tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58006418189117433592024-03-16T18:53:33.812-05:00Grammy Blick's Bible Reading<a href="http://blicktx.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-testimony.html">My testimony, my witness.</a>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.comBlogger2607125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-62283557687528138722024-03-16T18:52:00.003-05:002024-03-16T18:52:40.191-05:00Witnessing - Telling What We Believe and Why<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDL4cl5PTdSZzTlVSWeflcS8LUrnKA0moYyGJQFxZYKVatcKHb1tuCtJk7pwIn2ZkaQsBupArG8xCpqi70-zv6Pg2Jtc14_SaDCLAvVu8BEQUmBmI1AmBy_9B_t_EBQ9StTfiXkv_g-Rgth3DFwuU_8GzpVRH40JXbLneEVcd9Uom8-8xi-VQIxm4JQ4o/s827/StoningStephen-Rembrandt.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="827" data-original-width="774" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDL4cl5PTdSZzTlVSWeflcS8LUrnKA0moYyGJQFxZYKVatcKHb1tuCtJk7pwIn2ZkaQsBupArG8xCpqi70-zv6Pg2Jtc14_SaDCLAvVu8BEQUmBmI1AmBy_9B_t_EBQ9StTfiXkv_g-Rgth3DFwuU_8GzpVRH40JXbLneEVcd9Uom8-8xi-VQIxm4JQ4o/w238-h255/StoningStephen-Rembrandt.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Etching: The Stoning of Stephen, by Rembrandt von Rinj</div><div style="text-align: center;">The William M. Ladd Collection, Gift of Herschel V. Jones, 1916<br />Minneapolis Museum of Art</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">While there are members visiting those in the hospital or home ill, and Sunday School teachers reaching out to new people visiting, as well as speaking to neighbors and sharing brochures, our church holds a monthly Outreach program. It has a few differences from the first list of contacting people, but does cover some of the same areas.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There have been as many as 35 people, and as few as a dozen attendees. We divide up into two specifics groups - those who will head out, usually two-by-two, to visit people from specific lists; and those (usually elderly women and a few others), who write letters inviting those moving into the community, and sending cards to those ill and shut-ins.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Those who go to visit go prepared to witness to others. A Christian's witness covers a wide number of subjects, but there are two examples in the book of Acts. I've been thinking about them as I prepare for next week's Sunday School lesson in Acts 7, where Luke recorded the stoning of Stephen.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Chapter 6 covers Stephen's ministry. Early in the chapter, the disciples approached the congregation witih a problem, and requested volunteers to help them. Those chosen to do so were:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: (Acts 6:5 KJV)</span></i></div><div><br /></div><div>Stephen quickly fulfilled their request:</div><div><br /></div><div><div>And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. (Acts 6:8 KJV)</div><div><br /></div><div>But that created new problems within those who were trying to erase Jesus' name from their history:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, (Acts 6:9-12 KJV)</span></i></div><div><br /></div></div><div>That's when I wondered how closely Stephen's witness before the rulers followed that of Paul in Acts 26. There were differences - Paul spent sometime explaining his personal Jewish heritage, specifically explaining how he persecuted Christians. Until he met the risen Christ on the road to Damascus:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. (Acts 26:13-15 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>They both spoke of Abraham and the faithful through the judges, kings, and prophets. They spoke of their following Christ. Paul had years to witness to others before the sentence of death was carried out. Stephen's was much quicker:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:57-60 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>See the name Saul in that paragraph? Christians know that he changed his name to Paul. He had seen, been a witness to, Stephen's death. I doubt that the thought of becoming a Christian crossed his mind as he kept the clothes free of the blood of an innocent man. However, he changed. He became a witness for Christ.</div><div><br /></div><div>Every Christian is a witness to others of their belief. It's done by their attendance in a Christian congregation, gathering to worship and learn more about God and His work in Christian lives. However, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A31-46&version=KJV" target="_blank">Matthew 25:31-46</a> shows us that showing up in a congregation is insufficient.</div><div><br /></div><div>We must live our faith, know upon what it is based, and witness to others what following Christ has been like in our lives. To do that, we must know what we believe and the base of our belief. For me, it is aa combination of personal experiences with prayers and their answers, knowing the source of my reason for praying as well as the God to whom I pray. I learn more about Him every single day as the days grow closer when I will meet Him.</div><div><br /></div><div>We all die. It has been that way since time began and there are few stories of specific people who were close enough to God not to experience death. I prefer to be able to explain to those who will listen why I believe Paul's witness:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. </span></i></div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">(Hebrews 12:2-3 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Christians, will you share your witness here that others might know that:</div><div><br /></div><div><div>So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17 KJV)</div></div><div><br /></div></div></div><p></p>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-36746767703636234852024-03-12T07:00:00.001-05:002024-03-12T07:00:00.135-05:00Change is Necessary<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAHQhkCOQQ9MqSRIDPshpPigktjAMuQzGpS08n_1oFUe83oy9RLFmKEzpdy2jXgHZqCLZgnV4962C8ZI09BSDTN_YxZCuoE4sQVc8NHFmJ8wveoXxHYnfT-w0mjIqvjf-qV0xN3NVExcAKwRH_mtExcNsVpa1nl1Wem-J60KZq5Wcnj7auS0IMe841z1U/s1136/temp-liveoakleaves.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="1136" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAHQhkCOQQ9MqSRIDPshpPigktjAMuQzGpS08n_1oFUe83oy9RLFmKEzpdy2jXgHZqCLZgnV4962C8ZI09BSDTN_YxZCuoE4sQVc8NHFmJ8wveoXxHYnfT-w0mjIqvjf-qV0xN3NVExcAKwRH_mtExcNsVpa1nl1Wem-J60KZq5Wcnj7auS0IMe841z1U/w414-h233/temp-liveoakleaves.png" width="414" /></a></p><p>I had no experience with live oaks. Didn’t have a clue as to its age until we lost big limbs out of the middle. The man who cleaned up the tree so the damage would not attract damaging insects or cause greater damage verified the age. It has a 65 foot long canopy and is a candidate for <a href="https://www.lgcfinc.org/live-oak-society.html" target="_blank">Live Oak Society</a> membership. I have the form all filled out, but haven’t come up with a name. Feel free to suggest one!</p><p>These trees stay leaf-filled all winter, standing in stark contrast to the empty limbs of other trees. I did not know that they shed their leaves only as new growth came in March (here) and was totally unprepared for the leaves to die (see above.) Those that didn’t simply folded in, hanging limply. I focused on them and not the fresh green grown along the brown limbs. The yard had more leaves than it did in the fall.</p><p>Three weeks from now the full canopy will be fresh green and acorns will be forming for the deer to eat next fall. That’s a cycle, which reminded me of another:</p><p><em><font color="#004000">So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
(1 Corinthians 15:42-47 KJV)</font></em><br />
</p><p>That’s not the “milk” of new Christians. That is the “meat” that Paul speaks of in:</p><p><em><font color="#004000">I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
(1 Corinthians 3:2 KJV)</font></em></p><p>I do think/write more of the beginning, where we consider becoming followers of Christ and why it’s important. However, at my age I’m becoming more and more interested in what is waiting for me that makes me different from those who have not thought of Christ at all. Resurrection.</p><p>Oh, yes, I’ve mentioned His. It’s basic in Paul’s longer witness to the changes in his life. Between Acts 26:1 and 26:28 Paul says:</p><p><em><font color="#004000">Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.
(Acts 26:22-23 KJV)</font></em><br />
</p><p>Paul was witnessing to everyone that Christ suffered, died, and was the first one to rise from the deal simply to show light to people. That is what Christian’s do, tell everyone who will listen how Christ affects their life. The primary goal is to speak of what happens after we die, as well as who provides the goals in our lives. Jesus’ appearance was to give Paul a specific goal:</p><p><em><font color="#004000">But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
(Acts 26:16-18 KJV)</font></em></p><p>Paul spent the rest of his life to that purpose, leaving a wealth of information for those following him in time. This body, containing our soul and spirit, will be gone – of none importance:</p><p><em><font color="#004000">So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
(1 Corinthians 15:54 KJV)</font></em><br />
</p><p>The Bible tells us all souls belong to God":</p><p><em><font color="#004000">Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
(Ezekiel 18:4 KJV)</font></em><br />
</p><p>And, at sometime, God requires those souls to return:</p><p><em><font color="#004000">But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? (Luke 12:20 KJV)</font></em><br />
</p><p>I cannot give my soul to God – it belongs to Him from the beginning. I have given my body, my spirit, my life, through faith in Him, as He appears as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever more.</p><p>What’s your decision about your life and God?<br />
</p><p><br /></p>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-13215192307339983992024-03-11T13:37:00.000-05:002024-03-11T13:37:50.184-05:00A Little History and Some Genealogy<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGBsm6INiGQelKsJxie-Bok7pWJksZ6fp6hpsIp4Skvx1CCzziRSnSCsrymc2OhbTXg9cUMUrVRdAzeTw4-aVlwa6OY5lGLRP6XTEyGCgTJgia9TiV6x6lSejzwr1YrhnyWh3Mvr6hC9H9Fpm_RIspApDuVBnzknxNT5P7OSa0XgoKm5z_tNpDIZEntI4/s299/10th%20cousin%20once%20removed.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="299" data-original-width="220" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGBsm6INiGQelKsJxie-Bok7pWJksZ6fp6hpsIp4Skvx1CCzziRSnSCsrymc2OhbTXg9cUMUrVRdAzeTw4-aVlwa6OY5lGLRP6XTEyGCgTJgia9TiV6x6lSejzwr1YrhnyWh3Mvr6hC9H9Fpm_RIspApDuVBnzknxNT5P7OSa0XgoKm5z_tNpDIZEntI4/s1600/10th%20cousin%20once%20removed.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;">by way of <a href="http://FamilySearch.org">FamilySearch.org</a></div><p>It was October 2009 I read the article on CNN that Yahoo! was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/10/26/geocities.closing/index.html" target="_blank">shutting down GeoCities</a>. I wrote about it <a href="https://blicktx.blogspot.com/search?q=genealogy" target="_blank">27 October 2009</a>:</p><blockquote><p>In 1997, GeoCities hosted my first website – a copy of the genealogy workbook I was creating. I found several excellent sources, filled in pedigree and family sheets in a well-designed program then posted photos from more than a century before to share with family members.</p></blockquote><p>I moved then to a site called Multiply, which also shut down and I had to move to Yahoo!360, which - as you may guess – shut down. By then, I had started this Bible Study blog, so I added a tab at the top with some information and requests for more about my family’s history.</p><p>Mine isn’t newsworthy.However, this week I received an e-mail from a genealogy site with the information that I have several tenth cousins – some once removed, some more than that, others were closer, others further away. </p><p>None are really important, because by the time we get ten generations back, tens of thousands of people can track the same relationship, and hundreds of thousands couldn’t care less. I find history interesting, but I admire my listed cousin Elizabeth II much more interesting for her lifetime history than for any distant relationship.</p><p>However, in some instances, such as Matthew <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+1%3A1-16&version=KJV" target="_blank">1:1-16</a>, Joseph’s genealogy is very important. Jesus is shown to descend in a manner very important to Judaism – as the Pulpit Commentary explains:</p><blockquote><p>As St. Matthew was writing only for Jews, and they, by reason of their Old Testament prophecies, looked for the Messiah to be born of a certain family, he begins his Gospel with a pedigree of Jesus. In this he mentions, by way of introduction, the two points to which his countrymen would have special regard—the descent of Jesus from David, the founder of the royal line, him in whose descendants the Ruler of Israel must necessarily (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Samuel+7%3A13-16&version=KJV" target="_blank">2 Samuel 7:13-16</a>) be looked for; and also from Abraham, who was the head of the covenant nation, and to whom the promise had been given that in his seed all the nations of the earth should bless themselves (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+22%3A18&version=KJV" target="_blank">Genesis 22:18</a>; <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+12%3A3&version=KJV" target="_blank">Genesis 12:3</a>).</p></blockquote><p>But the genealogy given in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+3%3A23-38&version=KJV" target="_blank">Luke 3:23-38</a> gives the genealogy from a different perspective. Mary’s genealogy is different, yet similar to Joseph’s, and again the Pulpit Commentary gives an explanation of Luke’s written genealogy:</p><blockquote><p>His work was evidently most carefully and skillfully arranged upon the lines of formal history. Up to this point the story was mainly concerned with other personages—with the parents of the great forerunner John, with Mary the Virgin and Joseph, with the angels, with the shepherds, with Simeon and with Anna, and especially with the work of John the Baptist. But from henceforth all the minor persons of the Divine story pass into the background. There is now one central figure upon whom the whole interest of the Divine drama centers—Jesus. This, the moment of his real introduction on the world's stage, was, as St. Luke rightly judged it, the time to give the formal table of his earthly ancestry.</p></blockquote><p>Both gospel authors saw the importance of Jesus being created by God as all men have been, descended from Abraham as a Hebrew, descended from David - perceptively through both parents, and lived among mankind as a slightly different kind of man.</p><p>The other two gospels are not interested at all in genealogy. Their fellow followers of Christ covered it well through God’s inspiration. With the question being of the lineage of David – important to prophesy – all four move on to what Jesus came to show, and tell, mankind about Himself, God’s relationship, and God’s love for His created.</p><p>There is no value for me in any relationship to any ruler of England. There is, however, an eternal relationship for me and you as the adopted children of God:</p><p><em><font color="#004000">For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
(Romans 8:14-17 KJV)<br />
</font></em></p><p><em><font color="#004000">
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
(Galatians 4:4-7 KJV)</font></em></p><p>How would you describe the spirit of adoption?<br /></p>
