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Last night, we learned a lot about our souls. We noted that it has no physical weight, but that God created it to last forever. God made man a perfect being, very different from animals. We are different because we were created in God's image, with emotion, will, and "eternity in our hearts," as Solomon mentions in the book of Ecclesiastes. We learn that because the soul is eternal, it will live after our bodies die. Then are two possible destinations for our soul, heaven or hell. There is no middle ground. The body has an appointment with death, according to the Bible, when that appointed day comes, then judgment will come. So now is the day of salvation! If you are reading this post and have never asked for the salvation that only Christ can give, you need to repent of your sin and beg God for mercy.

Proverbs 29:27 The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright. We have a problem here, don't we? There is a constant detestation going on between two sectors of society. In one sense, there are no righteous. The Bible reminds us of that point in Romans 3:10. However, the redeemed are righteous in Christ.  The wicked are described as both evil and dishonest. So, we could say that all wicked are crooked and all dishonest are corrupt; they are the same. Again Romans 3 gives us insight where it says, "there is none that does good, not even one."  This understanding helps us to know that the Christian way is unique. It is an impossible way without redemption. Jesus told his men, "I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father, except by me." So, the way to God, and perfection, is through Jesus Christ. There is no other way to get to Him.  Being a Christian does not make a person perfect, but it does make that person different from ...

Proverbs 28:28 When the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding; but when the wicked perish, the righteous thrive. Is it time to hide? The wicked are ruling, so should the Christ-followers go into hiding? Isn't that what Solomon is saying? I am going to combine other verses found in Proverbs 28 to bring out a pertinent message. The following paragraph is a compilation of several proverbs without their "punchlines." It is pretty revealing. Then the next paragraph will contain all of the antidotes. Ready? Here we go.  When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers. A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops—those who forsake instruction praise the wicked, and evildoers do not understand what is right. If anyone turns a deaf ear to (God's) instruction, even their prayers are detestable. When the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding. Whoever hardens their heart (against the Lord) falls into trouble. Like a roaring lion or a cha...

Proverbs 27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.  What is in a day? Recently, I received news from my sister regarding our brother’s pending death. Unhappily, reports of imminent death travel fast. The doctors give him three weeks.  My brother is 84 years old and dying of hereditary lung disease. My brother is a believer in Jesus Christ, who has had an interesting and, at times, challenging life. I believe that his coming death is not unexpected. Yet, I think too that it still comes as a shock. Death is like that. It’s shocking.  Death is only one of many things that can leave us speechless and destitute. However, it is also one of many occurrences that can change everything. Thus in this verse, we are warned not to boast about tomorrow. Our future can change in an instant.  This warning is also valid because it helps us to focus on the uncertainty of life. We can never count on it, plans as we might.  The believer’s consolati...

 What did you learn from your father? When you think about your father, what are some of the good things that come to your mind? What are some lasting lessons he has taught you that you believe will be valuable to pass on to your children?  Your son already has the advantage of having a believing father. However, this places the responsibility on your personal and spiritual leadership. You know that raising children is a joint responsibility between you and your wife. However, it seems that the Bible places a heavy burden on you as a parent. Paul told the believing parents in Ephesus the following: in Ephesians 6: 4: in Ephesians 6: 4 Parents, do not anger your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. If I could please your father What would you say if you had a chance to thank your father for what he taught you? In other words, these are the reasons you want your child to say thanks. And if you are like me, I would like your boys to thank ...

 1 Samuel 20 tells of the strong friendship between David and Jonathan. Both men had different backgrounds and upbringings yet their love for each other was such that the author says, "Jonathan loved David as his own soul."  In these days of perversity some have tried to twist such words and make this tremendous friendship something wicked. Yet it is none other than a true and godly passion that was demonstrated by sacrifice and protected through danger.  One can only wonder how this bond might have made a difference if it had been surrounded by loving parental protection. The king's son loved the young shepherd turned warrior yet his ruler father was tormented with jealousy. Eventually that jealousy would bring death to both the king and his sons.  The glaring wickedness in this account is that wretched envy which destroyed so many lives.

