murder

March 24, 2019

“Wash Me and I Will Be Whiter Than Snow”

7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. — Psalm 51:7 NLT

Psalm 51:7-15 NLT

David was chosen by God to rule over His people Israel.  God had brought him from the lowly position of shepherd to the highest position in the land. He had watched over and protected David from all of the enemies of Israel and had given him victory after victory. Springtime was when all of the kings went out to war.  Whatever David’s reasons were for staying home in the spring we will never know.   Instead of going out to lead his army as he should have, he sent the army out to fight while he stayed home living a life of leisure and idleness. As the trite old saying goes, “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop”.   David got caught in that trap and fell into sin.  His sin led him to adultery and finally to murder.  As we are told in the book of James, sin brings death.  It brought the death of a marriage, a husband and finally, the death of David’s son.  When Nathan confronted David about his sins, David became humble and repentant.  God forgave him but there were still the consequences of his sin that he had to face.  We must be careful to stay on course and not deviate from what God has called us to do. If we stop and stay idle before the job is finished, we put ourselves in jeopardy. When God shows us our sins, we need to have the same heart David had and react the same way.  God is not looking for ways to punish us but to forgive us and restore us.

1 John 1:5-10 NLT“

The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

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November 15, 2018

“God Always Makes A Way of Escape”

even-smaller-bug-light1

28 When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. 29 Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, 30 but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.  — Luke 4:28-30 NLT

After His temptation in the wilderness and at the Temple in Jerusalem,  Jesus went to the region of Galilee.  He had taught in their synagogues and ministered to people in that area and was praised by the people.  When He came to His boyhood home of Nazareth, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath where He read from the scroll.  As He began to teach, He explained that what He had read was being fulfilled before their eyes that very day.  (Luke 4:14-27)  He went on to explain to them that He could not do the miracles here that He did in Capernaum because no prophet was accepted in his hometown.  In other words, it is hard to witness to those who really know us because “familiarity breeds contempt”.   Those that know us best sometimes have less respect for us because they feel that we are trying to be more holy than they are.  To them, Jesus was just a carpenter’s son, but to the rest of the world, He was the Son of God.  Their contempt for Him caused them to become angry at His words.  So, they mobbed Him and took Him to the top of the cliff intending to push Him off the cliff and murder Him.  However, it was not His time to die nor was He to die in this manner.  In an amazing miracle, Jesus simply walked through the crowd and went on His way.  God protected Him in some fashion, we aren’t told how.  The takeaway from this story is that as long as we are obedient to God, He will protect us from all danger.  If we speak the words He wants us to speak, we will not die before our time or in any manner that was not planned beforehand. We should never be afraid to speak the words that are given to us by the Holy Spirit.


10  Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.  Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.  ​ — Isaiah 41:10 NLT​

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 11-15-2018

October 13, 2015

Be Resolute in Resisting

even-smaller-bug-light111 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. — Col. 2:11-14 NIV

​The life, death and resurrection of Jesus fulfilled the law given in the Old Testament. God is no longer ​concerned with whether or not, we are circumcised physically, His concern is with what is going on in our hearts. Our water baptism is an outward symbol of us going through the death and resurrection with Jesus, therefore our flesh is buried with Jesus and we are symbolically raised from the dead with Jesus. We are raised as new creations in Christ Jesus. All of our sin debt has been paid in full. There are no outstanding charges against us now. We need to hang onto that promise because satan is going to come around trying to convince us that we are not set free.   Don’t listen to him, he is a murderer, a thief and a liar. If he can convince us that we are still guilty, he will destroy our testimony and make us useless in the kingdom here on earth. We must ask Jesus to be Lord over our lives and submit totally to His will. If we do this, when satan comes around. he will flee from us. So, when we have done everything God has asked us to do in a situation, then just stand firm and resist. How do we resist the devil? We do the same thing Jesus did, we use the Word to resist him. This mean we must spend time in the word learning what God says about our rights and our position in Him.

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. — James 4:7, 8
Once we have rebuked satan with the word, we just need to stand firm.  God will do the rest, the power of His word will send satan scampering away. But we must stay on the alert, he will sneak back around and try the same and/or other tactics to try to weaken our resolve. 

Post 10-13-2015
August 21, 2014

The Law(s)–All or Nothing! Grace–All for Nothing!

God is waiting to show you the Way.

God is waiting to show you the Way.

10 If someone obeys all of God’s laws except one, that person is guilty of breaking all of them. 11 After all, the one who said, “Never commit adultery,” is the same one who said, “Never murder.” If you do not commit adultery but you murder, you become a person who disobeys God’s laws. 12 Talk and act as people who are going to be judged by laws that bring freedom. 13 No mercy will be shown to those who show no mercy to others. Mercy triumphs over judgment.–James 2:10-13 (GW)
​The law(s) were given to the children of Israel to show them that sin was in the world. Without the law there would have been no disobedience of the law and therefore they would not have understood sin. With the law, they understood sin and also understood that no human being could live up to the perfect standard required by the law. The law was their/our teacher to show them/us that we all need a Savior. This was no surprise to God. Before the foundations of the earth were laid, He had prepared a perfect Lamb to be our Savior. Because God is merciful, He sent His only Son into the world as the only perfect human. Jesus came to us knowing that He would be sacrificed for our sins, although He was sinless. Now we live under grace, the unmerited favor of God. We did nothing and can do nothing to earn grace and salvation. It is a free gift from God.
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.–Ephesians 2:8,9 (NLT)
We should sing praises to God daily. He is a marvelous, amazing God. “What a wonderful Savior is Jesus our Lord”!!!!!!!
Post 08-21-14

February 28, 2014

Living A Holy Life Is A Process- #8

God is waiting to show you the way.

God is waiting to show you the way.

18 Jesus said, “Do you still not understand? Surely you know that nothing that enters someone from the outside can make that person unclean. 19 It does not go into the mind, but into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant that no longer was any food unclean for people to eat.) 20 And Jesus said, “The things that come out of people are the things that make them unclean. 21 All these evil things begin inside people, in the mind: evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, adultery, 22 greed, evil actions, lying, doing sinful things, jealousy, speaking evil of others, pride, and foolish living. 23 All these evil things come from inside and make people unclean.”–Mark 7:18-23 (NCV)
To be successful in living a life that is holy and pleasing to God, we must learn to think right. To do this, we have to learn to avoid all the bad thoughts that society offers us everyday. TV commercials, billboards, ads, and songs all offering us really bad advice about how to be happy, popular and accepted by our friends and neighbors. We must remember that the old “GIGO” (garbage in, garbage out) refers to all computers. Since our mind is the most remarkable computer there is, it certainly applies to us. We must spend time each day getting to know Jesus by studying His letters to us and meditating on the depth of His love for us. The thought is the mother of the action. So, we must allow God’s Spirit to purify our minds. The power of the Word of God is the only way to defeat satan and his mind games.
Post 02-28-14
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