<blockquote><p><br /></p></blockquote>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-76494710445480325582024-03-01T14:15:00.005-06:002024-03-01T14:31:44.978-06:00I Am An Evangelical - Are You?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdzZrwcRO2-UoW575YQGVnrgZjCVJ-3UOqoEXK1wBqpSxuI1FcCvCkON2vHe_gpVayHnffKcy-K8DOwLC5oltHyxCmDq1dB0SmGlSQfsm5R07BLmc1npd58vLU9V6UiwPNBRiSNWWQH0x5Gnq6kACoryWc4A7rOKAl098YEwrh212LKDUVQQaEgUg60pY/s832/temp.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="153" data-original-width="832" height="91" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdzZrwcRO2-UoW575YQGVnrgZjCVJ-3UOqoEXK1wBqpSxuI1FcCvCkON2vHe_gpVayHnffKcy-K8DOwLC5oltHyxCmDq1dB0SmGlSQfsm5R07BLmc1npd58vLU9V6UiwPNBRiSNWWQH0x5Gnq6kACoryWc4A7rOKAl098YEwrh212LKDUVQQaEgUg60pY/w495-h91/temp.png" width="495" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>In their own words defining evangelicals: "Lifeway Christian Resources is an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, a collection of like-minded churches who share a common bond of basic biblical beliefs and a commitment to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in every nation."<p></p><p>The National Association of Evangelicals puts it this way: 'Evangelicals take the Bible seriously and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The term “evangelical” comes from the Greek word euangelion, meaning “the good news” or the “gospel.” Thus, the evangelical faith focuses on the “good news” of salvation brought to sinners by Jesus Christ.'</p><p>A little wordier than the SBC, but with the same meaning when it comes to characteristics, from NAE evangelicals have:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A serious approach to the Bible</li><li>A focus on the "good news" of salvation brought to sinners by Jesus Christ</li><li>An emphasis on the authority of the Bible</li><li>A relationship with Jesus Christ</li><li>Conversion</li><li>A belief in the necessity of being born again</li><li>An emphasis on the importance of evangelism</li><li>Affirmation of traditional Protestant teachings on the authority and historicity of the Bible</li></ul><div>Lifeway's list is a bit shorter, but hold the same characteristics:</div><div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.</li><li>It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.</li><li>Jesus Christ's death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin.</li><li>Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God's free gift of eternal salvation.</li></ul></div></div><p></p><p>I was baptized into a Southern Baptist associated church following my profession of faith, and remained a member through marriage and the birth of three children. Some physical moves resulted in our visiting a number of churches, some not Baptist, until we ended up closed to an evangelically active Baptist church identifying itself as Fundamental and Independent, basics of the early New Testament churches set up in specific cities. I did not, and still do not, find doctrinal issues - except in the divisiveness within the SBC. </p><p>They are no different, though, than the schisms in any other Christian denomination. Half of America's Christians are excepting into their congregations members living in situations sinful as defined in the Bible. Note that when I started my blog, I began my beliefs with:</p><p>"I believe the Bible is Holy, the divinely inspired and preserved Word of God, the final authority for all faith and life. I place this belief first, not because it is the most important, but because it explains and provides answers for so much of the following. Without the Bible, there is not a foundation for believing ...", and then I go further into specific beliefs, including explanatory scriptures. I know what I believe, why I believe it, and have expectations based on scripture. </p><p>As to having sinful people in the congregation, we all sin. Often people respond with scripture:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Judge not, that ye be not judged. (Matthew 7:1 KJV)</span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: (Luke 6:37 KJV)</span></i></p><div>Never accept single scripture without context. Matthew 7:1 leads into verses 2 through 6, which explains we are to work with the person being judged after we work through our own sinful nature. Lots of scripture available to help us do that. As for Luke 6:37, you will need verses 38 through 45 - and maybe 46 would be helpful, too. Scriptures were not originally written with verses - those were added years later for reference purposes. While I love and appreciate them, I won't single out a verse without studying what's next to it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now - bottom line: Are you an evangelical? Do you believe the God who inspired the Bible exists, </div><div>- that the Bible carries His truth, </div><div>- that it is historically accurate, </div><div>- that Jesus is God Son and eternal life is through Him,</div><div>- that Jesus' life is the gospel, the good news,</div><div>- and that He, Himself, asks us to to tells His story, to join us in eternity?</div><div><br /></div><div>If so, you, too can be an evangelical by sharing that message. Is there any reason you do not wish to do so? Why?</div><div><br /></div><div>To encourage readers - and those they speak with about Jesus - I write this blog with my own thoughts after Bible reading. If you have a moment, would you leave a comment (anonymously if you wish) stating your thoughts about evangelicals, and about your interest in reading your Bible.</div><p><br /></p>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-54457270681704565522024-02-26T11:07:00.009-06:002024-02-26T11:07:54.203-06:00I Don't Belong to a Church<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAvbMIaGsaoz2qV7dO13uf5ITZvOYG2S0sSCvjacfFLjq8D6S11SUnlJ7PGKpD0OL9m0c3l7T5M6qF8B1I-ozWXNGZEEP1TXiEClbQhehLe32SSj4MTrXDCcl6MbWJvkltqDDltlyAdblDxlpTn6cYgmZLZq421-U-gUeU89zJOTv7ZzLMlCcOYGDFcsw/s2921/Price_tag_with_punched_coding.agr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2921" data-original-width="1777" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAvbMIaGsaoz2qV7dO13uf5ITZvOYG2S0sSCvjacfFLjq8D6S11SUnlJ7PGKpD0OL9m0c3l7T5M6qF8B1I-ozWXNGZEEP1TXiEClbQhehLe32SSj4MTrXDCcl6MbWJvkltqDDltlyAdblDxlpTn6cYgmZLZq421-U-gUeU89zJOTv7ZzLMlCcOYGDFcsw/s320/Price_tag_with_punched_coding.agr.jpg" width="195" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>This may seem off topic as I begin with David before he became king, hiding in a cave from the anointed king, Saul. We know what was on David's mind because he wrote it down in what we call Psalm 142 - Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave.</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble. (Psalms 142:1-2 KJV)</span></i></p><div>That Psalm does not end with a miraculous intervention by God to keep David from feeling such aloneness. Instead David offers a bargain:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. (Psalms 142:7 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>That was part of a sermon our pastor gave in January of 2021. I take notes during the service in a spiral notebook, creating my own short Bible lessons. We joined this particular church after visiting in 1999. We remain active members - but we don't "belong" to the church, though we consider ourselves a part of it. My reasoning goes back to Paul:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. (1 Corinthians 3:4-7 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>I firmly believe God's word that God does give the increase. We are not saved by the name of any preacher, church, denomination, according to the Bible:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Peter's sermon in answer to healing a man not only explains that what happened was due to his belief in Jesus as God's son, but the whole world was included in God's salvation story. Peter and the disciples were given the Holy Spirit to continue God's work:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. (Acts 4:8-10 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus' resurrection was included as proof as to how the man was healed. Jesus' resurrection is the reason there is none other name whereby we must be saved. Many had died for their belief in God. One was prophesized and fulfilled. Through God's planning, this is how we are saved from our sinfulness:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>God provides the salvation with works - not belonging to one church in this world, but by becoming a part of believers in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the propitiation of our sins. Paul, at the end of a list of what we should not do, mentions the price tag for our salvation:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>As believers of the biblical history of Jesus, God's promised Messiah, we belong to God. God is not defined nor confined by mankind, but by how He describes Himself by inspiring His written word:</div><div><br /></div><div>From Moses' doubt and God's answer:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. (Exodus 4:14-16 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Through Jesus' response to Satan's temptation:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:3-4 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>To His descriiption in Revelation:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:15-16 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>We need to study what God has said, to whom it was said, why it was said, and what we are to do about what God said. Pick up a Bible and start, right now.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-53869786553103765992024-02-24T18:25:00.001-06:002024-02-24T18:25:10.855-06:00From The Mouth of God<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5241013" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="221" data-original-width="445" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDQu8tuiSQ8bM6hw8DDKCmDVAerDYQpJY4VIV-MVA3oeeBpiQQrAgxssSfIpQEJeUyFOEAfN8ekk1at1vjSUaRnEf_Wvx0NRXlrzoANialVb3quNfMrS4I3FgAmJmCe5WmUoW_ahFL6HxokpV3rNZ-M2GH6atG6rcyDUDnKt3B_Q2ZkzguPWK3QUjSmC0/w421-h209/Mouth.jpg" width="421" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">By de:Benutzer:Thetawave, Speck-Made - Image:Lippen.svg, CC BY-SA 3.0, </span></div><br /><p></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4 KJV)</span></i></p><div>No - God's mouth can't be diagramed as our is. The Bible was written by men - inspired by God:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (2 Timothy 3:16 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Paul included the "why" God inspired writers of the Bible:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:17 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>What God gives us in His word will provide what we need to do the good works God wants us to do. Those works are not essential to salavation, they are a result of the turn around in our lives when we commit to doing God's will in our lives:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Agaiin - as he often does - Paul goes the next step and tells us "why":</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:9-10 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>"Not of works." Because it would not of God. The works we do as Christians are to come from God. The choices we may should glorify God, never mankind. Being omnipotent, God already knows how we will truly work for Him, and He has ordained specific work for us. Paul explains what we should do, what happens when we do it, and what happens if we don't:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (1 Corinthians 3:9-15 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Like Paul's witness as to why he became a Christian (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+26&version=KJV" target="_blank">Acts 26</a>), while inspired by God, these are Paul's own words learned at the feet of expert Pharisee teachers. His words contain his previous experiences in life as well as carry God's inspirational Spirit.</div><div><br /></div><div>As usual, too, God's word repeats itself, as Jesus quoted scripture to Satan:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. (Deuteronomy 8:1-3 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Just as saved by faith is repeated:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (Romans 4:16 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></i></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. (Acts 15:11 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Isn't that simple?</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. (2 Corinthians 11:3-4 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-66914321227731620582024-02-21T11:47:00.003-06:002024-02-27T10:00:57.930-06:00I've Missed and Have Been Missed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://fbccottondale.com/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="1065" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ5k9XXmu4M7OtSexYQVXSEVg1Dkbki-WNsBmQI5DxgBdrWDS-00jJjqrQCeiyTLTT7b2i0XZ-PrtffZhdTCMVYwRCXxhyo_eVWHmqIPzNB7jXdMsIhHJbtBfCng5gBFMegIxf7DuK3X2fjHAN-QAj7oD3TvYQl4it9nrtcK-nn8lk-KT-j1f5H4yrciM/w529-h191/FBCCottondale%20Webpage.jpg" width="529" /></a></div><p>It began two weeks before Christmas. I was already behind in posting, but then we became ill on a Saturday, and missed two Sundays. The following week we both had a new cardiologist appointment, and I received a prescription for new medication. Four side effects hit me - it caused changes to my eyesight (which meant no driving while I was taking it), added to my dizziness (thankfully, not full scale vertigo, though!), it added depression to my mind, and we won't discuss the fourt h(which caused the most discomfort.)</p><p>The medication was preparation for, and lasted a month before, a scheduled transesophageal cardioversion - that made no difference to my A-Fib. Apparently, my heart has a mind of its own. All I ended up having was a very painful jaw after three shocks, at least getting rid of the medication!!</p><p>My worship attendance came down to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@firstbaptistcottondale" target="_blank">our church's YouTube</a> live stream (fortunately you can also stream previous services!) But other activities were not comfortable for me.</p><p>That's basically my confession. I let my physical difficulties keep me from doing what I not only enjoy, but what I wanted to do. Paul's words became so very meaningful:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. (Romans 7:19 KJV)</span></i></p><div>When I do not respond to God's will, my own conscience will convict me. There is no happiness in doing going against God, and He has given many specifics. Non-believers may on their own do what God has laid out for believers, but Christians should understand the sinful nature, and always strive for the holiness working within God's will offers us.</div><div><br /></div><div>No, I don't feel guilt over not attending worship services. I did get the messages through live streaming. I did feel sorrow over the missed fellowship with believers, the opportunity to welcome visitors, and the general compliance with:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:23-25 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>I do miss that exhortation that comes with fellowshipping with Christians. I'll be doing that this coming Saturday with our Outreach program. I've mentioned it before - members will do a wide variety of contacting people new to our community, those who have visited, members who may be ill and unable to attend (yes, I was contacted by a number of members while home bound), with letters and personal visits.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then Monday there will be a prayer time for submitted prayer requests. Those who are able will join in pray by physically attending or through Zoom connections. When I was ill, I knew my name was on people's lips and their lists. I have several that are on my prayer list - and more that come to mind as God places them on my heart.</div><div><br /></div><div>We do it out of love. Especially our "salvation" lists - the names of people who have specifically stated they do not believe in God, or who question the need for salvation, or have questions about how to be saved, or those who do not understand much of the terminology Christians use.</div><div><br /></div><div>If any reader has a need for prayer, feel free to place it here anonymously. The same for explanations of terminology, specific Bible verses, or general questions. No, I don't know it all, but you'd be surprised at the number of people in our congregation who are Bible scholars and don't mind requests. Feel free to join in at any time!</div><div><br /></div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-7153000118867720222023-12-06T16:07:00.003-06:002024-03-01T14:17:50.906-06:00Two Pharisees<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ1UVbuk4HWKPKRYfXRKHEsM6XMr8uU7tvnXAtq2ToGAsBNtDWoMZa2-L7BcbrPSHa__QDV_NmCwyD_j7vCjKQooPRyTkQ95ALjyxRCQokns2HvTsmP8giNBwqY-RJc_SdRB1EyiSCSUXt_8MkLyb6cp3w4GCYyYYAd5y3tPHiiA_A7GnTW_dgHpYjaLQ/s4032/Amplified%20NT.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ1UVbuk4HWKPKRYfXRKHEsM6XMr8uU7tvnXAtq2ToGAsBNtDWoMZa2-L7BcbrPSHa__QDV_NmCwyD_j7vCjKQooPRyTkQ95ALjyxRCQokns2HvTsmP8giNBwqY-RJc_SdRB1EyiSCSUXt_8MkLyb6cp3w4GCYyYYAd5y3tPHiiA_A7GnTW_dgHpYjaLQ/w401-h301/Amplified%20NT.jpg" width="401" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>This is from my Amplified Bible, published in 1958. I really did like John 18 from this version:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">He who believes on Him - who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him - is not judged (he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no condemnation; he incurs no damnation). John 3:18a</p></blockquote><p>This is the Amplified Bible today from Biblegateway:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him [as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation] John 3:18a</p></blockquote><p>And from e-Sword:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">He that believeth on him is not condemned: (John 3:18a KJV)</p></blockquote><p>Finally, from e-Sword, the King James version with Strong's Greek Numbers:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">He that believeth (G4100) on (G1519) him (G846) is not (G3756) condemned (G2919) (John 3:18a)</p></blockquote><p>Here's G2919 - do you see the "condemned" that translators used:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>62919</li><li>κρίνω</li><li>krinō</li><li>kree'-no</li><li>Properly to distinguish, that is, decide (mentally or judicially); by implication to try, condemn, punish: - avenge, conclude, condemn, damn, decree, determine, esteem, judge, go to (sue at the) law, ordain, call in question, sentence to, think.