3/24/13

From Gary...And the runner up is...


And the runner up is...


Yesterday, I posted the most popular post of all time (5200+ hits).  Today, the second most popular (2800+ hits).  What is amazing is that both of these were written just a few days apart about four years ago!!!  And both were from (composite biblereflections. blogspot.com).  Until about a month ago, I had not done a post on it in four years.  Who Knew?????

From Gary...the next revolution


Our ability to use tools has continued to grow since the first day someone had the idea to use a stick as a club and over thousands of years it has changed the world.  We went through the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial revolution and now the electronic age.  Humans have literally changed the face of the planet!!! As I see it, the next step is for science to re-invent mankind.  We are in the beginnings of the biologic age. We are designing food to make it more resistant to disease and it won't be long before eugenics becomes the norm.  But what does that word mean anyway?  Here are a couple of definitions...


Eugenics Eu*gen"ics, n.
   The science of improving stock, whether human or animal. --F.    Galton.
   [1913 Webster]


WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) (wn)
eugenics
    n 1: the study of methods of improving genetic qualities by
         selective breeding (especially as applied to human mating)
         [ant: cacogenics, dysgenics]


So, if we re-design us, won't the picture at the top be outdated?  But, I wonder, will human interaction ever been obsolete?  Somehow, the book of Proverbs came to mind...

Proverbs, Chapter 30

  18 “There are three things which are too amazing for me,four which I don’t understand:
  19 The way of an eagle in the air;
the way of a serpent on a rock;
the way of a ship in the midst of the sea;
and the way of a man with a maiden.


We use our intelligence in so many ways and because of our abilities, we rule the planet, but if we change ourselves at a fundamental genetic level, would we become something non-human?  We are GOD'S creation and it is HIS DESIGN that has made us the greatest species on the planet.  Perhaps there are limits to what we should do.  I know that human being CAN DO almost anything imaginable, but the question of ETHICS always comes up; SHOULD WE PLAY GOD?  For me, the answer is an absolute NO!!!  But, then again, I like the mystery of the last part of verse 19 above.  Love does indeed make the world go round!!!  Electronics I can live with (and integrate into my life) but genetic engineering applied to human beings?  Humm, does the term Holocaust ring a bell?

From Gary V. Womack...USING WHAT YOU HAVE



USING WHAT YOU HAVE

2 Kgs. 4:1-7 Elisha & the poverty stricken 
                    widow.

                    Her need: 2 children, no food, 
                    creditors coming to take her 
                    children away.

                    Pride did not prevent her from 
                    asking Elisha for help.

vs. 2 "What do you have in the house?" 
          One jar of oil.


What do you have to use? Does it seem insignificant ? Only to you.


Ex. 4:1-5 God asked Moses, "What is that in 
                                              your hand?"

                            With that rod, Moses parted the 
                            Red Sea & brought water from 
                            a rock.

vs. 3 Borrow empty vessels from everywhere - Not just a few

EXPECT to receive + PREPARE to receive = Have FAITH.

vs. 4 Pour what you have into the empty vessels.

Use what you have, don't worry about what you lack. It is enough!!

After we do what we can with what we have- God provides what we can't - This is called GRACE

Other examples:

Jn. 2:1-10 Jesus turns water into wine 
                (From 6 pots of water, He makes wine)

Mt. 14:15-21 Jesus feeds 5000 
                    with 5 loaves & 2 fish (12 baskets 
                     over)

Mt. 15:32-38 Jesus feeds 4000 
                    with 7 loaves & a few fish (7 baskets 
                    over)

vs. 6 She filled all of the vessels

God gives abundantly - providing what is lacking.

He wants us to know the abundance of His love for us.

Eph. 3:18-ff "...exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think..."

vs. 7 Enough oil to sell to pay the debt & to live on. Sufficient to the need

2 Cor. 12:7-10 Paul's thorn in the flesh - God's grace is sufficient.

Sufficient - [arkeo] "To ward off; hence, to aid, to assist" Also translated:

content - "Primarily signifies to be sufficient, to be 
                possessed of sufficient strength, to be 
                enough for a thing. To be satisfied."

