A Proper Foundation

Foundation

Shortly after I had posted the last message on this blog I noticed the ad for The Reorganized Church (Which is Mormon) was taken down. That is good.
 A person still has to be very careful when it comes to proper correct orthodoxy.
 I therefore have come to the conclusion what is needed as the next subject to be handled in this blog is the subject of  Doctrine.
 That is not a dirty word
 To properly understand Bible Study you must properly understand Doctrine.
 If you don't properly understand Doctrine you end up accepting untruth and from there you end up not having a solid foundation to work with.
 A Mormon has the wrong idea of what a church is.  The church is a group of people, not a building, who all have a relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is recorded to have said, in the Gospel of John, I am The Way, The Truth, The Life. No one comes to the Father but through me. -John 14:6
  He has called Himself  I AM. That is the name of God who met Moses in the burning bush.
  Enough said. Please comment back to me if you need further discussion.
   So now you have helped me set the direction we need to go. Or I should say, who ever handles the ads did so.
 

More On Discipleship

Another way to look at discipleship is to think in the area of being pleasing to God. We all want the creator of the universe to be pleased with us.
   We become very much like then person or thing we spend a great amount of time with. If we work and don't spend time with our family, we become workaholics. We may lose our family.

   That is not good.
    So we need to be spending time if we truely want to be discipled and be like Jesus, we need to spend that time with Jesus.
   Jesus spent a good three eyars and more with his disciples. They heard what he said. They ate what he ate. They slept where he slept. And one day they became disciples and did what he did.

Adam meet Eve

    I  always recycle back to the book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible. It creates such a foundation to families and to doctrine.
   The most important thing to understand is that God in the creation plan created man first before woman. But we have to understand that woman is not a seperate creation in so much as God didn't go back to the planning book and make a different and better model as the woman libbers want us to believe.

    No, the woman was created from a part of man.  The scriptures say it was from a rib. God sculpted her. He paid attention to the lines. He created a master piece, a work of art. Woman was complete mentally, emotionally, and physically as well as spiritually. She was Adam's suitable helpmate.
   Helpmate means helper. Now men, don't get mad at me. If God says we men need help than we must need help. Man did  not need a buddy or a fishing partner or another guy to race elephants with.
     Paul Harvey used to do a piece called 'the rest of the story.'
    Well, in this case, woman is the rest of the story when it comes to man.  This woman is not a clone. She is not a man with redesigned plumbing. She is just different. Glorious, Beautiful, Creative.
     Man and woman are equal in value. But equality does not mean sameness.
     Two different words are used in the Hebrew. Ish and Isha. Two different genders. Two different creatures.
      I am sure I will be talking about this subject more in a later post. Until then, enjoy the difference.

Money and Time

God's House

       Today being Sunday I was in service. All Christian's should be in a Bible believing,Bible teaching fellowship on Sunday or whenever during the week the service is. ACTS meets on a Sunday. Victory Christian Fellowship meets on a Saturday.The day isn't important. The attendence is.
        Pastor Joe was finishing up his series on money today. He said we should think of our finances not only as the money we have in our pockets but also the witnessing we do and the service using our spiritual gifts
        To help us in our understanding of money and its use, ACTS is hosting a series on Tuesday nights taught using DVDs and study groups; using the Dave Ramsey series on money. I highly recommend Dave Ramsey. Learn not only to give but how to save. The series will show you how to handle your money and how to budget.

Telling

           The whole of our life should be service. Even our work. Some of us are put in places of employment that are easier than others. I work at a grocery store in the deli department. It is not somewhere where I am able to use my intelligence. I feel like my brain shuts down. I basicly wash the dishes and tie up chickens for the roasting. I have trouble at certain times feeling this is what God in His sovereignty wants me to do. But that is the mind set I must take.  He has me there for a purpsoe.
      Please comment about your work situation. How do you manage it?
      Also follow me .

