Judges 17-18 - Part 3
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Judges 17-18
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Monday, March 25, 2019
It's harvest time! It’s for all of us. All believers can have a part in this planting of seeds, in tending em, in watering and in reaping people in -- winning them to Christ. Nothing beats His righteous connection with the Father!
If believers can connect upwards first (worship comes first) via true repentance and faith in Christ, and then connect outwardly for fellowship-sake ..you know, like where they've been similar or things of truth.. If believers can contribute using their differences, their gifts and their talents to the Cause that's above all other causes then guess what.. we can also plant seeds and win people working together so that those not yet saved can connect upwards. Yes, we can accomplish great world-changing things i.e., exploits of faith.. with our great Lord leading the way.. Yep, for His glory!
Think about it. None of us really need any "new revelation(s)". We all need the old revelation of God, and need to help others have this too. We need new experiences in the old revelation (Biblical truth). So many tell us Christians of their new (whacko) revelation these days. Listen, if it's new it ain't true, and if it's true, it ain't new!
“It is the great business of every Christian to save souls. People complain that they do not know how to take hold of this matter. Why, the reason is plain enough; they have never studied it. They have never taken the proper pains to qualify themselves for the work. If you do not make it a matter of study, how you may successfully act in building up the kingdom of Christ, you are acting a very wicked and absurd part as a Christian.” ― Charles Finney
Come as you are -- right now. Are you sure that you now have an assurance of your salvation in Christ? God has the Solution -- His Son, Jesus. "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Romans 10:9
Doesn't matter who it is really, a real calling accepted while applying the Bible principles to fulfill it in Christ ..yes, God's way.. it lifts our hearts, it edifies our inner person ..as well as builds up others.. and it extends our ministry options. It expands the Lord's Kingdom. We do our best to tactfully live in peace while boldly getting the Gospel out future to regions beyond. It's that what it's all about for us here, Christian, Sure.
“Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" ~ Jesus in Luke 6:46
What does God say on this? He "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." John 3:5 KJV
* Need some more memory verses on this subject? "Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." James 5:20. I like memorizing from the NKJV too.* "And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." Luke 14:23* "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Acts 2:21 * "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise." Proverbs 11:30* "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Matthew 28:19* "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." John 15:16* "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." Daniel 12:3* "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." Matthew 10:32* "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Romans 10:9* "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Mark 16:15
The pure worship of God, biblical discipleship, and tactful uncompromising evangelism (I mean, no watering down the Gospel) -- those are to be the only ministries that we Christians need to have.
“The preacher should work to convert his congregation; the wife should work to save her unbelieving husband. Christians are sent to convert, and they should not allow themselves, as Christ's representatives in the world, to aim at anything less. Evangelizing, therefore, is not simply a matter of teaching, and instructing, and imparting information to the mind. There is more to it than that. Evangelizing includes the endeavor to elicit a response to the truth taught.” ― J.I. Packer
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Friday, March 22, 2019
God loves the Nations...
..and loves this world’s “great mega-cities” and loves the smaller towns too. It's because He really cares about the individuals in them who will literally exist forever in one of two places. He wants them to end up with Him and so blessed. That includes you.
And guess what.. He has given us Christians the Great Commission and the responsibility to visit and move into the cities of the nations.. for the purpose of serving the people there ..as well as to lovingly go share the Gospel with them. Timothy Keller and the Word seem to agree on this saying...
Three hundred years ago, less than 3 percent of the world’s population lived in cities. Today, it’s over 50 percent, and growing rapidly. It’s estimated that eight million people, every two months, move into the cities of the world. That’s one new Bangkok every two months. The church has to be everywhere on earth.. right where the people live. The people are moving into the big city and other cities faster than the church seems to be. If you love what God loves.. you’ll love the city and city folk. Country and town folk too.
And guess what.. He has given us Christians the Great Commission and the responsibility to visit and move into the cities of the nations.. for the purpose of serving the people there ..as well as to lovingly go share the Gospel with them. Timothy Keller and the Word seem to agree on this saying...
"If you want human life as it is lived in this world to be shaped at all by Jesus Christ, we have to go to the city. Four kinds of people are there.
First of all, if you want to reach the next generation, you’ve got to go to the cities. Because young adults disproportionately want to live in cities and that’s where they go.