Heb. 13:5 "Let your conduct be without 
                 covetousness, and be content with such 
                 things as you have. For He Himself has 
                 said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake 
                 you.' "

APPLICATION:

2 Cor. 9:6-11 If we are busy doing our part -
                     God will supply what we lack
                     to accomplish the work He has 
                     given us to do.

What are we looking to do? 
Reach many lost souls.

What do we have to work with? 
Time, ability, money.

Is it enough? Time, ability, money?

God can make all grace abound toward you.

Lk. 6:38 (Jesus) "Give, and it will be given to you: 
                          good measure, pressed down, 
                          shaken together, and running over
                          will be put into your bosom. For 
                          with the same measure that you 
                          use, it will be measured back to 
                          you."

(2 Cor. 9:10) Seed = God's word Sow
                    We plant Reap = Fruit to righteousness

From Isa. 55:10-11 What God "pleases" 
                               - He will accomplish

Is it God's "pleasure" for the work of the church to prosper? Then will He not prosper this work to accomplish His pleasure?

If we give of our best to the Lord (time, ability, resources) He will bless our efforts.

1 Cor. 3:5-7 We plant + God gives the increase =
                    He is glorified.



INVITATION

Are we too sinful for God to forgive? Are we too unworthy for His grace?

1 Tim. 1:12-17 Paul - chief of sinners - 
                       Exceedingly abundant grace -
                       An example of God's patience - 
                       The pattern of our hope.

From Jim McGuiggan... WAR OF THE WORLDS

WAR OF THE WORLDS

But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 
And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. 

2 Corinthians 10:2-6, KJV

The immediate background to the text is this: The Corinthian congregation was richly and graciously blessed by God’s gifts but remained childish and pride-filled [see 1 Corinthians 1:4-7; 3:1-3; 4:6-8]. This made them easy prey for false teachers who came with a perverted gospel [see 1 Corinthians 9:1-2 and 2 Corinthians 10:5—11:15]. Paul says he will deal with these gospel perverts as soon as the Corinthians have a change of heart and behavior [2 Corinthians 10:6].