Christain Growth Needed

    It is important  once a person becomes a believer that growth happens.Growth happens through attending a Bible Believing/ Bible Teaching church. Growth happens through prayer and the application of faith. You must also read your Bible. Martin Luther made it possible to have a translation in your mother tongue. Before him all that was available was the one chained to the pulpit for the priest to read and interpret.
    People had to be taught to read. Then they had the Bible they could pick up and ingest. I suggest that you take a small section and read it. Take notes as you do so. Find a verse or two in the day's reading to memorize.
   "Your word have I hide in my heart that I might not sin against God."  Psalm 119:11.
    And there are books you can read to help. I will offer you one link and you can go see about it; Click here.  The offer is for Ebooks.
    Growth is slow but steady so don't get discouraged

Bible Reading-Two

 When yu are reading the Bible take the time  to slow down and pray over the passsage. There may be something there that God is using to speak to you. So you pray it back and wait. Sometimes the question you have is answered in the following paragraph. Sometimes not. There may be another passge located some place else in the Bible.
    I would recommend a study Bible. Most study Bibles will have some notes to help you. The notes are not the word of God. But if you get a good study Bible the chances are that the person who included the notes can be used as a conduit. Jot down in your notebook your observations.
   A plan you can use is to read through the Bible in a years time. There are many good programs out there. Your study Bible should have one to offer. Or follow your church's Bible Reading plan.
   Get into the word and get the word into you. You do this by memorizing passages as you read. Say you find a verse thsat you like. Memorize slowly and word for word. This is the process called hiding the word in your heart.
    "Your word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against God."-Psalm 119:11
    "Study to show yourself approved unto God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed"
     Stay with me. More is to come. Become a member and get all the postings. You may need to refer back to them someday. 

Memorize to Recall

    If a person wants you to know him he will do everything in his power to communicate with you.
    God wants to have you on the same page as Him. He wants to be able to be involved in your life. Memorization of Scripture is a good way to do this. God speaks through the Bible. He is not silent.God can be known. He has caused to be written all He wishes you to know.
     If you were to receive  a letter from someone you really care about, you would memorize portions so you could quote it to all who will listen. After you get into a relationship with God you will want to have portions of what He has said hidden in your heart.
   Psalm 119: 11 states, "Your word I have hide in my heart, that I might not sin against God."
   Psalm 119 also says "Your word is a lamp onto my feet and a light onto my path."
   A person easily can take a portion of the Scripture and learn it. "Be anxious for nothing, but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:6,7.
     Okay. That last passage is a bit longer. But if you only remember"Be anxious for nothing." you can remember it at times when you start to feel anxious.
     A way to memorize. Select the passge. Read it through a few times. Five times may be a start. Then without looking try to repeat it word for word.It is important you do it word for word. Also try to stay with the same translation of the Scripture. I first started with the King James. I now use the New American Standard. The New International is good. Just stick to one translation.
     Repeat the verse by memory five times. Check for accuracy. Rest up for a while. Repeat until you have it word for word without looking. The reason for this is that most of the time you won't have the Bible with you when you want to quote it to someone.
     Be sure to get the address as part of your Scripture verse when you memorize. This will help you remember where it is located.
     From time to time I will be repeating myself when it comes to topics. Just want you to know now. The best idea for you is to fellowship me so you don't miss a word of this important blog. 
     And feel free to comment. I love reading comments. I do respond.