Another group — the most unreached peoples in the world — are more reachable in cities. When they immigrate to cities, either from the rural areas into cities in their own homeland, or to other countries’ cities, they break their kinship ties. In a more pluralistic environment, they are far more — humanly speaking — open to the gospel than they would ever have been in their previous habitat.
Thirdly, the people who tend to make the films, write the books, do the business deals — they’re there. The people that have the biggest impact on the cultures of the world are there.
And lastly, intriguingly, the poor. If you go to cities, you not only reach the elites of the world, but you also reach the poor. Something like one-third of all the people moving into the great cities of the world today are going to live in shanty towns. God cares about the poor. He loves the poor. If you go to cities, you not only reach the next generation, you not only reach the unreached peoples, you not only reach the people at the top, but you reach the people God loves at the bottom.
Psalm 19 tells us that nature does reflect God’s glory. But human beings, according to Genesis 1, made in the image of God, reflect God’s glory more than anything else in creation. In cities, you have more “image of God” per square inch than anywhere else in the world. A missionary friend of mine once quipped, “The country is where there are more plants than people, and the city is where there are more people than plants. Therefore, because God loves people more than plants, he’s got to love the city more than the country.”
Jonah didn't really care for a people group, nor did he care for their big city -- you know which one I mean. But God did so God changed him and the city.Three hundred years ago, less than 3 percent of the world’s population lived in cities. Today, it’s over 50 percent, and growing rapidly. It’s estimated that eight million people, every two months, move into the cities of the world. That’s one new Bangkok every two months. The church has to be everywhere on earth.. right where the people live. The people are moving into the big city and other cities faster than the church seems to be. If you love what God loves.. you’ll love the city and city folk. Country and town folk too.
Think and read about Jonah. He didn't really give a flip for that big city that God was calling Him to go minister to, but God did. He changed and used Jonah there.
The Bible tells us to, "Publish his glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does." 1 Chronicles 16:24
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16
Thursday, March 21, 2019
We aren't to get revenge on. Do not repay hate with hate, or evil with evil, or physical violence with more of that.. or insult with insult. Why do that?
Wrongs happen, seems like more today than before huh. We don’t fix a serious or even a lesser wrong with another wrong.
European Commission is working on making Migration Pact legally binding. Europe already throws people in jail for simply posting their opinions of what is really wrong there.
“Love always.. protects” said the Apostle Paul. Will you.. wisely, I mean seek to protect your friends, family..and others? You know one way to, sharing the truth in love can help protect them against H E double hockey-sticks. Important!
“Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love as brothers, be tender-hearted and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing,because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, 'Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.'” 1 Peter 3:8-10
Senegalese man sets Italian school bus on fire with children on board.
Swedish parents keep their daughters home from school after migrants kick, beat and call them “whores.”
Cultural enrichment ..really?.. in Finland: Really? Iraqi migrant beats, kills, dismembers, cooks and paints friend’s bones after argument.
Lesbos, Greece: 36 locals arrested for raising giant Christian cross to scare off migrants.
Two violent sexual attacks by Muslim immigrants in Spain.
Not fake -- it happened so it’s news. A man screaming “Allahu Akbar” at mourning service of the victim of a rejected asylum seeker causes panic.
Muslims are indeed loved. God loves us all the same. He made and loves you, and He loves Muslims a lot too! Of course. Please don’t believe that all Muslims are radically violent individuals or pedophile-child-rapists or suicide-bombers for Allah.. or will miss out on the real heaven in eternity that God created, cuz that just ain’t true. As many have been waiting for a Madi to come, other Muslims have watched all the terrorism, have now heard the real Gospel of Christ, have been turning and trusting in Him, the real Messiah (Jesus is still the Hope for all peoples -- “the way, the truth and the life”). You and me are to pray and wisely show all people love, rather than start hating.. like many of the Muslims open hate.. since 1979 and still saying they hate Christians and Jews (openly calling Israel the "Little Satan" and the USA the "Great Satan"). We are not to hate or hurt them back, like many of them do. What does God say?
According to Islamists, the Qur’an (that clearly commands violence towards innocent non-Muslims).. is God’s revelation. But you know it's not. The Bible is God's revelation to people -- totally true.