The pride-filled Corinthians didn’t like the way Paul went about his business but they never understood! For Paul this was no religious game and congregations of Christ were not gatherings of ancient but nice Rotarian types—for him it was war!
In his war in Christ’s name and for His sake Paul doesn’t war “after the flesh” or use “weapons of the flesh.” He doesn’t lie or brag or seduce or slander or envy. Neither does he preach/teach his heritage or accomplishments and so make Christ a slave to culture or nationalism or self-serving ministers. [Later when he does list what he has experienced and endured, he feels like a fool but he does it because he is compelled to do it to defend his gospel—2 Corinthians 11:9-31 and later.] Paul had a single message [1 Corinthians 2:1-5], a fool’s message [1 Corinthians 4:9-10 with 1 Corinthians 1:18-25]. In him the Lord Jesus was again playing the fool—God’s fool—before the mocking world.
Paul never sees his work in establishing little assemblies as anything less than his unceasing brawl with a world-spirit, with an evil-age. He believed that he was at war with a cosmic force, an evil “god of this world” [2 Corinthians 4:3-4] and his weapon—his only weapon—against this massive anti-God and anti-life cosmos was a Story! A true Story, the Story of God as he has come to us in and as the blessed One, the Lord Jesus.
By this he makes war!
It alone subverts the structures that now in human experience serve the world-spirit that narrows people and leaves them without hope and imagination. This satanic force renders them slaves, incapable of seeing a new world, and the entrenched cultural way of life and its behaviors become all there is and can be expected. In their blindness they think they can fine-tune reality with political or social or psychological or economic or humane programs or a combination of these and more. If they can do this they can make reality worthy and worthwhile.
But in their more lucid moments, whether they are presidents, prime ministers or “peons” they know these efforts are futile if the world is to truly benefit. All the fine ventures smash on the rock of human corruption and human corruptibility—there must be some other power that will re-create the world or it will spin on and on in its slavery and growing despair.
These human structures [such as governments] are not evil in themselves; they are God’s creation [Colossians 1:15-16] but they have been hijacked and in the ceaseless experience of humans they have become satanic, demonic. And how is it that God dealt with them and will finally unveil his having dealt with them? He dealt with them in a single person—the blessed Lord Jesus [Colossians 2:15]. He alone has defeated the corrupted powers and now lives in the New Covenant People whose business, as the “Body of Christ,” is to embody and proclaim the Victory [1 John 5:4-5] that is of God in the Lord Jesus.
Paul says that is the war he is engaged in [2 Corinthians 10:4-5]. The satanically driven powers wherever and whenever they show themselves are to taken captive not by bombs or shrewd politicking. Only the truth of God made present in gospeling is the kind of power that meets such power and overcomes it. Such powers aren't fought by "weapons of the flesh," can't be defeated by weapons of the flesh—whether those weapons are psych programs or programs of social bonding or humane behavior. Only God can overcome "the world," only his power "saves" [in all the ways that "saves" can mean—Romans 1.16] and it saves because in it his faithfulness is unveiled. And that faithfulness involves redemption from sin in order to bring about the new world and the destruction of the old in its entirety.
It is the gospel that brings all schemes and plotting and shrewdness into captivity and lays them at the feet of the Lord Christ. It is the gospel that opens the hearts and the eyes of the blind and the alienated. It is the gospel that transforms the mind so that it is able to see new possibilities, new worlds and sing new realities. It is the gospel that delivers people from the kingdoms of this world to the kingdom of God which alone creates and sustains vibrant hope of a future worth rejoicing in and working toward in Christ-imaging righteousness.
When a teacher or preacher rises to speak the gospel, however tiny the gathering or weak the listeners [and the speaker] an eschatological battle begins in the war they declare against the satanic, demonic cosmos. This is no delightful little homily about us all being nice to each other and the Wallmart checkout lady—this is a no quarter asked or given engagement with an enslaving power that the blessed One hates with a perfect hatred.
When as one we raise our voices in song or bow our hearts in prayer or read the Bible or let our monetary gift fall from our grasp or eat and drink in eucharistic sincerity the Lord’s Supper we renew our declaration of war as a congregation of Jesus Christ.
Offer weekly suggestions about marital improvement, child-raising, monetary wisdom or how to get along with one another and such—offer these, week after week after week, as a substitute for the gospel? Offer these as a steady diet when there’s a gospel to bring our hearts to their knees in thanksgiving and repentance, joy and living hope and commitment? Offer these as a steady diet when there’s a gospel that can sustain and mend our hearts that are shredded by bereavement and loss of one awful kind or another? Offer these, “nice little moral pointers,” from verses here and here when the gospel lies before us in the Bible and in the Supper of the Lord?
 A pox on them!
Call for gospeling!
Give God’s People the gospel!

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.

From Mark Copeland...The Crucifixion Of Jesus


                        "THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW"

                  The Crucifixion Of Jesus (27:32-50)

INTRODUCTION

1. Without question, the crucifixion of Jesus was a terrible event...
   a. It was an excruciating and painful way to die, which Jesus was
      willing to accept without pain-killing drugs - Mt 27:32-35
   b. It was a shameful way to die, mocked by those who watched,
      crucified with common thieves - Mt 27:36-44
   c. Along with the physical suffering, there was the spiritual agony
      - Mt 27:45-50

2. While there may be a place for contemplating upon the actual
   physical agony Jesus endured...
   a. Jesus did not want people to weep for Him, but for themselves
      - cf. Lk 23:26-31
   b. Even on the cross, His concern for others was evident - Lk 23:34
   -- So the purpose of the crucifixion was not just to engender pity
      for Jesus

[The significance and lessons to be learned from the crucifixion go far
beyond feeling sorry for what Jesus suffered.  For example, we should
never forget that "The Crucifixion Of Jesus" is...]

