Have you been crucified with Christ?

Paul strongly rejects the erroneous conclusion that being justified by faith in Christ actually made Jews sinners, thus painting Christ as a promoter of sin.  Those who attempt to be justified through “the works of the law” are “cursed” (Galatians 3:10).  If anyone attempts to reassert the “works of the law” as having any part in justification before God, the law itself convicts that person of being a transgressor (Galatians 3:19–25).  The law itself is not sinful; its purpose is to convince individuals of their personal spiritual deadness in sin outside of faith in Christ (Romans 7:7–13).

“But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!  For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.  For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. (Galatians 2:17-19)

Are You Blessed by God?

In His longest recorded sermon, Jesus began by describing the traits He was looking for in His followers.  He called those who lived out those traits blessed because God had something special in store for them.  Each beatitude is an almost direct contradiction of society's typical way of life.  In the last beatitude, Jesus even points out that a serious effort to develop these traits is bound to create opposition.  The best example of each trait is found in Jesus Himself.  If our goal is to become like Him, the Beatitudes will challenge the way we live each day.

The Gift of Righteousness

Romans 5:8

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. (Romans 5:9-11)

All three members of the Trinity are involved in salvation.  The Father loved us so much that He sent His Son to bridge the gap between us (John 3:16).  The Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to fill our lives with love and to enable us to live by His power (Acts 1:8).  With all this loving care, how can we do less than serve Him completely!

Who is The LORD?

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:11-13)

Moses made excuses because he felt inadequate for the job God asked him to do (Exodus 3:10). It was natural for him to feel that way. He was inadequate all by himself. But God wasn't asking Moses to work alone. He offered other resources to help (God Himself, Aaron, and the ability to do miracles). God often calls us to tasks that seem too difficult, but He doesn't ask us to do them alone. God offers us His resources, just as He did to Moses. We should not hide behind our inadequacies, as Moses did, but look beyond ourselves to the great resources available. Then we can allow God to use our unique contributions.

Jesus Is Our Advocate!

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2)

John uses the address “dear children” in a warm, fatherly way.  He is not talking down to his readers but is showing affection for them.  At this writing, John was a very old man.  He had spent almost all his life in ministry, and many of his readers were indeed his spiritual children.

Tampering With God's Creation!

‘We can do wonders if we get them early’: young twin boy undergoes sex change into ‘Nicole"

BY KATHLEEN GILBERT

Wed Dec 14, 2011 15:57 EST

Wyatt Maines with his twin brother Jonas
before his transition to "Nicole."

Wyatt with his twin brother Jonas now.

BOSTON, December 14, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A front-page story on the Boston Globe’s Sunday edition highlighted the work of a prestigious Massachusetts hospital which blocked and altered the development of one young boy’s body to match his self-identification as a girl.

Wyatt Maines, now 14 years old, is the identical twin of brother Jonas - but thanks to powerful hormone blocking drugs, he is now five inches shorter and several pounds lighter than Jonas, sports more feminine features, and goes by the name “Nicole.” “The thought of being a boy makes me cringe,’’ said Maines. “I just couldn’t do it.’’  Click "here" for the complete article.

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Every time I read an article about a medical doctor changing the sexual identity both mentally and physically of a child under the disguise of "gender identity disorder (GID) " it makes me literally ill at my stomach.  Do these young children really have the ability to determine whether or not they were born a boy in a girls body or a girl born in a boys body? 

Please read this article regarding these two twin boys and tell me what your opinion is regarding sex changes in young children.  It has become a "Norm" for this perverse and wicked world to take what God has created as "Good" and change it to the "Evil" desires of man.  

PM Netanyahu's Christmas Greetings

PM Netanyahu's Christmas Greetings to Israel's Christian citizens and to Christians throughout the world.  (Please turn off music button on sidebar)

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Thank you PM Netanyahu for your Christmas wishes for all Christians around the world. In return, we wish Israel will have God's blessings of peace, joy and happiness and that the aggression against your people will end.

It is interesting to note that the Bible commands us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6), to speak out for Zion’s sake (Isaiah 62:1), to be watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem (Isaiah 62:6) and to bless the Jewish people (Genesis 12:3). These and many other Bible verses have one overriding message - as Christians we have a Biblical obligation to defend Israel and the Jewish people in their time of need.

