Believing God Today

Giving Hope and Comfort in His Grace


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A Prayer

Heavenly Father, I pray you would grant me the strength to make it through each day. Lord I cannot live this life on my own…I so desperately need you. Strengthen my arms…and guide my steps. Show me the path I am to walk…and give me the courage to set foot upon it.

By your Holy Spirit am I guided, strengthened, and encouraged. I pray Lord that you would not turn your face away from me. I pray that You would always walk with me. Lord forgive my unbelief…and strengthen my belief. Help me to see…that you Lord are all I need. Help me Lord to walk by faith…even when I cannot see.

My faith has helped me through so much. Even when I was no where near you Lord…You were waiting patiently for me. Thank you so much Lord for calling me…out of the darkness of this world. I left you behind Lord…but You were there following me every step of the way. Until I was willing to come home.

My faith is all the more comforting to me because of this.

Your love is amazing…all that You have done for me. Despite my sins…you love me. I turned away…You opened your arms to me. I didn’t believe in You…You died for me. I prayed…and You heard me. I asked for forgiveness…and You gave it to me.

I prayed to you my Lord…and you gave me eternal life. Thank you for this gift…You have given me so much. Lord you are so good to me. I praise your name…I give You my love… I will worship You always.

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Harvest Crusade Starts Tonight

This is a great message from Pastor Greg Laurie, a perfect message to listen to before the crusade which begins tonight!

It’s Time to Preach the Gospel
Luke 10:1-3

Tune in starting tonight to see Harvest Crusade program with Greg Laurie. Watch live on the net here!
http://www.harvest.org/crusades/2012/anaheim/


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The Struggle in Today’s Church

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How would you like your eggs today, over-easy, scrambled, fried, sunny-side up, soft-boiled, hard-boiled, poached, or shirred?? How about your steak; rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, or well done?? Choice of potatoes? This sounds like questions for a meal in a restaurant right?

Can you relate the above questions to today’s Church? Depending on the meal you choose when eating in a restaurant, you the patron sometimes have many choices within the meal you chose.

Today’s Church seems to be all about choices as well. The Church seems to be gravitating towards self-indulgence. Yes the corporate church can do this as churches are made up of people, and people decide what they want out of church.

Some churches today will tell you all about how God wants to bless you; He wants to give you all things. These same churches neglect to tell you God wants to give you all things according to His will…not yours. This means that you will not get everything you desire, that is completely un-biblical!

Other churches today are taking sides over the gay marriage debate. There is no debate. Gay marriage is wrong in the eyes of God, so it is wrong and has absolutely no place in the church. The bible states that homosexuality is wrong, period…why is there any debate???

Still more churches are splitting and choosing sides over whether or not a person that is a homosexual should be a pastor of a church. God has said that homosexuality is wrong, why then would anyone choose to have a self-professed homosexual lead their church? Let me ask you another question or two before you get too fired up about what I just said.

What if the pastor is having an affair? What if the pastor is stealing from the church? How about if the pastor is abusing children? Would these offenses not trigger serious action from the church?

Then there are the churches in which the pastors preach what the people want to hear, and that is all. The sermon is more or less a pep talk to make you feel better about yourself. This is tickle my ears preaching, which is no preaching at all. This is akin to telling someone all they have to do is believe Jesus existed and they will be saved…that is it, nothing more.

Really???? Because you believe Jesus Christ existed means absolutely nothing! The Demons and Satan himself all believe Jesus existed and still does…where do you think they are going?

The church of today is a social club, a place to gather and hear some encouragement. Share a few stories, ask a couple questions, and drink a cup of coffee all the while congratulating yourself on having been in church again and so fulfilling your duty. Your duty to whom; yourself, society, or God? It surely was not to God.

How about the churches that just plain ignore sin in their midst? Like what? Like the husband who is known to be cheating on his wife, or the person who is stealing a “little” from the church? Serious sin, things that should not be ignored.

There are of course great churches out there; I am in no way saying all churches today are no good. Unfortunately however, this is the way today’s Church as a whole is heading. The bible foretold this would happen, that people would not endure sound teaching. So of course when it is talked about, that will not be endured either.

Some may read this article and disagree with it that is fine. Think on this a moment if you will, church is not supposed to be about you or me. Church is not supposed to be a welfare system for people to live on. Church is not about getting that dose of encouragement so you can make it through the week. Church is about God…period! Church is all about God, it is for God, and it is of God.

If we exist to glorify God, and we do, why then do we go to church expecting self-fulfillment? Are we not in church to glorify the Creator of the universe?

