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Showing posts from July, 2013

THE GRACE OF GOD

John 1:14-17   "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, ' This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.' And of His fullness we have all received grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." (NKJV)   Recently we spent some time with my wife's family. Her little great niece and nephew love to blow bubbles. We were all out in the yard watching the kids blowing all sizes of bubbles and having so much fun. Of course I had my camera and was taking pictures. I caught a beautiful picture of a bubble and what was so interesting was the fact that the bubble caught the reflection of its surroundings. As the light came through the bubble you could see the outline of the tress just behind us. It was really beautifu

A PRISONER OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

Paul, many times, referred to himself as the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. (See Ephesians 3:1, 4:1; 2 Timothy 1:8; Philemon 1:1 and Philemon 1:9 )  He had become dead to his old life when God saved him. He now saw his life as a prisoner. A prisoner has no control over himself and has to answer to the one over him. Paul never looked at this in a negative light, but always in a positive light. He considered it a privilege and honor to be a prisoner of the Lord, to lay down his life for the One Who gave His life for him.   When God saves us, He gives us a new life. We must serve him the rest of our lives. We are no longer in charge of our own lives. We must seek God for direction for our lives. We must yield our wills over to His. Paul felt compelled to serve Christ.   Paul "died daily" ( 1 Corinthians 15:31 ). To him it was a daily act of submitting his will over to the Lord. It was a daily sacrifice. Many people today want to be a Christian, say they are a Christ

WHO DO YOU TRUST?

Psalm 9:9,10 : "The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed. A refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You."   So much is happening in the world today. But we still need to seek Him daily. Sometimes it's hard to trust the Lord when everything around us seems to be spinning out of control. But it is the very time to trust Him. God is the same as He has always been- we CAN trust Him.   We need to remember how God brought us through our last storm. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves just how faithful God has been in the past.   Ezekiel 33: 13 -- those who "trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die."   When we begin to trust in our own righteousness, in our own works, our own selves- we begin to die spiritually. What are you tru

MY FATHER'S BUSINESS

Mark 16:15-18 "And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt then; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.'" (NKJV)   If we are truly believers, then we should be about our Father's business and these signs should accompany our testimony.   Hebrews 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."   2 Corinthians 5:17 : "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."   When we become Chri