Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Redefine

 Beautiful winter night on the top of the mountain

Proverbs 20:25-27 “It is a snare for a man to devote rashly something as holy, and afterward to question and reconsider his vows. A wise king sifts out the wicked, and brings the threshing wheel over them. The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inner depths of his heart.”


By our national historical documents and literature, in has been shown that the Bible has had a profound influence on America, widely understood by previous generations; the preamble to every state’s Constitution acknowledges God. Yet, this is largely unrecognized today. For centuries, Americans saw the Bible as a practical guidebook for directing every godly aspect of daily life, and it therefore shaped American government, law, and education as well as our free enterprise system, our views of private property, our social services, and so much more. For four centuries, religion, morality, and knowledge formed the core elements of American education. But in recent decades, the very mention of God has been forbidden and a secularized humanistic approach to education has gained prominence. And a primary tool used by atheistic revisionists is to redefine words and teach the new revised meanings to our children in the educational institutions universally, in order to bury the original definition non-spiritual indoctrination and social engineering, turning the next generation against God. 


1 Chronicles 28:9 “Acknowledge the God of your Father, and serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.”


Noah Webster wrote the first American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828 with the intent that Americans could read their Bibles and understand the Scriptures for life application. Let’s take a look at a few word definitions from this original Webster’s dictionary and see the biblical worldview communicated. 


(1)  The word “depravity” is defined as: Corruption; a vitiated state of the heart; rendered impure; rendered defective and void. Wickedness; corruption of moral principles; destitution of holiness or godly principles. Webster infers that God determines what is “good”.


(2)  The word “God” is defined as: The Supreme Being; Jehovah; the eternal and infinite spirit, the creator, and the sovereign of the universe.


(3)  The word “marriage” is defined as: The act of uniting a man and woman for life; wedlock; the legal union of a man and woman for life. Marriage is a contract both civil and religious, by which the parties engage to live together in mutual affection and fidelity, till death shall separate them. Marriage was instituted by God himself for the purpose of preventing the promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, for promoting domestic felicity, and for securing the maintenance and education of children. Hebrews 13:4“Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.  


(4)  The word “pure: is defined as: Free from moral defilement; without spot; not sullied or tarnished; incorrupt; undebased by moral turpitude; holy. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil , and canst not look on iniquity (Habakkuk 1:13). Pure also means genuine; real; true; incorrupt; unadulterated; as pure religion. 


(5)  The word “wicked” is defined as: Evil in principle or practice; deviating from the divine law; addicted to vice; sinful; immoral. This is a word of comprehensive signification, extending to every thing that is contrary to the moral law, and both to persons and actions. We say, a wicked man, a wicked deed, wicked ways, wicked lives, a wicked heart, wicked designs, wicked works. The wicked, in Scripture, are persons who live in sin; transgressors of the divine law; all who are unreconciled to God, unsanctified or impenitent.


Isaiah 5:20 proclaims, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Woe to those who change the meaning of words because of sin, unbelief and hatred of God. “In God We Trust” is America’s National Motto because the Creator of heaven and earth is the sovereign Lord of all. Let us acknowledge God daily and serve Him with a grateful heart. God is our definition. Proverbs 20:7 states, “The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him.” 


God bless America.

Born a sinner, but redefined in Christ, Brian

Monday, February 27, 2023

Drought

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2 Timothy 4:3 “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”

 

History has shown that this warning by the Apostle Paul in this epistle to Timothy has reoccurred to some extent various times over the ages (i.e. the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, the French Revolution and the rise of Atheism). There have been spiritual droughts, but God always kept a remnant somewhere and faith-based revivals brought the people back to a righteous relationship with their Creator and Savior. No God-fearing individual and Follower of Christ desires to live in a time when the sound doctrine of the Word of God in Holy Scripture is laid aside for flawed human existentialism that focuses on immoral pleasures, power, pride, and possessions, where to stand upon the commandments, statutes and teaching of the Bible will not be put up with. Yet, where the light of Truth fails to shine in this fallen world, the darkness of sin and unbelief will fill the space. 

 

John 3:19-20 “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.”