If church is conducted the way it is meant to be, we will be fulfilled. Our greatest joy will come from doing what God created us to do, glorify Him. When we seek to elevate ourselves above God by serving our own designs and purpose in and through the Church, we will not be fulfilled! Nothing will ever bring joy and fulfillment to us when we serve ourselves first, and the Lord after.

It is fine to have encouraging messages in church we need those. However, if the sermon does not ever convict you, if the words of the pastor do not ever make you feel uncomfortable…then you are not hearing the Gospel. The pastor’s words should completely resonate with the Bible; the pastor’s words should not ever go against the Word of God. Yet sadly this happens again and again in today’s Church.

It does not matter what you or I think of what God says in His Word. It does not matter what your pastor thinks either. The only thing that matters is that God’s Word is preached, the way that God wrote it, not the way that we want to interpret it, not the way that we choose to speak it. I’m not talking about your view of the rapture and when it will happen. I’m talking about Jesus Christ is God…no debate. Jesus is the only way to the Father…there is no other way…none. Sin is a death sentence for all, your only way out…Jesus Christ. Salvation is a gift; you cannot earn it…period. Jesus Christ was, is, and always will be eternal just as the Father is…no question about it. If it is written in God’s Word, it is true…it is not open to negotiation. The Bible was written by men, the words came from God. To suggest that the bible is just a collection of stories written by a few men is completely ludicrous not to mention ignorant. Hundreds and hundreds of years (over a thousand years actually) of writings and prophecies where the books agree with one another, and the prophecies have come true (about half of them so far, the others are yet to come), written by over thirty-five different people…this is the work of God not man.

When you or I walk through the door of our church, the first thing on our mind should be praising and glorifying God. It should not ever be what can I get out of church today. God took our death upon Himself, paid the price for our wrongdoing. He deserves our praise and worship.

Glory to God in the highest

Glory to God forever

Praise His Holy Name

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

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In Defense of the Christ: part three

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The Old Testament even refers to Jesus, and also makes it clear that He IS God.

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Isaiah clearly was prophesying the coming of Jesus. The matching New Testament passage is Matthew 1:23

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Daniel 7:13-14 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Son of man was Jesus favorite self-designation. The person spoken of here is given authority, he is also given glory…God shares His glory with no one. The person in this passage is also given sovereign power, the key word here is sovereign NO one but God possesses sovereign power. To be sovereign is to be over and above all; therefore this verse is saying that nothing and no one can surpass the power of the son of man. All peoples and nations will worship him, and his kingdom will never pass away. This could only be referring to Jesus Christ, the Father was already mentioned, (Ancient of Days) and God the Father is not giving these things to Himself! Let us not forget the phrase “coming with the clouds of heaven”, Jesus used this phrase Himself…Mark 14:62 “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

John 1:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. In John 1:1 we see that Jesus, the Word, was and is God. Now this verse is saying that although Jesus was here in the world, this world did not recognize its’ Creator.

John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God Yet another verse that speaks to the fact that belief in Jesus Name and accepting Him as Lord leads to salvation.

John 1:17 tells us that grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that we are saved by grace…which came through Jesus.

John 1:18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known. In verse fourteen, Jesus is referred to as the One and Only, who came from the Father full of grace and truth. Jesus came to earth, and made the Father known to us. He also made the Father approachable through His intercession for us.

In John 20:27-29 the disciple Thomas refers to Jesus as “my Lord and my God”, when Jesus appears to him and the other disciples after the resurrection.

In the first chapter of John alone we are literally bombarded with the knowledge that Jesus is God. As the heavens declare the glory of God, the book of John declares the divinity of Christ. All the mental gymnastics that some go through to disprove that Jesus is God are just ridiculous. The whole book of John needs to be read together to achieve the full contextual meaning. Chapter one alone is full of meaning and knowledge.

In Matthew 18:19-20 Jesus says that when two or three of us ask for something in His (Jesus) name, it will be done for us by His Father.

In Titus 2:13-14 the Apostle Paul refers to Jesus as our God and Savior.

Revelation 5:13-14 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” 14 The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

And to the Lamb be praise, honor, glory, and power. The Lamb is Jesus as stated by John the Baptist in John 1:29. As I said previously, God shares His glory with no one, so the Lamb of God (who is Jesus) must be God Himself.

Do you know Jesus as Lord and Savior? Would you like to? The only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. No other religion, and no other god or person or whatever can lead you to heaven and eternal life. Eternal life is found only within Christ and no one else.

If you are ready to make a commitment to Christ, then go to this site (Peace with God) and simply read and follow what you are asked to do. If you have any interest in being forgiven your sins, and you would like to make a change in your life, even if you are not sure yet, I urge you…do not wait!! There is more information on the web site I listed for you.

2 Corinthians 6:1-2 says As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2 For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

Give your life over to Christ today, don’t wait another moment, today…might be your last day. After death, there is no chance to change your mind about your eternal destination.

