaches and obeying that WORD is producing the Christian life I have come to expect to see in those who claim to be saved.

Please give this a good measure of consideration.   It is not those who simply confess who will find acceptance.  It is those who hear and DO what they hear.  How should it be otherwise?  I realize you likely won’t build a mega church with the requirement of holiness in it’s disciples.   But all will bow the knee and confess the Lordship of Jesus; even His enemies will do that.  So how can that be the sum of expectation for His people?

By His Grace