 

God is good, and evil is the absence of God. Even though the Creator of the heavens, the cosmos and the earth is all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful and ever-present, sin and evil exists in the heart of man and they do not want their sins exposed as willful inequity and malicious trespasses against their Maker. Those who have put themselves as sovereign Ruler upon the throne of their life have no room for any higher authority to answer to, whether they exist or not. In reality, they only what to hear what they want to hear. So, those fallen in sin individuals and groups that love darkness and their deeds of darkness that act out of their perverted life, pretend that either their Maker - Almighty God in heaven doesn’t exist, or they make up and fashion a god that fits their depraved mind, allowing them to do whatever they want, whenever they want, wherever they want, with whoever they want. They gather teachers and preachers to spin the truth for a lie and tickle their ears.  As the Cole Porter song  declares, “The world has gone mad today and good's bad today, and black's white today, and day's night today … anything goes”.

 

Romans 1:28-32 “Just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”

 

Just look around to see and hear the social chaos of this day's spiritual drought. People are thirsty for the Truth of God. Still, Hebrews 9:26-28 proclaims that Christ has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him. If serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Dead to sin and alive in Christ. In God we trust.

 

In Christ, Brian





Sunday, February 26, 2023

Authority

 50 Wonderful Winter Pictures — Smashing Magazine

Matthew 8:5-13 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.” And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.

 

Today in our church we heard another account of Jesus’ Divine power over the physical realm, performing a miraculous healing with nothing but His word, and this time at the request of an unlikely recipient – a Roman centurion (the commander of a century, a military unit consisting of 100  legionaries) that occupied Jerusalem and had authority. This centurion, obviously had heard of Jesus’ miracles and healing power. His coming to Jesus with a request (not an order) to heal his servant demonstrated that this Roman commander recognized Jesus’ divine authority that was higher than any other on earth. Similarly, in John 3:2, we hear of a Jewish leader of the Pharisees named Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night and saying to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” With the miracles, wonders and signs; evidence was there. 

 

God spoke through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 55:8-9 saying,  “For My thoughts are

not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” The centurion understood that the supernatural has authority over the natural, the infinite over the finite, the Divine over the earthly and God over man. At this level, everyone realizes that they are unworthy in the presence of the Lord. He had complete and total faith that Jesus was of God and had the godly power to miraculously cure, heal and restore people, but being a Roman soldier understood the power of authority, whether over Creation or over the creature. With authority, a command must be obeyed and executed. Astonishingly, this Roman Superior translated military authority (the Right to command subjects) to Divine authority which only needs to commend in order to execute supernatural works of God. 

 

Psalm 33:6 “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.” A sure belief and pure faith in God, and assurance of the absolute authority of God worked together for this centurion to request the Lord to passionately intervene in the life of His servant by merely His word to heal. The Lord stated: “I have not found such great faith” and granted the Centurion’s request.

 

May we have such faith. 

In Christ, Brian 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, February 25, 2023

Whatever

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Philippians 4:4-8 “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 

 

A little over a week ago, I met up with a group of old High School classmates. It was a great afternoon of catching up with friends, reminiscing on our lives after our school days and talking about the times today compared to now. It was agreed that our society and the culture was in moral decline and the nation was experiencing the affects in increasingly negative results. 

 

One major observation was that people today have thin skin and feel depressed far more than they should. The least little thing would invoke immediate emotional feelings of being deprived, or offended, insulted and hurt leading to great sadness.  Back fifty to sixty years ago, none of us were like this, and cannot believe that the latter generations have evolve to this victims mentality. The decline in biblical illiteracy, Scriptural knowledge, godly ethics, morals and values in a downhill trajectory into existential secular humanism plays a great in this deterioration of the culture because the healthy boundaries have been crossed and ignored. We are astonished at the state of depravity, arrogance, pride and the associated unhappiness from looking in all the wrong persons, places and things. Whatever. Get over it and pursue God.

 

The Apostle Paul say it right: Be anxious for nothing. Have the peace of God. The God-rejecting materialistic world is constantly running after happiness and missing joy, Guard your hearts and minds against the “Rat Race”, “Keeping up with the Jones”, and getting what you want, when you want, where you what, with whoever you what. Think about whatever is true, noble, good, pure, beautiful and lovely; that which is virtuous and praiseworthy in the eyes of the Lord. True happiness and joy is found there. Then you can rejoice.

 

In God We Trust, 

in Christ, Brian




Friday, February 24, 2023

Trials, Tests, Troubles and Tribulation

 

 

Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Therefore, whether a test, a trial or a trouble, I expect tribulation in following Jesus in a fallen world. But, This darkness too is on trial.