God cursed the ground when Adam rebelled and decided to eat what was on the "Prohibited Species" list. The first things that would appear were thorns and thistles.  I saw a beautiful specimen on our walk this morning; it was a marvellous creation indeed. This particular plant was an aesthetic wonder. Very symmetrical and beautiful, if you like thistles.  Have you ever been hugged by a rosebush or poked by a thistle? Be careful but take a closer look at both. I see no other reason for either thistles or thorns than to tear flesh. Both are crafted to puncture and shred.  In Old Testament times, some kings captured enemies and dragged them through thorns, which was a death sentence if you ponder that form of punishment. The Roman soldiers that made Jesus' crown of thorns no doubt drew their blood as they crafted the cruel crest. Thorns have no mercy.  Here in Brazil, there is one cactus-type bush whose wicked thorns break off when they enter your flesh, maki...

 Life at 68 is interesting. I'm not sure what I thought it would be like but it is keeping me guessing. My body format is ever changing. Aches and pains are like God's mercies, new every morning.  I always wondered how old people looked at their short futures. It seemed that they might always be walking around waiting to drop dead. And some days it really is like that. Most days though there are other things to think about.  God is good and has been with me for all of these years. His comfort and care are so evident every day. He has protected my family and helped most of them to know him. I am praying for 100 % in that regard.  Even though we are in strange times now, I am confident in my sovereign Creator. I know that he has not abdicated his throne. That brings great joy and peace. Father help me to do right. 

We live like the Devil and then when something goes wrong, we blame God! How treacherously we treat our maker. He is to blame for sickness beyond our control. He takes our jobs away. He gives us too much work. He makes it rain and that makes us want to stay home from church. He makes the pastor preach too long and we don't get to the Golden Coral before the catholics. Why does God do all of these bad things to us? Well, let me tell you why. It's because we are lying hypocrites. We cry like babies and we whine like the Israelites in the wilderness. We don't read our Bible and we don't care to know God's plan for our lives. We don't want to tell people about his saving grace because we don't want to be bothered or humiliated. We are tractors, cheaters and clowns who think that we are special. We don't need God so why does he keep pestering us?  The real story is that God is so patient with us that he should get a medal. He loved us when we were slimy with ...

  What if your eschatology made all of the difference in how you viewed current events? An intriguing question, isn't it? And it seems a tad risky to ask about eschatology because that is like asking about Calvinism or Arminianism. All three topics seem to be taboo. Yet if we want to have a biblical understanding of today's news shows, we need to have a good grip on our eschatological perspective. However, if you are squeamish about this topic, come back tomorrow for another topic. There are several views of how the End Times play out. Did you know that? I must admit that I was ignorant of this subject most of my life. Years ago, we had a, then dubbed, "Prophecy Conference" at church. I thought that it was fascinating and informative. What I did not know at the time was that the conference was espousing a certain brand of eschatology that was common to our stripe. Eschatology can be divided into three broad categories: Pre-Millenial, Pos-Millenial and Amillennial. If ...

We believe in the personality of Satan (I Chr. 21:1; Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7; Matt. 4:1-11), that he is the unholy ruler of this age (John 12:31; 2 Cor. 4:3-4), and the prince of all the powers of darkness (Matt. 12:24; Eph. 2:2; 6:12). He is the leader of a countless army of spirits who rebelled against the will of God (Rev. 9:11; 12:3-4, 7). These spirit beings, called demons, now seek to hinder the work of God (Gen. 3:4-5; Matt. 4:1-11; 2 Cor. 11:13-15), but will face ultimate defeat and condemnation with Satan in the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:10). Described - Satan, the Devil, Lúcifer are some of the names used for our greatest enemy. He is also called the father of lies, the prince of the power of the air, the Ruler of darkness, the great dragon and the Serpent.  He is our adversary and is constantly on the prowl seeking whom he may devour.  We see him first in Eden in the form of a snake and involved in Eve's temptation. He asked the first question in Scripture and it was a direc...

Ruth 1:1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab.   Did you see what happened here? A bunch of bad stuff. A man who lived during the era of the judges, a notoriously tricky time, was running from a famine. Never a good thing. This husband and dad took his loved one to an enemy country to live for a while.  This love story guided by God's sovereignty seems to start very severely for this family. The dad immediately died, and after marriage for ten years, the two sons died too. All of this left a bitter mommy and two widowed daughters-in-law.  It was God's fault. He did it to me. Call me Mara (bitter), not Naomi (pleasant). God did her wrong. If there were country music back then, Mara / Naomi would have been a star.  It just so happened that news came that the Lord had sent rain and the bakeries were back in business! This f...