</li></ul><p></p></blockquote><p>Two different Pharisees came to understand Jesus and His message. We meet the first one in John 3. Nicodemus was a ruler - a leader and authority - among the Jews, and he had questions. Jesus had answers - among them:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? (John 3:9-10 KJV)</span></i></p><div>Both Nicodemus and Saul were Pharisees - one came to Jesus for answers, Jesus came to the other with blinding light and commands:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. (Acts 9:5-6 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Nicodemus is mentioned only in John - chapters 3, 7, and 19 - when he assisted Joseph of Arimathaea in placing Jesus in the never used sepulchre. Saul - as Paul - permeates the New Testament.</div><div><br /></div><div>Which one are we?</div><div><br /></div><div>Are we the one who believes in God, but doesn't know the Savior personally? Maybe we do come asking questions, then saying we don't understand the answers. As a Pharisee, Nicodemus would have almost the same teachers available in Jeruslem that Saul had. They would have studies the scriptures - written down by scribes for centuries, subject to changes, words, punctuation, readability, all the things that are possible results in the old "Gossip" game children played.</div><div><br /></div><div>I remember the story of an early computer translation test from English to Russian and back again. The quote used comes from Matthew 26:41, "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." It returned as "The wine is good, but the meat is spoiled."</div><div><br /></div><div>What I want you to see is that for millennia, the Bible remains sufficient when you study, research, and pray for God's word to be openly understandable. The Bereans heard the message from Saul - after his life was so changed that he was called Paul. He gave his life over to what God planned for him to do.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nicodemus' questions brought us one of the most beautiful chapters that most of the world has heard, read, or repeated these verses:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16-18 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Paul's work in the book of Acts, as well as his letters to the churches, tell of how he testified to kings and commoners what he and the Bereans found in the Old Testament that led them to live and write the New Testament, as inspired by God:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>I have a question for those who do not believe: "Would you please take time to pray and seek God for what the Bible offers mankind, and what it means for you?" And, another question for those who do believe Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of mankind in God's planning: "To whom are you explaining why you believe this?"</div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-82370377757389592222023-11-28T16:07:00.000-06:002023-11-28T16:07:52.911-06:00<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg97YL6OQ08_5Gmv2zWnk4ihIDK0MZkAXzgco_qUfLaNE3vrMP_q49NIfyy9V4MsudZD57v_YyNyNxiS-xgnZNDAUApH443Gxo1WuI8YiuF4pBa9EXha3I5q4xah5LoYnglgyY-A5w4fXk73cBi8ctxV6BdpS_jQibr7o07iAoDrGeyG_2MaCQfw1wYgo/s1200/2000-PassThrough.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="1200" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg97YL6OQ08_5Gmv2zWnk4ihIDK0MZkAXzgco_qUfLaNE3vrMP_q49NIfyy9V4MsudZD57v_YyNyNxiS-xgnZNDAUApH443Gxo1WuI8YiuF4pBa9EXha3I5q4xah5LoYnglgyY-A5w4fXk73cBi8ctxV6BdpS_jQibr7o07iAoDrGeyG_2MaCQfw1wYgo/w346-h168/2000-PassThrough.jpg" width="346" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>That photo shows how much better our digital cameras are today. It was taken at the turn of this century (wow! Amost quarter of a century ago!) and after years of storms and winds, no replacements. That's a sign of good workmanship. My husband built it because we had a new gymnasium/fellowship hall on the left, and our sanctuary and classroom building on the right. We also had a beautiful young lady in a wheelchair that needed to go across. Our children were all involved in pouring the concrete. I have a beloved photo of them pouring concrete for the ramps.</p><p>Now, let me ask you - What is "church"? Which building? Is the pass through part of the church. It might surprise you that the Greek word translated "church" in our New Testament dose not refer to any of the buildings involved in our church meeting. Here's the Strong's definition from e-Sword:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><b>G1577</b></p><p>ἐκκλησία</p><p>ekklēsia</p><p>ek-klay-see'-ah</p><p>From a compound of G1537 and a derivative of G2564; a calling out, that is, (concretely) a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both): - assembly, church.</p><p>Total KJV occurrences: 115</p></blockquote><p> But it's a bit deeper in <a href="https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1577/kjv/tr/0-1/" target="_blank">Blue Letter Bible online</a>:</p><div class="lexicon-label expandable expandable-closed" id="yui-gen30" style="background-color: #e4eaee; border-radius: 5px 5px 0px 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(197, 210, 224); box-sizing: border-box; color: #506373; font-family: arial, helvetica, "sans serif"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 5px;">Outline of Biblical Usage <a class="lexpop show-for-medium" rel="lexicon.obuHelp" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #39547f; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">[?]</a></div><div class="__hidden" id="outlineBiblical" style="-webkit-box-flex: 1; background-color: white; border-color: rgb(197, 210, 224); border-image: initial; border-radius: 0px 0px 5px 5px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px 1px 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0a0a0a; flex-grow: 1; font-family: arial, helvetica, "sans serif"; margin: 0px; padding: 10px;"><div style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><ol id="yui-gen29" style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li id="yui-gen28" style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #a9bbc7; font-style: italic; line-height: 0.9em; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: upper-roman; margin: 0px 0px 0px 50px; padding: 0px;"><p id="yui-gen26" style="border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-style: normal; left: -2px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; padding: 2px 5px; position: relative;">a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly</p><ol id="yui-gen33" style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0.9em; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: upper-alpha; margin: 0px 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px;"><p id="yui-gen27" style="border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-style: normal; left: -2px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; padding: 2px 5px; position: relative;">an assembly of the people convened at the public place of the council for the purpose of deliberating</p></li><li style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0.9em; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: upper-alpha; margin: 0px 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px;"><p id="yui-gen31" style="border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-style: normal; left: -2px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; padding: 2px 5px; position: relative;">the assembly of the Israelites</p></li><li style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0.9em; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: upper-alpha; margin: 0px 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px;"><p id="yui-gen32" style="border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-style: normal; left: -2px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; padding: 2px 5px; position: relative;">any gathering or throng of men assembled by chance, tumultuously</p></li><li id="yui-gen35" style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0.9em; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: upper-alpha; margin: 0px 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px;"><p id="yui-gen34" style="border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-style: normal; left: -2px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; padding: 2px 5px; position: relative;">in a Christian sense</p><ol id="yui-gen38" style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0.9em; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: lower-roman; margin: 0px 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px;"><p id="yui-gen36" style="border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-style: normal; left: -2px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; padding: 2px 5px; position: relative;">an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting</p></li><li style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0.9em; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: lower-roman; margin: 0px 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px;"><p id="yui-gen37" style="border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-style: normal; left: -2px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; padding: 2px 5px; position: relative;">a company of Christian, or of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, observe their own religious rites, hold their own religious meetings, and manage their own affairs, according to regulations prescribed for the body for order's sake</p></li><li style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0.9em; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: lower-roman; margin: 0px 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px;"><p id="yui-gen39" style="border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-style: normal; left: -2px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; padding: 2px 5px; position: relative;">those who anywhere, in a city, village, constitute such a company and are united into one body</p></li><li style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0.9em; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: lower-roman; margin: 0px 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px;"><p id="yui-gen40" style="border: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-style: normal; left: -2px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; padding: 2px 5px; position: relative;">the whole body of Christians scattered throughout the earth</p></li><li style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0.9em; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: lower-roman; margin: 0px 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px;"><p id="yui-gen41" style="background-color: #f9fafb; border-radius: 5px; border: 1px solid rgb(197, 210, 224); box-sizing: border-box; color: black; font-style: normal; left: -2px; margin: 4px 0px 0px; padding: 2px 5px; position: relative;">the assembly of faithful Christians already dead and received into heaven</p></li></ol></li></ol></li></ol></div></div><p>There is no part of a "church" in the above photo. However, all the people involved in building that pass through are a part of the church because they fit under 1.D.ii. At one time both my husband and I, and our three children were a part of the congregation that meet in the buildings, a part of a congregation of baptized believers of Jesus, Christ, Son of God.</p><p>Everyone who does believe John 3:16-18 will be happy to tell you about Jesus and their eternal life. They've made a commitment to Him to follow in His steps, even if it takes the same path. That's part of following the most important commandments:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:36-40 KJV)</span></i></p><div>There is a lot of work for everyone of us to keep those two commandments. Yet doing so, we are working within "all the law and the prophets." Christian was the label given to people in Antioch, not by their fellow believers, but by non-believers who recognized they were different. Christians should be different because they are in the world but not of the world. One of the things Christians are to do is:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Thus we gather - for some on the Sabbath, for others on the first day of the week to worship our rison savior. For centuries it has been a tradition to call the building where the congregations meet a "church." I don't have a problem with that, along as it is understoon that people who look to Jesus as their savior are the true church, the body of Christ:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (Romans 12:5 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><i>For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12 KJV)</i></div></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div><i>For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (Ephesians 4:12 KJV)</i></div></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div><i>Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17 KJV)</i></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-54195317605718604882023-10-05T11:16:00.006-05:002023-10-05T19:59:00.455-05:00Teach Thy Children<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHjSlccZXp2_ndFamf1JG8yLntGGKnLTYsVhGGR6CsSQ66_hxqitoACw0Q_3nf5LkxM4npzOfJYcvrV9deX065z4vlRbaquhyphenhyphenP8JMOGc0nqvEZFJPWT1JEBx9wBGFP9gJ3Os1S-qHsrjMdxKcoMWllBXYEMxPS9RwIxUuXJF6ouMuJPNjr6ayJRXBaZFw/s1522/Student.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1085" data-original-width="1522" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHjSlccZXp2_ndFamf1JG8yLntGGKnLTYsVhGGR6CsSQ66_hxqitoACw0Q_3nf5LkxM4npzOfJYcvrV9deX065z4vlRbaquhyphenhyphenP8JMOGc0nqvEZFJPWT1JEBx9wBGFP9gJ3Os1S-qHsrjMdxKcoMWllBXYEMxPS9RwIxUuXJF6ouMuJPNjr6ayJRXBaZFw/s320/Student.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Do not save/use this graphic - it has a copy right</i></span></div><p>Doesn't she look studious? She is. I know this young lady, and while I wasn't much of a teacher, she is excelling in her studies. It is a blessing to know her, and her family. For awhile they lived just a few miles down the road. We've had the pleasure of dining with them, enjoying the pleasure of their hospitalitiy. Her mother participated in all of our Ladies events and traveled with us to retreats. Their hospitality was well shared and their company was uplifting.</p><p>This is a family who believes:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt <b>teach them diligently unto thy children</b>, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (Deuteronomy 6:5-7 KJV)</span></i></p><p>Her father dedicated his life to sharing the gospel, the good news that Jesus was born, was Christ, was crucified, and is risen! The family's children just got a bit more of the rest of the story, which is how to honor and serve with those who love the Lord. </p><p>She, as all other PK's (preacher's kids), also discovered that Christians are the same as other people - they make mistakes. PK's find that their parents are very good at owning up to errors and correcting them. Any parent that does that is extra helpful to their child. It is always a blessing to others when errors are corrected, especially by the people who make them.</p><p>Spiritual Christians are much better at than that what can be termed "carnal Christians." There are times a person thinks being a Christian is a label applied for attending church services. It's not. A carnal Christian has been defined by Paul:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? (1 Corinthians 3:1-3 KJV)</span></i></p><div>Carnal Christians as described keep doing things that people who are not believers continue to do. Here Paul lists envy, strife, divisions - which in the Amplified Bible is described as:</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>For you are still (unspiritual, having the nature) of the flesh - under the control of ordinariy impulses. For as long as [there are] encying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and more like mere (unchanged) men?