Saturday, June 29, 2013

The Hope That Is In You


How Can the Christian Encounter People Who Believe They are Enlightened?

Someone ask me how we can reach people in a culture where they think they are enlightened and we are not.

The New Testament speaks of important principles that can help us here.

1. Salt and Light Matthew 5:13-16.
We must start with being in our culture to whatever degree is possible. Presence, kindness, humility and a life that allows others to see God at work in our circumstances are good starters.

2. Prepared to Give and Answer for the Hope that is in us. 1 Peter 3:15
Phillip’s divine encounter with the Ethiopian Eunuch ere is also a need for divine expectation so that we do not miss God encounters and only see them as circumstance. If we are walking intimately with God and sensitive to His Spirit we can be ready to do the rest if we do the above. Acts 8:26 -40.

3. Allowing the Living water to flow from us. John 7:38
People like to be treated well, encouraged, thanked and appreciated. Yes, they even being smiled at. I have found people in stores and the businesses I frequent are open to me and therefor open to God when I practice these things.

4. Sowing into unknown soil Matthew 13
We never know the condition of another person’s heart, which is like the soil mentioned in this parable.
We should be prepared by a close walk with God, willing to be Salt and Light, prepared to Give an Answer for the Hope that is in us and Ready for Divine Appointments in which the Living Water can flow, then we can encounter our culture with the Real Light of God.

When we encounter people as outlined above we prepare them for the Spirit of God to convince them of God’s truth so that may come to repentance and receive The True Revelation of the Good news of Jesus.

How shall Christians Live in a Culture which thinks itself Enlightened?


Pleasing God or ourselves

We have been forgiven much and therefor should treat others as God has treated us with grace and love while not approving of their sin. 

Jude 23 tells us to "Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives."

If we are to enjoy our faith in Jesus the Christ or Messiah we must allow God's Word and His ways to transform us. Our thoughts, thought process, priorities and use of our life and its resources must align with and yield to His Word. The results will be as life pleasing to God.

If we measure our understanding, values and lifestyle by any other standard we are described in the Bible according to Genesis 6:5, Jeremiah 17:9. Also Romans 1:24-32, Philippians 3:18,19, James 1:14. Timothy 4:1-2,2 and Timothy 4:3-4 as having rejected God and embraced wickedness and evil.

His ways are far above ours and when we honor Him and learn of His ways and mercy we discover His unfailing love toward us Isaiah 55:9, Psalm 103:11.
His love, mercy, justice and judgment are not detached from His holiness and cannot be separated to please our evil hearts.

We therefor can please Him more completely if we become people who are in His word throughout our day. We must be reading, meditating and submitting our thoughts, daily life, resources, talents and skills to Him according to the Bible. This will require rejecting the lies of our culture and any who think their enlightened understanding has progressed beyond God's revealed truth. People and nations who have rejected God's word have fallen on the trash heap of History and our lives and nation are not an exception to this truth.

"And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15

This is a continual process in our journey for we are imperfect beings as an old bumper sticker said" Christians are Not Perfect but Saved by Grace." Let us live according to His Word.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

The Declaration of Independence (1776)


On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee brought what came to be called the Lee Resolution before the Continental Congress. This resolution stated “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states…” Congress debated independence for several days. Four days later, a committee made up of John Adams,Benjamin FranklinRoger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson was given the job of drafting a formal declaration of independence. The Committee of Five gave the task of writing the declaration to Jefferson.
The declaration contained 3 sections: a general statement of natural rights theory and the purpose of government, a list of grievances against the British King, and the declaration of independence from England. More than 20 years later, the SecondThirdFourth, and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution would contain prohibitions against the government to prevent the same forms of tyranny as were listed as grievances. Jefferson’s writing was influenced by George Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights, as well as by his study of natural rights theory and the writings of John Locke, including Two Treatises of Government. Jefferson’s draft was edited by Franklin and Adams, and the final draft was presented to Congress just over two weeks later.
On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted to declare independence from England. Congress made several changes to the wording of Jefferson’s draft, including removing references condemning slavery. On July 4, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was adopted. It was signed by John Hancock, the President of the Continental Congress, that day. The rest of the Congress signed two months later. By affixing their names to the document, the signers courageously pledged to each other their “lives…fortunes…and sacred honor.”
The Declaration of Independence is considered by many to the philosophical foundation of American freedom. It has been quoted by Americans as various as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr. who have referenced it as a beacon of hope for all people everywhere.

The Declaration of Independence (1776) – Full Text

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Massachusetts: John Hancock
Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple
Massachusetts: Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire: Matthew Thornton
Source:
 http://billofrightsinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/AP_Documents_DeclarationofIndependence.jpg

Guide to End Time Prophecy






The Rose Guide to End Time Prophecy is an easy-to-understand overview that examines portions of Scripture and explains different ways that Christians have interpreted end times prophecy. Simple charts and illustrations help you see the whole picture.