 Deborah was a prophet, and many in Israel came for her wisdom and spiritual understanding. It was the epoch of the Judges, and Israel was once again feeling oppressed by a foreign enemy. At that time, God used a foreign enemy to bring the people to Him. He did that because the Jews were always straying from Him. Barack was a military leader, and he knew that God had a plan for the nation. However, when Deborah told Barack what God would do through him, the leader wouldn't listen. He was guaranteed success, but he wouldn't go to war; unless that is, Deborah would go with him. She consented, and Israel won the victory. Judges chapter six is dedicated to Deborah's victory song. Barack was denied recognition as one of Israel's judges because he didn't trust God's prophet. The lesson for us is that we, too, need to trust the Word of God in every situation. No matter how difficult the odds.

Through your precepts I gain understanding; that's why I hate all falsehoods. Psalm 119:104 Psalm 119:97-104 begins with love and ends with hate. You noticed? "How I love your law!... I hate EVERY Way of falsehood." These feelings are closely connected with the word of God. Seven different words are used to describe It: Torah - instruction, the law of Moses 97 Mitzvah - commandments 98 - appears 300 times in the five books of the Law Edut - testimony 99 Piqqud - precepts, statutes 100, 104 - responsibilities required after salvation Davar - speak, orders, dictate 101 - 10 commandments does not appear = 10 orders Mishpat - judgments 102 - Means the act of deciding a case Imrah - utterance, speech, word 103 “The Hebrew letter used in this stanza is MEME. "In Jewish mysticism, MEME is the letter for "water", symbolizing the source of the Torah. Mysterious Fountain That Is God This current that flows from the inner wisdom can be expressed through the gift of ma...

I wanted to look more into what Ruth told her mother-in-law Naomi. It almost seems poetic. Let's look at it like that is what it is. So, we go to Ruth 1:16 and 17  "But Ruth replied, ‘Don't urge me to leave you or  to turn back from you.  Where you go  I will go, and  where you stay I will stay.  Your people will be  my people and  your God my God.  Where you die  I will die, and there I will be buried.  May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely if even death separates you and me.'" When you think of true love, you think of words like these. Imploring words that are desperate to be near the object of devotion. Ruth wanted her mother to know that there was nothing that was going to come between them. She was willing to sacrifice her heritage to be with Naomi.  I often see Naomi as a sad and lonely woman. She lost everything dear to her and even asked to be called Mara, which means "bitter." Yet it was this woman that Rut...

Naomi seemed to be fine for years, and then the bottom dropped out of the Israeli dream. A famine hit, and the family moved to Moab. A pagan nation. Only about forty kilometers away, by the way.  Almost immediately, her husband, Elimelech, died. That is enough to discourage most women. However, we don't hear from Naomi. Her boys took wives, and all lived for ten years of marital bliss. But then, both Mahlon and Chilion died too. So, now in a sense, Naomi is alone. That being said, she heard that God had begun to provide bread (the famine was over) in Israel, and she decided to go back home.  A weep-fest took place with her two daughters-in-law on the way out of town, and Orpha disappears from the biblical narrative forever. Ruth, however, stayed with mom-in-law.  Verse 15 of chapter one is always a mystery to me. Look what Naomi said, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. So go back with her." Let me give some background here. One of the Moabite go...

We believe in the full divine inspiration and inerrancy of the original manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures-Old and New Testaments, made up of sixty-six books that were written by holy men and by God. We accept them as the only sufficient and infallible rule of faith of God's revelation in His redemptive purpose and as the norm for our conduct here in the world. The infallible rule of interpretation of the Scriptures is the Scripture itself (Dt 4.2; Ps 119,112; Is 8:19,20; Dan 9.2; Acts 7:38; 2Tim 3.16; Heb 1.1; 2Pe 1.19-21; Ap 22.18,19).  Inspiration - 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired of God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for education in righteousness,  Inerrancy - This means that the bible does not contain errors.  Not just the entire bible but every word is inspired by God. That is, the Bible does not contain the word of God but the Bible is the word of God.  the original manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures-Old and New Testaments....

