All posts tagged: Jesu

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 …

Why I Still believe in the Resurrection

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Is Christ really risen? How do you know that Jesus is alive? Can you prove it? Are you sure you were not lied to? Depending on who you ask those questions, you are going to get some really different answers. I, for one, would answer the questions very subjectively, I tend to be that simple.  But others might give you a more logical explanation. In fact some people demand a more rational approach. I would like to offer both, objective and subjective answers to those questions in this post. Well, please don’t expect a really deep philosophical explanation, I’m not really cut out that way. So, in my own weak way, here is what I came up with: Let’s start with answers for all the Columbo/ Peter Falk types of the world It is funny to me that after trying for more than 2,000 years to refute Christ’s resurrection, the enemy of our faith is still trying to come up with new lies, new ways to discredit our claims about the resurrection. The gospel accounts have increasingly come under attack and intense …

How about a list of Dos and Don’ts?

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You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires Romans 13:9-14 I often hear people say, “christianity is not a list of do’s and don’ts – it’s all about one’s relationship with God.” I agree. I agree …

Extra Extra Read All About It

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It always starts with one word First, somebody told it, Then the room couldn’t hold it, So the busy tongues rolled it Till they got it outside. Then the crowd came across it, And never once lost it, But tossed it and tossed it, Till it grew long and wide. This lie brought forth others, Dark sisters and brothers, And fathers and mothers– A terrible crew. And while headlong they hurried, The people they flurried, And troubled and worried, As lies always do. And so evil-bodied, This monster lay goaded, Till at last it exploded In smoke and in shame. Then from mud and from mire The pieces flew higher, And hit the sad victim And killed a good name. I am looking forward to the day when people would realize that they should never say anything about anybody behind their back. I hope people will realize that if they can not say something about somebody in their presence, they cannot say it at all to anybody else. By overlooking this simple principle, some people …

Weird Things on the ‘Bible Set’

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Jesus says, ‘The Holy Spirit is like the wind.’ At that moment, a wind, like as if a 747 was taking off, blew his hair, almost blew the set over and sustained for 20 seconds across the desert, and the actors didn’t break — they kept going. And everything stopped. Everyone just looked at everyone like, ‘What just happened?’”

The Prayer of Impartation

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The book of Numbers has a very short but powerful prayer that was used to bestow blessings upon the people of God. Moses and Aaron were commanded by God to bestow blessings upon His people, but they were to do it according to the formula detailed in the verses below. Unless the Lord gives me a different way to close my Sunday morning worship service, I always close with that prayer. I call it A Prayer of Impartation. It is important to note here that it was God himself who put the words in the mouth of the priest. What that means is that there should be room for the movement of God’s Spirit in that moment of impartation. You don’t necessarily have to read the verse word for word, but you will need to tap into the spirit of the words. Another thing worth mentioning is that they were to put the name of the Lord upon the people. Nothing else could bring about the blessing from the Lord. To be blessed by God is to …

A Mighty Fortress is our God: A bulwark never-failing

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Listen to Chris Rice’s A Mighty Fortress is our God – Here Instead of posting a video or audio of this classic Hymn, I decided to just post the words. I found it moving and inspiring. I hope you feel the same way. I know some have changed the words over the years – I think the old school (original) version is better. A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never-failing; our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; his craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal. 2. Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is he; Lord Sabaoth, his name, from age to age the same, and he must win the battle. 3. And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to …

Overcoming Temptation

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For decades I have applied this battle plan to sexual temptation but hardly at all to the sins of selfishness, anger, self-pity, blaming, and sullenness. I have engaged my will head-on with sexual lust. I have heard Jesus say, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell” (Matt. 5:29). Nobody spontaneously tears out his eye. That is an act of will overcoming all kinds of natural disinclination. That’s what I do when any illicit sexual thought tries to gain the ascendancy in my mind. I go on the attack with A.N.T.H.E.M.: AVOID. Say NO! within five seconds. TURN to something magnificent, like Christ crucified. HOLD the pure thing in the mind until the temptation is gone. ENJOY the greater pleasure of the blood-bought promises of God. MOVE on to meaningful Christ-exalting activity. There is nothing passive in my will when the lion of lust comes out of the bushes. I …

The formula hasn’t changed: Your first step to next step ventures

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While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Acts 13:2 So, you are sitting there and asking yourself – What’s my next move? What does God have in store for me? Should I do this, should I do that? Let me share with you a very simple advice. Jesus’ disciples understood a very important principle in determining next step ventures. It wasn’t coming up with the best ideas about what they needed to do with their lives. It wasn’t seeking out counsel from mentors and spiritual giants. There is a time and place for those. It was about being with God, waiting on God and listening for the Spirit to Speak. Your first step to next step ventures is taking time – short or extended times of worship and fasting and waiting on the Holy Spirit to speak. I am afraid too many have missed this all important step and have ended up wasting their lives simply …

Are you willing to Risk being liked for being Extraordinary?

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A few hours ago I wrote a post entitled 7 things self-absorbed super-spiritual pastors say in the pulpit. The post was about the Unfortunate behavior of some preachers who relentlessly use their teaching to cut and hurt people. My purpose was to argue that sometimes sensitivity,  tact and cleverness in the way we communicate pays off greatly as we seek to deliver a difficult to swallow kind of message, convey a rebuke, or bring correction to a person who really needs it. For me, sometime our so-called speaking truth to power can come across as vicious, rude and simply disrespectful. However, if not careful, balanced and in tune with the Holy Spirit, we can find ourselves slipping into that place where we are only concern about making people feel comfortable and doing everything not to get them offended. Unfortunately, some churches, preachers and writers have fallen into the trap of being politically correct because of fear that somebody is going to get offended. This is spiritually dangerous not only for the leader, the membership, but also the …