A Father is a Champ

     Today is Father's day. Happy Father's day to all the dads and dads to be. You are heroes. We all salute you. You don't have an easy job. Your children look up to you to see just what a man is like. Your sons say that is what I want to be when I grow up. Better yet, that is who I want to be when I grow up. Your daughters look at you and say, that is the type of man I want to marry. Your wives look at you and say, that is the man I married and God blessed me with the perfect man, suited for me.
     And when you are not as perfect as you want to be or think you should be, that is when you should be transparent enough to say that you are not perfect but that is okay. God is not done working on me.

     And father, don't forget your source when it comes down to it. You are only as good as the source of your authority.

In The Beginnng

     When we look out at things around us we may wonder, how did it all come about? How did I come about?

    For a Christian that is easy to answer. The Bible tells us, "In the beginning God created."
    Yes. What is creation?, you ask. The best way to define it is to say Creation is  the beginning of the universe and human life.
   When was this beginning? We don't really know. But the Bible says there was a beginning. Not of God. But of time as we know it.So we ask, what did God create?
     God did not create an extension of Himself. He is complete. But the Bible does tell us He created Angels. That is found in psalm 148:2,5. The book of Job refers to the angels in Job 38:4-7.
     Humanity, male and female, was created to exist on a higher level above all other thiongs created. Humanity, in the beginning, was made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26)  and was given domination over the rest of the creation on Earth (Genesis 1:28) That image is still there but in a fallen broken state. Jesus came to restore that state.
     That will be another subject.
      This image is not physical. But since God is spirit we can figure it is a spirit image.
     How did God create? He created from nothing ex nihilo. He spoke and it came into existence.
     Why did God create? That is a good question. He wasn't lonely. He didn't need other creatures to complete Himself. He must have done it because He is Love and it is to His glory to create objects to love.

Actions Speak your Salvation

   This morning Pastor Joe preached from 1John 5:1-15. He said that your belief  is  not seen if you  do nothjing but sit around and act as if what you believe is a  privayte affair between you and God. Your actions are. And John points out that your behavior towards others and toward Jesus, who did come in the flesh, shows your salvation.
     But basicly, Jesus did come in a body. The body is the package that carries the real man. Jesus had a real body. Only a real body can be hungry. Only a real body can bleed. Only a real body can eat food. Only a real body can ascend into heaven. And only a real body can come back again.

     If Jesus were not in a body He wouldn't be anyone to follow. We must be Christ like, John calls us sons of God, if we are Christians. As sons we represent all others are going to see of God. All we do we should do knowing that fact.
      Not too many of us are called to stand on street corners and preach. No,  But we all are called to act daily in the awareness that we may be the only link between God and man when it comes to the decision he will have to make.
     When we get to heaven God is going to ask, "What did you do with  my Son, Jesus?"  "Why should I let you into my heaven?"
  

Bible Study = Growth

Looking for Wisdom

      One of my favorite subjects to talk about. Bible study. How can you know what God has said unless you are reading what He wrote? I am firm here. "Study to show yourself approved  to God a workman who does not need to be ashamed..." 
    How can your faith grow if you don't know what to base it on? "Faith comes by hearing (And reading and study) and hearing by the word of God."
    When you do that Bible study have a pen or pencil handy. Also have a note book ready to jot down what you are discovering. Treat your Bible study time as a treasure hunt. There are little nuggets of wisdom. Some are on the surface and others have to be dug for.
   Ask yourself- what is the subject of this passage? Who is speaking? To whom is the passsge being transmitted? What does this passge tell  me about God?  What does it say about me?What am I to do with what the passage is saying?
    All may not be in that one passge. But as you study.. and that means re-reading it over and over, maybe coming back to it another time

        Also be in a Bible teaching church and fellowship with others. Ask them questions. Find a Bible Study group. Join. Add your two cents. Grow.