 

Let’s admit it, we are weak humans in our fallen flesh. I wonder how glorious life was in the Garden of Eden, but because of sin, we live in a fallen world now and even nature mourns from the effects. Even in a nation founded on a biblical worldview, godly values and Christian principles, our largely secular humanist society today is governed by those who do not know their Creator, who reject God’s existence or presence and His sovereign authority, and are hellbent on destroying all that is decent, moral and biblically right. Psalm 53:1declares: The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity. It get down to faith and unbelief.

 

A fact is defined as: Anything done, or that comes to pass; an act; a deed; an effect produced or achieved; an event. Reality; truth (whether observable or not). Eternal God, who created time, space, is a fact, reality and truth. John 4:24 tells us that God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” British evolutionary biologist and author Richard Dawkins stated in the Ben Stein documentary “Expelled” that even though he doesn’t believe in God, if he were to met Him face-to-face he would ask this Creator of the heavens and earth, “Why didn’t you reveal Yourself to me?” It is a greater issue than “not seeing is not believing”. Why deny your Maker? Isaiah 29:16 proclaims: Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, “He did not make me”? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”? Unbelief is a decision.

 

The finite human does not and cannot fathom or understand the immensity of the infinite, except for what is revealed. God tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” God’s majesty and His existing outside this physical realm doesn’t make Him unreal or non-existent. 1 Corinthians 2:11-12 tells us,  “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

 

But, God reveals Himself in nature. Romans 1:18-22 says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes areclearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful,  but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools.” The astronomical complexity and stability of everything in the universe and under the sun could not have happened by time and change, but is evidence of intelligent design by a Devine Creator God.

 

Why the denial of and attack on God. John 3:19-20 explains, “this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”

 

What do we stand on to fight the good fight, and Who do we lean on when weary? I admit that I am weak and fail, but the Lord is ultimately strong and strengthens us. I know that this is my earthly home and we were put here but God for a purpose. But, this is not my ultimate home as we have duel-citizenship, yet our eternal home has authority over this earthly existence. The answer to darkness is to bring light into it. That light is God’s Word, Will and Way. Sin is the problem and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer. Through tests, trials, troubles and tribulations, we have the eternal perspective of the kingdom of God in Heaven, so stand for righteousness and holiness through them all. 

 

Isaiah 64:8 “But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.”

 

In Christ, Brian


Thursday, February 23, 2023

Fulfilled Prophesy

 

Daniel 9:24-25 “Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.”

 

I’ve heard that there are more than 300 Old Testament prophetic Scriptures completed in the life of Jesus Christ, including in Daniel 9:24-25 on the exact year of the coming of the Messiah. God created everything "good", but our original parents which He created sinned, bringing death into the world. But, God had a plan of Salvation through the Savior of the world. The Divine prophesy was made and fulfilled that we may have a unshakable faith based upon historical fact, proving the God knows and controls history (His story) from beginning to end and our almighty Maker knows and orchestrated it all in the Intelligent Design of complex of the Cosmos, conditions for organic life, the incredible biological make-up of animals, plants and organisms in reproducible complexity with DNA information. The Creator's fingerprints are everywhere. Though our Maker is spirit, when you really look, it takes more faith not to believe in God. 

 

As far as “End Times” prophesy, in Matthew 24:35-36 our Lord Jesus tells us, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” I am sticking with that passage and focusing on my call in my time to serve the Lord. God opens a door for us to walk through in life, then one day that door closes and another door opens it seems. There is an end, but in the end God wins. 

 

I heard it said that God always meets us where we are at today, but doesn’t keep us at where we are at today. Our Lord has a purpose for our life and helps us to grow and mature in experience, knowledge and wisdom to accomplish our calling. It’s not easy; it’s labor with dedication, devotion and desire towards that purpose; work (kingdom work) by good and faithful servants in the mission fields towards the harvest. We live in a lost in sin world but Jesus came on mission to seek and save the lost. We are commissioned by the Lord on this same Gospel mission, but, with the eternal perspective on our hearts and our eyes on the finish line. It’s not really blind faith if we open our eyes to see and ears to hear. Fulfilled prophesy proves God's reality. The evidence is all around us, so “In God We Trust”. 

