meandean

i think they are separate and distinctive ideas. why? well you can have a toaster all nice and pretty but unless it is plugged in, it aint of much use. the moment we believed, christ entered our hearts, but the only way we are gonna defeat this here flesh is only by his holy spirit

you know what comes to mind as silly as it may seem, that here in the united states, we call driving a car a right, it's our right. but over in england, they call it a privilege. god provided a way for us to come to him anytime and anywhere. it is a privilege to do so. i don't really think that those of us who really lack these qualities really understand the monumental privilege in going to god at anytime or anywhere.

his call and apostleship were both a gift from god. he did nothing to receive them,but he knew woe is me if i preach not the gospel. see, he knew who he was, the least of all the apostles, one born abnormally in time, one unworthy to be called an apostle for persecuting the church. he also knew that trying to become a pharisee of pharisees lead him to perfecting his own flesh,but he counted it as rubbish later on. so the closer we get to a holy god, we find ourselves lacking beyond measure, and only one can provide and sustain us in and through all things.

it was god revealing his plan through jesus christ. god previously put israel in the middle of the known world to influence all that would listen, but israel kept god to themselves. so the mystery is uniting both jew and gentile together, making one man. now we don't have to go through rituals or religion or the people of israel to go to god. that's fantastic!come as you are, whenever you want,however you want.

this is the foundation of our belief, 1 john chapter1, that which was from the beginning,which we have heard,which we have seen with our own eyes,which we have looked at and our hands have touched,this we proclaim concerning the word of life.we believe their testimony about christ, that he is the cornerstone and their testimony laid the rest of the foundation. anything else added to this would make it impure, like mixing yeast in with the bread,the foundation would not be secure to build upon, it would fall apart.

you know, i'm sure glad that jesus rose from the dead. not just his head, but his body as well. i'm sure that would of freaked the first disciples out who went to the burial site and just found his body with no head. only the head was able to ascend to the father. now thats pretty silly right? but sometimes we act as though it really happened that way. look, the body can't function without the head. we really must take a look as to reason we go to church. ihe wasn't so shallow to give his life for us, so we ought naught to be so shallow in giving all, everything back to him in praise, honor, thankfulness, time talents and tithes.whatever it takes, i will be one, who lives in the fresh newness of life,of those who are alive from the dead, whatever the cost

well, we don't have to kill a lamb in order to go to the father. no special service or ritual cleansing.i'm sure glad that god made this way more intimate than just going through the motions. the holy spirit seems to escort us in while jesus seems to announce our coming.and it was all covered by his blood.

he wiped it out by becoming it for us. we could only approach god through the law, which had its heavy requirements.one being a blood sacrifice, something had to die so we could live. jesus not only fulfilled every bit, but also created a new man, tearing down all barriers, so all that believe would be reconciled to god and given peace that surpasses all understanding.we now have a way, the only way to god, through christ jesus our lord.

i think we forget who we are and were we have been, and we eventually become dull and religious, not even knowing it.we just go through the motions with no urgency to let god share christ through us..... the people around me are just playing a part, acting like everything is okay,you know, including fellow believers. some have their own clicks, so you never really get too close to them, maybe it's from not going to their church or whatever. but i see a few just waiting for the day to end so that it might get better tomorrow. everything is based on happenings so nothing is secure.

what a difficult question.well it's not blind optimism or a manufactured hope so feeling, neither is it an intellectual assent to a doctrine. it is certainly not believing in spite of the evidence, that would be superstition.true bible faith is confident obedience to god's word in spite of circumstances and consequences.( warren wiersbe) j. oswald sanders said faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen. when i started to find a definition for faith, i first went to hebrews chapter 11:1. substance-evidence-witness. then i got to thinking about 1 john chapter 1.faith is different from belief. first there has to be a foundation.secondly, there has to be conviction. thirdly. we must be made into a witness. jesus has provided all of these requirements. that which was from the beginning, which we have heard,which we have seen with our eyes,which we have looked upon,and our hands have handled,the word of life,this is what i call faith.though he might not touch me physically, he does spiritually. and that goes for hearing seeing and so on. on being condemned... there is a parable of the ten talents. one guy had ten, invested it wisely and received ten back. another had five, invested it and recieved five back. the last took his and buried it. when the owner came back, the first two were rewarded and the last tried to use an excuse and return the blame on his master. he was thrown into weeping and gnashing teeth. so i don't know about lacking but it's pretty clear on using faith. we are to live out this life,we are to let our light shine before men

god prepared for us good works to walk in. we are to live out this very life he has given us for all to see and partake of. we might bear fruit, but the fruit is for others who walk by. i never seen a fruit tree eat it's own fruit. we are to bring glory and praise to our father in heaven.the other works are of no use.people might see them and be astonished by them, but they are not for god, they are for our praise to ourselves. they don't bring anything to the table,other than a shallow insincere distastefulness.

