He is the Messiah --Annointed One.
He is the King --whose kingdom is not of this world.
He is the Shepherd --to the sheep in His fold.
He is the Sacrificial Lamb of God --who takes away the sin of the world.
He is the Prince of Peace --who taught us to love, forgive, share and be compassionate.
He is the Rose of Sharon--and I don't know exactly what that signifies!
He is the Mighty God, Everlasting Father --"I and the Father are one --you have seen me, you have seen the Father."
He is the WORD incarnate -- "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."
He is the Savior --"...that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life."
"Hal-lelujah! Halle-lujah! hal-le-lu-jah! for the Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth..."
"Behold, I go to prepare a place for you --that where I am, you may be also."
"O Death, where is thy sting? Grave, where is thy victory?"
The dead in Christ shall all rise to everlasting life! We are eternal beings with an eternal destiny that need not be feared, because of this Christmas Babe.
No wonder Christmas is the happiest time of the year for the redeemed who put their trust in Him.
John3: 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.[a]
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[b] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.[c]
We are all condemned to die --and so we do --but we have a 2nd chance at immortality in a happy state --because Jesus Christ died to justify us with a holy God and rose from the grave --and promised the same for all who trust in Him. He did not come to tell us our sins were not sinful --He brought clarity to the Creator's definitions of sin and righteousness; He did not declare any sins to be pleasing to God. He died for those sins; that we might have life and have it more abundantly, starting in the here and now and continuing through eternity. That's why Christians should be the happiest people in the world! We are not under a heavy yoke of meaningless legalism --but Jesus said His yoke is easy; His burden is light. It's not always EASY to resist temptation and take the high road --the narrow road that leads to life. But once on that path, it is a joyful journey--a hopeful journey --a comfort through all the sorrows and difficulties of life. The broad road that many follow, however, will lead to destruction --and the misery does start in the here and now. We have a great choice to make --to follow the Lord Jesus Christ or to follow the enemy of God who wants to deceive and destroy.
"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible
9 comments:
You might want to check out my latest rave. It has three videos you should see.
I'd like to hear your thoughts.
M.
Barb,
I went over to Masoni's blog and started to watch the videos, but 10 minute videos trying to prove God does not exist are things I don't have the attention span for.
I did watch some of each and then posted this comment:
Masoni,
While you are exploring the origins of everything from the dinosaurs to the weather may I suggest you read the Book of Job?
This book talks of things not known to man for many centuries after it was written.
He talks of the planets, ice, snow, leviathons (dinosaurs?) behemoths (prehistoric elephants?) and talks of a round earth not held up by anything. People believed the earth was held up by some magical string or something. Turns out it's gravity.
Read it and learn. Oh, it also tells us Satan has daily access to God and the real story of this book is to show that even when Satan tried to get Job to denounce God by destroying everything he had, including his children and his health, he was unable to do so.
Read it and learn. Don't just read it but think about it and try to figure out how a guy in Uz which is probably modern day Iraq, but in the Mid-East nevertheless, could possibly have known about snow, ice, ice bergs, the earth being round if Someone higher than he had not told him.
Interesting book. Don't question this particular Authority, as you will be questioning the only Authority that matters.
Barb, after the Millenial kingdom, God lets Satan loose for a time because people will be born during the Millenial Kingdom, and even though they are in the very Presence of Jesus they will have the same decisions to make that we have made. Some will accept Christ and others will not.
Those who do not, will be cast into the lake of fire with Satan and the key will be thrown away as far as the east is from the west.
It's interesting because I have been thinking of studying Job and actually read the first four chapters tonight and read the study notes. This book was written before any other book in the Bible and Job was not considered an Israelite.
BTW, I deleted my first post because I spelled magical majical. Too late for me I guess.
God bless and a healthy, happy New Year to you and yours.
Jeanette,
Maybe the fact that you don't want to pay attention to the ideas of atheists is why you still believe in god? We make time to understand your beliefs, although we oftentimes find them ridiculous. Show the same courtesy, and that doesn't have to be by watching those videos. Just be open to new ideas, because they may just make sense to you.
M.
Masoni,
Since you think I'm a dimwit this will be my final response to you.
I have studied atheism and reject it as you reject the Christianity you claim to have studied.
Your problem is God gave you so much intelligence you think you have to analyze everything and put it into a box with a nice bow around it. Stop trying to outsmart everyone else (we know you're smart) and try to speak on a level that does not elevate your intelligence as the highest.
Nooo, don't say the problem is that one is too intellectual. That doesn't help.
Jenette, you don't have to know how to respond to the concerns that Masoni and other atheists bring up. But it is important that someone does. Everyone has gifts to use in the church and they won't be everything to everyone. So you don't know how to respond to Masoni or the movie. That's okay, but don't tell him that his concerns aren't valid. The things that the critics of the church assert need to be met on adequate grounds in a prudent and descerning manner. If you can't do that, don't worry about it but if you demean the task, then you demean the gifts of those who can. I'm not implying that I know how to meet all of these concerns, but I can deal with many of them and it doesn't help to shrug them off. less analysis is not what is needed. That is mudrake's approach. When he can't deal with analysis, he shrugs it off and insults the person for bringing it up and he will not attempt to deal with any of the details. We can't afford to shrug these things off especially when there are many of us who don't have to.
This is necessary part of the task of the church. You don't have to be involved with this part if you don't fully have the gifts. The work of the church is greatly varied and we all have different roles to play.
Rob,
Some people are so smart they think they can reason out a conception that denies God. I was not insulting Masoni, but stating a fact based on what he told me on his blog.
Rather than get angry and destroy my witness I have decided to just let others (like you) defend the faith to someone who is as dead set against Christianity as I am against atheism. I just pray God opens his eyes before he dies and he renounces his atheism and accepts Jesus as his Lord and Savior.
Thanks for the advice. :)
Oh, sorry, but I did not mean to imply that you insulted masoni though I know that what I said can easily be taken that way. I was noting that Mudrake does the brush off. He doesn't analyse well at all in discussions. That was the relevent part. Instead he insults. That was only relevent in terms of what he does instead of attempting quality analysis of what was said.
Anyhow, God bless.
Rob,
It is very clear you have been raised by good parents who have given you good standards by which to live and act. I applaud them and you.
As for Mudrake, I saw his remark about me on Masoni's blog and just ignored him. I'm not going to give him the power to make me angry or make him think I think he matters to me in his opinions of me or your mom.
Post a Comment