Tag: church

Scripture for Wednesday, April 5 (4/5)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn church, Daily, death, faith, Inspirational, persecution, power, Satan, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, April 5, is Micah 4:5 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-Medium“All the nations may walk in the name of their gods; we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.”

Nations rise and fall. Nations come and go. Nations are founded upon terror and aggression, or peace and democracy. Some nations follow religions which declare that peasants are peasants as punishment for previous lives, so must remain peasants. Some nations follow religions chosen by their national governments and must be followed upon pain of death.

But as strong as various nations seem to be, as much power as they use on their citizens, they do not last forever.

Instead, there is a forever nation ~ the nation of God, the kingdom of God. No matter what nation someone lives in, they can have “dual citizenship”. And by being a citizen of God’s forever kingdom, they will walk in it forever and ever.

 

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#Micah, #nations, #countries, #kingdoms, #church, #wars, #executions, #martyrs, #DualCitizenship, #tyranny, #despot, #dictator, #governments, #power, #citizens

Scripture for Tuesday, February 28 (2/28)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, church, faith, forgiveness, Heaven, Inspirational, judging, Satan, Saved from hell, Scripture, truth, worship2 Comments

The scripture for today, February 28, is Jeremiah 2:28 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

Life-Changing-Scriptures-Cover-medium“Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.”

Today we think the whole thing is ridiculous. How could people believe in a multitude of gods? Further, how could people make statues of them as though anyone knew what the gods looked like? On top of that, many of them looked like dumb animals. But apparently, it was the popular thing to do. In fact, a person discovering yet another god would be highly esteemed. And it seemed logical that the more gods one believed in, the more holy a person was. Or the bigger the statue of a god in one’s home, the more dedicated a person was.

We today call them myths ~ things that were made up out of people’s imaginations. Yet they thrived in their time. Why? Because of “mass hypnosis” in a sense. Because we are social beings and we don’t like being ostracized. We want to be accepted.

Do we do the same thing today? There are evangelists on television who draw crowds of hundreds and thousands. They seem so right and so holy. Yet they contradict each other. So, it cannot be a measure of rightness and holiness that a lot of people believe something.

The measure must be the Bible. Remember, no matter how many thousands upon thousands follow a religious leader, that leader will be judged by God just like everyone else.

Let us read the Bible for ourselves. Let us study the Bible for ourselves. Let us not search the scriptures for something to prove our opinion right, or a certain leader right, or our family right, or a particular religious idea right. Let us try to erase all our preconceived religious notions, and read with an open mind what God himself has to say to us.

 It is possible to know for sure.

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#knowledge, #truth, #Bible, #Scriptures, #myths, #facts, #lies, #fabrications, #idols, #church, #Christianity, #evangelists

 

Scripture for Friday, January 6 (1/6)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, church, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 6, is Titus 1:6f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“An elder mu00-cover-kindle-medium-newst be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless ~ not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, nor pursuing dishonest gain.”

This is quite interesting. God does not leave us to guess what the qualifications of a church leader are. We don’t have to have conferences or synods to decide on qualifications for this office because God has already given them.

Something surprising here is that the word elder is used interchangeably with the word overseer (sometimes also translated bishop). The word elder comes from the Greek word presbyter. The word overseer/bishop is from the Greek word episcopos. Elder and overseer and bishop all are the same in this passage referring to the same office!

Here’s something else interesting about the elder/overseer/bishop: The word pastor comes from the Greek word for shepherd. In Acts 20:17, Paul sent for the elders of the church in Ephesus to talk to them. When they arrived, he said, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds [pastors] of the church of God which he bought with his own blood.”

Do you see the overlapping of the same office being called by different names? It’s kind of like father and papa being the same.

Titus 1:6f uses elder and overseer for the same office. Overseer is the same in Greek as bishop. Acts 20:17 uses elder, overseer, shepherd (pastor) for the same office.

In our daily life, we have different words meaning the same person; such as father, parent, head of the house, dad, breadwinner, papa ~ all names for the same position in the family.

So, too, for the family of God ~ the church ~ all these words overlap as names for the same office! And the qualifications for this office are found in our scripture for today, Titus 1:6f. Indeed, how interesting!

#Elder, #Bishop, #Overseer, #Pastor, #Office, #ChurchLeader, #Shepherd

Scripture for Wednesday, December 28 (12/28)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Heaven, Inspirational, Saved from hell, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, December 28, is Hebrews 12:28 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

CHANGES IN WORSHIP-COVER-KINDLE“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.”

Notice this is in present tense. The kingdom is not something in the future, but is now.

Jesus said in Luke 9:27 that some listening to him would still be alive when the kingdom came. Colossians 1:13 says God HAS (not will) rescued us from the dominion of darkness and BROUGHT (not will) us into the kingdom.

In fact, at the end, Jesus will not come back to earth to set up a kingdom. Instead, he will at that time hand the already-existing kingdom over to the Father (I Corinthians 15:24).

So what does this mean to us? Revelation 1:5-6 says that all who have been freed from our sins by the blood of Jesus have become a kingdom of priests. And as such, we daily offer our bodies as living sacrifices in the service to our king (Romans 12:1).

