In Memorandum

Memorial: Serving to Preserve Remembrance

We memorializes our heroes and often our villains.  We memorialize our triumphs and our failures.  We have grand days of remembrance celebrated throughout our land and our own personal days where we sit in introspection dwelling on things that have gone by.  I would like to urge you now, this weekend, and this coming Memorial Day to remember those who gave their lives in service to this country.  Some were good and Godly men and women and others were not.  Some gave up families, homes, and jobs while others were looking for a way out of difficult circumstances but they all served and died for those of us who live here now and for future generations.  Regardless of your views on wars and whether any can ever be " righteous " these men and women gave their all so that you could hold that opinion in the freedom entrusted to all Americans.  So please put aside partisan politics and petty differences to remember those fallen soldiers on Memorial Day.

As a Christian what do you memorialize?

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Fan Favorite Fridays:5/27/2011

 Favorite Fridays

The new edition of Fan Favorite Fridays is here so enjoy the posts that I have found and add those you have discovered this week.  Send in some links by using the widget at the bottom of the post that you would like to share from your favorite blogs.  All links will not be shared as they will be reviewed for content and just because they are shared does not mean I agree with every view found therein.
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1. Church Membership: Matt Chandler
2. The End is...Nearer: Mike Duran
3. The Good Shepherd: Video from R.C. Sproul
4. Marked: Dustin Valencia
5. N.T. Wright, Rob Bell, and Hell: Trevin Wax
6. I ain't Afraid of No Ghost: Rob Wood

Please only Post other's material and not your own...Thank You.

The Command has Been Given

Acts 17:30-31 (New American Standard Bible)

 Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

I need to ask everyone reading this a question and you in turn need to ask your friends and loved ones.  If you were to stand before Christ the Righteous Judge, whether through death or His return, what would His reaction and judgment be?  Every knee will bow before Him and give an account of the works done in the flesh, the talents we had, and the wasted opportunities that litter our lives, but will your bowing be with grace to the Lord who has redeemed you or will it be in continued rebellion against the One who created you?

I am not into silly sentimental revivalistic rhetoric with the pleading organ playing while false converts line the aisles, but I am into the command of God for all men everywhere to repent for He will no longer overlook the  ignorance as  in times past but will judge everyone according to the One He has raised from the dead ( Acts 17 ).  Pray to God that He would have mercy on you and grant you the faith to believe unto repentance.  Give God the glory as He softens your heart and causes the Word to take root and grow.  Do not harden your own heart with the deceitfulness of sin but rather call on Him while He may be found.

Where will you stand on the day of Judgment?

Word Wednesday: Fathers Love

Forever, and a Day, and the Weekend

1 John 4:7
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

Matthew 6:9
" Pray, then, in this way:'Our Father who is in heaven,Hallowed be Your name.

Men, love does not always come easy to us in our rugged, individualistic, and He-manish American Society.  Real men do not cry.  Shrug it off.  Suck it up.  Don't let your emotions show.  It is a sign of weakness.  Have we ever heard these sayings and more as boys and took them to heart as men?  How often have we erected walls around our hearts keeping those who would love us out and wrecking meaningful relationships?  Do we play the " tough guy " with our children without ever showing them love?  Do they know that it is OK to let their guard down and be real because they have seen us do it?  Do our wives know we love them not only in word but in deed?

When did we become so emotionally impoverished that we fear one of the most glorious things we have been created for; to have relationships both with God and those around us?  Love is from God and we, as believers, have Him as a Father and as an example.  If we know how to give good gifts doesn't He also? Where did we learn how to give from?  Him.  He is the foundation of all our relationships and because of Him we know how to interact with His other creations.

" How much do you love us? "Mindy and I asked.

" Forever, and a Day, and the weekend, " replied our four year old son, Jackson.

His childlike faith and love were expressed in the most meaningful way he knew how.  Love between Father and son should last forever and to make sure of that he tacked on an extra day.  When asked about the weekend he simply explained that daddy was home and we were all together as a family.  Together in a loving family relationship ordained by God.

As children of God we can look forward to the moment when we will forever be with our Father in Heaven.

Forever, and a Day, and a Weekend.

Father in Heaven, help us to know your love and to reflect that love into the lives of those you have place closest to us.  Let us be your representative here on Earth and the type of loving fathers and husbands you would have us be.

Quick Thoughts

Just a few quick thoughts today.

1. Should Harold Camping be held accountable for the violent crimes committed by those trying to avoid the Tribulation?
2. Should Camping and Family Radio reimburse the money given to them by their Rapturites?
3. Do not get drawn into a debate with non-believers over End Times scenarios.  Why would they believe in the return of the one they refuse to believe in?
4. Present the Gospel to them instead.  You plant the seed, let someone else, water, and God will give the increase.
5. Know that the Gospel is the Power of God unto Salvation and not numerology and carnival side-show prognostications
6. If you were foolish enough to believe Camping this time learn from your mistake and don't listen to date setters.
7. If you don't believe in Christ fall on your face before God today and beg Him for forgiveness.
8. Fellow Believers, when all else fails, Love the Lord your God with All Your Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength.  That is our goal.

The Scripture and Harold Camping

Matthew 24:36

"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

Much has been said recently about Harold Camping and his once merry band of followers in the recent days and because of this I have been personally leery of commenting further so as not to prolong the man's infamy. This is not because I have not thought, pondered, and offered the offhand conjecture but rather because both the secular and Christian media have beaten this dead horse again and again and in that saturated market I was not sure I could add anything to the discussion. However, here I am forging ahead and offering one more voice to the sea of madness.
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In Christ Alone

The Exclusivity of Christ

I am the Way, and The Truth, and The Life; no one come to

the Father but through ME.

