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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 Jesus' last teaching to His disciples before His crucifixion. Jesus' disciples were about to go through the greatest test of their faith that they had ever encountered. Jesus said that He was saying these things so His disciples would not be offended. Jesus was preparing them for what was to come. Why then speak of preparing them a mansion in heaven? The reason for this was to comfort the disciples and help them put things in perspective. In 1 Thessalonians 4:18, Paul tells us to comfort one another with words about being gathered unto the Lord in the air. Paul said again, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18). Someday, all of our trials will seem like...
The concept of "conversion" is mentioned in the Holy Scriptures at least 14 times. The basic meaning of the term is a turning or returning to God. This implies a turning away from sin and a turning to God. Repentance and putting faith in God are corresponding synonyms to conversion.
The theological basis for conversion lies in the truth of the "atonement."
Although man lapses into sin, the truth of the atonement remains. When men turn to God in repentance and faith, the effects of the atonement - reconciliation and forgiveness - avail.
The apostle Paul expresses the act of conversion in this way: "Turning to God from idols to serve the living and true God" (1 Th. 1:9). Also, "to open their eyes (the Gentiles), and to turn them from darkness to...
THIS MORNING AS I WAS STUDYING ROMANS AND I STOPPED ON CHAPTER 5, VERSE 2, WHERE IT TALKS ABOUT PATIENCE. MY DEFINITION OF PATIENCE, BEFORE I READ THE FULL DEFINITION, WAS "JUST WAIT AND SEE IF IT HAPPENS". AFTER LOOKING IT UP, I FOUND THAT I WAS WAY OFF. THE NOAH WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY OF 1828 SAYS IT MEANS "The suffering of afflictions, pain, toil, calamity, provocation or other evil, with a calm, unruffled temper; endurance without murmuring or fretfulness. "DOESN'T THAT SOUND JUST LIKE JESUS? HE MUST HAVE ENDURED ALL OF THESE DURING HIS LIFE ON EARTH. HE WAS THE CREATOR AND MOST OF HIS CREATION REJECTED HIM. THAT HAD TO REALLY HURT HIM.
A LOT OF PEOPLE, EVEN SOME CHRISTIANS, SAY THAT THEY HAVE TALKED TO ONE OF THEIR DEAD LOVE ONES AND EVEN TO SOME OF THE SAINTS. A CATHOLIC FRIEND SAID SHE PRAYS TO MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS. THEY HAVE ASKED ME IF THIS IS OK. I KNOW WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT IT AND IN SEARCHING FOR A GOOD ANSWER I RAN ACROSS THE FOLLOWING. IT EXPLAINS AND GIVES SCRIPTURE ON WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS SO I AM GOING TO COPY IT BELOW. I DON'T KNOW WHO WROTE THIS BUT IT IS GOOD. I HAVE LOOKED UP ALL THE SCRIPTURES IT MENTIONS AND IT SEEMS THAT IT IS NOT OK TO SPEAK OR PRAY TO THE DEAD.
Just like Peter, we are often more confident of ourselves than God is. Many Christians are devastated when they fail in some area that they thought they had long since grown past. We need to realize that as long as we are in this mortal body, we cannot fall asleep at our battle station against the works of the flesh. If we do, our flesh is just as capable of sin as anyone else's. If we fall, it should concern us but not surprise us. We should simply realize with Paul, that "in my flesh dwelleth no good thing," get back into the spirit through confession and forgiveness, and go on with Jesus.
The Lord has never had anyone who was qualified working for Him. Peter wasn't qualified, and even at our best, neither are we. If we realize that we are nothing...
Jesus didn't say that all men would know we are His disciples by our doctrine, our rituals, our hatred for sin, or even by the way we express our love for God. He said very clearly, that the one characteristic that would cause the world to identify us as His followers, is our love, one for another.
This same night, the Lord prayed to His Father using this same thought saying, "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" (Jn. 17:21). The only way that Christ's body will be one as the Father and Jesus are One, is through God's kind of love.
Unity of believers, that can only come through a genuine God-kind of love, is the greatest tool for evangelism that the church has...
Jesus previously stated that all the law and the prophets were dependent on loving God first, and then loving your neighbor as yourself. These truths were already in the law but people missed them. So, this commandment was not new in the sense that it had never been given before, but it was brought to the forefront and given new meaning through the example of Jesus. Jesus not only loved His neighbor as Himself, He loved us more than Himself.
John, the apostle who wrote this gospel, later wrote about the new commandment of love. No doubt, he received his inspiration from this teaching of Jesus. John wrote, "Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have...
