Month: May 2018

Monday 5/21 ~ What if I only sin sometimes?

On By In death, Death of Jesus Christ, forgiveness, good works, Heaven, Saved from hell2 Comments

The scripture for today, May 21 (5/21) is 2nd Corinthians 5:21 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 8-ComeFlyWithMe-Cover-Thumbnail-New“God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

A lot of people do not understand what Jesus’ death has to do with going to heaven. The key is in Romans 3:23 that says “The wages of sin is death.” When Adam and Eve sinned, immediately their souls died, and the bodies gradually died. That was the wages they collected for sinning.

It’s been happening to everyone since then. But, during Old Testament times, God allowed people to make a perfect animal take their wage, shed its blood and die in their place when they sinned.

This was only a temporary fix, however. Hebrews says the blood of animals cannot truly take away (take the substitute punishment for) sins; they are remembered again every year (Hebrews 10:3-4).

Finally, John the Baptist announced Jesus was “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). In order to forever stop all the sacrificial substitute dying, God prepared his own perfect Lamb ~ Jesus, who never sinned. For 33 years, God’s Word took human form in Jesus and became one of us. Then he had to shed his blood and die in our place. In so doing, he collected our wages forever.

Jesus did two things impossible for us to do: Live a perfect life without sin, and come back to life after he died ~ both physically and spiritually. Why? So we could do another thing that is impossible for us to do on our own: Enter heaven, the home of the perfect.

Heaven is not for people who do a lot of good works and only sin sometimes so that God will have no choice but to take them into his home. It only takes one sin to be a sinner.  God cannot exist with sin.

God invites us to his heaven if we will follow Jesus. We don’t even have to be perfect ~ just forgiven. Jesus was perfect for us. What amazing love.

~~BUYLINK to ebook and discount paper:  http://bit.ly/2tukMA0

 

Sunday 5/20 ~ What is your deepest longing?

On By In blessings, emptiness, love, weaknessLeave a comment

The Scripture for today, May 20 (5/20), is 2nd Corinthians 5:20a as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-HS-592 VersesExamined-COVER-Thumbnail“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”

We all have a special and deep longing. When we are in pain and long for reassurances that God is with us, one of the things we often want is to see God, feel God’s touch, look into God’s eyes. This is where Christians come in. God says to Christians, “Go to those in pain. Let them see you, feel your touch, look into your eyes.”

Someone in your life needs you right now because they need God.  They don’t know how to reach out to God, but you do. They don’t know how to understand God, but you do. Stop whatever you have planned for today that is kind of important. Replace it with the very important. Go see someone or call them or Skype them. 

Are you or are you not God’s ambassador? Is God doing anything through you? Yesterday? Today? Tomorrow?

~~~BUYLINK for ebook or discount paper:  http://bit.ly/GodsSpirit

 

 

Saturday 5/19 ~ Playing on the strings of

On By In attitude, Inspirational, joy, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, May 19, is Ephesians 5:19 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

OldOldTunes-Thumbnail“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.”

What is so interesting about this scripture is how I am to make music to the Lord. In the original Greek the New Testament of the Bible was written in, the term “make music” means to play on strings. But put with the rest of the verse, I see that it means to play on the strings of my heart.

How beautiful! In God’s ears, the strings of my heart are far superior to any musical instrument I can contrive. So, why would I want to use them as a substitute? Shall I not please the One I am worshiping? May I be attuned, not to what I love, but to what God loves.

And so, I sing! And in the process, my singing is accompanied by the beautiful, harmonious, spirit-filled strings of my worshiping heart.

~~~BUYLINK for ebook & discount paper:  http://bit.ly/BibleSongBook

 

 

Friday 5/18 ~ Can you give thanks when bad happens?

On By In joy, Loss, persecutionLeave a comment

The scripture for today, May 18 (5/18), is 1st Thessalonians 5:18 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

000-COVER-KINDLE-Thumbnail“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

This is one of the most difficult verses in the Bible to follow. How can we rejoice with the loss of a loved one, of health, of a job, of a home, of a position? The Christians at Thessalonica, in Greece, had been suffering a lot of persecution for being Christians. Some had even been killed.

Satan will do all he can to cause bad to happen in your life in order to get you to blame God and forsake him. But the real blame belongs on Satan. It may sometimes seem like the harder you try to follow God, the worse things get in your life.

In that case, apparently, Satan is afraid of your strength in the Lord and is trying more than ever to weaken you and get you back on his side. He doesn’t have to attack people he already has. 

And sometimes God stands back and tells Satan, “Do your best. This person will grow stronger, not weaker. His/her health and job and home may become minuscule but their soul will become a giant.” Along with the Christians in Thessalonica, you can “become a model….your faith in God can become known everywhere” (1st Thessalonians 1:7-8).

So rejoice that Satan is so afraid of you. And at the same time, keep your eyes on Jesus who never gave in when Satan caused bad to happen to him. Rejoice that you are counted worthy. Can you do that?

~~~BUYLINK to ebook or discount paper:  http://bit.ly/LazarusSamaritan

Thursday 5/17 ~ If everything was perfect, this would be heaven

On By In Daily, good works, Heaven, victoryLeave a comment

The scripture for today, May 17 (5/17) is John 5:17 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-Cover-KINDLE-Thumbnail-New“Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.’ “

Psalm 115:12 says God is thinking about you all the time. When you’re walking, riding, talking, doing, coming, going. God is always working for you. A popular song a few years ago was, “He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands.”  But does he always keep you from harm? He gave you free will, and sometimes you don’t make good choices. Others around you have free will, and they sometimes don’t make good choices.

If everything was perfect, this would be heaven. But it is not.  Heaven is for later after we go through some tests. Regardless of what happens here, God is beside you if you fall, ready to get to work, ready to hold out his hand to lift you up.

How he loves you and cherishes you and cares for you. He always will if you follow him.  Then, after you have fulfilled your own work here on earth,  you can follow him right into that perfect world ~ heaven.