I want to share with you who are reading this a short thought about today being the day for salvation. A short time ago, my brother-in-law went out for a motorcycle ride on a beautiful summer day. He did not come back; he was killed…just like that. You never know when your last day here will be…do not chance it. Commit yourself to Christ today while you can.

1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

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In Defense of the Christ: part two

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Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Jesus is here referring to Himself, saying that not all who call Him Lord will enter heaven. That is pretty clear, and again Jesus mentions His Father saying all need to do the Father’s will to enter heaven.

In (Matthew 8:28-32) Jesus meets up with two very violent men that according to the text, “no one can pass”. Notice also that Jesus is able to walk right up to these two men. The two men were demon possessed, and the demons knew exactly who Jesus was, they referred to Him as “the Son of God”. The demons then ask if Jesus has come to torture them before the appointed time…this is a very important statement. Exactly what appointed time are the demons referring to, and what does this have to do with Jesus? The appointed time is the end of all things when the entire world and everything in it will be judged. The demons already know where they are going…to hell! They are also aware of the fact that Jesus is God, (James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that–and shudder) and Jesus is going to be the Judge! Next the demons beg Jesus to allow them…allow them to go into a herd of pigs. Jesus has total control over the demonic realm, not even Satan himself prevailed against Jesus although he tried.

John 8:58 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

Again, reading this in context, we see in the following verse that the Jews picked up stones to stone Jesus, why? The Jews of Jesus day understood what Jesus had just said to be a claim to Himself being God, so they were determined to kill Jesus for committing blasphemy! If as some claim, “Jesus is only a man”, then why were the Pharisees so intent on killing Him? Why would anyone kill a simple man, what threat would he be anyway? Jesus was the only one who when speaking to the Pharisees could ask questions the Pharisees had no answers for.

Mark 6:7 Jesus sends out the twelve disciples and gives them power over evil spirits. Jesus gave them the power, who but God could confer this power on anyone? No mere man could give another man power over the demons…and no mere man would ever be a match for a demon without the power of the Holy Spirit backing him!

In Acts 4:10-12 the Apostle Peter tells us that salvation is found in no other name under heaven but that of Jesus Christ. If salvation is found in Jesus, then He is God.

Consider this verse; John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. That the Father is God is not normally a point of contention, but for some reason Jesus place at God the Father’s side as God Himself; now that is contentious. If The Father is God, and the only way to Him is through Jesus, then simple logic reveals to us that Christ is God. In the beginning of the Gospel of John, (John 14:1) Jesus says to trust in the Father, but his next words are, “trust also in me”…in this statement Jesus is very clearly claiming to be God.

Lets examine for a moment Philippians 2:1-11, this small collection of verses is so theologically rich it is astounding. Written by the Apostle Paul this passage speaks of the qualities of Jesus and how He behaved on this earth. Jesus though by His very “nature” was God, made Himself nothing…a servant. He did not come in all the power of God, but as a man. Christ never gave up His deity, but He did give up His prerogatives as God to humbly serve man and show the way to salvation. Furthermore, Jesus came here to die, to die a very degrading and intensely painful death on the cross to pay the price exacted by God for our sins…death. God in effect said if you sin you must die for doing so. Then God, whom made this edict, came here in the flesh Himself and allowed the penalty He Himself instituted to be fulfilled in His own body. In the last two verses of this beautiful collection, Paul says, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow”, and “and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Why would all bow to Jesus and confess Him as Lord to the glory of the Father if Jesus is not God???

Colossians 1:16-17 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Jesus created all things, and all things were created for Him. Not just physical things; all things, notice the text even refers to powers, rulers, and authorities. This for sure refers to angels at the least; and Christ created them. Notice in verse seventeen it states that Jesus is before all things. Before all things means that He was here long before He became a man on earth.

Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. Christ is the head of the church, and the Father is the head of Christ. Jesus is the beginning, the beginning of the new creation. Only after Jesus were we able to be created anew. Jesus was the first to be resurrected, others who were resurrected died again…Jesus is alive forever more! Jesus is first in all things; if we do not believe this we are lost in our sins forever more with no hope of rescue. God the Father is not the One to rescue us, not directly anyway…Jesus is. God as a whole (the Triune God) was the architect of our salvation, Jesus was the One to come here and pay the physical price for it.

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In Defense of the Christ: Part one

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I was reading some comments from a guy that I was conversing with on a friend’s site a while back. This particular person claimed to be a Believer, but yet in the course of our discussions he made it very clear that Jesus was NOT God. Jesus was the Son of God and was to be honored he said, but not God Himself. I did my best to show this gentleman that Jesus IS God, but I am afraid to no avail; which saddened me.