</blockquote></div><div>We need to go back to other verses, beginning with:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23-24 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus spoke those words to a Samaritan woman He met at a well. Actions with our body do not always show what is in our mind, our thoughts, the spiritual part of us. We need to be changed from impulsive actions that do not reflect the reality of our worship of God with our heart, soul and might. The flesh comes easily. The spirit must be sought and taught, as again Paul wrote in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+10%3A8-17&version=KJV" target="_blank">Romans 10:8-17</a>, and sums up with:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>That faith is an absolute necessity for believing God's salvation is needed and given:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>In Romans 10 Paul explains to us tht someone must be sent to teach/preach, and someone must hear/learn. That graphic above shows a young woman who purposed in her heart to learn. I know that she has been given the teachings of Jesus, I also have witnessed her faithfulness in action as well as her testimony to serving the Lord. I do admire that faithfulness at her age, and pray the young people in my own family would do as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>The book she is studying here is not the Bible. She is as dedicated to learning skills and career choices for her future. She has a future and is preparing for it. She also has an eternal, spiritual future and is as spiritually prepared as she is academically. I encourage both for all young people. It's much easier to "find yourself" if you've already found Jesus as Christ, our Savior. Ask me - I'll share more good news of Him. Read your Bible, all you need is a desire to learn with a prayerful spirit seeking God and truth.</div><div><br /></div><p><br /></p><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-86245706584225250462023-09-30T10:30:00.003-05:002023-10-02T10:32:54.685-05:00The Really Good News<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0jlPZRk5-dOntYGqFAnalchcrtDQsuTqS-iZZLJwRUi9Eb9EDocJi0Lko6rFP_unzTOyuBXvefzUfO7wB-aL1BlGvvSVuLdTCtjjT20JYD8Vx6pbBWSukNHwA1FVL9QCiiR20fYuktaJszhdhKe56B7pT94Z44oxHYN69L1jQcfpzRXOOX3oDdtudkTo/s2000/Gospel-FreePik-10841288_4570706.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="2000" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0jlPZRk5-dOntYGqFAnalchcrtDQsuTqS-iZZLJwRUi9Eb9EDocJi0Lko6rFP_unzTOyuBXvefzUfO7wB-aL1BlGvvSVuLdTCtjjT20JYD8Vx6pbBWSukNHwA1FVL9QCiiR20fYuktaJszhdhKe56B7pT94Z44oxHYN69L1jQcfpzRXOOX3oDdtudkTo/w283-h283/Gospel-FreePik-10841288_4570706.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Image by <a href="https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/gospel-word-concept_10841288.htm#page=4&query=gospel&position=24&from_view=keyword&track=sph">Freepik</a></span></div><div><br /></div><div>It's good to look to <a href="https://support.logos.com/hc/en-us/articles/360028307111-Using-Strong-s-Numbers" target="_blank">Strong's definitions</a> of Greek words used in the New Testament. In an English Bible, gospel is used often, and the word is applied to the first four books together as The Gospels. In Greek, Strong's:</div><div><blockquote><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>εὐαγγελίζω </b>euangelízō, yoo-ang-ghel-id'-zo; from (<a href="https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2095/kjv/tr/0-1/" target="_blank"><b>G2095)</b> </a>and (<a href="https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g32/kjv/tr/0-1/" target="_blank"><b>G32</b></a>); to announce good news ("evangelize") especially the gospel:—declare, bring (declare, show) glad (good) tidings, preach (the gospel).</span></blockquote></div><div>Those same roots give us the title of people who do announce the gospel, which certainly is good news:</div><div><div><b></b></div><blockquote><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;">εὐαγγελιστής (<a href="https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2099/kjv/tr/0-1/" target="_blank">G2099</a>) From εὐαγγελίζω (<a href="https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2097/kjv/tr/0-1/" target="_blank">G2097</a>)</span></b></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">-a bringer of good tidings, an evangelist</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">the name given to the NT heralds of salvation -through Christ who are not apostles</span></div></blockquote><p> Evangelize really does mean to bring good news. The angel's appearance in Luke is definitely speaking as an evangelist today of good news for all mankind:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good (G2907) tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11 KJV)</span></i></p><p>The problem often is that people see an evangelist as a person who is full time dedicated to telling people about Christ. A good many of them are full time, but this is also a part-time work for full-time Christians.</p><p>There are so many was of sharing the gospel, that really good news, with a wide range of people. I've shared it simply by asking people to come to our church. I cannot think of a church sponsored event we've held that doesn't include at least a moment of prayer plus touching upon the good news that Jesus is interested in every one of us.</p><p>For me, the really good news is that Jesus was born, lived as any person, taught His doctrine for three years, defined Himself as God, died in a single event, was buried, and on the third day was resurrected, appearing for forty days to those who knew and loved Him. That story was part of the prophesies that Judaism had carried through centuries, and that Christ's followers (first called Christians in Antioch) preached the first century.</p><p>Two of the best examples came from Paul. I've written about his <a href="https://blicktx.blogspot.com/2023/08/do-you-have-testimony.html" target="_blank">testimony before Agrippa</a> recently, and a couple of times in the past years - that is most definitely telling a specific person what Jesus meant to Paul's life. A huge change from a Pharisee condemning Christians to an evangelist speaking of that change to a man who literally held the life/death decision for Paul. The second example is in Athens, where Paul spoke so close to where Socrates was condemned to death. There Paul shared the gospel with people who spent a lot of time thinking about a wide variety of subjects. </p><p>Some of his hearers at Athens mocked Paul, while Agrippa closed their meeting as almost persuaded. Others in Athens wanted to hear more, and some believed.</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana; font-size: 14.85px;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana; font-size: 14.85px;">"Believing is a matter of the will. A man does not believe without being willing to believe."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /></p><div align="right" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">C. H. Spurgeon 1834-1892</span></div></blockquote><div align="right" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></div><p>We have control over whether we believe what the Bible says, or not believe even a portion of it. There is no denying the words in the Bible have been preserved for thousands of years, even though written on destructible papyrus by men who passed it down from generation to generation. Those who truly believed we should follow this:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (Deuteronomy 6:4-7 KJV)</span></i></p><div>If a person listens, they will understand there is a choice to be made. They may have heard more times than not from people who made the choice to head down the wide path that sounds easy, instead of listening to:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7:13-14 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>What I've written here is evangelizing - sharing the good news that God uses a specific plan to provide people an eternal life with Him.. It begins the moment John 3:16 is read, understood, and chosen. It continues as an education in speaking with God through prayer and worshipping Him in fellowship with like-minded believers in Him.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you don't mind, would you (anonymously if you wish) Comment as to where you are on sharing that good news?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div></div></div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-57518034605838069812023-09-24T13:52:00.002-05:002023-10-02T10:30:02.179-05:00Things I Don't Remember, and Things I Do<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-2JkOM_IWYp8/UE5mK8k6kJI/AAAAAAAAERo/mBN_nVuBdmk/s1600-h/harp_strings%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img alt="harp_strings" border="0" height="244" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Yb-ByoBtltk/UE5mMZ6TYBI/AAAAAAAAERw/bY-pI9hDjwk/harp_strings_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top: 0px; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="harp_strings" width="189" /></a><br />I ran across this post of <a href="https://blicktx.blogspot.com/2012/09/having-nothing.html" target="_blank">mine from September, 2012</a>. I had completely forgotten the subject matter, and can't remember what prompted this topic. In fact, as I read from years past, I can remember more about what we had done, than what I wrote.<div><br /></div><div>October 2010 my husband and I made our last trip to his home town, to visit his brother and family. It was a good visit, got a lot of genealogy information and visited a number of places we hadn't been. By the time we saw them again in May, 2011, at our home, Beloved Husband was show symptoms hard to explain - and we were seeing specialist after specialist. That September he was diagnosed with <a href="https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/myasthenia-gravis" target="_blank">Myasthenia Gravis</a> - click on the link and you will learn more than I'll tell you about that autoimmune disease. It took from January to September to get the right test, and the right diagnosis.</div><div><br /></div><div>By September, 2012, Beloved Husband had been in ICU for two MG crises and one instance of sepsis. However, by then treatment had brought him through all that and symptoms were close to under control.</div><div><br /></div><div>Looking back now, I can praise God for His excellent greatness in providing us hope as we rollercoastered between 2011 and 2012. I can confine it to that year, either. God has the capability to see us through everything that comes our way. I could make a list of specific times/items/heartbreaks in our lives, but those aren't important to you. How God works in your life is very important, especially to you.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, look back over ten years. I can name specifics that affected the world as a whole, but what do you remember about finding God working in your life? Be serious about it, and share in Comments if you wish us if you found things you didn't remember among the things you do.</div><div><br /></div><div>Are you able to rejoice? I was, and I still am. God be with you when you need Him most. Every day.<br /><br /><i>From September 11, 2012:</i><br /><br />
Have you ever looked around to see that everyone – yes, every other person in the whole world – seems to have more? Not that they all have everything, but each one has something that we either need, want or could put to good use. We see a lacking in our lives.<br />
<br />
The media is filled with people losing jobs, losing homes, unable to provide. A family flees fire or flood, leaving their home to possible destruction. They saved valuable memories as well as their lives. Crops are failing in one spot because of drought, in another because of too much rain. Stories abound about those who have lost, but overcome. <br />
<br />
We look toward our lack – and rejoice:<br />
<br />
<em><span style="color: #004000;">Although the fig tree shall not blossom, </span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: #004000;">neither shall fruit be in the vines; </span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: #004000;">the labour of the olive shall fail, </span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: #004000;">and the fields shall yield no meat; </span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: #004000;">the flock shall be cut off from the fold, </span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: #004000;">and there shall be no herd in the stalls: </span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: #004000;">Y</span></em><em><span style="color: #004000;">et I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.</span></em> <br />
<br />
Why?<br />
<br />
<em><span style="color: #004000;">The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments. (Habakkuk 3:17-19 KJV)</span></em><br />
<br />
That alone is a wonderful thought – in spite of all we lack, we rejoice in the Lord.<br />
<br />
But, I fell in love with the last line when I pictured God as the chief singer on my own, personal stringed instrument. I know, I know – that’s not what Habakkuk was thinking when he wrote it.<br />
<br />
I hear the touch of wind against leaves, creating music to match that of the birds on branches. The slap of raindrops on a variety of surfaces, echoing with thunder. The sound of waves against the shore, never ceasing, ever changing. The music God creates in nature soothes us, causing us to listen for that still, small voice.<br />
<br />
I see God’s hands working in our lives, bringing forth beautiful music on the strings of our heart. Bringing from the stillness within us music we never thought of ourselves. Yes, He is the chief singer, the creator of all that causes us to rejoice. <br />
<br />
Doesn’t matter what we lack, He provides what we need and enriches our lives with what He has created. <br />
<br />
We rejoice, in the Lord.</div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-41726794697977533702023-09-23T09:00:00.003-05:002023-10-02T10:26:29.966-05:00Job's Wife<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY9bq4Gsii_tyczaPz0a9JCstqi5Iv6ts1W5QW0JASj3jwmfNJOJQePGDAKjeX_DxYWCj88dSoJZnFf-T4P8vKyoBCEpoDXyjJHMK6Jz6xEVjwFjhtdIpayggzycKstSbugcX7ivF5TDxPXpoeS0l0_F0iyDsiUXAxVffJohIPnQ5LNTKapemeH0cgIms/s3976/Traversi_Job_mocked_by_his_wife_02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2920" data-original-width="3976" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY9bq4Gsii_tyczaPz0a9JCstqi5Iv6ts1W5QW0JASj3jwmfNJOJQePGDAKjeX_DxYWCj88dSoJZnFf-T4P8vKyoBCEpoDXyjJHMK6Jz6xEVjwFjhtdIpayggzycKstSbugcX7ivF5TDxPXpoeS0l0_F0iyDsiUXAxVffJohIPnQ5LNTKapemeH0cgIms/s320/Traversi_Job_mocked_by_his_wife_02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspare_Traversi" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Gaspare Traversi"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspare_Traversi" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Gaspare Traversi">Gaspare Traversi</a><span style="color: #202122;">, </span><i style="color: #202122;">Job mocked by his wife</i></span></div><p></p><p>Job has always been interesting to me. Reading that book as a child, I did not get the same message from his friends that I do after years of reading, praying, and living through some inexplicable life events that would fit "Why do bad things happen to good people," even when I didn't personally know the person affected.</p><p>But recently a friend added to her blog thoughts - or conversations - about Job's wife - as she asked: <a href="https://renderedpraise.blogspot.com/2023/09/where-was-jobs-wife.html" target="_blank">"Where Was Job's Wife." </a> His wife does show up in a number of paintings, and there are innumerable citations about her on the web. The above painting could be the "thousand words" of :</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. (Job 2:9 KJV)</span></i></p><div>There is no doubt about the meaning of her words. A look at <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Job%202:9" target="_blank">Job 2:9 in any translation</a> confirms her words were not filled with kindness. For the longest time I looked no further. While the majority of women in the Bible are names, she along with some others only get a description as being a wife, mother, or sometimes their sin.</div><div><br /></div><div>Take a moment to look at the descriptions before this scene. She was the mother of ten children. It appears they all got along. How often do our children get together on their own:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. (Job 1:4 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Job/s first chapter tells us about what he lost. There, as a reflection of the times, is no mention that his wife lost all of those things listed in Job 1:13-19, too. However, there is no mention of Job's home being destroyed. Was it, as his son's is described, four cornered? Could it have been a tent? Job had herds, did their homes move with their oxen, sheep, camels, and asses?</div><div><br /></div><div>If so, it would have been the wife's responsibility to see to their home - their meals, their foodstuff, their pots and pans, their cooking utensils, their bedding, their pillows, the very fabric of their home were it tents instead of buildings. For a large family, there would have been servants, for whom she was responsible. When they packed for moving, everything would have been managed by Job's wife.