Includes explanations of and charts/diagrams for—
   Book of Revelation — four ways Christians interpret it.
   Book of Daniel — the statues, beasts, goats, and the 70 weeks. And three ways to interpret the 70 weeks
   Four main Christian views of the end times: Pre-Mil, Post-Mill, A-Mill and Historical Pre-Mill
   Terms in the Book of Revelation: the Beasts, 666, Millennium, Antichrist, Armageddon, and Tribulation
   A Dispensational time line chart compared with two other Christian views of God's work with Israel
   Jesus' teachings in Matthew 24, known as the Olivet Discourse, and two ways of understanding each passage (wars, rumors of wars, tribulation, earthquakes, etc.).
   Two views of the Temple in the End Times
   Ezekiel's Temple vision - 4 ways of understanding it
   Important beliefs about the end times that all Christians hold

This book will give you confidence as you look at the Bible and at events in today's newspapers. You will be better informed and will have a Christ-centered, biblically based view of Jesus' second coming.

Award-winning author Dr. Timothy Paul Jones has bachelors and masters degrees in biblical literature and pastoral ministry, as well as a doctorate in educational leadership. He is a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. In 2010 he won the ECPA Christian Book of the Year award in the Christian Education category for Christian History Made Easy.

Selected Sample Pages of Advance Reader Copy of Rose Guide to End Times Prophecy. Get a sneak peak into the actual book!


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Come back Soon for my review of The Rose Guide to End Time Prophecy @rosepublishing

Monday, June 24, 2013

An Extreme Season for an Extreme Kingdom


Luke 9:61, 62 Still another said, “I will follow you Lord; but first let me go back and say good-bye to my family.” Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God’.   

Jesus spoke words of stark contrast with the culture of the day.  The Jewish culture was heavily oriented toward ‘family first’. The culture expected and even demanded certain behaviors reflecting their understanding of traditions and of the Law. But Jesus spoke of a new culture that would part the waters of cultural paradigms and shake the foundations of family first.  He introduced an extreme kingdom led by an extreme king, Jesus Christ.

In the world you and I occupy, we live among many cultural and family expectations. Some of those expectations are benign and some are bondage. But because we live among them, we often become like them, subtly complying and giving way when we should be followingThe Way.  The extreme words of Jesus are like a sharp sword dividing the soul realm of our mind and emotions from the spirit realm of God’s kingdom. To say we are not ‘fit for service in the Kingdom of God’ if we look back (place family and culture above the Kingdom) is extreme. To imply that if we take our eyes off the road of ministry ahead of us we are not ‘fit’ is an extreme word. 

We live in a season that is calling upon the people of God to be ‘extreme’. The Holy Spirit is wooing us, drawing us, pulling us deeper and higher to live in His Kingdom irrespective of the cultural currents.  With this post I beginning a series to bring forth and challenge each of you to the extreme…..a word maligned in political and cultural circles where the ‘normal’ of vanilla is the valued flavor, especially as it applies to Christianity………the culture screams out “look and act and sound like you are vanilla…like you are part of the crowd…..like you are the majority”.  I have a strong word for you.  We are not part of the majority, whether in America, Africa or Asia……we are a remnant chosen by grace to advance the Kingdom of God in these last days.  Today we embrace extreme living in an extreme Kingdom. We follow an extreme king to fulfill our extreme purpose, and gain our extremely good and righteous reward!  I speak great grace to you as you embrace this season.  Pastor harvey Wittmier @crossfirechurch
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Saturday, June 22, 2013

Romans


Romans
Product Code: 160X ISBN: 97815963652952  Retail Price: $3.99
Size: 5.5”x 8.5”, opens to 38
You've heard about Salvation, Grace and Righteousness in the Book of Romans. But have you ever wondered what they really mean?

Rose Publishing's Romans, a 14–panel, full–color pamphlet, covers these cornerstone concepts—and more! This convenient pamphlet explains each section of Paul's epistle in an easy-to-understand way, answering questions, such as: 
What does it mean to be saved? 
How can I live a righteous life?
How can I please God?

This pamphlet tells you what you need to know without losing you in theological lingo, making it easier than ever to glean wisdom from Romans by offering—
    An outline of the book
    Section-by-section explanation/commentary
    Life application questions
    Charts, displaying information such as the difference between "Dead to sin" and "Alive in Christ"
    Key verses, themes, and applications

Easily access basic background information, such as—
    Who wrote the letter?
    When was it written?
    Who was it written for?
    What was the purpose of the letter?
    How is the letter relevant to today's believers?

14 panels, fits inside most Bibles, 8.5 x 5.5 inches, unfolds to 38 inches long

"Night and day I pondered Romans until I grasped the truth. I felt myself to be reborn. This passage of Paul became to me a gateway to heaven.”—Martin Luther

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Monday, June 17, 2013

Forgiveness


Forgiveness Mini Book by June Hunt

This book will give you inner person a real check-up. With the probing of the Word of God you will come face to face with your attitudes toward those who have offended, insulted, demeaned or in some other way mistreated you. Like a master surgeon the intentions of your heart will be revealed. Then the healing truth that sets us free in Jesus is poured into your wounded soul. 

This is first aid for the heart should be kept near you at home, in the office or in the glove box of your car. All of us are constantly challenged to forgive the words and deeds of others. You will be a greater help to others than you ever though by putting this in their hands at the first hint of forgiveness.

Pastors this could serve as the basis of a great sermon series. It should be in every church office and library. Christian Counselors here is a resource to support what you do and it will help to mend the hearts of those who rely on your ministry.

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR COPIES