Let us all join in and lift up our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus all around the world as we celebrate the birth of our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Dangers of Homosexual Movement

LSN reporter Matthew Hoffman speaks to Brazilians

about dangers of homosexual movement

Hoffman speaks at the
Campos dos Afonsos Baptist Church
in Rio de Janeiro.

BY THE EDITORS

Fri Dec 02, 2011 13:31 EST

December 1, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - LifeSIteNews’ Latin America Correspondent Matthew Cullinan Hoffman has recently returned from a two-week Brazilian speaking tour on the dangerous rise of the homosexual movement and its link to the corrupted sexual morals of heterosexuals.

Hoffman spoke to a large number of Catholic bishops and priests, as well as Evangelical ministers and laity, who received his message with gratitude. Three of the talks were live-streamed on the Internet and a fourth was recorded for possible distribution by a Protestant family ministry.  Click "here" to read the complete article.

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I applaud Matthew Hoffman for having the courage to stand up and speak out against the homosexual movement that seems to be an epidemic that is spreading world-wide like a cancer invading the human body.  

It has come to a point in our modern society that if a Christian speaks out against homosexuality they are quickly condemned as being "hateful", "bigots", or, even in some jurisdictions "criminals" because saying anything negative about homosexuality is classified as a "hate crime".  

In the Holy Scriptures, Jesus commands us to go out and preach the gospel to all people and let them know that God loves them.  I think it is time that all believers need to be like Matthew Hoffman and speak out against homosexuality (in the love of Jesus) and let folks know that it is not God's will for the human race.  What are some of your ideas regarding this very sensitive issue?  Should Christians speak out or should they remain silent when it comes to sexual immorality?

Jesus Saves Sinners!

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:14-17)

When the Israelites were wandering in the desert, God sent a plague of snakes to punish the people for their rebellious attitudes.  Those doomed to die from snakebite could be healed by obeying God's command to look up at the elevated bronze snake and by believing that God would heal them if they did (Numbers 21:8, 9).  Every time the words "lifted up" occur in the Gospel of John there is a reference to Jesus’ death (John 8:28; 12:32, 34).  When Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, those who looked at it lived.  So it is with the Son of Man (John 1:51).  Our salvation happens when we look up to Jesus, believing He will save us.  God has provided this way for us to be healed of sin's deadly bite.

This is the Will of God!

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.  (1 Thess. 4:3-8)

Sexual standards were very low in the Roman Empire, and in many societies today they are not any higher.  The temptation to engage in sexual intercourse outside of marriage relationship has always been powerful.  Giving in to the temptation can have disastrous results.  Sexual sins always hurt someone; individuals, families, businesses, churches.  Besides the physical consequences, there are also spiritual consequences (1 Cor. 6:18).  Sexual desires and activities must be placed under Christ’s control.  God created sex for procreation and pleasure, and as an expression of love between a husband and wife.  Sexual experience must be limited to the marriage relationship to avoid hurting ourselves, our relationship to God, and our relationships with others.

Thanksgiving Day Praise!

I want to take time to thank God for everything that He has done for me, because without His love, mercy, and grace, I would have no hope, joy or peace in this world.

Thank you Lord for dying on the cross for me.

Thank you Lord for my wife, Margaret, three wonderful boys, and lots of grandkids.

Thank you Lord for providing for my family even when things were tough.

Thank you Lord for giving me and my family a loving church home.

Thank you Lord for allowing me to go out and witness in Your name.

Thank you Lord for this Christian Blog and the friendship of other Christian Bloggers.

When I think of how much God has done for me it just humbles me that even though I am a sinner He will never leave me nor forsaken me.  It is my prayer this Thanksgiving Day that everyone that reads this post will experience the love, mercy and grace of God... for without Him we are nothing.  God bless each and every one of you and your families.  

Rejoice in the Lord!

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.  (1 Peter 1:6-9)

Peter mentions suffering several times in this letter:  1 Peter 1:6-7; 3:13-17; 4:12-19; 5:9.  When he speaks of trials, he is not talking about natural disasters or the experience of God’s punishments, but the response of an unbelieving world to people of faith.  All believers face such trials when they let their light shine into the darkness.  We must accept trials as part of the refining process that burns away impurities and prepares us to meet Christ.  Trials teach us patience (Romans 5:3, 4; James 1:2, 3) and help us grow to be the kind of people God wants.

