Jesus’ Words about Dependence on God in the Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount taught complete dependence on the Father, which Jesus’ life on earth also exemplified.
Yearly Archive: 2020
Memorial Day: The Case for Mourning
There are those who say that a good Christian should always rejoice because of anything that happens, and must never grieve. These people are wrong. Our instructions are to grieve physical death, and to grieve the sinful condition of our world that leads to it, as God himself does, but to do so in a way that expresses our hope in the resurrection. Do not deny grief, but show hope in grief. Groaning is not a sin.
Psalm 90
Let your work appear to your servants, your glory to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us.
Establish the work of our hands for us. Yes, establish the work of our hands
What We Lose If Jesus is Not Human as shown by Jesus’ Preparation for his Ministry
If Jesus is not human, like us, we also lose the promise of the Holy Spirit, the invitation to live by the direction and power of the Spirit like Jesus did while he was here, and everything that flows from that. Fully discussing this topic will require several posts. While Jesus lived among us bodily, he did not rely on…
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Why Jesus’ Full Humanity is Important 1: Our Freedom, Truth, Victory, New Birth and Adoption in Christ
Jesus is fully human. When he was born as a man, that man was in every way like us, except that he was without sin… The fact of Jesus’ full humanity is important because without it we have NOTHING–no life, no forgiveness, no peace with God, no promise of God’s kindness or guidance, no power, no resurrection, no hope.
Our Individual Oneness with Christ
Jesus called Himself the whole vine—which includes each of the branches—not just the root or the trunk of the vine. Thus, we are one with Him as the branch is one with the vine. We are each a part of Him, just as he is the life of each of us…. if we live in Christ and His words live in us, anything we ask will be done for us, because the Father is glorified when we bear fruit.
The Underlying Truth: The Church is One, Invisible Body – What is Missing is Visible Unity
All of our questions about the oneness of the Church, as a present reality, are answered if we truly recognize Christ as its Head… However, our choice for or against the truth does not affect the reality that Christ died to make us one with Himself and with each other. His work is done, and our oneness is a present, completed truth that should influence all of our conduct.
Is God Waiting to See our Oneness before Jesus Returns?
This post will draw no conclusions, but will simply briefly raise a question: is the Church acting in oneness one of the conditions that must be met before the Lord returns? This question arises from two independent lines of scriptures. First, in Matthew 24:14 (NASB), Jesus stated that “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole…
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No Merit — The Golden Key to Freedom in Christ
He has shown us the way into a new life, a life beyond death, a life that is at peace with God. We must receive his life and follow him, living in the Spirit as he did. That is all. No “merit” is involved. God doesn’t look at our “merit.” Jesus doesn’t save us by giving us his “merit;” he saves us by giving us himself. This is the key to freedom.
Hearing God Speak – Conversational Prayer — One Pursuit
This guest post from One Pursuit blog is another writer’s good account of God speaking directly to us. He also makes the very good point that we too often think of “answered prayer” only as “seeing action” in the world, not as hearing his voice.