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now, her husband is on the ground:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. (Job 1:20-21 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><p>Next we learn Job is covered in boils and the words recorded from her lips are:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes. Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. (Job 2:8-9 KJV)</span></i></p><div>Neither she nor any other woman is mentioned again until the last chapter, but I like to feel this painting reflects how she tended to her husband as he suffered:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_-_Job_and_His_Wife_-_WGA6951.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxqiGx46vg-EQmrFz5a_xBtyPXVahcusrCdhZqM2S8MI-tDSM-fMEj3OJn7TaQ2guWb4gW2mY1nff-0DpJ5Q7vDPFrNaETnYK9PqhfWCmG-bfjy1LCEPdCkMtlToCdDxJwKJAqT6DqbPen_HtORMTXnPwVuyklGCJIm1GBmBcigLydc_tdoZs6t4ieGA8/s320/313px-Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_-_Job_and_His_Wife_-_WGA6951.jpg" width="167" /></a></div><p>There is no other mention of Job's unnamed wife. Even at the end of the book, where we find that he received a double portion of all that was lost:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters. (Job 42:12-13 KJV)</span></i></p><div>There is no indication, in this book at least, that those ten children were borne by another wife. That wasn't the point, the lesson, from Job's story.</div><div><br /></div><div>Part of his story is the doubling of his loss in oxen, sheep, camels and asses. But not his children. </div><div><br /></div><div>For me, it is confirmation that those children were where God wanted them to be, where the family would be doubled when Job and his wife's time to join them arrived. In heaven, Job would have twenty children - fourteen boys and six girls. Eventually, living as Job taught and lived his own life, there would be others, many he got to see before he died:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days. (Job 42:16-17 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>I have no desire to make that 140 years, but I have been blessed to see son and daughters, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, along with the continuation of great-great-grandchildren raised to believe the Bible, with God's promise that there is more than what we see here in this world. Perhaps in the next I can know more about Job's wife:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-91674748806413200492023-09-22T10:47:00.002-05:002023-10-02T10:24:33.687-05:00What To Do As A Christian<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpUj-i78qMp7aw1-gMgGgzDN77hk9Rzu98s-JqowV7mlYh1MWWboTIzEbEr5QC36-dUnzOixlVxU8c62TPHZctUiV3xwr_mzzQPWBaiXQ2nUcscZUxOSBlekiq3sJywcBJicJSYerxMcySPOgUPwd3w4RnfgX06N1gcrHCAl34Q8uKK__3dW03yVGWaN4/s498/Agenda%20-%20Bullet%20Points.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="498" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpUj-i78qMp7aw1-gMgGgzDN77hk9Rzu98s-JqowV7mlYh1MWWboTIzEbEr5QC36-dUnzOixlVxU8c62TPHZctUiV3xwr_mzzQPWBaiXQ2nUcscZUxOSBlekiq3sJywcBJicJSYerxMcySPOgUPwd3w4RnfgX06N1gcrHCAl34Q8uKK__3dW03yVGWaN4/w281-h223/Agenda%20-%20Bullet%20Points.jpg" width="281" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>There are so many people who will tell you what Christians cannot do, but Paul did a good job of telling Christians what to do in his letter to the Church at Philippi. Let's take a look there, and a couple of other places:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Philippians 4:4 <b>Rejoice</b> in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> 4:5 Let your <b>moderation be known </b>unto all men. The Lord is at hand. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your <b>requests be made known unto God</b>. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, <b>shall keep your hearts</b> and minds through Christ Jesus. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are <b>true</b>, </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> whatsoever things are <b>honest</b>, </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> whatsoever things are <b>just</b>, </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> whatsoever things are <b>pure,</b> </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> whatsoever things are <b>lovely</b>, </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> whatsoever things are <b>of good report</b>; </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">if there be any <b>virtue</b>, and if there be any <b>praise</b>, think on these things. </span></i></p><p>After we do all that - just four simple verses - here's Paul's results:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Philippians 4:9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. </span></i></p><p>Of course, there are other verses that are just as specific. Look at 1Thessalonians 5:16-22:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">1 Thessalonians 5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, <b>warn</b> them that are unruly, <b>comfort</b> the feebleminded, <b>support</b> the weak, <b>be patient </b>toward all men. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> 5:15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but <b>ever follow that which is good</b>, both among yourselves, and to all men. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> 5:16 <b>Rejoice evermore</b>. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> 5:17 <b>Pray without ceasing</b>. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> 5:18 <b>In every thing give thanks</b>: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> 5:19 <b>Quench not the Spirit</b>. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> 5:20 <b>Despise not prophesyings</b>. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> 5:21 <b>Prove all things</b>; <b>hold fast that which is good</b>. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> 5:22 <b>Abstain from all appearance of evil</b>. </span></i></p><p>Again, the results are found in a single verse:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. </span></i></p><p>Isn't it amazing that beyond believing that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, living a Christian life is very positive? Every single one of those verses offer positive attitudes, actions, and results. Nowhere in there are damaging actions to any individual. For a non-Christian to turn down listening to a Christian's witness because Christianity wants to make so many changes in their lives - which of these items would you NOT want to be a part of the lives of people around you.</p><p>There are many more verses - a very good many to be found printed in red in "red letter Bibles," indicating that the words were spoken by Jesus. Such as:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:12-15 KJV)</span></i></p><div>Each of my blogs tells readers of heavenly things that I have never seen. I hope they also read about my own questions, answers, and experiences God's inspired word has offered me. That is the primary focus - Bible reading, learning, questioning, seeking, then making your own, personal choice that is being offered. </div><div><br /></div><div>Know that while every Christian will at some time not live up to God's standard, they continue to strive. Anyone who does not strive to change is missing something in their spiritual life. That's why Paul also included:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Brethren, pray for us. (1 Thessalonians 5:25 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>That's always a request I make, too.</div><div><br /></div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-84779128811043069872023-09-09T06:00:00.003-05:002023-10-02T10:19:54.958-05:00Learning To Love Everyone<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijRGRNZJLpRW-S7jBcCIUe2_sJqJleR_JSILFU4ELEICTQNXQqSOrjlTC9bjFmj3MnIU1hplyNHw7yROwfSRQxtaxQvPJ5H12Rii7QA8hjTnml8CqJlmGfbyzoD088o0lEHt20lugb5mGNVTzo0AcShSi_2JxGD_zDxO-rGTCcBcgbWpu85wPPskJIpTo/s418/Journey%20Into%20Living%20Gods%20Way%20book.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijRGRNZJLpRW-S7jBcCIUe2_sJqJleR_JSILFU4ELEICTQNXQqSOrjlTC9bjFmj3MnIU1hplyNHw7yROwfSRQxtaxQvPJ5H12Rii7QA8hjTnml8CqJlmGfbyzoD088o0lEHt20lugb5mGNVTzo0AcShSi_2JxGD_zDxO-rGTCcBcgbWpu85wPPskJIpTo/s320/Journey%20Into%20Living%20Gods%20Way%20book.jpg" width="242" /></a></p>That looks a bit brighter in my hand - it's the book we are studying in our Sunday School. We were on lesson 20 last week, "Learning To Love Everyone (Roman 12:9-21). I won't cover the full four pages of reading and reference checking, but will try to get across the second two pages.<div><br /></div><div>First two pages are pretty easy, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+9%3A1-13&version=KJV" target="_blank">verses 9-13</a>. Those cover how to get along with other Christians. That's not too difficult because we're working toward the same goals. We want other people to know just how different the Christian life is. We want to share what we are looking forward to as well as what God has done to our lives and the lives of Christians we've known and look forward to seeing again.</div><div><br /></div><div>But the second two pages are very important to those who may not have experienced God's love as expressed in<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+3%3A16&version=KJV" target="_blank"> John 3:16</a>. Some people are vocally anti-Christian, others simply do not wish to discuss beliefs. There are scriptures that help us reach out with our own love to share His, and our desire to open discussions. Paul was descriptive in verses 14-21.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #0c343d;">Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:13-21 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>It is up to us to be hospitable, which can be difficult for an introvert. I hope you will believe that description fits me - I'm not one for party throwing, and am much more comfortable with couples or small groups. Sadly, since retirement that does not give me much opportunity to sit and talk with strangers. Happily, when I do and mention church activities, almost everyone responds kindly. I've been blessed by having only a couple of people I need to "bless and curse not," and I find it fulfilling to pray for them.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is also easy to "rejoice with them that do rejoice"! Oh, there are happy days!! Yet sorrow comes and we "weep with them that weep." Our community wept, and helped, during the loss of <a href="https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/athena-strand-mother-speaks-for-first-time-since-7-year-old-death/287-77368576-e586-405f-91ec-046166493347" target="_blank">Athena Strand</a>, a beautiful seven-year-old. Oh, yes, we wept. And, we prayed. As a church and a community we experienced "the same mind one toward another." Yes - we prayed that the man arrested will understand the crime will affect him, too.</div><div><br /></div><div>Which brings up forgiving - under the most unforgivably painful circumstances. It would do harm to us to "recompense ... evil for evil." We are commanded: <i><span style="color: #274e13;">Abstain from all appearance of evil</span></i>. (1 Thessalonians 5:22 KJV) while at the same time "live peaceably with all men."</div><div><br /></div><div>Revenge is destructive to peace, thus knowing God said: "Vengeance is mine: I will repay." The opposite for us is to respond with the love that God shows us in our own sinfulness. What we are to do comes from Proverbs 20:22b: "wait on the Lord and He will save thee."</div><div><br /></div><div>The one thing we can do that might convict a person of their own guilt works better than it sounds:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. (Romans 12:20 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Not real coals - ever!! But maybe a twinge of understanding that guilt can bring feelings of shame for words or actions. Shame can bring conviction, which can bring contrition, which can bring the faith needed to accept Jesus, along with the love and eternal life offered.</div><div><br /></div><div>That lesson closes with the promise we can love the difficult and the totally unlovable because God provides the means and strength to obey:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. (Ephesians 3:16-21 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>This Sunday we begin Lesson 21, Roman 13:1-7, "where God reveals what our attitude toward government should be." A clue comes from Jesus' own words:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Matthew 22:21 They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.</span></i></div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Mark 12:17 And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him.</span></i></div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Luke 20:25 And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's.</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-8375770398866509932023-09-08T14:58:00.005-05:002023-10-02T10:17:34.152-05:00Notes For Taking Notes<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE8WuHQMAch9JiYPWKUn9x8cV26JOKP0YEBTqpINFiAYLMzxxpT4kkdjIzfZe9ruNZsw9FQzu-lIKS5EsWooW5CuEzQr6uBeDO_TjlL0PJSghW3MWrkkmhnx26oktGBxlZG6ks9R4jsKd29Zc48R4XU_RZxI9L3uOXX5pmIH1a-BmRbW_21n203u7wLEc/s770/Taking%20Notes%20-%20Herman%20Mark%201929.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE8WuHQMAch9JiYPWKUn9x8cV26JOKP0YEBTqpINFiAYLMzxxpT4kkdjIzfZe9ruNZsw9FQzu-lIKS5EsWooW5CuEzQr6uBeDO_TjlL0PJSghW3MWrkkmhnx26oktGBxlZG6ks9R4jsKd29Zc48R4XU_RZxI9L3uOXX5pmIH1a-BmRbW_21n203u7wLEc/s320/Taking%20Notes%20-%20Herman%20Mark%201929.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Notebook_from_the_lectures_of_Herman_Mark,_1929_-_DPLA_-_f72280d0d5bf3821ddd7a96df8ec7d29_(page_29).jpg" target="_blank">Notes taken from the lectures of Herman Mark, 1929</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Notebook_from_the_lectures_of_Herman_Mark,_1929_-_DPLA_-_f72280d0d5bf3821ddd7a96df8ec7d29_(page_29).jpg" target="_blank">by Georg Bredig (1868-1944)</a></div></div><p style="text-align: left;">My own notes that prompted this blog are no more readable than those above are to me. September 6, 2020, Billy Thompson taught our Sunday School class, the one we joined following Covid-19. Billy followed workbooks available to classes, and I started saving those - but I have no idea which class book we used September 6! Therefore, this note I took has little context:</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">Spiritual Maturity</p><p style="text-align: left;">Check your appetite: v 1-2 If we are still taking only milk, we are not maturing (i.e. only John 3:16 without v18!!)</p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p>Now, since I may not have a greater biblical knowledge base than some of my readers (go ahead, find where we were studying before reading further) and others already know where this is headed, let's take a look at verses one and two in 1 Corinthians 3:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. </span></i></p><p>Paul knew the church at Corinth were not only new to beliefs in Christ, they were for a good part, new to Judaism, with its Laws that had both been followed and broken for centuries before. Corinth had a completely different set of rules and personal beliefs. F. B. Meyer Bible Commentary must have had that in mind as the author requests our own self-examination:</p><p></p><blockquote>He is a babe who needs to be fed with milk, little and often, because unable to digest solid food. He is a sectarian, throwing contempt on those who do not belong to his own school of thought. He allows himself to be infected with jealousy and strife. Let us test our Christian life by these symptoms. Where are we?</blockquote><p></p><div>It does take getting to the "meat" of issues, including why we make our own statements regarding controversies encountered in modern societies that differ by creed as well as country. To say "that's what the Bible says" is insufficient unless we know: 1) why it is in the Bible; 2) who said it in the Bible; 3) why was it necessary when it was said and is still necessary today. These issues that are divisive among mankind must be investigated to determine why they exist, and how are they to be addressed.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? </span></i></div><div><br /></div></div><div>Carnal, as used here, is shown in Strong's translation as "pertaining to flesh, that is (by extension) bodily, temporal, or (by implication) animal, unregenerate, fleshly." As in opposition to what is spiritual and/or godly. It is easily understood that as new Christians, it would take a bit to become knowledgeable as to the differences from when we did not know Christ to after we've been learning of Him.