Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. ~ Revelation 4:11 (KJV)
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One reason that so many non-Christian AND Christian people in this fallen world have trouble reconciling God with their world-taught (mostly superficial) notions of "love" is that they have a false view of God and His purposes. The Lord God does not exist for OUR pleasure, as we prefer to think of other big things like Disn…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 26, 2009 at 3:10pm —
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Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to Him Who sits on the throne and Who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship Him Who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being." ~ Revelation 4:9-11
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In Scripture, the number 12 is t…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 25, 2009 at 2:51pm —
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But Elisha said (to Elijah), "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." ~ 2 Kings 2:2
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Elisha had first uttered the pledge two verses previous...and repeated it two verses afterward. Then, later, Elisha heard the very same words said about himself (2 Kings 4:30). Thus, he had the foreshadowing of the golden Words of our Lord, "Do to others as you would have done to you" and "Give and it shall be given to you (Luke 6:31,38). Ruth said the same thing to her mother-in-…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 24, 2009 at 4:49pm —
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There He (Jesus) was transfigured before them. His Face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. ~ Matthew 17:2
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We've heard the true Christian saying, "There is no crown that does not go through the Cross." A similar concept belongs to the transfiguration. There is no supernatural transmigration to the mountaintop of transfiguration: it must be trudged uphill after you are saved. For Jesus, that "uphill" did not begin at the bottom of the literal mountain. It began…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 23, 2009 at 4:17pm —
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Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. ~ 1 Peter 5:7
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I'd like to engage a metaphor: volleyball. A volleyball player volleys the received ball either to a teammate or to the opposing player over the net. Jesus, in essence, tells us to volley all to Him.
Illustration: I remember that, some years ago, I was receiving an inordinate amount of criticism in attempting to live my Christian faith in a secular situation, and it was bothering me. I had a heart-to-Heart talk with our L…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 22, 2009 at 6:27pm —
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Jesus: I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! ~ Luke 12:49
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Here is the kindle we need. John had prophesied it: "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Matthew 3:11). Therefore, on the Day of Pentecost, God made sure He gave confirmation: "They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them" (Acts 2:3). It is a an empowering fire, a cleansing fire, a consuming fire, a purging fire. It is a fire…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 19, 2009 at 3:20pm —
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Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of Your judgments. ~ Psalm 48:11
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This goes against the grain of our natural thinking. Who is joyful about God's judgments? If we have any sense of God's holiness (if we believe in Him at all), we think, trembling, that his judgments are terrible and sure. However, let's think through this.
Firstly, if you have given your life to Jesus, "condemnation" was taken by Him on the Cross, and you need not fear that final Judgment: "Theref…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 18, 2009 at 3:14pm —
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While He (Jesus) was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on His Head. ~ Mark 14:3
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For days, months, years, it may have sat on a shelf, in a chest, under a bed. On its exterior, could there have been dust from disuse? But Mary remembered it, in the jar, very precious and very expensive. Now was the time. She would reveal its c…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 17, 2009 at 2:42pm —
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How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? ~ Hebrews 2:3a
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God makes sure that we cannot ignore it easily. Even though we live in the greatest age of diversions (e.g., media, entertainment, mobility, etc.), His salvation message slips through the cracks, wherever believers dwell. If we escape the church, He sends an individual believer to us. If we escape the individual believer, He sends our way something in print. If we escape the Gospel print, He sends our way something that…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 16, 2009 at 3:06pm —
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For the Lord's portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance. In a desert land He found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; He guarded him as the apple of His eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. ~ Deuteronomy 32:9-11
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It's the most touching, humbling truth: God sees US as His portion, His inheritance (Ephesians 1:18). Is this passage not one of the…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 15, 2009 at 2:55pm —
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Sow righteousness, reap love. It's time to till the ready earth, it's time to dig in with God, until he arrives with righteousness ripe for harvest. Hosea 10:12 (The Message)
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When I was working on my graduate degree, my Shakespeare teacher told the class a story. He suspected that the students in one class were not "digging in" either to his instruction or to the texts. He experimented. On the final, he offered a bonus question. He gave two quotes and asked which one was actually from Shake…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 12, 2009 at 2:48pm —
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For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. ~ 1 Peter 1:23
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Humans are organic in that they live and develop, but also tend toward degeneration and death. (This is the result of sin. Not only has it led to the transiency of mankind [Romans 6:23], but also it has led to the "curse" on the earth and all living things. [See Genesis 3] ) As the Old Testament writers like to put it, man goes "the way of all the earth" (e.…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 11, 2009 at 3:15pm —
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Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ~ 2 Corinthians 5:17
But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. ~ 2 Peter 3:13
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Oldcastle’s webs snare new preys
As Newmen abandon old halls.
Newmen gallop toward new ways,
Away from Oldmen's siren calls.
Oldshadows seem dark in new ways;
Newmen chase sunward all nightfalls,
Slaying old evil that decays,
'Til Newday lights New…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 10, 2009 at 2:14pm —
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Love never fails....But the greatest of these is love. ~ 1 Corinthians 13: 8,13
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It is much easier to read books (or easier, listen to a speaker) explaining what the big word "love" means, what the many types of love are (even dissecting its various forms and identifying them with the Greek words), what beautiful and sentimental things have been said about it, and what about it makes us "feel" good.
However, when we see what God throughout the Bible DID, what Jesus in His earthly walk DID,…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 9, 2009 at 2:56pm —
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Do not hide Your Face from me when I am in distress. Turn Your Ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly. ~ Psalm 102:2
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Does this sound familiar? Most of us have either prayed this or harbored some of these thoughts in our hearts. We are in dire circumstances, charged with high emotion: we feel God is hiding His Face from us, and we want our prayers answered now or sooner. It's a natural human reaction, but as we grow in our faith, we can choose to remember some things.
GOD'S FACE IS ALWAY…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 8, 2009 at 3:38pm —
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Then He said to (doubting) Thomas, "Put your finger here; see My Hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My Side. Stop doubting and believe." ~ John 20:27
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All discussion of why we suffer seems too callously academic. Pain affects us on the most basic human level, so much so, that the only thing that our soul screams is outrage and protest. This is what happens when we lash out at God or at other people when we suffer with seeming lack of cause-effect evidence.
Satan knows this. He gets…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 5, 2009 at 2:31pm —
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God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. ~ John 4:24
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Everyone worships. Here is what you might see on a line graph, one end of which represents the worlds' most dangerous and most harmful, the other end of which represents the world's most benign and most beneficial.
At the former extremity, you would have those who worship self: it may manifest in anything from hardened criminals to seemingly upstanding members of the community. However, their worship of self…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 4, 2009 at 2:57pm —
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God made Him Who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:21
...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. ~ Philippians 2:12
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Jesus paid the highest price that we may have godliness. Therefore, how can we dare not pay any price to live that godliness out?
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 3, 2009 at 2:41pm —
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And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ~ Ephesians 3:17-19
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There are multitudes, Christian and non-Christian, who engage a brand of self-loathing--some of whom even think it is spiritual to do so. Nothing could be further from the truth.
There ar…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 2, 2009 at 6:06pm —
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a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on His Head as he was reclining at the table. ~ Matthew 16:7
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me." When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. ~ Matthew 19:21-22
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This, of course, is not about wealth; it is about the heart. We have contrasting x-rays of the he…
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Added by Theo_the_bard on November 1, 2009 at 2:30pm —
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