5/15/13

From Gary... Prophecy, a bottle-tree and a best friend



Yesterday, after doing my daily post, I showed Elizabeth (one of my granddaughters) the post and with it the embedded video's.  She had never seen O BROTHER, where art thou? So, after some rummaging  I finally found the DVD and we watched all of it.  Odd, but funny movie.  I remember that it had in it a fulfilled prophecy of the three sojourners seeing a cow, perched on a corn-crib and thought: how strange!!!  But, life is chock-full of surprises and yesterday was no exception.  Towards evening, Lizzie and I went for a walk with our cameras.  As we left the development and started walking on Wilds road, we saw the first picture- I had never seen one of these before, but to Lizzie, it was "no big deal".  Then we continued our stroll to the neighboring park and took many pictures (some ordinary and others- no-so-much).  On the beginning of our return home, we met some friends. .  Merlin is from Vermont and a very, very friendly person. And he had his friendly little dog Elvis with him as well.  You see, Elvis is a friend of "our dog" Buddy.  Most of the time, Buddy is extremely aggressive towards other canines, regardless of size.  But with Elvis, he acts as friendly as he does with the human masters that he thinks he owns.  I wonder how Buddy really thinks about Elvis as a friend- because it is obvious that Elvis is his BEST FRIEND!!!  If you were to ask me who my best friend is (besides my wife of course), I would tell you that it is Jesus.  But friendship is a reciprocal thing, with give and take on both sides.  The following verse explains what I mean...

John, Chapter 15
 12  “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.   13  Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.   14  You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. 

Love, brotherly love, is a wonderful thing.  My elder brother Jesus wants me to love, really love- Not only God, but others who love God as well.  Easy most of the time, but a at others- one very tall order!!!  Yet, Jesus didn't just talk the talk- he died a miserable, humiliating,  painful death to prove that love.  And when we see him at last, it won't be some odd-ball thing like a bottle tree, but rather the sight of an old friend who knows that we care about HIM too!!!  Can't wait!!!  Humm, I wonder if there will be cameras in heaven???

From Jim McGuiggan... Are You Talking to Me?


Are You Talking to Me?

"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16) I wonder how startling that was when he first taught them that during his eighteen months stay with them? Up on the hill, the Acro-Corinthus, was the famous temple of Aphrodite. There was a time, said Strabo, when it had 5,000 sacred prostitutes working for it and the money poured into the temple coffers. Fifty-six miles away a huge bronze statue of Athena dominated Athens as Aphrodite dominated Corinth. Athena was the goddess of the mind and Aphrodite the goddess of the body (and other things). Both cities obeyed their deities and Athens left us a long line of thinkers and statesmen while Corinth left us a word for venereal disease ("the Corinthian sickness") and a word meaning "to go to hell"--Corinthianize.
So the Corinthians knew what a temple was and they patronised the one on their hill in sufficient numbers that Paul had to chastise them about it later. In the meantime he tells these shopkeepers, water vendors, saddle and tent makers, slaves and mercenaries (see 1 Corinthians 1:26), "you are God's temple."
Amazing doctrine and all the harder to swallow when you think of how the ancient world looked on the lower classes (and I'm not suggesting much has changed in many parts of the world). We're told there were more than 60 millions slaves in the Roman Empire where manhood was cheap, easily bought and just as easily sold. The haggling over price, the very sound of it speaks its horror, "I'll buy him. No chance of fifty, here's thirty-five pieces of silver, he's not worth even that much." Temples were often swept, polished, guarded, respected and decorated with the finest art and most luxurious hangings while the masses were left to grope in the dark, corrupted and corrupting, humiliated, abused and abusive.
Into all this came an itinerant Jew with a message saying that God had come into the world as an ordinary man from peasant stock. Then he said this astonishing thing, "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16) I know we're too familiar with that statement but take a moment just to mull it over. The Spirit of the Lord Almighty dwelled in them. Should that make us look at our little congregation differently? Look around and quote Paul under your breath as you do it. Is this not the foundation for a new way of seeing humans? I wonder if any of those Corinthians went home and got down the polished metal mirror and looked into it for a long time?

©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 Value Of A Soul


                          "THE GOSPEL OF MARK"

                     The Value Of A Soul (8:36-37)

INTRODUCTION

1. After telling His disciples and others nearby the cost of being His
   disciple, Jesus asked...

   "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and
   loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his
   soul?" - Mk 8:36-37

2. With these words of Jesus we are reminded of the value of the soul...
   a. It is the most valuable possession one has
   b. All earthly possessions, position, pleasure, and power are not
      worth the value of one's soul!