There are blessings in forgiveness

  To continue on the subject of forgiveness. You can forgive a person and still not forget what he has done. It will take time for that person to work back in your trust. That is normal. But the main blessing in forgiveness is that it frees you up. You no longer have to carry that heavy burden. You can wave that flag and go on with your life.
   Let the offending party go. God will handle him.
   If you want a good series on forgiveness and the blessing in forgiveness you can no doubt listen to the pod casts of that time period when Pastor Joe allowed his sermon series to be recorded and mad einto a pod caast. For the podcasts you just go over to http://acts1.libsyn.com/webpage. It is there.
   Also a good series around mothers day about Ruth and Naomi. A whole different way of looking at it.

   A great lesson on mentorship and direction.

Obama and the Recovery

    Are we in a recovery? Has Obama done what he promised? I think he promised to get us jobs and  bring us out of what he said was the worst economy since the great depression. And how would he know? He wasn't alive during the 1930's. And he really hasn't brought us a recovery from the 2008 recession. Not really.
    The Obama recovery plan has  produced an average GDP growth of 2.4 percent since the reported recession ended.
    Let us look at the third quarter of 2011. The U.S. economy grew at 2.5 percent.That gives us  nearly a trillion dollars lost to the GDP. It has cost us 10.5 million jobs (So much for putting America back to work to help a  failing economy.) More than 14 million people are unemployed. There are seven people who need a job for each job opening.
    So Obama wants to redistribute the wealth. He will redistribute it not to the middle class nor to the lower class but into the pockets of the financal elite.

     And he has told you what he wants to do.
     He has said "The one thing that we absolutely know for sure is that if we don't work even harder than we did in 2008, then we are going to have a government that tells the Amerrican people, "you are on your own. ...If you get sick, you are on your own. If you can't afford college, you're on your own. If you don't like that some corporation is pollutting your air or the air that your child breathes, than you're on your own" that's not the America I believe in. It's not the America you believe in."
    Sounds me me like entitlement. Since when do we have a right to attend College? Since when do we have the right to be waited on as a child, handed everything because we are not capable of earning our own.? When did we come to think that job creation came about by redistributing income?
    That is what the Obama people are trying to tell you.
    Marxist and communistic economies never transfer weath to the poor and middle classes. They tend to transfer it to government officials and their cronies. That is what seems to be happening at the moment under the Obama economy plan. If the economy of the U.S. can be weaken to the point of us being just another player in the new world order controled by the political/ financial elite than it seems Obabma will have been successful at reaching his goal. He will have his grievance against the "imperilist" America completed. He will have increased the financal debt, he will have the unchecked spending, the weaking of the dollar, the class warfare. We have seen it in the Occupy groups that are popping up.
    $4 trillion dollars was added to our national debt by Obama during the first three years of his administration.. Does that sound to you like he is helping our economy by creating jobs and bringing down the debt? He has promised to create three million American jobs. Where are they? And don't say he needs another four years to complete his plan.
    So to answer the question I started thius blog with, has Obama done what he promised? My answer is yes. But his promise to who??

Obama and 2012

 I am not sure that this blog is the correct place to post this, but since I fellowship with a group of black Christians I feel that this is the place where I can put this.
  Obama is up for reelection this year. In lock step, it seems, the blacks have voted for Obama for no other reason  other than he is black.

   True, he is black. He is also not the one we should re-elect as President. His actions over the past years have not been good for America and its' freedom. He has  now made it his right as President to indefinitely detain any US citizen on the grounds that he or she could be a "terrorist". Yes, on the evening of December 31, 2011 he signed a bill that gave him the power as President of the United States to do so.( Michael Savage, Trickle Down Tyranny,) He has deprived U.S. citizens of the freedom for which our men in uniform are fighting.
   And his actions in the past should show us what he feels about America. Have you heard about the utter contempt for America he and his wife, Michelle showed toward the 9/11 observance at the World Trade Center?  I am not sure what year. But it was while the American Flag was being folded in the traditional manner that Michelle leaned over and said to her husband, the President of the United States, "All this over a flag?" to which Obama grinned and nodded his head in agreement.(Ibid)
   I won't say he leans toward the Marxist mind set. But I would expect more respect for the nation served.
   Is Romney any better? I don't know. But can he be worse? I don't know that either.
    Judge a man by his actions, is all I am saying.