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I HAVE BEEN ASKED WHY I SAID SIN IS NOT AN ISSUE ANYMORE. I DIDN'T MEAN IT THAT WAY. SIN IS ALWAYS AN ISSUE AND DOES MATTER BECAUSE THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH. ROMANS 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
When you consider that Jesus was the greatest miracle worker who ever walked the earth and the greatest preacher who ever lived, it is amazing that His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. Why didn't they ask Him to teach them how to work these miracles or how to preach and amaze the people with their doctrine?
It's because Jesus' prayer life was even more powerful than His miracles or His doctrine. Indeed, it was His union with the Father that gave Him His power to work miracles and His authority to speak as no man had ever spoken before. Jesus said repeatedly that it was His Father who was doing the miracles through Him and that His doctrine was not His own but the Father's.
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IF YOU STOOD BEFORE GOD TODAY AND HE ASKED YOU WHAT YOU HAD DONE TO DESERVE TO BE THERE, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL HIM? SOME OF YOU WOULD START TELLING HIM OF ALL THE GOOD THINGS YOU HAD BEEN DOING, LIKE GOING TO CHURCH, TITHING, TEACHING SUNDAY SCHOOL, ETC., ETC., ETC. IF THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A TEST QUESTION, YOU WOULD HAVE FAILED.
There are only three instances in Scripture that give us information about Martha. From these accounts, we can see that Martha had a brother named Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, and a sister named Mary. Martha had misplaced her priorities on this occasion and was corrected by Jesus. Later, at a supper for Jesus in the home of Simon the leper, Martha was once again serving while Mary her sister was worshiping Jesus by anointing His feet with a costly perfume.
Martha was the first one to run and meet Jesus when He came to their home after the death of Lazarus. It was at this time that Martha said she knew Jesus could have prevented Lazarus from dying and that, even then, she knew He...
This question of "who is my neighbour" can be used by Satan to deceive us in more than one way. Not only can he deceive men into thinking they have fulfilled the command to "love thy neighbor as thyself" when they haven't, but he will also try to apply this command in a way that condemns those who are seeking to fulfill it, by making them think they are not doing enough.
We cannot meet the needs of every single person in the world. Jesus wasn't teaching that. This wounded man was directly in the path of these three men. The priest and the Levite had to walk around him. Jesus is simply teaching that we should take advantage of the opportunities we have. The fact that we can't help everyone is no excuse not to help anyone.
Jesus, through this parable, defined a neighbor as...
THIS IS A DIFFERENT WAY OF LOOKING AT JOHN 9, WHERE JESUS HEALED THE MAN THAT WAS BORN BLIND. PEOPLE HAVE TAKEN THIS PASSAGE TO SAY THAT GOD HAD PUT THIS ON THIS MAN TO GET SOME KIND OF GLORY OUT OF IT. VERSES 3-4 IS WHERE THEY GET THIS FROM "Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me," YOU HAVE TO...
Just as with this lawyer, pride causes many people to resist the truth of justification by faith in the grace of God. This lawyer loved himself and the public recognition his "holy acts" gave him. He was not willing to love God first and his fellow man ahead of himself. His was not a sincere question but rather an evasive question to shun responsibility. This man was seeking to be justified in the sight of God through his actions. He knew he had not loved everyone as he loved himself, so he is tried to interpret the scripture (Lev. 19:18) in a way that would conform to his actions. He wanted to define "neighbor" as just his close friends whom he had treated well.
Self-justification always produces excuses,...
DO YOU THINK IT IS HARD TO LIVE A CHRISTIAN LIFE? IT IS IF YOU ARE NOT GIVING ENOUGH ATTENTION TO JESUS. I KNOW THERE ARE MANY THINGS OUT THERE THAT CAN TEMPT YOU, YOUR FAMILY, JOB, FRIENDS AND ESPECIALLY SATAN. YOUR JOB IS TO SEE THAT THEY DO NOT DISTRACT YOU FROM KEEPING YOUR EYES UPON JESUS.
We were never instructed to have a Ph.D. in demonology. However, some justify focusing on Satan and his activity to an inordinate degree. This will actually encourage demonic activity and become a device that Satan can use against us.
As Paul said, we should not be "ignorant" of Satan's devices. We certainly need to know that the devil and demons exist, and we need to recognize when we are facing demonic activity. But we need to keep our focus on the Lord.
Some people who are excessive in "spiritual warfare" actually spend more time talking to the devil each day than they do talking to God. That's not right.
The best defense against the devil is to be so "God-centered" that we give no place to Satan. People who...