Man, God's Creation

   Let us move from the Bible, which is the basis for all I am going to post in this series ( as it is for all I post) to the supreme creation of God. I am of course talking about man.
   First off, man is not a thing nor is he a product of an evolutionary burp. As recorded for us in the Bible, Man is the pinnacle of God's creative work.
    For five days God was setting the earth up for hhabitation. He created the sun and the stars and the moon . He set aside day and night to mark the passage of time. He caused vegetation to grow. He created fish and fowl and four legged beasts. And on the sixth day, according to the report, God created animals and man.
     Once again, let me say, man is not a animal. For which animal did God look at and breath into its nostrils the breath of life? That is, to what animal did he give His image to?
      And what is this image? This Likeness? It is creativity. It is the ability to think. It is the ability to communicate. And so much more.
      Into this garden God had created He placed Adam and Eve. Was that their real names? Maybe not. Adam means man. Eve is mother of all living. The point is, they came fresh from the creative hand of God.
These two enjoyed fellowship with God, spoken of as walking and talking with God in the cool of the evening. During the day they would take care of the garden. Work was a pleasure. God had given to them the deed of co-ownership with Him of the earth. 
       They had fellowship with Him face to face.
        God didn't want them to obey Him just because He had created them. He wanted them to choose to obey Him. So He set up a quiz, sort of. They could eat the fruit of all the trees in the garden. They were not to eat of the fruit of the one tree in the middle of the garden. This was a quiz or test. Will they obey or will they decide not to obey? This was a direct command of God.
         One day, I don't know how long after creation, Adam and his wife were out taking care of he garden and they were walking around. They passed by the tree in the middle of the garden.
        They run into one of the animals. The Bible calls him a serpent. Maybe not an four footed animal. A reptile. This reptile was being used by a fallen angel, the chief of the fallen angels, named Satan.      
          This indweltt reptile spoke to Eve. Adam was close by.  But Satan spoke to Eve.She must have been an easy touch. Satan had no doubt been observing the couple and knew where the wickest link was. Adam had direct communication with God. Adam would then transmit what God said to the woman. This may have been the first instance of family devotions.
            Eve gave in. "Has God said...? And she took and ate. And then must have turned to Adam who by now had turned his attention back to his wife. She gave him the fruit. He ate also fully knowing where it had come from.
            So they disobeyed. God had to throw them out of the garden and they lost fellowship with Him. No longer could they walk and talk with Him. They now had to come through a sacrifice God had shown them this when He killed an animal and clothed them. "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin." They had to transmit this truth to their offspring.
         But God also promised them a redeemer who was to come and shed His blood.
          God had said that in the day they ate of the fruit of that tree in the middle of the garden they would die. They ate, but physically they didn't die.Not that day. But they were separated from God. This is the first death. The second death comes to those who don't come to Him by the way He provided .. those who live a life separated from Him and who physically die. And that isn't always happening to the very old. A person can die at any time. God holds the years of your life in His hand. My brother was only twenty one when a snippers bullet in Vietnam cut off his life. You never know the time of your death.
   "There is a time for everything under the sun. A time to be born and a time to die..."

Foundation

    Before I go on in this study on Cults I feel I should let you in on a secret. Get close now. Christianity didn't spring up without a foundation.
    Christianity never could have come if it wasn't for a man called Abraham. He was called out of his Ancestral home in Basra  ( southern Iraq). He heard God's voice telling him to go to a land that He would show him. He went and lived the life of a nomad. He was quite old. He and his wife, Sarah had a child named Isaac. Abraham was a hundred at the time and Sarah was ninty.
     As the story goes Isaac and Rebecca had two sons, Jacob and Esau. It was through Jacob that God worked. He had twelve sons. Through the line of Judah God worked and brought about a King named David. From David's line came Jesus. The Jew  is also called a Hebrew.  The name comes from "Eber",  their traditional ancestor
    Jewishness is not a religion. It is a nationality.They are looking for a Messiah. What they won't admit is that the Messiah has already come. According to the scriptures which thay had guarded and preserved , Jesus of Nazareth was the messiah they were looking for.
    Let me place here a look at what  Christian say and what the Orthodox Jew says.
    When  it comes to God- the Christian  says our God is revealed as  a trinity; Father, Son, And Holy Spirit., Not three Gods but one God - One essence.
    The orthodox Jew would say "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God,The Lord is one." That comes from the Shema.
    As for Sin the Christian says that in Adam man fall and is now born in sin.
    The Jew would say, no. Man is born neither good nor bad. Man is born free with the capacity to choose between good and evil. Therefore each man is accountable for himself
    As for Jesus, most Jews see Him as a good teacher of ethics. Since Jesus did not bring lasting peace nor did He deliver Israel from the oppression of Rome, He was not and could not be the Messiah.
..   But did you know the first people called Christian were a small group of Jews? Yes. Jews. We can call them completed Jews. The term "Christians" was a term used by people to try to mock the followers of The Way.."They were first called Christians at Antioch " That is recorded in the Book of Acts. Look it up
    Until next time.
    Please feel free to comment. I will read and respond.