I. THE CONDEMNATION OF SIN

   A. JESUS DIED BECAUSE OF SIN...
      1. As foretold, He died for our sins - 1Co 15:3; Isa 53:5-6
      2. He gave Himself for our sins - Ga 1:4
      3. He bore our sins on the cross - 1Pe 2:24
      -- May the thought of the crucifixion remind us of our own
         sinfulness and the need for redemption - 1Jn 1:8-10

   B. JESUS KILLED SIN...
      1. He condemned sin in the flesh through His death - Ro 8:3
      2. Now making it possible for sinners to destroy their own body
         of sin, when united with Him by baptism into His death - Ro 6:
         3-6
      -- May the thought of the crucifixion remind us of our duty to
         crucify the sinful passions of the flesh - Ga 5:24; Col 3:5-11

[To motivate us in our efforts to let Jesus' death help us deal with
the problem of sin, we should also remember that "The Crucifixion Of
Jesus" is...]

II. THE REVELATION OF LOVE

   A. JESUS DIED BECAUSE OF LOVE...
      1. The love of the Father for a lost world - Jn 3:16; Ro 5:8
      2. The love of the Son - Ep 5:2
      -- May our contemplation of the crucifixion never neglect the
         love that was behind the fact - 1Jn 4:9-10

   B. JESUS THEREBY DEMONSTRATED WHAT TRUE LOVE IS...
      1. We now understand the meaning of true love - 1Jn 3:16; Jn 15:13
      2. His love serves as the pattern for our love - Jn 13:34-35;
         15:12
      -- May our contemplation of the crucifixion remind us of the high
         standard of love we are called to show toward one another 
         - 1Jn 4:11

[As we strive to overcome sin and love one another, assisted and
motivated by the death of Jesus on the cross, we should also be mindful
that "The Crucifixion Of Jesus" is...]

III. THE REDEMPTION OF THE WORLD

   A. JESUS DIED FOR ALL...
      1. God desires all men to be saved, not desiring any to perish
         - 1Ti 2:3-6; 2Pe 3:9
      2. Therefore He offered Jesus as a propitiation for all - 1Jn 2:
         1-2
      -- May our meditation upon the crucifixion include thinking about
         the need of others

   B. JESUS IS THE WORLD'S ONLY HOPE...
      1. He is the only way to the Father - Jn 14:6
      2. Only in His name is salvation to be found - Ac 4:12
      3. Deny the Son, and one does not have the Father - 1Jn 2:23
      4. Abide in His doctrine, and one has both the Father and the Son
         - 2Jn 9
      -- May our meditation upon the crucifixion move us to do what we
         can to proclaim the message of redemption to those lost in sin
         - cf. 2Co 5:18-6:1

[And so the death of Jesus on the cross should prompt us to look both
inward and outward, to address both our spiritual needs and those of
others. To what extent effort may be required in these areas, we should
also view "The Crucifixion Of Jesus" as...]

IV. THE INSPIRATION OF SACRIFICE

   A. JESUS PROVIDED THE EXAMPLE...
      1. His death demonstrated the mind of humility - Php 2:3-8
      2. His suffering demonstrated the example of suffering patiently
         - 1Pe 2:20-24
      -- May our reflection upon the crucifixion move us to consider
         what His sacrifice should inspire us to do

   B. JESUS' SACRIFICE IS DESIGNED TO INSPIRE US...
      1. To walk in love - Ep 5:2
      2. To walk in humility - Php 2:3-5
      3. To suffer patiently when mistreated for doing good - 1Pe 2:
         20-24
      4. To give of ourselves to others - 2Co 8:9; 1Jn 3:16-18

CONCLUSION

1. Certainly more could be said about "The Crucifixion Of Jesus"

2. But perhaps these few thoughts will increase our appreciation of
   this significant event...
   a. His death is the condemnation of sin
   b. His death is the revelation of love
   c. His death is the redemption of the world
   d. His death is the inspiration of sacrifice

3. Have you taken advantage of what "The Crucifixion Of Jesus" means
   for you...?
   a. Have you been crucified with Christ?
   b. Are you putting to death the deeds of the flesh?
   c. Are you growing in love?
   d. Are you concerned and doing something about the redemption of the
      world?
   e. Are you inspired in your service to your brethren and the lost by
      the example of Jesus' sacrifice?

In the words of the apostle Paul:  "We then, as workers together with
Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain." (2 Co
6:1)

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

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