A New Time of Life

March 7th, 2012

Soon I will be “retiring” and moving, to  place in the country near my son and his family. We’ll be doing organic farming and management intensive pasturing to raise chemical free, antibiotic free, meat and eggs. But I will still be blogging at BibleStudyBlogSite.com. There were a few days in between this time, but I’ll keep up most of the time from now on!

We do not claim that it is the Lord who’s telling us how to raise vegetables and meat, But we are using the methods that most closely approximate what the Lord originally designed to happen. For example, cattle have four stomachs, one of which is a rumen, especially designed to digest grasses that other animals and mankind can’t digest. Cattle weren’t designed to eat grain, although that’s what they have been being fed by most feeders in the U.S. The result will be that our meat will have more vitamins, more CDLs which prevent cancer, and more omega 3 fatty acids which are health producing.

Although there is no theological mandate to raise food in the way best for human longevity and health, we are told in the bible to take care of our bodies that God gave us, and to take care of the earth. I have lately found out that although population is still growing, although more slowly, food production is increasing, so people are overall better off than in that past, with less hunger. Hunger is still being influenced by political problems, however.

AS you can see, there is plenty of room to obey God’s mandate to take care of people and the earth in better ways. May God bless you as you also integrate your faith in God into all of your life and lifestyle!

Christ is the Supreme God We Worship!

February 9th, 2012

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Why do we worship Christ as the one and only God? Not everyone sees him that way! Mormons believe Christ is only one of many gods, and we too can become gods! Some like the president believes God saves us through government compassion and actions. The Bible is our authoritative source of what God is saying, historically stated by all Christians. What does it say?

Colossians 1;15 “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.” He was there before anything was made. Even the Big Bang theory says something created all time, matter, energy, and laws of interaction all at once from nothing!

Verse 16 “He is supreme over all creation because God created everything through him.”  As the second, creative member of the Godhead, Christ shows himself to be the one who is in control over all the creation, since he made it to be exactly as it is.

Verse 16 “Everything was created through him and for him.” Jesus Christ designed all of creation to show us his power, his understanding, his wisdom, his love and caring for all he created. Jesus has a purpose for everything and everyone he made!

Verse 17 “He holds all creation together.” Since Jesus is the source of all energy and matter and time and the laws of their relationships, everything would fall apart and cease to exist without Jesus’ continued input. We are totally dependent on him for our continued existence and purposes.

Verse 18 “Christ is the head of the church, which is his body.” Christ does all his work of reconciling people to God through the church, which he created to be his hands and feet on earth.’

Verse 18 “Christ is the beginning, supreme over all who rise again.” Because Christ rose from the dead, he can give us the power of God so we too will rise form the dead. That makes him the key to eternal life!

Verse 18 “Christ is supreme over everything,” Since Christ is in all things, it is his purposes and his will that must be followed in order to have success we must work togeether with Christ in everything!

Verse 19 “God in all his fullness was pleased to live completely in Christ.” God lives in Christ, and Christ lives in God. They are the same God, byt two separate persons. We can trust God to be exactly like Christ, and completely tuned in to his purposes and attitudes.

Verse 20 “Through Christ, God reconciles everything to himself.” No one could be reconciled to a completely holy god without first being forgiven of all their sin of rebellion against his authority and commandments. Jesus Christ is the one who accomplished that through his death to forgive our sin and his resurrection to prove our relationship with him is real.

Verse 20 “Christ made peace with all through his death on the cross.” WE must have the cross and forgiveness in order to start our relationship with God and continue it in  heaven. What is your status with Christ? Are you reconciled with God?

Why is Temptation so Hard to Resist?

February 3rd, 2012

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We’ve all felt it – and we’ve all resisted it – and we’ve all given in to it: temptation! Sometimes temptation is of small importance, like being tempted to eat a snack  while on a diet. Sometimes temptation is hidden, like when we are tempted to think a lustful or a vengeful thought. Sometimes the temptation is blatant, like when someone tempts us to sex outside of marriage, or to assist them to do something illegal.

Whatever the size or the intent of the temptation, it always is to do something against our better judgment. At times, jail sentences or divorce settlements are the result. Sometimes it is the continuation of a bad habit. But there is always a process to what happens. James says in the Bible, ” Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful activities. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.” My own desires entice me. Then they drag me into sin or foolish actions. Then those actions result in death; death of a dream, death of a marriage, death of our good character.

