All posts tagged: Jesus

What is the Gospel?

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One of ten from the past There is a list of ten books I wanted to read last year but failed to. Besides the ones I have my eyes on this year, I decided to knock those ten books from last year out-of-the-way before tackling the ones I’ve set aside for this year. Beginning at number ten, I present to you, Greg Gilbert’ “What is the Gospel? Well, I finished reading the book two weeks ago and have started the second. The name I will reveal in another post. But for now I would like to share with you some very powerful quotes from the book “What is the Gospel?” Take Five quotes from the book 1. The gospel is the proclamation of Jesus, in two senses. It is the proclamation announced by Jesus. But also the proclamation about Jesus – that in dying and rising Jesus has made the kingdom he proclaimed available to us. 2. An emaciated gospel leads to emaciated worship. It lowers our eyes from God to self and cheapens what God has accomplished …

Divert daily, withdraw weekly, abandon annually…

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It is good to work. But! Work is a great thing! I thank God for the opportunity to work. For He himself worked (Gen. 1:1). And He said that if we don’t work we won’t eat 2 Thess. 3:10). But the thing with work is that it can turn one into a workaholic. Therefore, we need to recognize that though God has ordained work for us, we must emulate his example – “he rested on the 7th day” (Gen. 2:2). Somebody once said, “work and no play makes jack a dull boy.” Actually it is a proverb –  and it means that without time off from work, a person becomes both bored and boring. So I took a little vacation this week – a week of complete rest and I am so thankful to the Lord for the opportunity to do this. I feel refreshed and energize for the weeks ahead. During my time away, I read a few articles and magazines – here is an excerpt of somethings I learned about recognizing and handling burnout: Preventing burnout” Having determined …

He Answers Me When I Call

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Psalm 4:1-8 Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. So I am confident you will hear me again. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer! O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself (wow! I belong to him. I’m known by Him. What a feeling); the Lord hears when I call to him. Be angry, and do not sin (it’s okay to be a little frustrated with the Lord when things don’t add up); But be careful, don’t go too far – ponder in your own hearts on your beds, be silent and know that He is God. Selah Offer right sacrifices and put your trust in the Lord. There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? That is a sacrifice of fools. Don’t be caught tripping, wallowing in your pity party. Instead, burst into songs like Paul and …

All In

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Mark 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength How to love the Lord with all your strength This is our last post in the series All In. So far, I have challenged you to take everything you have, every part of your life and invest it in this relationship you have with the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are not yet fire up to give yourself completely in 2012 to the Lord maybe this last post will help you jump in. The command here in Mark to love the Lord with all one’s strength is a call for us to intensify our affections or bring all our energy to bear on one thing – loving God with zeal. In Ecclesiastes 9:10 we find the word “Might.”. In Romans 12:11 we find the word zeal. And in Colossians 3:2, 5 we find the word heartily. All of these used to describe how we need to …

All In

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We have seen what it means to love the Lord with all your heart and with all you soul. Today, I will continue this blog series by sharing what it means to love the Lord with all your mind. This will be the 3rd part in this 4 part series ALL IN And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Mark 12:30 The Mind is the seat of the intellect. Hebrews 11:3. To love God with all the mind is to love God through our thinking. Hebrews 11:3 says by faith we ‘understand’. What does it mean – “by faith we understand?” It means – “by faith we think.” Faith is not inconsistent with thinking. Sometimes we see faith as purely mystical. But true faith requires thinking, reasoning and rationality (Matthew 6). I understand that there are some things you just can’t explain, but I am deeply offended when our culture tells me that because I …

All In

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We are in a series entitled All In from the book of Mark and chapter 12:30 where it encourages us to “love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength.” Yesterday we talked about how we can love the Lord with all our heart and it all came down to what or who we hold the dearest in our heart. Today I want to continue with the title – ‘How to love the Lord with all our soul.’ How to Love the Lord with all our soul! The soul as we know is the seat of all affections. The soul loves life. The soul loves the good things of life. It wants to keep you running after the good  things of the world. It wants to keep you hooked on pleasure. The soul wants you pursuing the things of the world. The soul has so much love for money, fame, status, and lots of pleasure. Here is an example from Luke 12:19, 20 of where the …

ALL IN

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I would like to introduce a four-part blog series that I will deliver over the next four days. I am taking my title from Mark 12:30 and I am going to unpack the verse talking about what it means to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. I am praying that it will be a blessing to you. Mark 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength Part 1: How to love the Lord with all you Heart According to the Bible, the heart is the center not only of spiritual activity, but of all the operations of human life. Proverbs 4:23 calls it the “wellspring of life.” The heart is also the seat of the conscience (Romans 2:15). It is naturally wicked (Genesis 8:21), and has the potential to contaminate life and character (Matthew 12:34; 15:18. Therefore, if the heart must love God fully and completely, a few things must …