~~~BUYLINK for ebook or discount paper:  http://bit.ly/500GoodWorks

Wednesday 5/16 ~ Smile. The world will wonder why

On By In discouragement, Enemies, problems, ThanksgivingLeave a comment

The scripture for today, May 16 (5/16), is 1st Thessalonians 5:16 (KJV) as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Rejoice evermore.”

But how can we rejoice when something terrible has happened?

The Apostle Paul who wrote this knew that the Thessalonians were being terribly persecuted (2nd Thessalonians 1:4), but he still said, “Rejoice evermore.” How could he say such a calloused thing amidst their suffering?  Had he no feeling, no empathy?

Sometimes we have to suffer so the true nature of bad people pretending to be good can be revealed to the world. Sometimes we have to suffer so we can build our spiritual muscles.  Sometimes we have to suffer so we can understand others going through the same thing.

Just remember that, just as God was grieved when his Son suffered on the cross, he is grieved when you suffer. And just as God was able to bring something wonderful out of his Son’s suffering, he can bring something wonderful out of yours too.

In the meantime, chin up, shoulders back, stand straight, be brave, and smile. The world will wonder why.

~~~BUYLINKS to ebook & discount paper:  http://bit.ly/IslamQuotes

 

Tuesday 5/15 ~ They’re disappearing

On By In eternity, Loss, thingsLeave a comment

The scripture for today, May 15 (5/15), is Ecclesiastes 5:15 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-Titus-Cover-Lg Thumb.jpg“Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.”

As most people enter their senior years, they finally understand this verse. In their youth, they struggled to get jobs and status and things. Some accomplished it and some didn’t. But in the senior years….

when health is gradually declining….

 the world is passing them by….

 and they are sitting in their chair most of the time

….the main thing people look back on is what difference they made in their world, and how they did or did not help people important to them.

Often in their senior years when their income goes down and they are….

living only on a small pension…

and unable to keep their big house, and fancy car, and impressive stuff

….they realize they are still the same person inside regardless of what they own.

Ask a senior what they want for a birthday present. It is not likely to be things. It is likely to be time spent with a loved one or something special given to someone in need.

What about you?  How much time are you spending on things?

~~~BUYLINK for ebook and discount paper:  http://bit.ly/Bk8-TitusAristocrat

 

Monday 5/14 ~ Perfect love

On By In Death of Jesus Christ, forgiveness, good works, Inspirational, loveLeave a comment

The scripture for today, May 14 (5/14), is 2nd Corinthians 5:14a as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Thumbnail“For Christ’s love compels us….”

On a distant hill a very long time ago, something unbelievable happened.

Jesus died both physically and spiritually in our place! (Remember when he said God had forsaken him?) He knew we couldn’t come back from either kind of death on our own, so he did it for us. Such terrible things he went through for us!

Love is powerful! It causes us to do things for someone we love that we never wanted to do and never dreamed we could do.

How powerful is your love for Christ? Do you share the love of Christ with others? 1st John 4:18 says, “Perfect love casts out fear.”

You must reach out to people who think Jesus will ruin their fun, or has too many rules, or could never forgive them, or wouldn’t stop a tragedy from happening to them. If not in person, tell them in a note, a phone call, email, even a song. There are ways. Reach out. You can and you will if you let Christ’s love compel you.

~~~BUYLINK for ebook and discount paper:  http://bit.ly/ShadowDeath

 

Today is my birthday

On By In Inspirational4 Comments

Ken & Me

This is my brother, Kenneth, and I when we were two. We used to argue who was oldest. He said he was because he was born at 8:00 in the morning and I was born at 7:00 in the morning and 8 is a bigger number than 7.   Can’t argue with that!

Above are Ken and I in High School.  Below is us around the late Viet Nam era.
We’ve perfected singing happy birthday to each other as a duet.
This Saturday, I gave myself a 78th birthday party at my home. Instead of bringing me a gift, I asked my guests if they’d bring a donation to the Arab Palestinian preacher for the church of Christ in Jerusalem and towns nearby. It is very difficult for them. The Muslims don’t bother the Christians much except to pressure them to stop being Christians. There are Israeli checkpoints everywhere, making travel difficult.  Sometimes they meet in fields because the owner of the building they rent tells them to leave. A lot with no building in Jerusalem costs $1 million. If anyone is interested in this work, there is a new website for it at https://jerusalemchurchofchrist.wordpress.com/

Sunday 5/13 ~ How am I supposed to know God’s will?

On By In Bible, judging, knowledge, prayer, ScriptureLeave a comment

The scripture for today, May 13 (5/13), is 1st John 5:13f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

365 Dat by Date-Front-Thumbnail“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

What a wonderful and comforting promise: The God of the universe, the Creator, the King of all kings hears you!

But, how are you supposed to know God’s will? By a feeling deep in your heart? Feelings are fickle. Can there be another way? Of course. It’s simple. Just read his very words to you in the Bible.

The Bible is full of examples of people who did right and who did wrong, to help you see the consequences of good and bad decisions. The Bible is also full of God’s advice to you. Proverbs is one of the books that is full of such advice along with all the apostolic letters in the New Testament and the life of Christ in the Gospels. Read the Bible. You do not have to guess what God’s will is.

What about asking God’s will on whether you should move to this place or that, whether you marry this person or that, whether you take this job or that? Perhaps all your choices are good. God has also given you free will. Choose one of them. Always remember, “ALL things work together for good to those who love the Lord and called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).