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. (1 Corinthians 3:1-9 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>How many of us, when asked about our beliefs give a denomination's name? Why do we not do as those in Antioch?</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. (Acts 11:25-26 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>This is part of the "meat" - followers of Christ should consider themselves Christians. My faith is based on God's promises of the Messiah for the Jews, the promised blessing for the world told to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and the promise to King David there would be a continuation of his kingly line. To believe all that also means we believe in God. The difference is, Christians accept the prophecy fulfillment of Jesus' life, death, and the number of people who confirmed His resurrection. </div><div><br /></div><div>Each Christian denomination is based on those fundamental items. Yes, I have heard and read of church priests, pastors, and leaders who cannot accept those fundamentals, yet continue to serve in their chosen denominations. To me that is regrettable, but does not erase the common belief among people who do profess to be followers of Christ.</div><div><br /></div><div>Can we, based on the biblical writers, accept that while some denominations may house, or even support, carnal Christians without question, they may also include spiritual brethren who believe we are laborers together with God? If so, we can get down to the fundamentals of believing Genesis 1:1 and John 3:16-18, Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21, praying together:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. (Revelation 22:21 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-11962249241362876672023-09-03T06:00:00.002-05:002023-10-02T10:12:53.066-05:00Prayer<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6w7qpTYaooniRvHa-FnTzpSAQuBr9IgChzD79izEwvu763NbSKO4JU6zWIGnXj6zS6CVc07M1svv1tdryyPQp9TiX_jwbM8dPHMbTu0h8O0KSZytLSJW9_YvR3Bv7ubujwXYTgGDV069bqDqxQwNOy_uGcirPH7F3rhqoB6bN2LJvNYvcuq8BYm_FKEs/s2160/1484px-Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_-_Praying_Hands,_1508_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="1484" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6w7qpTYaooniRvHa-FnTzpSAQuBr9IgChzD79izEwvu763NbSKO4JU6zWIGnXj6zS6CVc07M1svv1tdryyPQp9TiX_jwbM8dPHMbTu0h8O0KSZytLSJW9_YvR3Bv7ubujwXYTgGDV069bqDqxQwNOy_uGcirPH7F3rhqoB6bN2LJvNYvcuq8BYm_FKEs/s320/1484px-Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_-_Praying_Hands,_1508_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" width="220" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praying_Hands_(D%C3%BCrer)#/media/File:Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_-_Praying_Hands,_1508_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">By Albrecht Dürer -1508 - Public Domain</span></a></div><br /><p></p><p>This is probably one of the most well-known drawings, copied in multiple ways. Yet it holds such beauty for me in the simplicity of a drawing that is appreciated over 500 years after Durer sketched it. It becomes personal for each of us as we see something of ourselves in it. For me, it's the little finger on the left hand, though it is my right that will not lay flat along its length.</p><p>The physical description of prayerful people through the Bible is often different from the simple folding hands and speaking to God. Every human religion recognized through mankind's history has utilized an act of communication with their sacred being(s). It is safe to assume that is true pre-history, too. Across the ages, mankind has sought such communication, and the majority have experienced an answer. </p><p>Jesus' example of prayer is easily recognized:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:9-15 KJV)</span></i></p><div>If that's not quite right for you, perhaps Luke's version is more familiar:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. (Luke 11:2-4 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>However comforting it us to us, we are also given some guidelines, and told not to do it repetitively:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. (Matthew 6:5-8 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>We also have an advocate when we pray:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:25-27 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>We can know what we are called to do, and still feel we don't know how to do it, nor do we have the funding to accomplish what needs to be done, but we must always be seeking God's will. We must have the patience to seek God's will, and to accept it when it is revealed. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+51&version=KJV" target="_blank">Psalm 51 is a prayer.</a> An open to the public prayer of a sinful man who has been made to realized how, when, why, with whom - and whom against:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. (Psalms 51:4-6 KJV) ... </span></i><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. (Psalms 51:10-13 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus prayed for something He knew God would not grant:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. (Matthew 26:39 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+17&version=KJV" target="_blank">John 17 is a prayer, </a>too. Jesus prayed for His disciples, for you if you believe, and for me because I do:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. (John 17:14-21 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Ours may never be written in a book, but it is noticed in heaven:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. (Revelation 5:8 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. (Revelation 8:3-4 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Please join in with a few moments of prayer for those who worship our Lord, that they might be as one, and that the world may believe that God did sent Jesus to have us believe.</div><br />Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-23055716364448335722023-09-02T09:48:00.006-05:002023-10-02T10:10:09.342-05:00Slices of Milk Explained With Love<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit4LeZcu7oMV09woKHTy5M3BsICMrC2Ta4csEYJF90f8juOspJAM7qmkymPg50PE1aR0bMquoEs6YEIaCfeKqUZlgl6X5D3Hes3o2BtanzYL_58G5pYrBbzZjeGk82_nbc2ch0i1ps0cqKUykD6CgCkqQSyn8Id9snyFCL_GZoFbAePt6KGrXk4rmFizE/s492/Slices%20of%20milk.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="373" data-original-width="492" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit4LeZcu7oMV09woKHTy5M3BsICMrC2Ta4csEYJF90f8juOspJAM7qmkymPg50PE1aR0bMquoEs6YEIaCfeKqUZlgl6X5D3Hes3o2BtanzYL_58G5pYrBbzZjeGk82_nbc2ch0i1ps0cqKUykD6CgCkqQSyn8Id9snyFCL_GZoFbAePt6KGrXk4rmFizE/s320/Slices%20of%20milk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Back in 2010, <a href="https://blicktx.blogspot.com/2010/08/slices-of-milk.html" target="_blank">I wrote</a>:</span></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">Again, I was grateful for e-Sword and it’s Strong’s!! Strong’s H2461 found in 1 Samuel 17:18 where the ten slices of cheese come from the Hebrew chalab, “milk (as the richness of kine) - + cheese” and I can see the ten slices of cheese made from the richness of milk, remembering the smoothness of the best I’ve tasted.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">That was about a line from the book "Ben-Hur," the character thinking of David, whose father sent him on an errand:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-size: 14.85px;">And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren; And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge. </span><span style="font-size: 14.85px;">(1 Samuel 17:17-18 KJV)</span></span></i></span></p><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">That took place between the biblical description of Goliath, and his death at the hand of David. In that I Samuel chapter, we learn that four sons went to the battle, but one was sent back to tend sheep in Bethlehem. One author, Lewis Wallace, a soldier himself, knew that the Hebrew word "chalab" could be either milk or cheese.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">That's a very good reason for learning all you can about the Bible, but it's not necessary to be fluent in both Hebrew, Greek, English, or any other language, to know the meaning within the verse. Since milk cannot be sliced in its liquid form, we know the word "cheeses" is correct in this verse.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #274e13;">If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. (1 Corinthians 13:1 ASV)</span></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #274e13;">I may be able to speak the languages of human beings and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell. (1 Corinthians 13:1 GNB)</span></i></span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #274e13;">If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. (1 Corinthians 13:1 DRB)</span></i></span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #274e13;">ThoughG1437 I speakG2980 with theG3588 tonguesG1100 of menG444 andG2532 of angels,G32 andG1161 haveG2192 notG3361 charity,G26 I am becomeG1096 as soundingG2278 brass,G5475 orG2228 a tinklingG214 cymbal.G2950 (1 Corinthians 13:1 KJV+)</span></i></span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some of the above use "charity," others translate "love.' KJV+ includes Strong's numbers - the one in question is G26, used 116 times in the New Testament:</span></div><div><div></div><blockquote><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Strong's #26: agape (pronounced ag-ah'-pay)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">from G25; love, i.e. affection or benevolence; specially (plural) a love-feast:--(feast of) charity(-ably), dear, love.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thayer's Greek Lexicon: agapē</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">1) brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">2) love feasts</span></div></blockquote></div><div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Greeks had other words that English translates into "love":</span></div><div></div><blockquote><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Eros is a concept in ancient Greek philosophy referring to sensual or passionate love, from which the term erotic is derived.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Phileo is to love, approve of; to like; sanction; to treat affectionately or kindly, to welcome, befriend.</span></div></blockquote><div></div></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">That helps in figuring out why there are different words in different versions of the Bible. I like how the Amplified Bible defines the word "love" in 1 Corinthians 13:1: [that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such *as inspired by God's love for and in us] with the * noted: <i>Some ancient authorities so read.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">It helps us understand how people look at a single word, it's meaning to them, how it fits in the sentence, paragraph, chapter, etc. When we hear/read someone's opinion that God is not love, that all the words in the Bible that says so are lies, we have answers. The love of God is expressed from Genesis to Revelation, but best said in:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16 KJV)</span></i></span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Or:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="color: #274e13;">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 KJV)</span></i></span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Both of those verses were written with the "agape" love in Greek. Where we use the English word "love" for such awesome things as "I just loved that new album," we should work toward using "love" for life changing events, not so easily dropped into conversations.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Word have meaning, and beginnings. The use of words shows either an appreciation for their meaning, or a disdain for their lack of meaning. I find this very important in a worldly culture where the word "woman" is so politicized that not even a prospective Supreme Court Justice in the United States of America will not attempt to express a definition. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">Be aware of changes in words. Look for the root beginnings of words - where they belong in our lives, our culture, especially when formed in our mouths or retained in our minds.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></span></span></p><p></p><p></p>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-79103819544243887062023-09-01T09:44:00.003-05:002023-09-01T09:44:52.293-05:00Fellowship<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjSkBwA66G_CytHqZLDioCMgGZcy2HCRf8kDd2O3Mb7ypdfdastw9IbqP00YyffTh52fcxEKkpNIjY8Lk3B6X12ePxdNPHt4OozsR_ll6G2EqJUNgO-xZbcdKHwzXs6CwHAgT5tEsc5xCS50kCOx9uqbow0xOoAowzx5LwghuHCFQ26xssj0yRJ1qv8nk/s263/temp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="233" data-original-width="263" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjSkBwA66G_CytHqZLDioCMgGZcy2HCRf8kDd2O3Mb7ypdfdastw9IbqP00YyffTh52fcxEKkpNIjY8Lk3B6X12ePxdNPHt4OozsR_ll6G2EqJUNgO-xZbcdKHwzXs6CwHAgT5tEsc5xCS50kCOx9uqbow0xOoAowzx5LwghuHCFQ26xssj0yRJ1qv8nk/s1600/temp.jpg" width="263" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #274e13;"><b>And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine</b></span></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #274e13;"><b> and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, </b></span></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #274e13;"><b>and in prayers. (Acts 2:42 KJV)</b></span></i></p><div>That graphic is a small group among a much larger group of women atttending our Ladies Meeting, and working together in a game. That's something we do for fellowship. There is food - each woman brings part of the buffet, and there is a Bible lesson. We do open and include prayers for others. That's an organized fellowship in a church.</div><div><br /></div><div>Twice a month a group of ladies meet for coffee. There may be as few as four, but usually 16, not the 24 on the e-mail list. It's not a church meeting, it's just a small fellowship and breaking of bread (in a bakery, of course) and there is no leadership, no doctrine teaching/questions. That's an unorganized fellowship of church members, but not the same as the one above.</div><div><br /></div><div>Both are thoroughly enjoyed by the participants, but one fits the biblical application of Christian fellowship. That's why we also adhere to:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:23-25 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Our church has several weekly meetings for both doctrine and fellowship. One that meets weekly is organized by the church, but is a Bible college offering of a full four-year diploma of Bible study. It's not part of our program, but for several years has been a full classroom, not only with students from our church, but from other nearby cities.</div><div><br /></div><div>Sundays offer us three separate sessions: Sunday School, Worship service, and evening Worship. A friend once asked why we went back Sunday evening, "Do you think you sinned enough to need a second service?"</div><div><br /></div><div>While she was being facetious, such a comment gives an opportunity to say: Going to church services does not take care of sinfulness on anyone's part. Jesus' death on the cross covered all my sins, for the rest of my life. When I do sin, I believe it grieves our Lord and a commitment on my part to not repeat the error for which I deeply regret. </div><div><br /></div><div>There are multiple reasons for attending these three Sunday services, including learning more about the Bible and how to apply what God inspired writers to share with us. Reading the Bible gives us a familiarity with it, introduces a wide variety of characters in educational situations. Indepth studies gives us the opportunity to learn from people who have made this their lifelong study, helping us discern where there are misunderstandings, or outright erroneous interpretations.</div><div><br /></div><div>These services, and the Bible study on Wednesday nights also offer fellowship. Every person in the sanctuary has a reason for being there - from "My parents made me come," to "I need to talk to someone." Interacting with them, finding a common prayer need, that's fellowshipping, too.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus was fellowshipping when He sat down to the Passover that last week of His life as a human. The observed the memory of leaving Egypt, and shared the meaning of God's plan for Jesus. The bread representing His body, the wine representing His "<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26%3A28&version=KJV" target="_blank">blood shed or many for the remission of sins</a>", the "<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+14%3A24&version=KJV" target="_blank">new testament, which is shed for many</a>," and the "<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+22%3A20%C2%A0&version=KJV" target="_blank">new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.