In Christ, Brian

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Two Cities

Signs along my path... - By LightSpectral [Ismanah photography] | Winter  scenes, Winter beauty, Winter wonder

In our Small Group study is on the topic of “The Birth of Freedom”. This sessions question is asked: How did St. Augustine of Hippo advance the cause of Liberty?  The video series speaker gives an interest answer to that Question. The early Christian church Fathers were gifted by God to see and understand spiritual truth that guided our physical existence, aligned with divine instruction and purpose. 

Aurelius Augustinus (November 13, 354 – 28 August 28, 430 AD) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regiusin in Numidia, Roman North Africa. When the Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate, Augustine imagined the Church as a spiritual City of God, distinct from the material Earthly City of Man. That here are two Realms – The City of Man and the City of God. These are two sets of authority to obey in life, though they are not always in agreement. The city of Man, inhabited by Rulers and the political process. The city of God is where Believers abide, where God rules and His Truth is the Law. People are co-citizens of both cities, but the Rulers of the city of Man never have the final word, the final say, or make the final declaration of what is “right”, what is “wrong”, and how the people are to live. Why?

 

“The history of Man” always points to the triumph of Almighty God over sin. “The City of Man” points to triumph and dominance of man. But, human Rulers are limited to their plot of land; their kingdom only (the king’s domain). Creator God is the Ruler of the Universe and the universal story, because He is the ultimate Giver of all Rights, Liberty and Freedom. We live in a physical, material world that was created, is sustained and under the sovereign authority of it Maker. With man we live, but in God we trust to whom we have liberty.


Job 37:12-14 “They swirl about, being turned by His guidance, that they may do whatever He commands them on the face of the whole earth. He causes it to come, whether for correction, or for His land, or for mercy. Listen to this, O Job; Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.”

 

Augustine later wrote an account of his conversion in his "Confessions", which has since become a classic book of Christian theology. I have a copy on my bookshelf that I plan to read shortly. The following is taken from that work: Belatedly I loved thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new, belatedly I loved thee. For see, thou wast within and I was without, and I sought thee out there. Unlovely, I rushed heedlessly among the lovely things thou hast made. Thou wast with me, but I was not with thee. These things kept me far from thee; even though they were not at all unless they were in thee. Thou didst call and cry aloud, and didst force open my deafness. Thou didst gleam and shine, and didst chase away my blindness. Thou didst breathe fragrant odors and I drew in my breath; and now I pant for thee. I tasted, and now I hunger and thirst. Thou didst touch me, and I burned for thy peace.

 

Aligned in Christ within the City of God, Brian

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Bible Affects

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In our Small Group study on “The Birth of Freedom”, the question is asked: How has the Bible contributed to Human Rights? The speaker gives four answers …

 

1.    (A) In Creation – God created male and female in His image – Genesis 1:27, Genesis 5:2, Matthew 19:4-5). The natural implications are human dignity, human rights and freedom under our Creator. (B) In the Creation Mandate to be fruitful and multiple in the bond of marriage, participating in creation with God via procreation.

 

2.    In the Cultural Mandate – God created us to subdue the earth and have dominion over it (Genesis 1:28), including participating in the cultivation of the Garden. This is the foundation for property, labor, dominion, stewardship, trust issues and human rights under our Creator.

 

3.    In how God encounters sinners with Divine “due process” (Genesis 3:13). God allows a hearing, a chance to explain, and a chance for pardon. The wages of sin is death (Genesis 2:17, Romans 6:23), yet God allows sinners to continue with blessings and curses in adjudication. Condemnation of sin is the verdict (John 3:18, Ephesians 2:1). Forgiveness and born-again restoration is the goal (John 3:17).

 

4.    In a Covenant relationship – Jeremiah 7:23, Ezekiel 11:20, Hebrews 8:10). God has given a basic list of items in Statutes, Commandments and the Moral Law that must be maintained in society by His created beings. These are expectations that if breached will result in a just Devine retribution (Nahum 1:3). A human “Social Contract” is the way that the people and their Rulers define together what are the fundamental values of society and what they ultimately consider are the fundamental duties and rights that the people can enjoy, guaranteed ultimately by God when aligned with His perfect Word, Will and Way found in the Bible.