No one can be a true bible-believing son or daughter of God if they do not believe in the deity of Christ. No one can obtain eternal life without belief in the Son of man as God (Hebrews 5:8-9, John 3:16). The Father is not approachable accept through the Son (Hebrews 7:25).

Why believe that Jesus is God? Is this really that important? You bet it is…

Our entire foundational belief in God rests on believing in the Truth of Jesus Christ as God. God is eternally existent as three persons. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 3:16-17 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Note in the above verses that Jesus is present as He is being baptized; next we see that the Spirit of God is descending, and at the same time a voice from heaven speaks…God the Father. The Father is proud of His Son, The key here is that the Father says “my son”. God’s own Son is not adopted as we are; therefore He is God. The thought that God would have a Son that He entrusts all things to who is not God Himself is ludicrous. The Word is replete with statements that Jesus created all things, is before all things, will be the One to judge, and is coming again.

There are many more verses that support the Holy Trinity, Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14, John 14:16-17, to quote a few.

Jesus Christ, what does that mean? In Matthew 1:21-22 an angel appears in a dream to Joseph and tells him to name the child Jesus, because He will save His people. The name Jesus means, “God is salvation”. Christ is actually not really a name; it is a title. Christ is derived from the Greek word “Christos”, meaning “anointed”. The Hebrew word Messiah means the same thing, anointed, or anointed one. So Jesus Christ is salvation, the Anointed One, meaning set apart for God’s work. Christ came here to do the will of the Father, (Luke 22:42) not His will; so this makes perfect sense to say that Jesus was set aside for the work of God. You can find an excellent article for more in depth study here.

People do not normally dispute that God the Father is God; Jesus is a whole other matter. For some reason that defies logic and the very Word of God itself, people doubt that Christ was God. Jesus was NOT a good teacher, nor was He a great humanitarian. To quote C.S. Lewis, “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” Jesus was God in the form of man…by choice. Jesus chose to obey His Father and come here as a babe in human form, why? To pay the price for our sins!

John 10 is a tremendously powerful witness to the fact that Jesus is God. In verse nine Jesus says that He is “the gate”, meaning that He is the way to salvation. In verse eleven; Jesus says He lays down His life for the sheep, again a clear reference to the coming crucifixion, and to the fact that Jesus IS salvation. In verse fourteen Jesus says He is the “good shepherd”, and the sheep know Him. In verse sixteen Jesus refers to sheep “not of this pen”, meaning the Gentiles, the first group of sheep being the believing Jews. To get the proper context of these verses, one really needs to read the whole chapter.

John 10:28-30 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.30I and the Father are one.”

In these verses Jesus says He gives eternal life, no one but God can do that! Then He says that No one can take them (anyone possessing eternal life) from Him. Jesus proceeds to say that His Father is “greater than all”, and that He (Jesus) and the Father are one. What a clear declaration of Godhood!

Notice the claim that Jesus makes here that He and the Father are one, this is huge in proving Jesus is God. Many will say that this verse and others like it mean nothing…Jesus did not after all come right out and say; “I am God”, and this is true. This is however just another example of either ignorance, or outright self-deception. Let me explain why I say this. In the bible one must, absolutely MUST read in context…contextual meaning is different than what you will pull out of say a couple of verses. Entire paragraphs even pages are grouped together as one related expose on a single subject, therefore if you do not read all of them together you are apt to miss the authors intended meaning. Knowing what various thoughts relayed to us in the bible meant in the day the authors wrote them is also key to understanding what a particular passage of scripture means. I do not have all the answers and am open to learning more; I am saying that how you read the bible does matter. John 10:30 is a great example of this, Jesus has just said, “I and the Father are one”, read on further in (John 10:33) and you see that the Jews are readying themselves to stone Jesus. Why are they doing this…the Jews clearly understood Jesus claim to being one with the Father as a direct claim of being God!

Related articles: O Little Town of Bethlehem – ChristianBlessings/mtsweat

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3 Things We Can Learn From Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day

Reblogged from Gospel + Intersections:

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Unless you've been living under a rock you've probably heard about Chick-Fil-A’s statement regarding their belief that marriage is meant to be between a man and a woman, only. Apparently in certain areas of the country this is big news. “How intolerant?” “How ridiculous?” “How un-American?”

In other areas…like the Bible-belt… the questions are more: “How inspiring?!” or “How refreshing for them to take such a stand?!” The restaurant’s stand caused people to flock to their favorite chicken chain in droves.

Read more… 965 more words

This is the best article on CFA I have seen yet. Instead of choosing up sides or being snarky...this article is being fair. Focused on Jesus and the fact that we ALL sin and God does not like any of it!