Posts

Salvation Is From The Lord

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I have been thinking about salvation today because of a lesson taught on Matthew 16:13-20, something said to me after class, and a sermon preached on Psalm 67. Today I spoke up because the topic is very close to my heart. I believe that my salvation is from the Lord and I believe that the salvation of all the elect is from the Lord. The instructor asked, “What are your first thoughts when you heard this passage read.” His question assumed the historical debate between Catholics and Protestants about the apostle Peter. However, my first reading of this text had nothing whatsoever to do with this debate. I first read this scripture from a clean slate. When I read this text for the first time, my thoughts were on Jesus’ question to his disciples. “But who do you say that I am?”  The first time that I read this text I was an unbeliever, and had no prior knowledge about the historical church positions regarding the apostle Peter; therefore, my focus was on the question posed, “Who is J...
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True Love

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Think about what this text is saying. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” Does one give good things to those one hates? The answer is no! And one would certainly not give ones best, but that is exactly what God did, he gave is only begotten Son.  Valentines Day is a day in which people think of romantic love but this is not the love that God demonstrated to the world. Romantic love can be a selfish love because romance makes one feel good. The love of God is not a romantic love but a love that is compassionate and gracious. The sinner is the enemy of God, yet God gave his only begotten Son for sinners.  The second part of this text says, “That whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Some have made things out of this text that they ought not, considering that the entire context from which this passage comes is a rebirth that comes by the Holy Spirit. It is not a person choosing God, but God choosing the person. One bel...
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Bought at a High Price

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I began writing this blog during the summer of 2010. I did not even know what a blog was, but I had a burning desire to exalt Jesus Christ, so I sought ways to do that. Writing this blog was one of the ways in which I sought to honor God.  Early into writing, I named the blog, “A Slave of Jesus Christ,” because this is the way that apostle Paul saw himself, as did the other apostles. They would address their letters to the churches,  insert apostles name , a bond-servant of Jesus Christ. The actual Greek word translated into English bond-servant is δοῦλος doulos, which literally translated means slave. So if these men, who were first in the church of Jesus Christ saw themselves as slaves of Christ, should I think myself anything else? The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:20, “For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” (NASB) The price that the Corinthian Church was bought at, the price that we have all been bought at, is the body and blood...
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Brotherly Love

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I have wondered, why  do  authors quote from an older English version of the Bible, like the KJV? When reading a writing in which the author quotes much scripture, he will use several English translations and often much of the KJV. Most English versions allow only a set number of verses quoted without special permission and there is no copy right on older translations like the KJV; therefore, a writer is free to quote from this translations as much as he desires. I believe that there is no other commandment greater than to love ones neighbor. I know! I know! Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with everything, and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. But how did Jesus teach his disciples to love God. He taught his disciples to love God through loving ones neighbor. The apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:20-2, “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how ...
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Christmas Ghosts

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I do not believe that I am like Ebenezer Scrooge in his greed, nor do I believe Christmas a bah humbug; however, like Scrooge, I am haunted by the ghost of Christmas past, the ghost of Christmas present, and the ghost of Christmas future.  I have several fond memories of Christmases past, and I know, like Scrooge, the stories of Christmases past have taken part in shaping Christmas present, and Christmas present will take part in shaping Christmas future.  I have fond memories of Christmases past, my last post was such a story.  One story, that I have thought about, often this week, occurred on Christmas morning 1976. My father was a Dallas firefighter-paramedic. While growing up in his household, I occasionally spent the night with him at the fire station. Christmas Eve 1976 was such an occasion.  I don’t remember this particular instance at the fire station; however, I do know, when I spent the day with him, at the fire station, the men included me in the daily cho...
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A Few Days Before Christmas

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A few days before Christmas, the year 1989, a young man went on a road trip, with a single woman and her infant child.  They were both, in the Army, stationed at Ft. Knox in Kentucky, a field hospital unit, she a surgical technologist, and he, a radio and telephone operator. His family lived in Garland, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, and her’s, in the village of Stanley, Louisiana, several miles south of Shreveport. The plan was for someone from her family, meet them in Shreveport, and he would continue on to his boyhood home in Garland. He had a new truck, and she had an older, less reliable, small car. Since it was on his way, they traveled together.  He dropped her off, her sister meet them in a Shreveport parking lot, and he drove the rest of the way to his parent’s home in Garland. It was a very very cold Christmas, especially for the south. His automobile, which was suppose to be the reliable one, broke down while in Garland, this extended the stay and left her without a rid...
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What Is Man

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Are we anything or are we nothing at all? Day to day we walk the earth but for what purpose? We are born, we grow, we live and we die. Generation after generation, very few live in historical memory, but most are forgotten. If not to be remembered, for what purpose do we walk the earth and for this specific time?  The scripture says that God created man, male and female in his own image, yet all have sinned and fall short of his glory.  It is the Christmas season but this season has different meaning, to do different individuals. Are we all the creators of our own meaning or is this part of our falling short of God’s glory? If we all fall short, then the meaning that we think is true is faulty in someway. I suppose that some are closer to the truth than others, just as some are more wicked, but we are all wicked, so we all must fall short of the true meaning of Christmas. I believe that I have lost the meaning of Christmas, or did I lose what was faulty to begin with. I had al...
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