What can we do to resist temptation? First, James goes on to say, “Don’t be deceived.” Don’t fool yourself into thinking this “small” indiscretion is of no consequence. “Be sure your sin will find you out!” You may seem to be getting away with something for a while, but it always comes out. Then James reminds us that “everything good and perfect comes from above,” from God. God gave us not only the Bible to show us right from wrong, and wise from foolish, he also gave us our consciences and good judgment, to help us see temptation for the trap it really is.

God also gave us His Son Jesus. After Jesus forgives our sin, he then comes into our life and starts remaking us in his own image of good judgment and wise action. Have you turned over your sin to Jesus for forgiveness? Then, after you do that, have you turned over your life to His good judgment? He’s ready to give you all the power and character you need to blast right through temptation! It is still tempting, but Jesus living in  you is the hope of having God’s glory in your life!! Keep learning m ore from the bible and from BibleStudyBlogSite.com!

What’s So Good About Heaven?

February 2nd, 2012

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Back when life was really hard for most people, there were an understandable large number of sermons and songs about heaven. Before the civil war, Negro Spirituals sang a lot about how much better heaven would be than earth.What were the benefits of heaven they cited? First, there would be no death in heaven, no sickness, and no pain or suffering. that was a great comfort for everyone. After all, everyone eventually gets sick and dies! Second, they talked about heaven’s streets of gold, and mansions for everyone. What a relief to no longer be subject to financial worries! And third, there will be no sin and no war in heaven – What a boon for a war=torn world history!

These benefits are all cited in the book of Revelation, chapters 20-22 in the Bible, and in other Bible passages. But, although it will be convenient to have no   more night and no more crying, these items of comfort are not the main benefit of heaven for people! It;s a good thing that heaven is about more than just comfort, since people no longer are worried about this present life. In fact, we are used to this present life being quite comfortable. Even the poorest of us in the U.S. has a cell phone, a computer, a TV, and enough food to get fat! Starvation most often comes from personal choices such as drugs rather than political inequities.

So what is the best reason for heaven? it is God! On earth we can study the bible to try to understand God, and pray to try to line up our purposes and needs with God’s purposes and needs. But in heaven we can talk to God face to face! We will come to greatly understand God and what he is doing, and we will be waling with him as he accomplishes what he purposes.  On earth, we only dimly see what God is up to, and in heaven, our face to face interaction with God has another benefit. Paul says we will become like him, because we will understand him as he really is.

What? You don’t think that walking with the Almighty, all-knowing, all-wise God as a friend is a big thing? I do! Come with me and with BibleStudyBlogSite.com, and get to know Jesus for yourself!

Psalm 32: Whew! What a Relief!

January 31st, 2012

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For background, read Psalm 32.

1. 1 John 1:9 says, ” If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  James 5:16 says, “Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. (and transformed!)”

The structure of an AA relationship is that there is always a sponsor for each person, a person they can call on any time, day, or night, to tell them (or confess) about their feeling weak, or giving in to temptation to drink. The sponsor then encourages them and stays with them to help them along. But many people rebel against this type of relationship. It means always admitting your weaknesses and confessing your sins, and being willing to look to someone else and to God to give you the strength to keep on the wagon, or get back on it.

The principles of AA are similar to, and somewhat derived from the Bible principles. Both systems require confession of sins, so that God can give you the ability to move forward and stop sinning. The Bible adds one very important point, that of God’s forgiveness. It is God’s forgiveness that transforms a negative emphasis on confession into a positive relationship with God Himself, through Jesus Christ.

Why is confessing, not just to a sponsor or an encourager, but to God himself; that confession does more than just erase the negative effects of succumbing to temptation, but it also gives us the ability to more on in faith to glorify God and to act as his friend and his son or daughter. Psalm 32:1-3 says, “Blessed is he (or she) whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is man or woman whose sins the LORD does not count against him…When I kept silent my bones wasted way through groaning all night long.”

What’s negative is all the angst and worry and defeat of constantly messing up. What is transforming is the power of God to both forgive and change our very nature to that of Jesus. It doesn’t often happen as quickly as we would like, but that transformation, where we are able to live up to the purposes God designed for our lives, comes along with what some call “keeping short accounts with God.”  Each times we transgress, confess quickly, and take steps to obey Christ. What a wonderful life the Lord has given us to look forward to!