 

The Bible is God’s Instruction Manual for life on earth and its aligned application produces a biblical worldview that positively affects every aspect of our living the abundant life that the Lord designed for us all and we are truly blessed.

In Christ, Brian

Monday, February 20, 2023

Happy Presidents Day 2023

 Presidents' Day 2023: What's open, closed Monday? Banks, post office, mail,  more - syracuse.com

2/20 Closed for Presidents Day - Avenidas

Presidents' Day, officially Washington's Birthday at the federal governmental level, is a holiday in the United States celebrated on the third Monday of February each year. It is often celebrated to honor all those who served as presidents of the United States and, since 1879, has been the federal holiday honoring Founding Father George Washington, who led the Continental Army to victory in the American Revolutionary War, presided at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and was the first U.S. president of the United States of America.

A day to reflect on our Constitutional and Inalienable Rights of Liberty and Freedom. In God We Trust! God bless America! Home of the free and the brave. Guide her with the Light from above.

Presidents Day | Dripping Springs, TX Ranch Park

Sunday, February 19, 2023

Look to Jesus

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John 5:2-9 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.

 

This incident in the Bible has always helped me to look beyond the seemingly obvious source and to the root source in spiritual reality. Here was a crippled man waiting for a angel to stir the water in the pool of Bethesda, which produced a supernatural miracle physical healing of the affected, but seemingly only the first one to get in. God incarnate (in the flesh) asks this man the obvious question, if he wanted to be well. The man replies that there is nobody to help him and someone else beats him into the healing pool every time the water stirs. Jesus doesn’t say, “Let me help you into this pool to make you well.” The Lord supernaturally heals the crippled man on the spot, next to the healing pool. The water wasn’t the power or the source of healing and restoration; the “great physician” Jesus was. The contrast of what we put our faith and trust in is so swayed by the material world that we live in, that the unseen reality can so easily be missed. Jesus is truly the great first cause and source. 

 

Mark 4:41 “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?!”

 

Though we live, move and have our being in a physical existence, the natural is under the authority of nature’s God; the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them. Look not at nor trust in the water, but to the One who walks on the water, the Christ, the Son of the living God; the Way – Jesus, the Savior of the world.

 

In Christ, Brian

 

 

 

Saturday, February 18, 2023

Spiritual

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2 Corinthians 3:16-18 “But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

 

I first heard about a movement of God and spontaneous spiritual revival that was being experienced in the atmosphere of a university campus chapel ion Kentucky on a news program, then started receiving text messages from Christian friends on the presence of the Lord. 

 

I read that the growing event started as a routine chapel service at Asbury University, a small Christian college in Wilmore, Kentucky, according to university employees. “The first day we had a very ordinary service, I would call it unremarkable,” said university President Dr. Kevin Brown. Following a morning service on Feb. 8, a multicultural gospel choir sang on stage. At the tail-end of the meeting, a couple dozen lingering students assembled informally in a gathering and by evening more and more had trickled into the sanctuary creating something special, said Brown. That’s been going now for nine days straight, 24 hours a day. 

 

The article is right that the setup is simple. No projector screens or high-tech integrations (it’s not a show), just wooden sanctuary chairs filled with people, and an open altar call with an invitation to prayer that still hasn’t ended. The phrase “spiritual revival” can carry different meanings; in Christianity, they generally refer to a resurgence in interest in the church from believers and nonbelievers. Many attendees of the Asbury gathering say they were drawn by a spiritual presence they felt was at the event. The Spirit of the Lord is there and there is freedom in the soul. Halleluiah – praise be to God! 

 

In John 3:8 Jesus explains “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

 

The church is a physical building. It is the real presence of the Lord genuinely experienced that makes it a Sanctuary in the House of the Lord in spiritual revival. The Spirit is felt in the ambiance and penetrates to the soul’s core of mind, will and emotion. In soulful prayer of surrender, life’s burdens on the mind are lifted and authentic healing of the heart taking place in intimate relationship with our loving Maker, our Savior, and our Lord. Life's are inwardly transformed in pure faith. The heart cannot help but worship and rejoice in unspeakable joyful and gratitude. People truly desire to be where the presence of God resides. The soul yearns for God. May everybody seek, find and experience Lord. 