the parable of the prodigal son comes to mind. we spend so much time on ourselves, for ourselves, that it begins to become such a big rut that we can.t get out of. oh yeah. we had it all figured out and nothing was gonna stop us. the problem with running that dead end highway has always been incompleteness. we desire to be filled, and maintained, and nothing can ever fill us or give us peace except for god. he brings balance and rest for our souls.

there is no requirements for grace, no list to complete, no achievement necessary.it completely throws us off everything we have understood to be true.our reality at best is vague and insincere.we always place conditions on everything. i think grace smashes the good boy-bad boy legacy. i know we are teaching our two boys to make wise decisions so we are using"was that action a good boy or bad boy?" i let them answer but they always want to know if thats who they actually are. i tell them love is not based on what you have done it is a choice i made long before they did anything wrong. then off they go once again.

there are many ways for god to flow through each member of the church. and i don't necessarily believe that we have to be active locally. and what i mean by this is jesus said to go into all the world and make disciples,baptizing them in the name of the father,son and holy spirit.teaching them to obey everything that i have commanded you.so are we to confine god to our local church? no,but to live out this life no matter where we are, church, work,walking down the street, mowing the yard,ect. so, to miss out on a blessing...mmm...acts tells us the disciples devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.all believers were one in heart and mind. noone claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had,with great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the lord jesus and much grace was upon them all. now this to me is total, sold out, hold nothing back fellowship.this is a blessing.do we bless like this at church?hardly.can we be a face without a name? no way.most of us are closet christians, afraid to open up,to get hurt,stepped on, damaged for any one or any reason.so are we all guilty of showing up at church, yet at the same time, being absent? you bet.mmm.... lets chew on that for awhile,no matter how bitter it is....

christ is at the right hand of god,right?so, by jewish custom the one who is at the right hand is the one who inheirits all things.so by this we are sitting in a pretty powerful place.and christ jesus holds nothing back from us. john 15:4 comes to mind, remain in me and i will remain in you.mmm...in christ. i believe that is what it's all about, in christ.we can't save ourselves, nothing can repair what is spiritually broken,not even gods love...only grace. for it is by grace that you have been saved...being in christ allows us to rise above sin, or to live above reproach.we have a new master and he's not sin.we can go to him with everything, anytime,anywhere.

god is so full of mercy,so full of compassion and affection for us, he is tender.now, i don't know about you,this really is the opposite of what a holy god in my mind would be. you know, i'd be looking for a god who is distant and unconcerned. someone who should be angry at all of us.but this god, who is full and overflowing with mercy, saw our need of life and he met it and he gave it through his son, which is unconditional love in the flesh.his love is beyond reason, flows through every part of his mind, his heart, and his will. wow,and like the prodigals father he ran to us. he is simply...amazing!

some might feel now that i'm born again, i can still live the way i want, say the things i want to, without any regret. like a loose canon or something, after all, christ set us free,right?and there are cuss words in the bible, right? god wants us to grow up in our salvation, to make our call and election sure. he says to seek wisdom and find understanding, to be transformed by renewing our minds.if we chose to stay so simple and shallow, who else is there to blame?2timothy 2:15, BE DILIGENT TO PRESENT YOURSELF APPROVED TO GOD,A WORKER WHO DOES NOT NEED TO BE ASHAMED, RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH

in my understanding, there are 3 types of death in the bible. first, there is physical death,which we all face sooner or later.its when a persons spirit separates from their body.secondly, there is spiritual death,which a person is separated from god as they walk this planet.thirdly, there is eternal death, which a person will be forever separate from god. so all death really is , is separation.( goats from the sheep, wheat from the chaff)well we all know what physical death is, so what is this spiritual death while still living? it could be rejecting god and living in rebellion. then again it could mean going to church, singing the songs, playing the part. what we call a religionist. or maybe those who would rather create their own god, adding things when necessary, and taking them away when its rough.and eternal death is the second death. totally banned forever from the love of god, with no chance of ever experiencing it again.the only thing that is different from us and them, is the blood of christ jesus. we chose to believe in him and to take him at his word. i think the best thing to do is first remember where we came from and remember who saved us as well. we not only should be patient, but a good listener, wait for the opportune moment to share gods word. and always pray for god to stir them and to create a hunger that only he can fill.