Partnering with Jesus and a Small Team

January 28th, 2012

Before I’m ready to write more blogs and Bible Studies, I want to share with you what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

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The Proposition: A disciple of Jesus not only studies Jesus and God to get to know them personally for themselves, but also partners with Jesus and with a small team of fellow disciples to glorify God, enjoy him, and work together to help many others know and enjoy him.

The Problem: This is not happening! There are several churches who are growing, whose attendance is increasing. People who go to these churches seem to sense that God wants to know them and be a part of their lives. They enjoy praising God and hearing how God accepts us just as we are. These are great first steps toward being a disciple of Jesus. But a disciple of Jesus is more than just someone who sits and listens on Sunday, and occasionally reads the Bible or listens to Christian radio music. A disciple actively studies God and Jesus, and puts into practice what he or she learns. And a disciple works with a small team of followers of Cjrist to put into practice what James said in James 5:13-16

Is any on of you in trouble: He should pray. Is anyone happy: He should sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick?    He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the person well; the lord will raise him up. If he has sinned he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5;13-16 NIV

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God calls us to rejoice, and praise, and confess, and pray SO THAT you may be healed. God answers our prayers and  changes and forgives and heals and improves us as soon as we are willing to confess and change in full view of others!  God is not asking us to bare our souls to multitudes of people, just to that small group of 2-5 that are praying with and encouraging us and helping us plan how to obey what Jesus wrote in the Bible. This is Partnering with Christ and a Small Accountability Team. This will transform you to be a true disciple of Jesus. Are you ready to begin?

 

 

How to Make God Look Bad by What You Do

January 27th, 2012

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For background, read 1 Corinthians chapter 5. We are placed on earth to learn to glorify God and enjoy Him. But sometimes, what we do instead hurts His reputation! That’s wht Paul is addressing in his letter to the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 5:1 Why is sexual immlorality offensive to God? See Ezekiel 23;37.

How does unfaithfulness by a Christian hurt God’s reputation?

1 Corinthians 5;2 Corinthians (and man people today) were proud that they were tolerant! And God does indeed forgive sin when we repent. What’s the difference between foiving a sin and tolerating that same sin?

How should a Christian treat someone who has repented of their sin?

How should we treat someone who has not repented of their public sin and insists on continuing?

How can we make sure we are doing the right thing, which glorifies God?

1 Corinthians 5:3-5 How does it help the man to “turn him over to Satan”?

How does it help the church to turn the man over to Satan?

What does it mean to compassionately turn someone over to Satan?

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 How does tolerating public sins hurt the church?

How does tolerating known sin hurt Jesus Christ?

What is the difference between a public and a subtle or private sin?

How should we handle  a subtle sin? See Galatians 6:1-2

1 Corinthians 5:9-11 What does Paul mean by “do not associate”? Why does he want that?

How should we treat public sin within the church?

What is the way to treat sin before it becomes public: See James 5:13-16 and 1 John 1:9-10

1 Corinthians 5:12-13 What does Paul mean by judging someone in the church?

What is the difference between judging as Paul want, and being judgmental to the person?

Ephesians 4;15 Speak the truth in love. [ie. do both, not just one] What happens when we fail to deal with sin?

What happens when we deal with sin, but not in love?

How can we glorify Christ by doing both at the same time?

How does failing to deal with sin, or failing to show love, keep us from enjoying Christ?

Can Christ help you care about people the same way he does, but at the same time confront in love?

How Do Pastures and Trees Make People Believe in God?

January 23rd, 2012

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Some have noticed that when the U.S. was agricultural in population, most people believed in God. So how to pastures and trees produce belief in God? Paul says in his letter to the Romans that it is easy for those who look at nature to understand the very divine nature of God because these qualities of God as so obvious! So what is so “obvious” about God that nature teaches us?

People who try to use nature to disprove the concept of God, such as those who say that nature evolved all energy and matter and life and species gradually over an enormous amount of time, insist that this idea “proves” that God is not necessary for the production of nature as we see it. But those who “live with nature” see exactly the opposite! First, we see how complicated the various natural processes are. Even billions of ears of evolution working with random possibilities wold not seem to be enough time for complex growth, defense, and survival systems to develop to t he extent we see n nature.. Even the simplest organisms have thousands of interacting processes of manufacture and growth occurring within each cell!