</a>" John, on the other hand, takes chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16, to tell us what Jesus said that evening, then He prayed as chapter 17 begins:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. (John 17:1-4 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Every man in that room heard Him, but left off fellowshipping that very night. Peter followed the crowd, and denied Christ three times to three people who pointed him out as a follower of Jesus. The others aren't mentioned again, until Jesus places the care of His mother in the hands of John. Three days later, though they rejoiced and began fellowshipping again, because they were given physical evidence that Jesus was risen. Share their joy as they fellowshipped in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+21%3A1-12&version=KJV" target="_blank">John 21:1-12</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>As we fellowship with like-minded believers, we can share what He has done in our lives. There is joy in hearing that a fellow Christian has had a prayer answered. There is shared sorrow when we hear there is a serious need for prayer with health issues, or other life problems. We share our time and our love for our fellow man.</div><div><br /></div><div>Please. Come fellowship with us, or others closer to you - or long distance as the world wide web allows us.</div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-68373603124482466402023-08-31T14:26:00.001-05:002023-08-31T14:26:22.830-05:00Faith, Words, and Actions<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLQl7ZtFIdpV44XSSpR-QnDzK7z1mwrY4sKoDbWcT41HU4qWQeKbEMKkpaUV7O1P8GlUJeLoiwuIwJKAvaWhzpmPLg24lAWY3H_fV2zFbuRjSH1Ow7YrFT_AvNIHijZklrALJb3M30etCCYuSVU7b2W8PsCbjklCMWXhZLKsk-YgGb_E4qiWpXfIMgGnQ/s2160/Strait-Narrow-1716px-Der_breite_und_der_schmale_Weg_2008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="1716" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLQl7ZtFIdpV44XSSpR-QnDzK7z1mwrY4sKoDbWcT41HU4qWQeKbEMKkpaUV7O1P8GlUJeLoiwuIwJKAvaWhzpmPLg24lAWY3H_fV2zFbuRjSH1Ow7YrFT_AvNIHijZklrALJb3M30etCCYuSVU7b2W8PsCbjklCMWXhZLKsk-YgGb_E4qiWpXfIMgGnQ/w333-h420/Strait-Narrow-1716px-Der_breite_und_der_schmale_Weg_2008.jpg" width="333" /></a></div><i style="background-color: #f8f9fa; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.32px; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: 12.32px;">Der breite und der schmale Weg</i><span style="font-size: 12.32px;"> ("the broad and the narrow road"), from 1866</span></div></i><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.luziusschneider.com/php/bsweg/deutsch/bswegd.php" target="_blank">By Charlotte Reihlen (Idee); Paul Beckmann (Ausführung)</a> Public Domain</span></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:21-23 KJV)</span></i></p><p>Matthew Henry's Commentary addresses these verses:</p><p></p><blockquote>There may be a seeming importunity in prayer, Lord, Lord: but if inward impressions be not answerable to outward expressions, we are but as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. This is not to take us off from saying, Lord, Lord; from praying, and being earnest in prayer, from professing Christ's name, and being bold in professing it, but from resting in these, in the form of godliness, without the power. ... That it is necessary to our happiness that we do the will of Christ, which is indeed the will of his Father in heaven. The will of God, as Christ's Father, is his will in the gospel, for there he is made known, as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: and in him our Father. Now this is his will, that we believe in Christ, that we repent of sin, that we live a holy life, that we love one another.</blockquote><p></p><div>What brings this to my mind is a mother's words about her son. "I don't agree with his life choices, but he's a good man. He does a lot of good in his community and has worked to make life better for others." I know she believes in Jesus as her Lord and savior. I know she has shown her beliefs in her actions - attending worship services, actively learning through the Bible in Sunday School, serving others with meals, befriending the grieving family members at a funeral. Her actions speak loudly of her beliefs - just as her son's remain silent.</div><div><br /></div><div>Even saying "Lord, Lord!" remain simply words if there are no actions accompanying them. I started this with Jesus' own words about heaven, but James knew the lesson well and shared it:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? (James 2:14-20 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Remember, as you begin to think that good works alone can offer eternal life with God:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. (John 3:16-21 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Faith will bring forth fruit as good deeds - not to honor the man, though secular honor may well come. The good works must be done in God's name, for His glorification. When good deeds are done, they will be appreciated and the individual acclaimed. Without those good deeds being attributed to God's teachings and His will, those deads are dead with out faith, just as faith is dead without good deeds.</div><div><br /></div><div>It came to me that this is a "meal" blog. Usually I share the gospel - the good news that God wants us to be with Him eternally and His plan is working. That's a "milk" blog - asking that people get to know God. Once you place your faith in Him, you should begin learning what He has in mind for your own ministry. We all have one. Part of toay, we'll look at the difference between "meat" and "milk" messages:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. (1 Corinthians 3:2 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></i></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>We all need the "milk" messsages, the wonderment of discovery, the introduction to God's love and His plan for the world. Then we must put our belief into words, telling others what a tiny grain of faith has brought us. We can share that easily - but detractors will show up discounting your words and your faith. That's where what you learn as "meat" will give you answers to their questions as well as strength to continue in serious discussions.</div><div><br /></div><div>What's your menu at the moment. Milk? Or are you ready to look deeper into scripture and find the "meat" in the Bible to grow in strength? I would appreciate any comments, but there's no need to answer the questions I ask. Letting God know your answers may be life changing.</div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-85477701269377024102023-08-29T12:04:00.002-05:002023-08-29T12:04:52.809-05:00Light and How We See It<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk4o-yhvBmTSWZnIWMnleXkR2ubWpZn0YB3HMzz9dSA34RhL_-hOSRFttGSi_afMnPzcXFw-OgcTM-zmohhkX88bIdItPOJrSySN_wd4yehG667WajZiS2siYohI8c2o2iLhDWdZoRbGavPIb8PnAGDFKKFC1p8EJUSvV5jWmXlxWUQFmHZRHTVa8hsks/s1035/Light%20Hubble-NASA.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="1035" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk4o-yhvBmTSWZnIWMnleXkR2ubWpZn0YB3HMzz9dSA34RhL_-hOSRFttGSi_afMnPzcXFw-OgcTM-zmohhkX88bIdItPOJrSySN_wd4yehG667WajZiS2siYohI8c2o2iLhDWdZoRbGavPIb8PnAGDFKKFC1p8EJUSvV5jWmXlxWUQFmHZRHTVa8hsks/w431-h306/Light%20Hubble-NASA.jpg" width="431" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/explore-light" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">NASA - Hubble - Explore Light</span></a></div><p></p><p>As you can tell, there is a line through this Hubble photograph, with a slight green line in the top quarter of the division. The screen capture was taken from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/explore-light" target="_blank">NASA's site.</a> Hubble's photography depends on much more than our eyes can see. There are scientific methods to show what our eyes, nor telescope photography, cannot see. The above "...image of Mystic Mountain — a pillar of gas, dust, and newborn stars in the Carina Nebula — show how observations taken in visible and infrared light reveal different details of an object." Credits to the screen capture and the quote: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)</p><p>We see the light God offers differently when we get to know Him and His works. God often appeared in the Bible as a light so bright that to look upon him would be damaging. As He said to Moses:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. (Exodus 33:17-20 KJV)</span></i></p><p>However, for me the best example of God being light comes with John's introduction to his gospel:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. (John 1:1-10 KJV)</span></i></p><p>Jesus called Himself:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12 KJV)</span></i></p><div>And that would be true while He was with us:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. (John 9:4-5 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>He could not be with us forever, here in this world. He knew, and shared with His disciples, what would happen, and why:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. (John 14:28-29 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>After three years of hearing Him, but through their own prejudices, they forgot that He had prophesied:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said. (John 2:19-22 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>We not only have the information the disciples had, we have the books many of them wrote, along with two millennia of mankind's interaction with belief in Jesus as the Son of God, and our savior from our own sinfulness. That's the good news, the gospel, the reality of living with the light of the world. That life is now reflected in us:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>In the same way the moon reflects the light of the sun, we are able to reflect the light of God in our lives. And, just as this world can come between the light of the sun and there is only a partial reflection, our sin can lessen the light we wish to share with the world. We Christians have not reached perfection, though being as Christ-like as our faith, we continue to love and serve Him. As John says:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. (John 21:24-25 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Those of us who believe and love Him continue to share the light, in deeds and words and writing.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p><br /></p>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-48714128736964707362023-08-28T18:08:00.001-05:002023-08-29T11:21:33.588-05:00Do You Have A Testimony?<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilF1eCR7MfOgqvnmtyturrixGkBxnSEnD-7kKb8LFlTl60-EZ1w60q8anU0P0h_7rQo4IMZZtXh8LoNBCErp69ahskOKy9XDICaMCotdjpoScBSEI4VK6otP2W-ZNKDwxSPEjPlRGNX3oTGlMnPu2UrUYd1tg15rVJDqR2n4hrOI9k_lszkcKsJ_bkAfg/s599/Paul.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="599" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilF1eCR7MfOgqvnmtyturrixGkBxnSEnD-7kKb8LFlTl60-EZ1w60q8anU0P0h_7rQo4IMZZtXh8LoNBCErp69ahskOKy9XDICaMCotdjpoScBSEI4VK6otP2W-ZNKDwxSPEjPlRGNX3oTGlMnPu2UrUYd1tg15rVJDqR2n4hrOI9k_lszkcKsJ_bkAfg/w383-h285/Paul.jpg" width="383" /></a></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:File%22-Saint_Paul_Writing_His_Epistles%22_by_Valentin_de_Boulogne.jpg" target="_blank"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">"Saint Paul Writing His Epistles" by Valentin de Boulogne</span></i></a></span></p><p>That "testimony" is a Christian word that sometimes non-Christians aren't certain what it means. So today's blog is sort of a background, along with one of the best examples of a personal testimony to what Christ did in one man's life. I've never heard of anyone actually matching Paul's conversion experience, but some appear to have come close. Let's begin with a bit of background.</p><p>If you want the full background, read the Book of Acts in the New Testament. For this particular situation, we need to start in Acts 21:1 when Paul journeys to Jerusalem. Didn't take long for his former co-workers to be offended by his words. I won't go into them, because they'll be repeated later. When the Jewish leaders beat Paul, the Chief Captain brought soldiers and centurions to break up the crowd. This wasn't settled by Acts 23, when men planned to kill Paul, and Paul was sent to the Roman governor, Felix, for addditional protection in Caeserea. Acts 24 gives the the crimes Paul has commited, beginning with verse 5 where the high priest says, "For we have found the man a pestilent fellow." </p><p>Felix and his wife heard from Paul "concerning the faith in Christ" and "Felix trembled," but waited another two years, when Festus came as governor and Paul was still in prison. When Festus considered sending Paul back to Jerusalem and stand trial before the Jewish council there, Paul appealed to Rome. Nothing changed, even when King Agrippa came to Caeserea. The way Matthew Henry describes it:</p><p></p><blockquote>Agrippa was the most honourable person in the assembly, having the title of king bestowed upon him, though otherwise having only the power of other governors under the emperor, and, though not here superior, yet senior, to Festus; and therefore, Festus having opened the cause, Agrippa, as the mouth of the court, intimates to Paul a licence given him to speak for himself, ... This was a favour which the Jews would not allow him, or not without difficulty; but Agrippa freely gives it to him.</blockquote><p> Paul begins his testimony to King Agrippa with his own background.</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. (Acts 26:6-11 KJV)</span></i></p><p>It's not a bad way to confess that we are all sinners. Later Paul admits he was the chief of sinners in 1 Timothy 1:15. Then Paul got down to the serious business of explaining to King Agrippa how he became a Christian. That's a necessity in any Christian's testimony:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. <b>And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus </b>whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. (Acts 26:13-18 KJV)</span></i></p><p></p><div>Paul literally saw the light of the world, and heard Jesus, risen from the dead. The risen Messiah, whose followers Paul was sending to death, had called him to turn them from darkness to light - for the forgiveness of their sins. This is the gospel message that Paul preached to everyone, just as Peter did, and the other disciples. Those who heard them either believed, denied, or answered as King Agrippa did:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. (Acts 26:28 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>That can happen to any Christian who is following God's plan of sharing the good news that we have a risen savior. Once you've given your own testimony, there are many responses people can give. When it is neither yes, nor no, as Paul heard from Agrippa, it's a good testimony to use Paul's response to King Agrippa:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds. (Acts 26:29 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Paul, and I, and others who give their testimony, do so to share the good news message in order for people to have the opportunity to choose life, eternally. That's what Jesus offered, that's what we offer through Him because we believe His promises:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">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 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:20 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Now - do you have a testimony about your relationship with Christ that you are willing to share with others?</div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-78505495768558445442023-08-18T08:00:00.004-05:002023-09-23T13:46:10.641-05:00Church Buildings Are For Sinners<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI4nPr3gfRZ1C-Gfx1a8Vc8PrSGEAaTw1ZrRUV3GW3TPsRu0fj6Sv3lNeSmAUFnrRi9lHLl6g6SDEvW11L1peRJyS7MLj3420JS-vrqA130joNFSmGiuHRbvh5HHaEI1PhT7p9M6mIjqJ1mmbwyfx-B4UCjYU78wgr1ITDLxJ7e6sPhqwfPJeU8Vx7r2o/s1920/DixiesGraphic-church%20is%20a%20building.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI4nPr3gfRZ1C-Gfx1a8Vc8PrSGEAaTw1ZrRUV3GW3TPsRu0fj6Sv3lNeSmAUFnrRi9lHLl6g6SDEvW11L1peRJyS7MLj3420JS-vrqA130joNFSmGiuHRbvh5HHaEI1PhT7p9M6mIjqJ1mmbwyfx-B4UCjYU78wgr1ITDLxJ7e6sPhqwfPJeU8Vx7r2o/w438-h246/DixiesGraphic-church%20is%20a%20building.jpg" width="438" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://renderedpraise.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">This copyrighted graphic is on loan from Cynthia I. Maddox</a></div><p></p><p>I've known people who decline to attend church for a couple of reasons: </p><p></p><blockquote><p>1) they weren't good enough for the people there; </p><p>2) the people there weren't good enough for them.