Our Heavenly Inheritance

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  (1 Peter 1:3-5)

In 1 Peter 1:2, believers are chosen to be included in God’s family, not on the basis of what they have done or who they are, but on the basis of God’s eternal wisdom. Sanctification is the ongoing process whereby the Holy Spirit works in believers, making their lives holy, separated from their old ways and to God in order to be more like Him. This verse mentions all three members of the Trinity – God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit.  All members of the Trinity work to bring about our salvation.  The Father chose us before we chose Him (Ephesians 1:4).  Jesus Christ the Son died for us while we were still sinners (Romans 6:6-10).  The Holy Spirit brings us the benefits of salvation and sets us apart (sanctifies us) for God’s service (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

Worship God in Spirit and Truth

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:21-24)

By mentioning the two different worship sites (John 4:20), the woman at the well was perhaps trying to shift the conversation away from the subject of her own sins to theological questions. Or perhaps she realized that she was a sinner (John 4:18), and knew that she was required to offer a sacrifice.

Did God create Women and Men equally?

While surfing the Internet, I have come across several Christian blog sites that sometimes tend to place women as second class citizens.  When God created man, did He actually intend for him to have total control (dominate) over women?  Or, did God create woman to be man’s companion and to share equally (Genesis 1:27) in their dominion over all of the earth (Genesis 1:26).

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26)

Why does God use the plural form, "Let us make man in our image"?  One view says this is a reference to the Trinity - God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son, and the Holy Spirit - all of whom are God.  Another view is that the plural wording is used to denote majesty.  Kings traditionally use the plural form in speaking of themselves.  From Job 33:4 and Psalm 104:30, we do know that God's Spirit was present in the creation.  From Colossians 1:16 we know that Christ, God's Son, was at work in the creation.

Christians must test the Spirits!

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.  And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.  (1 John 4:1-3)

"Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits" means that we shouldn't believe everything we hear just because someone says it is a message inspired by God.  There are many ways to test teachers to see if their message is truly from the Lord.  One is to check to see if their words match what God says in the Bible (1 John 2:22; 1 Cor. 12:3).  Other tests include their commitment to the body of believers (1 John 2:19), their life-style (1 John 3:23, 24), and the fruit of their ministry (1 John 4:6).  But the most important test of all, says John, is what they believe about Christ.  Do they teach that Jesus is fully God and fully man?  Our world is filled with voices claiming to speak for God.  Give them these tests to see if they are indeed speaking God's truth.

Are you condemned before God?

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)

"Not guilty; let him go free" - what would those words mean to you if you were on death row?  The fact is that the whole human race is on death row, justly condemned for repeatedly breaking God's holy law.  Without Jesus we would have no hope at all.  But thank God!  He has declared us not guilty and has offered us freedom from sin and power to do His will.

Are you Righteous before God?

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:21-23)

In these verses we see two functions of God's law.  First, it shows us where we go wrong.  Because of the law, we know that we are helpless sinners and that we must come to Jesus Christ for mercy.  Second, the moral code revealed in the law can serve to guide our actions by holding up God's moral standards.  We do not earn salvation by keeping the law (no one except Christ ever kept or could keep God's law perfectly), but we do please God when our lives conform to His revealed will for us.

Dealing with Trials and Temptations

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.  Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.  But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.  Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.  (James 1:12-15)

The crown of life is like the victory wreath given to winning athletes (1 Cor. 9:25).  God's crown of life is not glory and honor here on earth, but the reward of eternal life - living with God forever.  The way to be in God's winners' circle is by loving Him and staying faithful even under pressure.  The believer who endures trials demonstrates that they love Jesus and therefore will receive the crown of life (Rev. 2:10) at the judgment seat of Christ. The Bible describes the believer’s reward (2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 22:12) under various vivid images such as precious metals (1 Cor. 3:8–14), garments (Rev. 3:5, 18; 19:7–8), and crowns (1 Cor. 9:25; Rev. 2:10; 3:11). 

Our Hope is in Jesus!

Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.  (1 Peter 4:1-2)

Some people will do anything to avoid pain.  As followers of Christ, however, we should be willing and prepared to do God's will and to suffer for it if necessary.  Sin loses its power to defeat us in our suffering if we focus on Christ and what He wants us to do.  When our bodies are in pain or our lives are in jeopardy, our real values show up clearly, and sinful pleasures seem less important.  If anyone suffers for doing good and still faithfully obeys in spite of suffering, that person has made a clean break with sin.