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I AM AN 80 YEAR OLD MALE, BORN AGAIN, CHRISTIAN WITH A LOVE FOR JESUS. I DO NOT GET OUT MUCH ANYMORE BUT FIND THAT TELLING PEOPLE ABOUT THE LOVE JESUS HAS FOR THEM IS NOT ONLY WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO DO BUT SOMETHING THAT THE WORLD NEEDS.
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Category: INSPIRATIONAL
This is a good example of true repentance. This son did not claim any goodness of his own or try to justify his actions, but he humbled himself and appealed to the mercy of his father. Likewise, we cannot approach God in self-righteousness, but we have to humble ourselves, put all of our faith in a Savior, and turn from our wicked ways (2 Chr. 7:14). That is true repentance.
Repentance is a necessary part of salvation. Repentance may include godly sorrow, but sorrow does not always include repentance. Repentance is simply a change of mind accompanied by corresponding actions.
There is a godly type of sorrow and an ungodly type of sorrow. Godly sorrow leads to repentance. Ungodly sorrow, or the sorrow of this world, just kills.
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God's Word makes it clear that the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Romans 1:18-20 reveals that even those who don't know God's Word have an intuitive knowledge of right and wrong and God's judgment against sin.
Therefore, for anyone to live in sin, as depicted by this prodigal son, they have to be deceived. This is exactly what the Bible says is the case in 2 Corinthians 4:4. When Jesus said, "he came to himself," He was referring to the deception being removed and the son's spiritual eyes being opened.
Like this story of the prodigal, tragedy often brings people out of deception and back to their senses. It's not that God sends the tragedy. God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah, "Thy way and thy doings have...
IN JESUS' MINISTRY, HE DID MANY MIRACLES AND MANY FOLLOWED HIM JUST TO SEE THESE MIRACLES AND EVEN BELIEVED ONLY BECAUSE OF THEM. THE BIBLE SAYS IN JOHN 2:24 "But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men," HE DIDN'T WANT PEOPLE TRYING TO SPREAD HIS MESSAGE THAT REALLY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT HIS MESSAGE WAS. THEY HAD SEEN THE MIRACLES AND BELIEVED BECAUSE OF THEM. I THINK THIS SHOWS THAT JESUS IS INTERESTED IN THE QUALITY OF OUR MESSAGE AND NOT JUST THE QUANTITY. THIS IS WHY WE NEED TO BE CONSTANTLY IN HIS WORD AND LEARN AS MUCH AS WE CAN.
The parable of the man building a tower is a continuation of the teaching regarding what it takes to be a disciple of Jesus. This parable stresses commitment. "Jailhouse religion," where a person is only sorry he got caught and is trying to get out of a bad situation, will not produce true discipleship. It takes a forsaking of all to be Jesus' disciple. Jesus is simply saying, "count the cost."
Jesus' teaching on discipleship emphasizes commitment. Just as a king wouldn't engage in war without thoroughly considering all the possible outcomes, so no one should attempt to become a disciple of Jesus without counting the cost. It would be better not to start following Jesus than to start and then turn back.
When a...
I HAVE WRITTEN A LOT ABOUT TALKING TO YOUR "MOUNTAINS" BUT TODAY I WANT TO JUST TALK ABOUT "TALKING". A LOT IS SAID IN THE BIBLE ABOUT THE TONGUE. JAMES, THE BROTHER OF JESUS, SAYS IN JAMES 3:6 "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell." WE TEND TO SAY THINGS WITHOUT THINKING AND THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS.
The man who made the supper symbolizes God who has invited "whosoever will" to come to Him. The parable teaches that it is not God who fails to offer salvation to everyone, but rather it is the invited guests who reject God's offer.
These people had feeble excuses just like the excuses of those today who don't accept God's offer of salvation. Therefore, the Lord's Marriage Supper of the Lamb will be furnished with "undesirables" from the world's point of view, not because God rejects the upper class, but because they reject Him.
Those who have an abundance of this world's possessions don't tend to recognize their need for God as much as...
IN EPHESIANS 6, IT TALKS ABOUT PUTTING ON THE ARMOUR OF GOD. I BELIEVE THAT IS A PRACTICE ALL OF US, ESPECIALLY PARENTS, SHOULD DO EVERY MORNING. I HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR YEARS AND AS I PUT ON EACH PIECE, I VISUALIZE THAT PIECE IN MY MIND AND PUT IN ON EACH CHILD, MY WIFE AND MYSELF. JUST RECENTLY I HAVE BEEN IMPRESSED TO INCLUDE THE ORPHANS AND WIDOWS. I HAVE BEEN PRAYING FOR THEM FOR YEARS BUT AFTER READING JAMES 1:27, I THOUGHT ABOUT PUTTING THE ARMOUR ON THEM AND THE ONES WHO ARE TAKING CARE OF THEM. JAMES 1:27 SAYS "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."
Jesus said that many will seek to enter salvation and will not be able to. There are many reasons for this, but it is not because God refused salvation to anyone. "The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men . . ." (Ti. 2:11) and God "is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9).
There is effort involved in obtaining salvation. The effort is not for the purpose of earning salvation. That is a free gift (Rom. 5:15); but we do have to fight the good fight of faith (1 Tim. 6:12). Faith in Jesus' goodness is what saves us - not our own goodness - and Satan is constantly trying to destroy our faith....
PARENTS, DO YOU LOVE YOUR CHILDREN SO MUCH THAT YOU WANT TO GIVE THEM THE THINGS THEY NEED OR EVEN THINGS THEY JUST WANT? IF WE LOVE OUR CHILDREN THIS MUCH, DON'T YOU KNOW THAT GOD, WHO IS LOVE, LOVES US A LOT MORE AND WANTS TO DO THE SAME FOR US? MOST CHRISTIANS WOULD SAY HE HAS GIVEN US THE MOST IMPORTANT THING HE COULD AND THAT IS SALVATION AND THAT IS RIGHT BUT THERE IS SO MUCH MORE.