</p></blockquote><p></p><p>In the first instance, the person truly felt that the sin in their life was so bad that God turned their back to them and their life went down hill from there. Which meant they felt God was incapable of loving everyone, even though Jesus said:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:14-17 KJV)</span></i></p><div>The Bible tells us that God is omnipotent - He knows how bad we are because He knows our history, heart, and our future. "Whosoever" comes from Greek: <span style="background-color: white; color: #627b9f; font-family: blbGentium; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;">πᾶς</span> , Strong's defines it as G3956 "pas; including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole:—all (manner of, means), alway(-s), any (one), × daily, + ever, every (one, way), as many as, + no(-thing), X thoroughly, whatsoever, whole, whosoever." No one would be left out. Another verse confirms that:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Where did I learn this? From the Bible, and from attending a church that teaches from the Bible, for:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. (1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>That comes from a letter Paul was inspired to write to the church at Corinth, and is good today for Christ's followers. Remember, it was from the Old Testament that Jesus taught, Paul studied:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Paul tells us what to use, and why. He also explained how people are reached:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? (Romans 10:13-15a KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>We can't have a good solid preacher until he has been through the steps of being saved: believing, calling on God, being called, becoming a preacher. Those steps are important. The next steps are studying: </div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. (2 Timothy 2:15-16 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>We have to be careful when we are seeking God. We know He can be found, but how can we tell what is "profane and vain babblings" that we are to shun? Reading the first chapter of 1 Timothy can be helpful in understanding what we should shun. Here, Paul is strengthening Timothy to face those who do change the good news that God has given to mankind from the beginning. Paul was given direction for his life directly from the risen Christ - <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+9&version=KJV" target="_blank">Acts 9</a>. The trip he was taking to Damascus would have ended in the deaths of Christ's followers. Instead, Paul went to study to be one, which could have cost him his own life.</div><div><br /></div><div>Like everyone else, Paul had to study. That is why we have church buildings, where people meet and learn how to apply the biblical lessons to our own lives. Where we fellowship with believers, and invite unbelievers to join in and see for themselves what being a Christian is like.</div><div><br /></div><div>Are their some who will set your mind against being a Christian? Probably. Not all church attendees are dedicated to learning and application. There are people who do so for personal or business reasons. Our best answer is to pray God will send someone who will help open their hearts to him. From the Old Testament to the new, God receives those who come to Him:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Wherefore now let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts. (2 Chronicles 19:7 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: (Acts 10:34 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>You have an open invitation to our nearby church, <a href="https://fbccottondale.com/" target="_blank">First Baptist Church of Cottondale,</a> but there should be a Bible based church near for you. If not, feel free to join our services 11 am CST Sunday morning, 6 pm Sunday night, and 7 pm Wednesday night. Right now they can be reached through the church's Facebook page, and plans are to reach a streaming audience in the future. </div><div><br /></div><div>If you come to the building, please remember individuals there are works in progress, each one at a different spot working toward 2 Timothy 3:17's good works.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-70222296330064114412023-08-17T07:30:00.002-05:002023-08-17T07:30:00.145-05:00What Crown Will You Have to Cast?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDl2_VWDgqTUneN05ayEvR50OTObbaf5y7xR__ITpPI9Fqa3OLXI6y6XjWObee4sRt-dMCC9l9de3UV7Rz61vrfqDewn2lbrnnomJGeiBfTSyytTHATXlhIYhGPBKf5QpSbm4O8N0xHWF-4CHsIqSpE5Of3FNrKJs3QEXWdjhg7YXyve6EQK_FVJPnqAk/s8000/gold_crown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5334" data-original-width="8000" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDl2_VWDgqTUneN05ayEvR50OTObbaf5y7xR__ITpPI9Fqa3OLXI6y6XjWObee4sRt-dMCC9l9de3UV7Rz61vrfqDewn2lbrnnomJGeiBfTSyytTHATXlhIYhGPBKf5QpSbm4O8N0xHWF-4CHsIqSpE5Of3FNrKJs3QEXWdjhg7YXyve6EQK_FVJPnqAk/w363-h241/gold_crown.jpg" width="363" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/gradient-gold-royal-crown_38720385.htm#query=crowns&position=2&from_view=search&track=sph">Image by Juicy Fish</a> on Freepik</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><p>Years ago I read of Queen Victoria saying she would like to lay her crown at Jesus' feet. I found that updated in a September, 2022 <a href="https://www.godreports.com/2022/09/queen-elizabeth-wanted-to-see-jesus-return-so-she-could-place-her-crown-at-his-feet/" target="_blank">article by Charles Gardner</a>:</p><p></p><blockquote>“I wish Jesus would come back in my lifetime.” Asked why, she reportedly replied: “Because I would place my crown at his feet.” Victoria’s great-great granddaughter, Elizabeth, carried the same heart for Jesus.</blockquote><p>In that same article, Gardner also wrote of a Christmas message from Queen Elizabeth II: </p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Some years ago, for example, she quoted a verse from a well-known carol, In the bleak midwinter:</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"></p><blockquote><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"> “What can I give him, poor as I am, If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb, If I were a wise man, I would do my part, Yet what I can I give him, give my heart.”</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">As a true evangelist in the spirit of Billy Graham, she encouraged millions of viewers to give Jesus their heart. This was our Queen, and we are all so proud of her!</p></blockquote><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;"> And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. (Revelation 4:4 KJV)</span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 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 4:10-11 KJV)</span></i></p><p>Do you know what crowns are available when we believe God exists, loves mankind, sent a Redeemer to remove our sins that keep from God, and provides us eternal life? Here's the short list:</p><p>Simply being in God’s presence is a joy filled crown of righteousness.</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8 KJV)</span></i></p><p>The crown of righteousness is available to all.</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. (James 1:12 KJV)</span></i></p><p>Same with the crown of life – another crown is available to all who love Him.</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. (1 Peter 5:4 KJV)</span></i></p><p>This following crown is not for all. This one is special, for those here on earth who lead the church, feeding His flock.</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. (Revelation 2:10 KJV)</span></i></p><p>Indeed, would we not want to follow the example of the elders and cast our crowns before the King of Kings who provided those very crowns simply because we loved Him when He loved us?</p><p>All of those crowns are handed to us through God's grace. There is not one thing we can do to earn them - not one iota of work is required:</p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10 KJV)</span></i></p><div>Oooops - there's that "work" word in verse 10. Seems to be pretty well tied to the grace, faith, walk, doesn't it. We are created to do good works. When we know what God has for us, we will do good work. James says it very well - and says more in that second chapter than this:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? (James 2:17-20 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Once knowing the love of God that brought us to Him, it is given to us the understanding what work He has for us to do. That goes back to the lesson of the body of Christ. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+12&version=KJV" target="_blank">1st Corinthians 12 </a>has a lot of information on the "body of Christ." Bottom line, we are one with Christ and what we do in our lives has one goal - to be with Christ here on earth, always looking forward to being with Him in heaven.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. (1 Corinthians 12:13-14 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>When you are with others, do you deliberately go out of your way to belittle them? Do it by accident? Or be aware of them and focus on bringing happiness to them and to yourself. That, my friend, is doing good work. Better work would to be certain they were aware of how important your belief in Jesus Christ is to you -- if it is. Too often, Jesus is not important in our livess and we do not work at letting others know our goal is bringing glorty to God through our lives.</div><div><br /></div><div>Can people see your faith in your actions? Do they understand your faith will bring you crowns, and you'd like to share that with them?</div><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"></p><p></p></div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800641818911743359.post-79454289849024459962023-08-16T11:07:00.004-05:002023-08-17T10:42:06.809-05:00Back To School<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_YUr0Lia86NyKAr9BkIFFuHzca4AKPFbqiDwBVp911xZaVhA6OetVF3x2cTFdmLy1U53d4P1LqHXSuKc38AGHe3o2kPlmxIsdy8jh2LVHO68sB6q5j6ozSSPd2ihFtCtBXq7IG2LThp4QvtkJZhJ6hOCn1WFgd2ZEOXxBeoB0fIFGFCTLpI-BGRn_j4/s3000/BackToSchool.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="3000" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_YUr0Lia86NyKAr9BkIFFuHzca4AKPFbqiDwBVp911xZaVhA6OetVF3x2cTFdmLy1U53d4P1LqHXSuKc38AGHe3o2kPlmxIsdy8jh2LVHO68sB6q5j6ozSSPd2ihFtCtBXq7IG2LThp4QvtkJZhJ6hOCn1WFgd2ZEOXxBeoB0fIFGFCTLpI-BGRn_j4/w352-h234/BackToSchool.jpg" width="352" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.freepik.com">Designed by Freepik</a> (Didn't they do a good job?)</div><p></p><div>It is that time of the year. Everyone mentions school - and earlier than when I was attending. The Tuesday after Labor Day was usually our back to school day. The earliest this year for our family was a new college student headed for training on an athletic scholarship. Those young people do get an early start on school.</div><div><br /></div><div>By this time, our athlete knows what to expect because there have been years of training, and achievements, to earn an education on an athlete's ability. Their scholastic achievements must be well above average, too, even when their most outstanding talent is athletics.</div><div><br /></div><div>While almost all of the young people in the United States are going back to school - or just starting it as another family member - adults take advantage of educational opportunities, too. One such group is involved at our church. Our members signed up for <a href="https://fbiclass.com/" target="_blank">Faith Bible Institute</a>. The three honored last Sunday night started four years ago in a program that has been around for a long while.</div><div><br /></div><div>When our church started the classes, we didn't really think about the facts of life - people move around, lives are changeable, relationships change. Usually it's young people who go through classes one right after another. By the second semester of the four year course, some people had to drop out and new people joined in. I overheard one person say, "I'm glad this starts the third semester, I already have two done and I can pick up now and complete."</div><div><br /></div><div>This is not confined to our church members. I know of at least three different churches whose members attend the three hour course each week, studying out of a three" +/- thick tome well suited for college.</div><div><blockquote>"All you need is a TV, DVD player and 10 students. We provide everything else to start you on this 3 year journey through the Word of God. There is no cost to your church and each student’s cost is just $157* for the first semester and $115* for all other semesters. Click here for a tour on how you can have a Bible college in your church."</blockquote></div><div>For a small country church, where our attending membership fluctuated about 125-150 on Sunday mornings, I wondered about getting ten people interested the first time around. But that was a personal consideration. I would have enjoyed the class, I know, but making a four year commitment not long after my husband experienced two Myasthenia Gravis crises along with one sepsis incident, I became a care giver.</div><div><br /></div><div>Later, as his ongoing treatment relegated crises to memories and ICUs weren't in our forseeable future, I did take one of the audit classes offered by the same organization that was only one semester. It was very educational. I believe the full four years of Bible study is one reason, especially during Covid, our church membership numbers remained the same, while attendance usually streamed about the same. Soon after Covid, though, the membership grew and the FBI classes grew, too. It was a good time to learn:</div><div><br /></div><div>So - what are they studying? The Bible. From Genesis to Revelation. There is a study book, a class book and three hours of DVD college lectures each Tuesday night of the semester. There are tests, and there are diplomas at the completion of the four year course.</div><div><br /></div><div>Why? For a couple of very good reasons. First is application in our own lives. How can you discuss Christian doctrine without being familiar with Christian doctrine? Second is the opportunity to share what you've learned with others.</div><div><br /></div><div>Becoming familiar with biblical Christian doctrine is extremely important in understanding why there are different denominations. If you say "I am a Baptist," how is that different from saying "I am a Catholic"? Do not both religions believe God created the heavens and the earth, that Abraham was made a promise by God? Absolutely - but Muslims and Jews believe that very same thing. What sets Jews, Christians, and Muslims apart? Why do all three hold Abraham as the beginning of a relationship with God, but stand so far apart now?</div><div><br /></div><div>For many years now I've written this blog that encourages Bible reading. Four years with this FBI course, you'll learn much more than ten years of reading my blog, or any other. The coverage is theology more than personal application, but that makes even deeper personal applications available. However, my primary purpose remains to encourage people pick up their Bibles - they remain available in every book store, downloadable for every smart phone - most free, some with a small cost. I recommend YouVersion for the freebie and e-Sword for a small cost. Both are study Bibles with additional aids available.</div><div><br /></div><div>I also recommend the King James Version. I know, people will "swear" by the 1611 version - don't download that one unless you are extremely determined to work through it. However, there is an English flow in the KJV that puts me in a worshipful mood because I'm spending time with a familiar book. I also know the translations source - which is a big deal for me. Both Bible apps I mentioned come with the KJV without additional cost. Most of the newer versions have a cost. I'm a firm believer you should be able to get a free Bible. We have missionaries handing them out freely on street corners. If you are on Facebook, follow Sam Ward, a missionary in Croatia, well known for street corner Bible handouts. Today he's mailing them by the hundreds to people in Croatia.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Paul wrote in Romans the process involved in learning about Jesus, God's Son, who provides us salvation:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:13-17 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>That is such a small portion of what is available in the Bible - and Paul quoted an earlier writer, too:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><span style="color: #274e13;">How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! (Isaiah 52:7 KJV)</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div>Phyllis Blickensderferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03206757687699759551noreply@blogger.com0