The barley cake dream always gets me. Remember that one? To assure Gideon of victory, as if the fleece test wasn't enough (see Judges 6), God tells Gideon to take his servant and to go down to the enemy camp.  Now, remember, there were so many soldiers that they were like locusts covering the ground. There were too many to number. Yet as Gideon and Pura approach the camp secretly, they both hear a soldier recounting his strange dream. It went like this, "I had a dream,... A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed." Well, there you go! It's over! The victory is won! Wait, what? A giant bagel crushes the unnumbered foe? I don't know about you, but I think that I would have been laughing my head off. It sounds like something out of SpongeBob square pants rather than a prediction of victory.  But, no. Look at the interpretation in the next verse, "Judges 7:14, (The...

In junior church, kids learn about Gideon. It's an extraordinary story about how God chose 300 soldiers to fight against a vast army and win the victory. Unhappily, this tale came in a time very similar to our day.  The Jews were in a terrible cycle of disobedience. First, they would forget God and his Law and go through a time of dominance by a pagan nation. Then, eventually, they would recognize their misdeeds and call to God for a deliverer. In this case, it was Gideon.  Gideon summons the troops to battle, and 32,000 show up for the fight. They are heavely outnumbered as chapter 6:5 informs us that the enemy covered the ground like locusts. It was impossible to count them all. So, Not good odds. God, however, tells Gideon to release the men who are afraid to fight, and 22,000 leave the field.  Still, too many, God says that they will think it was themselves who won the battle. So, he again instructs Gideon to take the men to a river where they can drink. God uses the ...

 Two Hard lessons and then Victory!  Joshua led the Jews to conquest. However, it took a couple of difficult lessons before they all understood the seriousness of what they were about to do.  They had to lose the battle of Aí when they decided to send just 3,000 soldiers to do the clean-up. Later they had to protect pagans from other pagans because they trusted a story from the Gibeonites.  Joshua was a great general and in the end, he understood that one of the most important aspects of life is obedience to God and the other is intimacy with the Word of God. He started leading the people with these words in Joshua 1:8 Joshua 1:8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Keep it on your lips (memorize it)  Meditate on it during waking hours  Then do it.  Then you will be successful  At the end of the narrative, ...

 Scams are inviting and enticing. They promise you one thing and deliver another thing. You hear an enticing story only to discover later that the tale wasn't quite what it seemed.  Years ago, I was taken by something similar to a scam. Though the game was legitimate and promoted by a famous cracker company, it left me with a taste of deception in my mouth. It went like this.  Each box of crackers had one or more words of the following phrase inside the box, "Win $10,000 a month for life!" Like I mentioned, if you completed the sentence, you got the cash. It sounded SO GOOD!  My mom had bought a scam and didn't know about it. As mentioned, it was a legitimate competition, but I had overthought about the winning phrase. I assumed that that combination would be "For Life!"  We were into our second box of crackers when I saw that fantastic phrase stamped on the inside bottom of the container. My jaw dropped, my eyes glazed over, and my heart raced, and I sudden...

Christophany is a big word. Wikipedia has this definition,  "A Christophany is an appearance or non-physical manifestation of Christ. Traditionally the term refers to visions of Christ after his ascension, such as the bright light of the conversion of Paul the Apostle. Also, following the example of Justin Martyr, who identified the Angel of the Lord with the Logos, some appearances of angels in the (Old Testament) are identified by some Christians as pre-incarnate appearances of Christ." There are several big words in this definition. "Manifestation" Logos Preincarnate" may all be new to you. So, what do they all mean?  Manifestation - an event, action, or object that clearly shows or embodies something, Logos - is a Greek term meaning something declared, a thought, a weighty saying. For example, logos was the word used in John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Logos..."  Preincarnate - is a personal appearance of Jesus Christ before his physical bir...

Fasting - is Matthew 6:16-18 Review of the pastor's message  What is Fasting?  The joke goes, where there are two Baptists together there is food! Kk The fast is not a fad nor a diet but it should be a part of our Christian vision of holiness.  Jesus mentioned fasting two times, when giving from the heart and when praying. There are three important aspects of the Christian life: we look outward when we give, we look upward when we pray and we look inward when we fast.  The Jews had two fasts per year - Atonement day - it was rigid and was to be practiced once every year from sunset to sunrise.  When the temple was destroyed - this was a sad remembrance and became a tradition  You will remember the story of the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisees boasted of fasting twice a week and thought that he was spiritual because he did. Many of the Pharisees would walk around looking disheveled when they fasted so that people would ask them why they looked so dif...