 

In Christ, Brian

 

 

Friday, February 17, 2023

Freedom

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John 8:31-36 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

 

Our Bible Study group started a new series titled “The Birth of Freedom”; a historical look at cherished Freedom’s path and a reminder of the critic connection between faith and freedom that both formed it and maintains it. The dictionary definition of the word “freedom” is: A state of exemption from the power or control of another; liberty; exemption from slavery, servitude or confinement. Freedom is personal, civil, political, and religious. Freedom from sin, is liberation from the corruption power, control of the soul and its associated just punishment and separation from God. 

 

The opposite of freedom is “bondage”, which is defined as: Slavery or involuntary servitude; captivity; imprisonment; restraint of a person's liberty by compulsion. (1) Obligation; tie of duty. (2) Oppression; the imposition of unreasonable burdens (3) In scripture, spiritual subjection to sin and corrupt passions. Holy Scripture also gives us a reminder of God’s Plan of Salvation, and the critical connection between saving faith and true freedom in Christ that both established it and maintains it.

 

Romans 5:18-6:23 explains, “As one trespass [of Adam] led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness [of Jesus Christ] leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.


Freedom in Christ makes you "free from sin", not "free to sin. Sin enslaves, but Christ saves and sets the captive free. Its the land of the free and the home of the brave. Do not take freedom for granted. Stand and rejoice in it.

 

Galatians 5:1 “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

 

Alive and Free in Christ, Brian




Thursday, February 16, 2023

Something From Nothing

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Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This is the origin of the universe. There were no eye-witnesses around to see the Creation. God asks in Job 38:4, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.” But, God left His fingerprints within creation in the impossible anthropomorphic position, processes and elements on earth, and the irreducible complexity of life, the Cell, DNA in fine-tuning, perfect harmony, unbelievable stability. Romans 1:18-20 says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” 

 

Everything in this present universe was brought into existence literally out of nothing by the good pleasure and will of Almighty God. Hebrews 11:3 tells us, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” God created everything out of nothing. Romans 4:17 additionally infers, “in the presence of the God in whom … calls into existence the things that do not exist. 

 

Psalm 33:6-9 declares, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.” I read that when God speaks something into existence from nothing, He is truly the great first cause  and source. Nothing cannot beget nothing. Back in 1974, Billy Preston had the hit song “Nothing from nothing”, which stated “nothing from nothing leaves nothing; you got to have something”. But, what is nothing? It’s not a void or a vacuum; it’s nothing at all. Webster’s dictionary defines the word as : Not any thing; not any being or existence; a word that denies the existence of any thing; non-entity; opposed to something. The world was created from nothing. 

 

I read that we need to understand that creation is neither “out of” a  pre-existing material and not “into” a pre-existing place. We must oppose both the notion of an eternal matter and the notion of an eternal receptacle. Instead of saying that God created the world from nothing, it is better to say that God spoke and things appeared, including space and time for all created things to occupy and in which to function. When we construct creation out of nothing in this way, it require no definition of “nothing”. Thus, since there is no other alternative, the universe was not made from something – it was made from nothing, and God did it all with a word. 

 

John 1:1-3  proclaims, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”


In Christ, Brian




Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Christ-Minded

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Philippians 2:5-16a “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life.”

 

One thing about darkness is that you cannot see. Though the evidence of God surrounds us in Creation’s complexity, beauty and stability, in our fallen nature we walk blindly through the majestic works of the Lord without thought. Existential secular living for this day, based upon our personal preferences, desires and inclinations, tends to narrow the focus down to prideful pleasures, satisfying hungers and selfish gain ... looking out for Number One. We do not realize just how great the “Fall of Man” in “original sin” really was and what was lost. But God restore our original intent of “made in His image” life in light by Christ. You have to see and understand the sinfulness of our sins and the just punishment for unbelief and willful disobedience of our Creator. To know the depth of God’s grace in His plan of Salvation through the incarnate Son of God’s redemption and reconciliation through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross for each of us who were truly dead in our sins. We are sorry in our soul for our many sins and grievous in the deepest part of our hearts. 

 

Ephesians 1:17-2:3 “The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”

 

Working out in our minds this gift of salvation in Christ for the forgiveness of sins naturally produces love and joy in sincere gratitude and genuine praise and obedience to our heavenly Father in heaven and His holy Word. The born-again Believer receives a regenerated spirit and transformed heart the rejoices to walk in the Light, as the Lord is in the light. We are Christ-minded and proudly follow Him!     

