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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

"Lord, You Have Been Our Dwelling Place"----- Forever

"Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations....Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God." (Psalm 90)
 
This is a grand worship.  He who Is, "from everlasting to everlasting," Is the Very One Who Is, "our dwelling place."  This is not some place as a chapel, church building, or great worship gathering.  This, "place," is none other than a Person, the only Visible Person of the Godhead, "the Man Christ Jesus."
 
The Eternal Living Triune God, He Who is "our dwelling place," made a marvelous invitation to continue in, "our dwelling place," centuries later.  "Abide in Me, and My words abide in you."  This is not some swooning abiding, some reeling back and forth "worship" posture.  This abiding, "our dwelling place," is a very objective abiding, "My words abide in you."  This is "guaranteed" abiding, not a feeling, which, as you know all too well, can just come and go at will.  This, "My words abide in you," abiding will keep us where we cannot keep ourselves.  This, "My words abide in you," abiding sustains during the darkest "night of the soul." 
 
This abiding saved my life 40 years ago, and continues to save me, because it is the abiding of the Savior, our Lord and King Jesus Christ, breathing on me the "God-Breathed" Word, the very Breath of the Holy Spirit.  According to the Bible, bread sustains a person physically, but "every word" which, "proceeds from the mouth of God," keeps me now and , "from everlasting to everlasting," in Him Who is, "our dwelling place."  This is guaranteed housing.
 
Father, in Jesus' Name, I just what to confess with Moses, "from everlasting to everlasting You are God."  And thank You for the invitation to share the, "dwelling place."  Amen.  
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New video post of the true face of Islam at: www.apf327.blogspot.com 
 

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

"There is None Other"

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby which we must be saved."  (Acts 4:12, KJV)
 
The Greek word translated, "Neither," here is an "absolute negative."  There is no room for "multiculturalism" in the Church, only the Culture of Jesus Christ and His "Law-Word."  There is just, "none other name under heaven given among men...."  The only "freedom of choice" here is to choose forgiveness or condemnation, life or death, Heaven or Hell. 
 
If anyone takes the Bible seriously, he soon discovers that Christianity is an exclusive, intolerant religion.  So is Islam.  The difference, however, is that the rogue elements of Christianity which engaged in inquisitions, forced baptisms, burnings at the stake, finally gave them up.  Inquisitions and the murder of those who refused to receive Him was never once sanctioned by Jesus Christ.  You simply cannot say this about Muhammad, the Koran, and true Koran believing Muslims.  Regardless, all throughout the Bible the, "neither," and, "none other," reality is fundamental to the decrees of God.  They are not "The Ten Alternatives."  Furthermore, you never find Jesus saying, "I am a;" It is always, "I am the...."
 
In the early 1930s, Inge Karding, a student in one of Bonhoeffer's lectures wrote the following comment about the mood in Germany after the rise of Adolph Hitler.  "Among the public there spread the expectation that the salvation of the German people would now come from Hitler.  But in the lectures we were told that salvation comes only from Jesus Christ."  Most Americans and the nations of the world are still is in search of other "saviors."  The rebellious will continue this pursuit until the culmination of the age in the ultimate "savior" of deception, the Anti-Christ.  But, "Then comes the end, when [Jesus] delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power," and, "the kingdoms of this world"---------------------------- are no more. 
 
Father, in Jesus' Name, keep me ever vigilant.  Amen.
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Prophetic Video:                www.antipasprayerforce2.blogspot.com
News, Commentary:          www.apf327.blogspot.com
 
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

Monday, August 16, 2010

War is Not the Battle of Guns-- War is the Battle of Troubled Hearts

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand...." (Romans 5:1, 2a)
 
---"Through Whom," we have everything God has for us.  Nothing of eternal value is had apart from Jesus Christ, "through Whom," we are, "accepted in the beloved," and, "through Whom we have now received the reconciliation," and, "through whom are all things, and through whom we live," and, "through Whom He also made the worlds." 
 
Our text also speaks of, "peace with God," which is only in Jesus Christ.  And one could correctly say that without, "peace with God, " there is no peace with anyone, anywhere.  Someone once described peace as the opposite of chaos.  It is certainly the opposite of war, but chaos and war are not just outward realities.  They are inward realities of the soul without Jesus Christ.  I read an article on Tolstoy's War and Peace which asserted, "The reader discovers early on that many of the principle characters in the novel are as much at war with themselves as they are with Napoleon."
 
Colossians 1:20 says of Jesus that He, "made peace through the blood of His cross."  Ephesians 2:14 says that Jesus, "Himself is our peace",.. and that one of the effects of the Cross of Jesus Christ is, "that He might reconcile them both (Jew and Gentile) to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity."  Maybe if we concentrated more on the finished work of Jesus at the Cross, we might see more peace in the hearts and minds of men, more peace between people, and the rule of peace among nations.  It is for certain, when the, "Prince of Peace," returns in His Glorious Resurrection Body, and after His war against His enemies, there will be, "peace on earth."  A "Thought for the Day:"  When the angels announced to the shepherds, "peace on earth," it was not the absence of war between nations or individuals.  It was a road map to the manger. 
 
Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to keep seeing every day just how much life itself affirms Your Words.  Amen.
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When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

Friday, August 13, 2010

"Planted Together in," Jesus Christ

"For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.... (Romans 6:5)

Earlier the Apostle says that we, "
were baptized into Christ Jesus," that we, "were baptized into His death."  The word for "baptize" means more than just "to dip."  Vine says that the Greeks used the word "to signify the dyeing of a garment, or drawing of water by dipping a vessel into another."  When I was, "baptized into Christ Jesus," I was not just "dipped" into Christ Jesus.  I took on the same "color" as Jesus, "dipped" into Jesus to draw from Jesus' very Life. 

The KJV translates our text, "
If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection...."  The word translated, "planted,"  means that we are "born together with, of joint origin, congenital (present from birth), innate, implanted by birth" in Jesus Christ.  "Born together" in Jesus, "of joint origin," present from birth, and since there is no "origin" or "birth" of Jesus, the reality is that I am from eternity in Jesus, "of joint origin;" hence, no beginning, no ending.

The cross has been described as "the great pivotal point of history."  Everything before the Cross pointed to the Cross, and everything after the Cross points back to the Cross.  Without the Cross of Jesus Christ, we have nothing, the human race, the planet would be headed toward the Pit.  The Cross of Jesus is not "done and over with."  This is behind Paul's statement, "
For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."  It is obvious that Paul did not just keep repeating "the Cross, the Cross."  The Holy Spirit through Paul was saying that the Cross is central, foundational.  All the grace, mercy, faithfulness, provision, deliverance, joy, peace, etc., which we have in Jesus Christ came "at the Cross."  

"
Planted," in Christ's Death, "Planted," in Christ's Resurrection."  What wondrous glory, mercy, and love!

Father, in Jesus' Name, "keep me near the cross, there a precious fountain."  Amen.
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Prophetic Video:               www.antipasprayerforce2.blogspot.com
News:                              www.apf327.blogspot.com
Devotional Archive:          www.apfdevotionals.blogspot.com

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

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