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Secondly, we see how interdependent the innumerable species are! Each one fills a niche and many of them help each other to succeed. Imagine what would happen if you tried to match these systems together randomly! Chances are, they would never happen! And to have several species work together is an even larger stretch of the imagination.

The appearance of itricate design is another indication of God’s existence. Take a look at what happens in a storm which produces random events, and tell me that randomness helps organize things. In actuality it produces chaos! Even the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that no system organizes itself, except an external amount of eneggy and organizing ability works to change the system.

Then there’s one more thing – beauty! Beauty implies a designer and a purpose. So when a farmer or rather or a nature worker sees all t he beauty involved, along with the organization of systems, the interdependency of species, and the purposefulness of the whole system of nature, such a person easily sees many of the attributes of God! These attributes nature points out include power, extreme knowledge, wisdom, creativeness, purposefulness, and sovereignty over creation. And this combination of attributes make sense only for a God who is a purposeful personality who makes creative decisions. Praise the Lord! He deserves it!

 

How Important is Paul?

January 20th, 2012

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For background, read 1 Corinthians chapter 4. How can Paul, or how can we, glorify God and enjoy him forever? Without overdoing it praising our own selves? God is interested, and the people we deal with are interested in our developing character!  When we show God;s character, we can enjoy God!

1 Corinthians 4;1 Why does Paul feel this own reputation is less important than God’s?

1 Corinthians 4:2 What does being faithful to God look like?

1 Corinthians 4:3-4 Why is  my own estimation of myself, or even others estimation of me, not important?

How can we get a hint of what’s God’s estimation of us and what we are doing, before we get to heaven?

1 Corinthians 4;5 How is praising someone different that agreeing wit what that person says?

1 Corinthians 4;6 Why do people compare leaders?

How does it hurt Christ’s kingdom to compare leaders?

1 Corinthians 4:7 What  is wrong with boasting about our accoplishments?

1 Corinthians 4:8 How does boastful pride hurt God’s kingdom?

1 Corinthians 4:9-12 Why are leaders criticized more often?

How is it good to endure criticism?

How does your reaction to criticism show your character?

hat is your own reaction to criticism?

1 Corinthians 4:13 What is the right way to react to criticism?

1 Corinthians 4:14-16 Why was Paul’s relationship to the Corinthians and its integrity important?

Why was it NOT bragging for Paul to say, “Imitate me.”

What things about you should people imitate?

What things about you should people not imitate?

1 Corinthians 4:17 What did Paul teach was the most important thing to teach?

1 Corinthians 4;18-19 What sad characteristic is often ture of arrogant people?

Why is it important to promote Christ and important NOT to promote ourselves?

1 Corinthians 4:20 The proof of the sermon is the preacher’s life! How can we know what his life really is like?

1 Corinthians 4:21 Review chapter 1. What might Paul need to “punish” the Corinthians for?

How does promoting Christ rather than ourselves help us enjoy Christ?

What is Your World View?

January 19th, 2012

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All of us want to do what is right and make a difference in this world. But there is often  quite a different view of what is right and beneficial. There are two main ways of looking at the world that determine what they believe to be right and wrong. One world view sees the universe under God;s benevolent determination. The other world view sees all events as random and determined only by what we personally cause to happen, without God’s help. Let’s look at how these two views affect what we do.

Most people want to believe that they are the captain of their souls, the determiner of their ow fate. Unfortunately, as we grow older, we come to quite often b affected by other people who have their own selfish agenda that works against our own. How is this affected by our view of God? We have a choice. We can ask for god’ shelp, or we can try to handle the situation with our own meager resources.

So why aren’t more people willing to look to God for help? I believe it is because they look at God as having His own agenda that doesn’t coincide with theirs. Since they don’t choose to accept God’s help, we try to control what we can under a situation that we see as random and not helped o ut by God.

So what are these strings people believe God attaches to his help? First, God wants for all people to be able to know Him personally. To that end, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to give us forgiveness so that we are qualified to interact with Holy God. Then God raised Jesus from the dead to prove that He has conquered sin and death, and can give us an eternal friendship relationship with God Almighty. Only Jesus Christ was qualified to forgive us, and is working hard to get us on His side, as the God who loves us completely and always does what is right and best.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be working with God rather than against Him? Rebelling against God’s control over the world has not helped us in the least. God is working to bring all people together to love God and each other through Jesus Christ in their lives. Isn’t that something we can believe in?