Category Christian Life

A Christian is someone who, coming to know God, and recognizing themselves to have rebelled against God, either by a lack of faith in God or by choices that oppose His perfect righteousness, rejects sin for its opposition against God, and exercises faith in God.

God Who, in the person of Jesus Christ has paid the penalty of our sin by Christ’s death on the cross, brings the transaction to completion by applying that payment to our account. We who turn from sin to God will by faith in Jesus Christ and His death for our sins, receive the benefit of it – our sentence commuted so we may have eternal life.

Upon God’s application of Christ’s death to the payment of our sentence, He also restores us to fellowship with Himself by providing the Holy Spirit, so that by His continual presence w...

This was originally written as a response to specific questions, and is a bit ‘rough’. The questions asked were: what constitutes ‘marriage’ according to God. What is the difference between ‘marriage’ and ‘living together’, and why is the latter not acceptable to God? They are valid questions, which many folk have asked as they see the inconsistencies between what God said, what Scripture shows happened, and what the time & culture offer.

Learn to recognize your presuppositions, and learn how to weed out premises that have nothing to do with the conclusion (straw men) when trying to analyse an argument.

1. The Bible presents what God said in the past, how He interacted with His creation, and how His creation acted & interacted with Him...

1Cor 10:13: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man, and God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear, but when you are tempted He will provide a way out that you can bear up under it.” 

Or are you ‘only human’ and subject to fall? 

2 Cor 5:17 “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new” – or do you believe you are still in your ‘sin nature’ – a term, by the way, that does not exist in Scripture. 

John 8:31-2 “If you abide in my word you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free….if the Son makes you free, you are free indeed.” Is the saint in bondage or are we free? 

2 Tim 1:7 “God does n...

Schizophrenia => broken + mind

Def’n: divorced from reality
-not equipped / prepared to deal with real life personally
– not able to answer the real life concerns of others

“Love the Lord your God with all your….mind…” Matthew 12:30

Mind:

1271 dianoia – deep thought; mental faculties, imagination, understanding.
4993 sophroneo – sound mind
3563 nous – intellect (Rom 1:28)
5427 phronema – mental tendency; inclination, purpose
3675 homophron –  one mind
5424 phren (from phrao ) – midriff; by implication, feelings, mind

“Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45

We are to have the mind of Christ, allowing our mind to be renewed by Him in order to be transformed from this world. Rom 12:2

The possessions of the mind of a worldly person are futi...

We are not called to save the ‘church’. Brothers and sisters, the ‘church’ is going down. That edifice presenting itself as the representative of God on earth shall fall – it is falling now.

We are called to save men. We are to go into all nations preaching the gospel to individuals.[1]

The church is going to fall! We are to tell the truth everywhere we go, but know that many will refuse to hear. The Bible speaks clearly of the many who say to Christ, “Lord, Lord”, but whom He does not know.[2] We are told the falling away must come before the Lord’s return. [3] We are told that many false prophets and teachers will lead away many.[4] We are told the days will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but will heap to themselves teachers to tickle their itching ears, turning ...

Repentance is a condition of the heart towards sin. Rather than a distress that we did some specific deed we consider to be too “bad”, it is the recognition that everything opposed to the nature of God is an offense against the Lord of all Creation. When we repent, we reject sin in every aspect of its nature, specifically because it opposes God. When we turn from one thing, we necessarily turn to another. To turn from sin we must turn to the Living God, for only in Him is sinlessness. We cannot turn from sin other than by turning to God, for to face any way other than towards Christ is necessarily to turn our faces towards sin.

We know that every time we who know the grace of God choose to commit sin, we are despising His grace and effectively joining our voice with those who crucified ou...

In virtually every context that makes people ‘feel good’, whatever that might be at the time, people inside the church find ways to justify things we should not do. Consequently, sexual sin is ‘ok’ because the Book is out of date, and substance abuse of various types is ok because most people aren’t trying to “unite with the spirit world”, and foul language is ok because it’s only the old-church fuddy-duddies who worry about that, and we can feed our eyes, ears, and minds with the trash the world offers because we’re ‘washed, sanctified, justified’ by the blood of Christ so it doesn’t affect us. Yoga is ok. Tai Chi is ok. TM is ok. Tarot is just a game. etc...

The man whose measure of his manhood is based in his sexual conquests is a pitiful example of masculinity. When the benchmark is something wild animals rush to, and rodents and reptiles, for survival, rather than those qualities and characteristics that place humanity on a different plain from brute beasts, the mark is set very low. Is manhood exclusively about copulation, or is there not something more powerful, more noble, more worthy of recognition in the character of the male human? Where is honour? Where is courage? Where is integrity? Where is goodness? Why when there are many laudable and beneficial qualities of which only humans are capable, do so many limit their consideration of value to something that requires no strength, no passion, no brains?

Are these men such simpering cowa...

“And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and he healed them” (Matthew 21:14)

The physically blind and the physically lame came to Jesus in the temple, and He healed them.

To be blind is to lack the ability to see. To be lame is to be unable to walk. Without knowledge of God, all men are blind, unable to see the truth about themselves, the world in which they live, or the creator Who placed them in it. They cannot see the right path to follow, nor the impediments in the way in which they find themselves travelling. They don’t see the spiritual influences on their lives or environments, nor do they perceive the eternal significance of their actions or ideas. They cannot see the ‘end of the road’; in fact they cannot see the road itself at all.

On their own, the blind...

Forgiveness is releasing the debt. The offender doesn’t owe you anymore.

It is not about forgetting. We may never forget and some offenses should not be forgotten. We are not obligated to volunteer for more offenses to be committed against us, although we may be obligated to endure them when they come.

By forgiving an offender, we release their debt to us. They don’t ‘owe’ us, we seek no revenge or restitution. We are not held captive by the pain of their wound, and we don’t wish they could suffer the pain themselves.

This does not mean we don’t hurt. Instead, it means that we willingly bear the hurt without anger, without malice, without revenge. We give them freedom from their obligation to us. We choose good-will toward them, despite the pain.

Some offenses cause too great...