The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
We are the Body of Christ and the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are divided out to each of us are for the efficient functioning of the body, directed by the Holy Spirit. According to Merrill Unger, “A gift implies a settled and continual abilities to do something again and again” (from The Gift of Seeing Angels and Demons: A Handbook for Discerners of Spirits, pp 15-16). There are several Bible passages that, between them, build the list of…..
All To the Glory of God
John 9:1-3 describes part of a conversation between Jesus and His disciples: “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, ‘Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.’
“Why is there suffering?” is…..
John 1:16-17 tells us that “of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Romans 8:2 demonstrates this replacement with “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” The law of Moses taught us the need for grace and Jesus provided the grace that met that need.
How does our…..
Music is a very important factor in human culture. Every cohesive culture has its shared songs, with the understanding of the purpose of each – mourning celebration, patriotism, worship, instruction, etc. It is said that music is the universal language. It has form, rhythm, and meter that can be interpreted by the hearer, even if there is no mutual linguistic understanding. It used to be that Catholics could go into any Catholic Church around the world and enjoy comprehension because…..
While celebrating the New Year we hear a lot about making resolutions that may or may not become reality for us. The clock turning to 12:01 on New Year’s Day is different from any other night of the year. We are more likely to reflect on the past and we hope to not make the same mistakes over again.
Reflection is often a good thing, but what about those memories that cause you shame and deep regret. Many Christians struggle…..
Tomorrow we will celebrate Christmas to remember the birth of Jesus Christ as a human child: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: when as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost” (Matt. 1:18). But the message of Christmas is incomplete without the message of Easter.
Jesus Christ grew up as any other child does. As was typical in Jewish families, He was taught…..
When our children were little, a large part of our Advent activities involved Old Testament prophecy concerning the coming of Jesus. Of those passages, Micah 5:2 sums up the big picture of the coming of Messiah:
“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
The passage makes clear…..
Before we even said yes to Jesus, He knew us and chose us to be the recipients of His love.
Our positions as Christians began with God’s eternal plan for each of us. We were foreknown, elect, predestined, chosen, and called. The Apostle Peter begins his first epistle with this reminder to his readers: “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto…..
2 Corinthians 2:14-16a says, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the [distinctive quality] of His knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved and in them that perish; to the one we are the savor of death unto death and to the other the savor of life unto life.”
As we learn and grow in faith and holiness…..
When we accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior by faith, we were “sanctified”. It means “set apart”. We are set-apart-ones to God from the moment of belief.
We spend the rest of our lives learning what that means, in pursuit of the Christ-like character, to follow Christ in the consecration of one’s self to God, and to apply the principles of God’s Word, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to the goal of separation from sin. This is…..