John 14:6

The choices are not limited.  There simply is no other choice. There is no way to the Father but through Jesus.  PERIOD!! 

• HE has taken our debt and nailed it to the cross- Colossians 2:4
• While enemies, through Christ's death alone, and not others, we who believe were reconciled- Romans 5:10
• Christ alone offered Himself without blemish to God to cleanse your conscience- Hebrews 9:14

He alone, through His death, paid the debt we could not pay.

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Word Wednesday:Fathers Protect

Psalm 18:30 As for God, His way is blameless;The word of the LORD is tried;He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.

Matthew 6:9 " Pray, then, in this way:'Our Father who is in heaven,Hallowed be Your name.

I am not blameless. I mess up, foul up and hose up many things in my life both the trivial and the weighty.  However, I as a father, take that responsibility very seriously and  give thanks to my Father in Heaven for providing the perfect example to follow.  My God, who is forever faithful and blameless, is our protector and our refuge from all trouble and we should strive to be the same here on Earth.

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The Transforming Gospel: Man's Best Effort or God's Grace?

Rich in Mercy and Grace

Previously we explored  how  man's efforts at moralism is a bankrupt system and the difficulties that come from trying to earn a priceless gift.  Every false religion ranging from Buddhism to New Age, Jehovah's Witness to Mormonism, or any derivative of the Social Gospel and Moralism are either man's best effort at appeasing God or a corruption of the doctrines of grace.  The false assumption that anything we can do apart from God's grace is no Gospel at all, but a misplaced trust in the goodness of man.
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Church time Tomorrow

Are you going to fellowship with a body of believers tomorrow?  Will we congregate and worship the Lord with thanksgiving?  When we feel that we must complain about the Church we should remember some things:

1. The Church is the Bride of Christ and He loves Her
2. The Church is the Body of Christ made up of believers and He will defend it
3. The gates of Hell cannot prevail-they are rusted through and have no foundation
4. No local church is perfect-after all you are there
5. Be forgiving of your local Pastor-he is the leader of some smelly sheep
6. Remember that both tares and wheat grow in the field
7. Hypocrites are not confined to the church

I will end with this: No pastor ( or you ) lives up to what he preaches. If he does, he is preaching too low

Now go to bed and and get up ready to go and serve the Lord who has redeemed you

 

The Gracious Gospel or Man's Moralism?

Romans 11:6

But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

There is something we as humans find comforting and satisfying about working to find ourselves approved. From the initiations of secret societies and fraternities to the jocularity of locker rooms and backyard grills we strive and labor to fit in and find forgiveness when wrongs occur. We often go to great lengths to gain the knowing nod from our peers signifying that we are finally " in ",  and when we fall into disfavor the efforts are doubled to work our way back into the good graces of those that matter most to us.

Do we approach God the same way?

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Word Wednesday:Fathers Provide

Genesis 3:17b-19a

Cursed is the ground because of you;
         In toil you will eat of it
         All the days of your life.
"Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
         And you will eat the plants of the field;
    By the sweat of your face
         You will eat bread,

Honestly, some days I just don't feel like pulling on my boots and heading out to work.
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Christians have Lost

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The Powerful Gospel and the Resurrected Christ

Romans 1:4 (New American Standard Bible)

who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:1-6 (New American Standard Bible)

The Fact of Christ's Resurrection

Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Good News that
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The Prosperity Gospel: Or Blessings for Bucks?



Galatians 1:6-8 (New American Standard Bible)

Perversion of the Gospel

 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;

 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!

What is the Gospel is a question I have been asking and trying to answer and will continue to do so in the coming day.  Last time I explored the relationship of the Gospel and the Kingdom, here, and four things that were revealed through Scripture which are:

1. The Gospel and the Kingdom are here now.
2. The Kingdom is within us.
3. It is a future reality.
4. It ultimately is in accordance with God's authority and Jesus' Kingship.

With that in mind and moving on I want to discuss what the Gospel is not: It is unequivocally not a prosperity message based on the faulty reading of Scripture resulting in the giving-to-get fallacy.  The hucksterism and carnival-like atmosphere found in the name it and claim crowd is antithetical to the true Gospel and the faith that many, both past and present, hold dear.  This false Gospel of greed and seed must be exposed for what it is: a cancer in the Body of Christ.
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Word Wednesday: Fathers and Priests

1 Peter 2:9
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye  should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light

As believers we are all called to be priests and show forth the praises of the one who has saved us but I want to speak specifically to Fathers today and the awesome responsibility we have in the home.  The Old Testament priests were the mediators between God and man and as such they were responsible for revealing God to the people and interceding on behalf of the people to God.  As Christian Fathers we are to take on the same responsibilities in the home

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The Good News Kingdom

From the outset of the Church through the times we now live in there has been much discussion and confusion over what the Gospel is.  Is it a works based salvation with strict adherence to the law?  Can it be equated with libertarian free-will and cheap grace?  Is everyone forgiven and on the road to Heaven because the Gospel is an all inclusive, all loving, and all forgiving mantra of post-modern subjectivity?  Or is the Gospel of Jesus Christ a life changing message that extends far beyond the moment of salvation into the lives of believers?  These questions and more we will discuss in the coming days as we bring the Gospel to the forefront of our thinking.
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The Happy Dance over a Sinner's Death?

Romans

13:1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.

13:4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil

How should we as Christians feel about the death of the wicked?

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