 

Colossians 1:13-16 “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us

into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”

 

In Christ, Brian

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Give ‘em Heaven! - Part 2

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Michael continues: As the prophet Jeremiah said, I found your words and I did eat them, and they became unto me the joy and rejoicing of my soul. Psalm 19 says, the words of the Lord are pure and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they then gold, yea than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.  

The Apostle Paul said, Let your conversation [your manner of life, your behavior, your living witness] be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. Jesus said, the works that I do shall you do also and greater works shall you do because I go unto my father. The greater works is sharing the gospel of salvation. We have been given the ministry of reconciliation to reconcile others to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. He has committed unto us the Word of reconciliation. For there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

We are called as ambassadors for Christ to deliver a peace treaty from our King from the kingdom of heaven to a fallen world. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth 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.

Upon hearing the Word of God regarding salvation, there are four possible responses. The first is to reject it outright. The second response is from those who say, I’ll hear you latter about this matter. The third category is those who think they are saved but they are really not. They believe they will get to heaven because they think they are righteous in their own power. The fourth category is those who know whom they have believed and are persuaded that they are able to keep that Holy Spirit which the Lord committed unto them against that day (of righteous judgement.). According to 1 John 5, these things have I written to you so that you know that you have eternal life and that you believe on the name of the Son of God.

The Main thing is the main thing, that we live to the praise of the glory of God’s grace. For we are His workmanship, His poem, His magnum opus, His poetry in motion. We are His living epistles, God’s love letters, written not in tablets of stone or with ink and paper, but in the fleshly tables of the heart. The most important calling is to let your light so shine before men that they shall see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. May our prayer be, “lead me to some soul today, and teach me Lord just what to say. To give an answer to any man or woman that asks us a reason for the hope that is within us with fear, awe, respect, and reverence of our Lord.

This is our mission and our great co-mission is to give ‘em heaven, that they may with us ever live to the praise of the glory of Thy grace, according to the power of Christ in us the hope of glory.

Amen and amen.
Your brother in Christ, Michael

And Happy Valentine's Day

Monday, February 13, 2023

Give ‘em Heaven! - Part 1

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This week, Michael writes: We all have a testimony. Our stories are within God’s sovereign will. Our stories are in the context of history ... His story. The Lord Jesus Christ himself is the crossroads of all history. He says to us all, “set your affection on things above and not on the things of this world. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” As the Apostle Paul said, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain… that I might be made conformable unto His death, that I might retain the out-resurrection from among the dead.” The greatest deliverance is the deliverance from the tyranny of our selfish selves.  

The four truths of this life are: (1) Life is hard. (2) It’s not about me. (3) We are all going to die. (4) Only that which is done in Christ will last into eternity. The humanistic world says that there are many roads to God. However, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except by me.”

We were all born with the sin nature we inherited from Adam’s original sin. All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. We were born separated from God by sin and without Hope in this world. The default condition is God’s righteous judgement and wrath against sin that results in eternal death in Hell. However, God who is rich in mercy and grace for His great love wherewith He loved us sent us His Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Salvation is all of Thee Lord and none of me. Salvation is not because of how good we are, but because of how good God is. For even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.

The most important thing is that we would be redeemed, bought with the price of the precious blood of Jesus Christ. For He who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him. When we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, that we are no longer the masters of our own life but that he is, and when we believe that God raised Him from the dead, then we shall receive His salvation. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. He has called us and redeemed us, bought us back from the bondage of sin and the sin nature of the flesh we inherited from Adam. Now we have liberty. That liberty is not a license to sin, but to love God above all and our neighbor as ourselves. The liberty we have in Christ is the liberty to serve one another in love.

When we are “born again” of God’s Spirit, He will open the eyes of our spiritual understanding because we trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not unto our own understanding. We trust in the Lord by studying the Word of God, meditating on it, memorizing scripture and applying it in our lives. This allows God to renew our minds continuously. The freedom from sin is when “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.” When we come to the Lord through His Word, we will develop an appetite for the truth. Truth is acquired taste, therefore taste and see that the Lord is good. My granddaughter loves ice cream. When I asked her why, she said, “because I tasted it.” This is true of the word of God also. We can’t love God and His word until we’ve tasted of it. 


Let's continue Michael's message on the road to Heaven through Jesus in the next post.

In Christ, Brian