Hope

“So, Lord, what hope do I have?  You are my hope.  Psalm 39:7  (NCV)

 

Do you need HOPE?    Hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ!

More Wandering of an Old Man

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.  Colossians 2:7 (NLT)

 

When this verse came to my inbox the other day I thought; "Well here may be the Body of Christ's problem!"  Do we let our roots grow deep into Christ?     Are we doing what it takes to get rooted in Christ?  Are we seeking that deep water source which is in Christ?   I know in the real world that when the heat hits plants, even mature trees that are not rooted into a DEEP SOURCE of water will die. I wonder about us as the Body of Christ?  Do we let our lives be built on him?  Do we look for that good foundation that is Christ?   Again, as we are have temperatures in the mid low thirties I have heard of our local community college's contractor continuing to pour the foundation for a new building on campus; I am not sure this is good planning but I am not in the concrete business nor the building business.  I am in the building the Family of God business and I wonder about our foundations? 

 

Doing these two things, rooting him Christ and Building on Christ,  will allow our faith to grow strong in the truth we were taught, this leads to another question, which is "What truths have we been taught."  Have we been taught G*D'S TRUTH or have we been taught some one's interpretation of G*d's Truth?   Personally, I think it is likely a 50/50 thing.  Half of what we were taught is G*D'S TRUTH and the other half is interpretation of G*d's Truth.  I know that from time to time as a pastor I will have to plead Guilty to the latter and be held accountable for not doing the former.  Again, I wonder.  I wonder if we need to do a better job of having a mindset like the people of Berea (Acts 17:11)?  

 

The last thing the verse says is "we will overflow with thanksgiving" if we are rooted and built.  So; I wonder are we overflowing with thanksgiving?  If not we need to work on our rooting and building site!

Happy Thanksgiving

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.
Let the whole world know what he has done.

New Living Translation (NLTPsalm 105 (NLT)

 

God gives insight on how to RUN OFF THE DEVIL!!

Gal 5:16 So I say, let the Spirit tell you what you should do. Then you will not do the wrong things you yourselves want to do. Worldwide English (New Testament) (WE)

James 4:7 So let God control you. Fight the devil and he will run away from you. Worldwide English (New Testament) (WE)

These are a couple (part of ) versewe looked at in Men's group.  If I am reding them right; if we let the Spirit of God tellus what to do and do what the Spirit tells us then we will not do the wrong we would like to do and in doing so we would resist the Devil thus making the devil run away!

So start listening and doing andsee the devil run!!!!

The election; What does the Bible say?

Romans 13:1

13 Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. (NLT)

Romans 13:1 & 2

Every Christian ought to obey the civil authorities, for all legitimate authority is derived from God’s authority, and the existing authority is appointed under God. To oppose authority then is to oppose God, and such opposition is bound to be punished.

What do this passage say to us after the election? What if the authority ask us (tell us we must) do something that is anti-christian? What if like Hitler; the governing authority/civil authority begins to kill Jews (other group) and asks/tells us that it is our civil duty to support them in that killing? What if there is some  "Chicago" system voting?  Do we still "obey the civil authorities"?  Is obedience to the civil authorities what God calls us to when the civil authorities are, in our opinion out side of God's will?  If out side the will of God are those civil authorities "legitimate authority"?

 

The other question would be is Paul making a statement for all time "the existing authority is appointed under God" or just for his own? 

In any case we need to we need to follow the idea of Timothy in
1 Timothy 2:1-4  I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. ² Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. ³ This is good and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.