heaven / Judgement / obedience

Living With God Requires Obedience

1 Chronicles 28.7 requires, if he continues to obey my commands and regulations as he does now, I will make his kingdomimage last forever.

The Jews understood and still believe, that they are God’s chosen people. Indeed, He did choose them thousands of years ago when God selected one man from all those living on the earth to be the one through whom He will build a nation culminating in His arrival as one of us, Jesus the Messiah.

God’s choice was His own, it wasn’t based upon the merits of the man nor of the people to come from the children born through that man and his wife. Today, the protestant church believes it too is the chosen people of God. (more…)

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November 30, 2016
Christian Living

Loving the World vs. Loving God

James 4.4 warns, you adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it

Book page

again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.

What does it mean to be a friend of the world? Being a friend to anyone means liking them, possibly imitating them and wanting to be their constant companion. So why does God warn us about being a friend of the world? (more…)

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November 24, 2016
Christian Living / obedience

More Post Election Thoughts

Amos 5.14 commands, do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed.

thump up and thums down

Do you feel like the results from our election were a blessing? Do you believe we dodged a worst case scenario bullet not having Hillary in the White House? If so, should we go back to normal and wait for the Donald to make everything right? Can he even do that? I don’t think even the proponents of Donald Trump believe him to be the savior of our nation’s moral and spiritual decay. (more…)

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November 16, 2016
Christian Living / obedience

The Election is Over, Now What?

Hosea 12.6 begs, so now, come back to your God. Act with love and justice, and always depend on Him.image

The election is over so now what do we do? Will Donald Trump solve all of our ills as a country? The resounding answer needs to be, ‘no’ if we are going to move ahead as a country and ‘make America great again.’ The quagmire we find ourselves isn’t the result of government action or inaction primarily. The situation we find ourselves in as a nation is the result of the way we as a nation have chosen to live and behave.

So what should we do now? Exactly what God says to do as summarized by Hosea. Act with love and justice and always depend upon Him. How do we do this? (more…)

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November 9, 2016
heaven / Judgement / obedience / Uncategorized

What Does God Hate?

Hosea 9.15 observes, The LORD says, All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my land because of their evil actions. I will love them no more because all their leaders are rebels.image

Gilgal was a holy place. It was where Joshua landed with the people of Israel when he miraculously crossed the Jordan river into the promised land. It was the place where Samuel the prophet would make the will of God known to those who needed His judgement.

Gilgal was where God changed His mind about Saul being king as a result of Saul disobeying God by offering the sacrifice only the priest was to perform. Perhaps it is this last act that Hosea refers to when describing the leaders history of rebellion. (more…)

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November 3, 2016
Christian Living / Judgement / Theology

How to Know God Personally

Hosea 6.3 laments, Oh, that we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know Him. He will respond to
Retro key and opened book
Retro key and opened book

us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.

When we think of God what do we think of? Our experience of Him personally combined with our teaching about Him will determine the thoughts we have about God as well as our behavior toward God.

The word God means, He Who is above all, the One Who is to be revered, honored and obeyed because He is perfect, wonderful and responsible for all that is, was or ever will be. Does that definition of God seem congruent with our thoughts about God or our behavior before God? Most likely not. (more…)

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November 1, 2016
Christian Living / Judgement / obedience

Integrity Building is Church Work

Daniel 6.4 observes, he was faithful, always responsible, and completely trustworthy.

Integrity Torn Paper Concept

Daniel was a trusted official in the Babylonian government. Often he was made the second highest official in the land after the king. He obtained this lofty position because of the three defining character qualities listed in today’s verse.

These qualities were not uncommon at our founding. They were the norm among most of our founding fathers. They were values held in high honor among most people of this country until fairly recently. (more…)

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October 21, 2016
faith

The Process For Increasing Our Faith

Matthew 17.20 observes, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here toimage there,’ and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you.

Mustard seeds are really small; really, really small. I don’t know if any of us have faith the size of a mustard seed. Why not? (more…)

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October 17, 2016
Christian Living / Judgement / obedience

Keeping God’s Reputation

Ezekiel 39.25 observes that God jealously guards His holy reputation!image

All of us want to guard our reputation. This desire reflects our being made in the image of God.

Like God, we care what people think about us and why they think the way they do. Frankly, God’s marketing isn’t very good. God has chosen to limit His brand to the purveyors of His product. (more…)

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October 6, 2016