noone i know likes pressure and when you mix up the kids crying,the phone ringing,the spouse nagging, everything and everyone pulling on you, stretching you as far as you think you can go,you look to god finally and he takes you a bit further.but it's when we don't pay attention to what we tried to understand.maybe we read some passage and thought we had it down, then the lord comes in a couple of days and he brings us though the very passage with a whole deeper meaning.god doesn't want us to be so shallow as to think we know it all.and paul, being in prison for his belief and not wrong doing,must of been passing this wisdom on to the ephesians. in a sense paul was warning them this might happen to you as well,but its alright,god is with you, as he is with me.

sometimes we feel emotionally strong, like we can do anything. look at peter, he got out of a pefectly good boat and started walking to jesus. he was alright until he took his eyes off christ.( peter had alot of these episodes)and maybe we feel intelligently strong,then theres paul who had some kind of thorn in his side so he could learn to depend on grace and not himself. we are all taught to take care of ourselves from an early age.so our eyes are immediately focused on us. even these days are more dangerous to trust in anyone else so we teach our kids to run from strangers, yet even sin has grown into the schools, and city officials and so on. god has told us to set our hearts on things above and to set our eyes upon things above in colossians chapter 3. hebrews 12:2 says to fix our eyes on jesus.sometimes these huge churches can swallow new believers and they can be overlooked.the bible says to make disciples and not just book ends.if the new believer is not being taught, whose to blame, them? no, it's ours.jesus came to seek and save the lost. we should continue this not only by livivg out the life for ourselves, but reach out with the love he has even shown to us

you know, i watch my kids at christmas time, walking around and shaking their presents, counting how many they have,and it kinda drives them nuts with all this build up and secrecy. but when the day finally comes, they rip through them gifts and soon the high is brought back to reality.some presents don't even get touched after the first 5 minutes.and i think that is what would happen if i knew i would inheirit 10 million in a couple of years. the idea would consume me at first,then i would go through many different scenarios, as time went by reality would kick back in, and good stewardship would take place.(2)we should be able to breathe in and breathe out. and what i mean by that is no matter the cost,no matter how angry the person is in front of me,no matter if i'm on the front line in the iraq war,i know that i know that i know who holds me and all i need to do is respond to this love.even if it is not returned by anyone, including the saints..... now i have one question about this passage. is he actually talking about our inheiritance or HIS?from what i read, it appears that we are HIS inheirtance. so let me know.

living with a Father who deeply loves us,who never left us, who understands us, who waits for us, who enjoys us,who embraces us. and to just think how much anticipation He has for us to come home amazes me.everyday should be the same for us.to love Him entirely, like He loves us.this is my hope to broaden my love for Him and to love as He loved me.the unbeliever has no hope, they have a daily grind,a big giant rut of unforgiveness, and a excess load of unthankfulness on their backs,and a trillion stories of poor me and what about me.then again, their hope just might be to get the day over with as quickly as possible.

the moment we heard the gospel and believed.we are fully adopted as sons and daughters, we are finished from gods point of view. and to help us along the way is his spirit of truth. he will teach us all things and he will remind us of everything god said to us.

live out the life that was freely given to us at the greatest cost.i think keith green sang it best when he sang" i know my life would surely slip away except for grace, by which i stand. i believe it is impossible to fulfill anything without his grace.and we must remember this continually.

as a believer, he is actually doing this each day.the bible says we are like sheep and each one likes to stray.for what reason? we haven't turned over our immediate desire to god. he will bring it soon enough with rod and staff. he made it easy for us to only have one focal point....that is him and only him. for the unbeliever it's gonna be a giant wake up call. their focus was on everything but jesus, looking for all their life to find something in someone or something else to complete them,all the time rejecting the only one who could do this,our wonderful jesus.