Um, lemme see.... ahhh, what is this week? I think there is some holiday this weekend. What is it?
Oh, yeah, it's Easter! Spring, new beginning, flowers, candy, new outfits.... ahhhh, nooooo!
We celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ's death and resurrection this week!!! In my opinion and that of many millions of followers of Jesus Christ, Easter is the most cataclysmic event in the history of the world. This celebration, this week and this weekend is what God prophesied about in the beginning of our world.
Genesis 3:14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
Man and woman chose to disobey God in the garden of Eden. Eve says she was deceived, but she 'decided/chose' to disobey. Man said 'the woman... she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it..', but, he 'decided/chose' to eat it. They chose to disobey God. But this next verse is why we celebrate Easter;
"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." Way back in the Garden, God gave us a glimpse of what would happen on Easter. Satan thought and thinks that he can thwart God's plan for man. He connives and deceives and lies and confuses in order to get man to disobey God, to deny God, to 'choose', to walk away from God. Satan's later plan was to thwart Jesus as he walked towards his destiny; to be the living sacrifice for our disobedience.
Matthew 4:3-5 (read the whole chapter)
3 The tempter came to him and said, "If you (Jesus) are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. (for the next round of temptation to give up his destiny as the Messiah, Redeemer, Lord.)
Jesus was crucified after Satan deceived the Jewish rulers and the Romans. It seemed that Satan had defeated Jesus (struck his heel), but Jesus' resurrection defeated Satan instead. Jesus was killed, but God raised him to sit on the throne at the right hand of God where he reigns even today and forever. So, Jesus 'crushed his (Satan's) head'.
And we are free to believe in Him, to worship Him, to serve Him because;
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5
Once again, the route of the problem of our America is that we DO NOT BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD.
Take time to worship Him during this week and weekend.
Amen
Bill/Dad
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Practice godliness... this is so appropriate to the intent of this Blog...
2 Corinthians 4
1 Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
13 It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Love you;
Bill/Dad
1 Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
13 It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Love you;
Bill/Dad
Sunday, March 28, 2010
A day in the Life...
Lord, praise you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Praise you because all blessings flow from you…. We praise you; all of your creatures/creation here on earth. Praise you in heaven where you are and where Jesus Christ our savior is sitting on the throne of the Kingdom. Praise you, Father, Your Son and Your Holy Ghost………… Amen.
Oh, my. I was feelin’ your Spirit yesterday. As I drove through Murfreesboro, TN, delivering pizza (yup, a side job with Pizza Hut....), and as I socialized with my fellow 'team' members, my eyes and spirit were opened to the world as You might see it. It was truly amazing to see the people in their communities, to meet them at their doors, to have a smile and a glad comment; to look them in the eyes and truly express love, from You. I was floored by the conditions in which many of these people live and the imagined circumstances behind the environments they are in.
It brought me back to the conversation I had with my friend Rick in the morning, yesterday. Rick is the development director for a shelter in MA. He is a dear Christian brother of mine who has an incredible heart for the poor. He and I have been talking about discipleship, governance and our experiences in one-to-one ministry. He has discovered that, what, I believe, are the majority of cases he sees, that peoples' lives are off-center because they are off the 'Godly' center (my words and interpretation). It is parallel with what I have been discovering as well, that; we have walked away from our belief and trust in God. We are not learning and assimilating the Word of God through Jesus Christ so that our lives are built on the sand, not on the rocky soil.
Matthew 7:24-29
The Wise and Foolish Builders
24"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."
28When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Therefore the mandate remains the same; "Practice godliness and participate in His work to renew America one man at a time through regeneration in Christ".
Amen;
Love you..
Bill/Dad
Oh, my. I was feelin’ your Spirit yesterday. As I drove through Murfreesboro, TN, delivering pizza (yup, a side job with Pizza Hut....), and as I socialized with my fellow 'team' members, my eyes and spirit were opened to the world as You might see it. It was truly amazing to see the people in their communities, to meet them at their doors, to have a smile and a glad comment; to look them in the eyes and truly express love, from You. I was floored by the conditions in which many of these people live and the imagined circumstances behind the environments they are in.
It brought me back to the conversation I had with my friend Rick in the morning, yesterday. Rick is the development director for a shelter in MA. He is a dear Christian brother of mine who has an incredible heart for the poor. He and I have been talking about discipleship, governance and our experiences in one-to-one ministry. He has discovered that, what, I believe, are the majority of cases he sees, that peoples' lives are off-center because they are off the 'Godly' center (my words and interpretation). It is parallel with what I have been discovering as well, that; we have walked away from our belief and trust in God. We are not learning and assimilating the Word of God through Jesus Christ so that our lives are built on the sand, not on the rocky soil.
Matthew 7:24-29
The Wise and Foolish Builders
24"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."
28When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Therefore the mandate remains the same; "Practice godliness and participate in His work to renew America one man at a time through regeneration in Christ".
Amen;
Love you..
Bill/Dad
Friday, March 26, 2010
Attempting to get more regular... more postings, I mean, lol...
Hey all.... We now live in Murfreesboro, TN!!! I know that's hard for the thousands of followers (sic) out there to understand, but, we moved here on March 15th.
So, since I've been attaching the URL for this blog to some of my correspondence, I figured I better begin using it more regularly. I have been writing in a journal, but not posting it because it is much more personal and rambling, of course. But, now, here I am and I'll become more regular in my postings. (pray for me .... )
I believe I said that I wanted this blog to be about 'Christian reconstructionism'. I have been walking down that path, probably since last October or earlier and it has been a great spiritual exercise. I don't know if I have posted this before, but the mantra for the entire exercise became;
"Practice godliness and participate in His work to renew America one man at a time through regeneration in Christ."
I hope it sounds like the great commission to you, because that is what it has become for me! After walking through the Gary DeMar book and series; "God and Government", it became clear that we were established as a Christian nation; growing up men and women of God, but, by acquiescing our Godly heritage and allowing worldliness to promulgate in our culture, we have lost America's true direction; growing up in our salvation or sanctification. Men slowly, but with greater and greater acceleration, walked away from godliness and fell victim to their own lusts and desires so that Romans 1 has become more and more prevalent in America;
16 .... the gospel ... it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes... 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'
and further
18 The wrath of god is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
(God made it plain to them)
20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
(Men are without excuse)
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
(They neither glorified God nor gave thanks to Him)
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator - who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
This is the condition of our America. Because we refused to recognize God as God, God gave us over to the sinful desires of our hearts.
We need to 'renew America one man at a time through regeneration in Christ'.
More next time....
Love you;
Bill/Dad
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