Christians have dual citizenship. Christians are citizens of the earthly nation they live in, and citizens of the kingdom of heaven. What glory God has already bestowed upon us.

So let us be thankful, and worship Him with reverence and awe.

#Kingdom, #Church, #DualCitizenship, #Priests

Scripture for Monday, November 21 (11/21)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Inspirational, Saved from hell, worshipLeave a comment

The scripture for today, November 21, is Acts 11:21 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

PAUL COVER-KINDLE-“The Lord’s hand was with them, in and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”

What had just happened? Some Christians in Phoenicia (today’s Lebanon), Cyprus (the Mediterranean Island) and Cyrene (in today’s Lybia), went to Antioch in Northern Syria near the southern border of today’s Turkey. There they established a congregation.

This little congregation ended up being the home congregation of Paul and Barnabas for many years. It started small; we don’t know the size it grew to. Regardless of the size, it had foresight and eventually did great things.

Perhaps you live in a town full of churches, but you’ve compared them with the New Testament, and none of them follows that pattern. Perhaps you have even given up going to church because of this problem. What is stopping you from beginning a little congregation after the New Testament pattern in your home?  

New Testament churches were simple ~ not elaborate like those mega-churches out there. And those simple churches have always been dynamic in their simplicity. Who knows but that your new little congregation will some day produce a Paul or a Barnabas….

#discouragement, #church, #congregation, #scriptural, #pattern, #hope, #simplicity

Scripture for Tuesday, November 15 (11/15)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Daily, InspirationalLeave a comment

The Scripture for today, November 15, is Revelation 11:15 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

PAUL COVER-KINDLE-“The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven which said: ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever!’ “

Each of us belongs to a kingdom/nation within our world. It is not perfect. Its leaders can sometimes do very bad things. And we wonder how we can stand some of the terrible things that sometimes happen within a government.

But our worldly kingdom/nation is not the only one we can live in. Colossians 1:13 says Jesus “has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Rescued! Brought us! Past tense! The kingdom isn’t something in the future. It is here now. And it goes by yet another name. Verse 18 says, “And he [Jesus] is the head of the body, the church.”

So, when we become discouraged about the kingdom/nation in our world that we live in, take hope. We can have dual citizenship! For there is another kingdom here, a spiritual one. The king of that kingdom will love us. Forever and ever.

#kingdom, #nation, #government, #church, #citizenship, #freedom, #slavery, #love

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, Inspirational, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The scripture for today, April 28, is Mark 4:28 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

PAUL COVER-KINDLE-

Jesus was explaining that the kingdom of heaven is like a seed planted in the ground. It grows almost miraculously. The church is, indeed, like this. Planted some 2000 years ago, it has survived through every adversity and attack contrived by man. Sometimes the attacks were even from within. But at such times, just when it looked as though it was going to die, just like a seed dying in the earth, it would begin to sprout and grow up stronger than ever.

A little seed turning into a stalk is miraculous and amazing. The survival of the church for some 2000 years is even more miraculous and amazing.

God is still on his throne, and all is well.

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Inspirational, Uncategorized2 Comments

Campbell-Cover-KIMBLEThe scripture for today, April 26, is Galatians 4:26 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.”

What is “the Jerusalem that is above”? Revelation 21:2 says, “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”

Aha! The New Jerusalem is the Bride of Christ! So, what is the Bride of Christ? Ephesians 5:25,27 says, “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy…and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”

The Bible always interprets itself. Search through it, and you will find the answer to all your questions.

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, Inspirational, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The scripture for today, February 19, is Ephesians 2:19 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Campbell-Cover-KIMBLE“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.”

Let us pretend there is a nation called Occland and we want to become a citizen of that nation. Of course citizenship would not be automatic. And in the same way, citizenship in the Kingdom of God (being a Christian) is not automatic.

Just living in a Christian nation does not automatically make us a Christian any more than just living in Occland would automatically make us a citizen.

Owning a Bible does not automatically make us a Christian any more than owning a copy of Occland’s constitution would automatically make us a citizen.

Going to church meetings every Sunday does not automatically make us a Christian any more than going to Occland’s meetings of parliament or the senate would automatically make us a citizen.

It just is not automatic. We would need to be invited into Occland, and then do things to accept Occland’s invitation. God invites us into his kingdom, but we must do things to accept his invitation. Romans 6, Acts 2 and 1st Peter 3 in the New Testament are good places to check it out. Do so.

God has already done the hard part. Our part is easy ~ our part in accepting his invitation to be citizens in his kingdom.

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, Inspirational, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 22, is Ephesians 1:22 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

WORSHIP THE FIRST-CENTURY WAY-COVER-KINDLE“And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”

What makes this so interesting is that the church is the body of Christ. And what else is the church? Matthew 16:17-18 says the church is the kingdom of heaven. Ephesians 5:25 & 32 says the church is his bride.

Revelation 21:2, 9-10 says the church bride is the new Holy City Jerusalem. Colossians 1:18 says Jesus is the head of his body ~ the only head ~ on earth and in heaven.

And what does Jesus think of the church? Ephesians 5:25-27 says he loved the church so much that he gave himself up for her, to make her radiant ~ no stains, no wrinkles, no blemishes.

Why would anyone not want to be part of this?
Such love.
Such eternal love.