January 15th, 2008 at 8:22 am
The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life
By A.W. Tozer
Why We Must Think Rightly About God – Wrong ideas about God are idolatry. A right understanding of God lifts the burdens which destroy our souls.
God Incomprehensible – We cannot know what God is like in Himself. We can only know what God has disclosed about Himself. God shows Himself to faith (an organ of knowledge) and love (an organ of experience) not reason.
A Divine Attribute: Something True About God – How God is and what God is as far as He has revealed Himself to us.
The Holy Trinity – God has worked His every act as the Trinity in Unity. He cannot divide Himself into parts. It is a mystery too easily rejected by the mind entranced by faith in secularism and materialism.
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July 10th, 2007 at 12:10 am
So what else is new from the unscriptural world of the Vatican?
Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released today that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches.
Benedict approved a document from his old offices at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that restates church teaching on relations with other Christians. It was the second time in a week the pope has corrected what he says are erroneous interpretations of the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meetings that modernized the church.
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July 9th, 2007 at 12:09 am
From almost the beginning of time, God has used messengers, both inspired and uninspired, to convey instruction, comfort, and warning to mankind. For just as long, mankind has largely rejected the message. The world’s determination not to hear God is shown, not only by its deaf ear to His word, but also by its efforts to silence His messengers. Consider the variety of ways in which that is done.
Persecution
Mistreatment of Old Testament prophets was so commonplace that Stephen asked, “Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?” (Acts 7:52). Jesus warned His apostles that they would be outcasts from the synagogue (John 16:2). By the time Paul wrote 2 Corinthians he had already been beaten five times by the Jews and three times by Gentile officials (2 Corinthians 11:24-25).
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July 8th, 2007 at 12:08 am
For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel - Ezra 7:10
Jeshua and Zerubbabel led the initial group of Babylonian captives back to Jerusalem. With the help of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, they rebuilt the temple. About eighty years later, King Artaxerxes authorized a second group to return under Ezra. His mission was to teach God’s law. Artaxerxes ordered the provincial rulers in Palestine to provide Ezra whatever he needed. The King himself donated funds to pay for operating expenses at the temple (Ezra 7).
The Bible emphasizes that Artaxerxes granted Ezra’s requests because “the hand of the Lord was upon him” (Ezra 7:6, 9, 28). And why was God’s hand so favorable toward this priest? Because, as our text explains, he had set his heart on God. That involved three things.
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July 7th, 2007 at 12:07 am
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16
This verse is likely the most famous of the 31,173 in the Bible. What does it tell us about God?
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July 6th, 2007 at 12:06 am
People who are concerned about spiritual things are interested in this subject of conversion. It is very common to have someone volunteer “their testimony” and “give their experience” regarding their conversion. Very often these accounts involve describing the degradation of their former spiritual condition, depicting how immoral, how drunkenly depraved or how dishonest, the person might have been. A direct, miraculous and, therefore, irresistible intervention of the Holy Spirit is usually also a part of these “testimonials.”
Subjectivism
I cannot refute such narratives as this. I believe those that relate them are honest and sincere. Whatever they experienced was very real and meaningful to them. However, these tales are all subjective and unsubstantiated. This kind of testimony would be inadmissible in a court of law. Surely you can see how it could not be expected to persuade others. Whatever the experience was to those who had it; it is meaningless as proof of anything, especially conversion.
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July 5th, 2007 at 12:05 am
“Then he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, of Gad the King’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for thus was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets.”
The quotation above comes from 2 Chronicles 29:25. We have quoted it here to establish that God commanded the use of mechanical instruments of music in connection with the worship of the temple designed by David and built by Solomon. Furthermore, a study of the context reveals that the particular Levites of this passage were those stationed by Hezekiah in his work of restoring the service of the temple after the Jews had failed to properly worship the Lord. The restoration would not be complete until the instruments were properly used in the temple worship.
This passage is important to a study of the relation of the Old Testament to Christian worship. The passage has been used by many in an attempt to bring mechanical instruments of music into Christian worship. However, the passage is actually as strong an argument against the instrument in Christian worship as can be made.
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July 4th, 2007 at 12:04 am
“Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men” - Philippians 2:5-7
The Primary Lesson
Paul the Apostle issues a threefold directive to the Philippian Church. First, they are to be of one accord. In order to achieve this each one must humble self and take an active concern in the things of his brethren above his own concerns, wants and needs. As the supreme example of this disposition of mind, Paul introduces the example of Christ to them. The Word, whom they knew as Jesus, “made Himself of no reputation” or “emptied Himself” (ASV). He did not consider His own pleasures, comforts, desires or rights but put the needs of His brethren above Himself and was made in the likeness of men.
The primary lesson of this text is humility. When brethren have the mind of Christ, they are at peace, united and working spreading the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven (Philippians 2:14-16).
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July 3rd, 2007 at 12:03 am
It is evident from the Scriptures that from before the foundation of the world God intended that men should be employed with useful and productive labor. It is a mistaken notion that considers work a punishment for Adam and Eve’s transgressions. God in the creation announced that man was to “subdue…and have dominion” over all the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). In order to facilitate this objective, He planted a garden “eastward in Eden” and placed the man in it with this instruction: “dress it and keep it” (Genesis 2:8-15). While it may seem idyllic to some, God never intended for man to be at his leisure with nothing to do.
However, it is true that sin complicated man’s existence in this world affecting his ability to fulfill his intended purpose. Because of sin, the earth brought forth “thorns and thistles” (Genesis 3:18). This caused man “in sorrow” to “eat of it all the days of thy life” (Genesis 3:17). That word “sorrow” literally means “worrisome, labor, pain, or toil.” Sin brought a curse upon the earth and man with the curse came “strength labor and sorrow” (Psalm 90:10).
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July 2nd, 2007 at 12:02 am
Webster defines chaste as “not having engaged in unlawful sexual intercourse; virtuous; free from obscenity, descent; undefiled or stainless.” Roget gives as synonyms the words: pure, virginal, virtuous, unsullied, unblemished, innocent, good, wholesome, moral.” In the Bible the word translates agnon which is properly “clean” and tropically, “innocent, modest, perfect, chaste, pure” in a moral sense. This word is derived from agos (an awful thing) sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated. It is the word for holy and saint.
Unfortunately, we live in a time when chastity is trivialized. Young men and women are ridiculed in movies, music and literature if they have maintained their virginity. Yet, our society is beginning to see the damage that has been done. However, it is a shame that chastity has to be “promoted” and “advocated” like a fad when it ought to be the expected norm.
Bible Principles that Relate to Chastity
We need to recognize that God made us sexual beings (Genesis 1:27; Matthew 19:4-6). It is His intent that men realize and fulfill their sexuality (Genesis 1:28; 8:17). Furthermore, our sexuality is for our good and our pleasure. When God announced His intent to make a woman, it was because it was not “good” for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). Numerous times in the Bible God encourages man to find the joy of companionate marriage (Proverbs 5:18; Song 4:9-5:1ff).
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