[But perhaps some might wonder...]

I. WHY IS THE SOUL OF MAN SO VALUABLE?

   A. IT IS MADE IN GOD'S IMAGE...
      1. Man was created in the image of God - Gen 1:26-27
         a. Yet God does not have a physical body like ours - cf. 
            Jn 4:24; Lk 24:39
         b. Therefore it must be our soul, or spirit, that is in God's
            image
      2. This is what enable us to comprehend abstract concepts as:
         a. Life, death, eternity
         b. Things of beauty
         c. A moral sense of ought, right and wrong, good and evil
      3. Making us more than just animal creatures - cf. Ps 8:3-8

   B. IT IS THAT OVER WHICH WE HAVE MUCH CONTROL...
      1. The body is mostly the result of genetics
         a. We might be able to change a little through exercise,
            plastic surgery, etc.
         b. But we cannot stop the eventual aging and dying process
      2. The soul, however, is different...
         a. Despite one's genetics, there is much that can be changed
         b. With God's help, we can change attitudes, character - 
            Ro 12:1-2; Col 3:12-15

   C. IT DOES NOT CEASE TO EXIST AT DEATH...
      1. The body dies, and soon returns back to the dust
         a. The soul, or spirit, returns back to God - Ec 12:7
         b. Awaiting the resurrection of the body - cf. 1Co 15:35-58
      2. After which comes the Judgment - He 9:27; 2Co 5:10
         a. The soul, in its resurrected body, will bear the brunt of
            that Judgment
         b. Either eternal life, honor, glory, and immortality - Ro 2:7
         c. Or indignation, wrath, tribulation, and anguish - Ro 2:8-9
      3. Which is why we need to evaluate all things (possessions,
         decisions, actions) from an eternal perspective, from the
         soul's viewpoint - Mt 10:28; 16:26

   D. IT REQUIRES A GREAT COST TO REDEEM IT...
      1. What price is required to redeem our souls from the wrath of
         God's judgment?
      2. Nothing less than the blood of the Son of God! - 1Pe 1:18-19
      3. Even if we cannot fully comprehend why Jesus had to die, we
         should able to see that the souls of men must be extremely
         valuable if His death was necessary

[So the Bible teaches that the soul is more valuable than the whole
world!  And yet, many "sell their souls" for what surely are petty
bargains.  For example, consider...]

II. WHAT WILL ONE GIVE IN EXCHANGE FOR HIS SOUL?

   A. FOR SOME IT IS EARTHLY RICHES AND FAME...
      1. In their quest for riches, they neglect their service to God
         - 1Ti 6:10
      2. Yet they've traded their souls for what is corruptible and can
         be stolen - Mt 6:19-21

   B. FOR OTHERS IT IS THE PASSING PLEASURES OF SIN...
      1. Like the young man tempted by the harlot - Pr 5:1-14
         a. In a moment's passion, lives are destroyed (AIDS, unwanted
            pregnancies)
         b. Marriages and families are ruined
      2. Young people in the Bible should inspire us to make the right
         choices
         a. Like Joseph - Gen 39:7-9
         b. Like Moses - He 11:24-25
         c. Like Daniel - Dan 1:8

   C. FOR OTHERS IT IS CONVENIENT FALSE DOCTRINES...
      1. Of which we need to beware - Col 2:8,18
      2. For the devil is a master at this - 2Co 11:13-15
      3. Through lack of Bible study, we can lose the most valuable
         thing we have! - Hos 4:6

   D. FOR MANY IT IS SIMPLE NEGLECT...
      1. They will not use the opportunities the Lord has given them
         - cf. Mt 25:24-30
      2. They fail to apply the diligence necessary to grow spiritually
         - cf. 2Pe 1:5-11

CONCLUSION

1. How valuable is your soul...?
   a. Think of what the rich man in Hades would tell you - cf. Lk 16:22-24
   b. Think of what the souls of the redeemed would say to you - cf. Re 7:13-17
   c. Think of what Jesus and God have done to save your soul! - cf. Jn 3:16

2. Dear friends and brethren, you don't have to lose your soul...!
   a. Humbly submit yourself to the will of God
   b. Let His Word guide you, let no man beguile you of your reward
   c. Overcome temptations, and suffer for His cause with rejoicing

Implied in all these words is that there will be the Day of Judgment (Ac
17:30-31), with possible consequences terrible beyond comprehension (Re
20:11-15; 21:8).

Are you willing to risk losing your soul...?



Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

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