All posts tagged: Bible

John 1:4, 5

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Light in Dark Places Life, what is it, where did it come from, how is it sustained? Contrary to popular thinking, life has its origin in God. He is the maker of everything – the giver of life. When He made man, “He breathed into him and man became a living soul.” If we want to talk about life, its origin and how it is sustained, Jesus should be at the center of that discussion. The scripture says, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Everything, this world, human life, depends on Jesus for survival. “In Him we live and move and have our being.” Though most men do not recognize this, it still is the truth. Jesus is not only the sustainer of physical life he is also the giver and sustainer of spiritual life. When he stepped out of eternity into time, into this dark and evil world, he was on a mission to lay …

Sunshine Sunshine in my soul today

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This video captivated my imagination about Jesus, his splendor and radiance. Hope it lights up your soul as well. For truly the sun declares the glory of the King. his face was like the sun shining in full strength. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised! Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars!

7 Habits of Highly Effective Leaders

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Charles Nobles once said, “first we make our habits, then our habits make us.” We are what we repeatedly do. And if we ever want excellence in our lives, we need to remember that it “is not an act, but a habit.” Some habits are good, others very bad and still some are of no value or eternal significance. However, to effectively impact the people around us and leave a lasting impression, we must develop good habits and do everything in our power to unlearn bad ones. The following are habits of highly effective leaders: Where the Lord leads, they follow It is laughable to think that one can lead effectively without he being led. You may be the head of your home, the head of your church or the head of your company, but God is the head of you. A highly effective leader is humble enough to recognize and submit to the leading of the Lord. A leader who follows God where ever He leads, is bound to succeed. It was Benjamin Franklin …

How to resist and defeat Cultural Pressures

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We are exposed on every side to cultural pressures. Between the two temptations of escapism and conformism, the latter is more common—that is, accommodation to the prevailing culture. We are exposed to cultural pressures incompatible with the Lordship of Jesus Christ, which, nevertheless, are demanding from us a capitulation that we are not prepared to give. And if we do capitulate to the pressures of society around us, then we compromise our integrity, we blunt our testimony, and we suffocate our spiritual life. What are the pressures of our culture to which we are forbidden to conform? What are the contemporary trends which threaten to envelop and engulf the church and against which we need to be on guard? I have selected three. I’m sure there are many more we could discuss, but these three are very important. First there is the challenge of pluralism: the church is called to be a community of truth. Second there is the challenge of materialism: the church is called to be a community of pilgrimage. Third there is the challenge of moral relativism: the …

The “Coca-Cola-nization” of the world

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And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthian 3:18 There is a quest for transcendence, a recognition that the human spirit will never be satisfied by the material order. It’s the main reason for the collapse of Euro-Marxism. Marxism was offered as an ideological substitute for religion, and Marx confidently predicted that religion would wither away and die. But the human spirit cannot be satisfied with the material. As Jesus said, quoting Deuteronomy, “The human being doesn’t live by bread only but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Theodore Roszak, although he lived and wrote before the New Age began, wrote about this. He couldn’t bear what he called the “Coca-Cola-nization” of the world. He hated the pseudoscience that claims to explain everything, and he couldn’t bear the undoing of the mysteries. When science gets its hand on something, there are …

Don’t Toot your own Horn

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Take heed that you do not your give alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise you have no reward of your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when you give alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand does:  That your alms may be in secret: and your Father which sees in secret himself shall reward thee openly. When it come to bragging or boasting about our accomplishments or achievements, some people have a hard time reining it in. Because of that lack of self-control they come across as proud, boastful and obnoxious. I understand that there is usually tension, especially for professionals, between selling oneself and humility. To be frank, even people who find themselves on church staff or on staff at other christian organizations, struggle with the tension between humility and standing out. But whatever situation you find yourself, the biblical principle of humility still stands. …

Tabitha Arise

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The raising of the dead to life is something humanly speaking too difficult to even comprehend. Is it really possible for a dead person to live again? Many a few doubt that it is possible. But for those of us who have faith in the one who Made the heavens and the earth, it is not only possible, it should be expected in this life and for the life to come. The raising of the dead to life is something only God can do. It is exclusively reserved for God. He alone holds the key to life and death. He alone can give it and he alone can take. There are several places throughout the bible about the dead being raised to life: The widow’s son in 1 Kings 17:17-24, God used Elijah. The Shunamite’s son in 2 Kings 4:20-37, God used Elisha. The dead man tossed into Elisha’s tomb in 2 Kings 13:21, God used bones of Elisha. The widow’s son who lived in Nain in Luke 7:11-17, raised by Jesus Christ The Synagogue ruler’s daughter in Mark …

Biblical Descriptions of the Atonement

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Sometimes we read the bible and it all seems like gibberish, nothing makes sense and nothing connects. But with a closer look, everything falls in place. When it comes to getting a message across, the Lord has done a great job making himself amply clear. Nothing is vague, hidden or obscure, if, through the eye of the Holy Spirit, we could just stay patient and dig a little deeper – That’s when all these gems, treasures begin to unfold. Type of Language Biblical Words Human Need The Result Language of OT sacrifices Blood, lamb, sacrifice We are guilty We are forgiven Language of personal relationships Reconciliation We are alienated from God We are brought back into intimate fellowship with God Language of righteous anger at wrongdoing Propitiation We are under God’s holy wrath God’s wrath is satisfied/quenched Language of the marketplace Redemption, ransom We are enslaved We are set free Language of the law court Justification We are condemned We are pardoned and counted as righteous Language of the battlefield Victory, deliverance, rescue We are …

In Christ Alone

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I will not boast in anything No gifts, no power, no wisdom My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. On Christ the solid Rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand On May 28, 1972, the Duke of Windsor, the uncrowned King Edward VIII, died in Paris. On the same evening, a television program recounted the main events of his life. Viewers watched film footage in which the duke answered questions about his upbringing, his brief reign, and his eventual abdication. Recalling his boyhood as Prince of Wales, he said: “My father [King George V] was a strict disciplinarian. Sometimes when I had done something wrong, he would admonish me, saying, ‘My dear boy, you must always remember who you are.’ ” It is my conviction that our heavenly Father says the same to us every day: “My dear child, you must always remember who you are.” The record shows in Colossians: He is my all in all! 1:14 in Christ we have redemption 1:16 in Christ all things were created …