Last night enroute to my car to go to a Christian coffee house I met a shivering lady with the typical Catholic garb of a large cross; beads; etc. She spoke broken English; but I surmised from what she stated that she needed a ride down the street. It appeared that the parking lot of the church up the road had some restriction preventing her from moving a car in the parking lot and she needed a ride less than a mile down the road at a nursing home facility.
During the ride she explained how she had been praying over the situation and then I mentioned I was a Christian after she prayed for me (invoking Rafael and of course the Virgin Mary asking for blessings and protection over me. I didn't have time to get into a long explanation of the error of such prayers; being satisfied that at least she mentioned the blood of Christ. At the time I dropped her off I looked for a spanish gospel tract which clearly explains that Christ only saves and I was briefly troubled that I couldn't find it; then realized that she had been sitting on it. That was an answered prayer in her behalf; I realized that others were meeting her and hoped they would see the tract; and I had been waiting months to find someone to give it to who spoke Spanish.
Since I am not sure if I can mention any specific names here; I will just state that the two bands at the coffee house were outstanding (can't always be sure). I don't mention where I attend church either. Let me make a general statement here; there are artists (in this case at least the one lady who has stuff on YouTube) who actually are talented musically and honor God with convicting lyrics (the one song was about taming the tongue).
Let us all seek the Lord for opportunities however brief or unexpected to witness to people and help to fulfill the Great Commission. As a sidenote let us remember part of that is to make disciplles; a long term commitment for mature believers
Yes dear Momsage, I do pray for Israel as well as for all people, friends and enemies, to be safe and live in peace and mainly to get to know the true God and the salvation He gifts to everybody through His Son's sacrifice. This is our duty as sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven who loves all people and wants every person to come to the knowledge of theTruth.
Its too too late here now, time to go to bed. We will talk again tomorrow. Have a blessed night..
Never said Jews are goats. There are 2 camps, among those are sheep and goats, in Christ or not in Christ. Many have "suffered".. Spanish inquisition?.. Somalia, Ukraine, 3 major wars between India and Pakistan since 1948, ever read about the atrocities of the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-66?.. Armenian genocide?.. it's about humanity, in Christ.. or not, there is no difference.
You respond by telling me Jews are goats but nothing is said that you are praying for their salvation to become true believers. Many have. These people have gone through a terrible, tragic time recently, are you praying for them?
Christ is nothing like any type of peace we may have in this world.
Knowing that God is our Peace, then we can be assured that when we enter into the final state of eternal life there will be no wars, no fighting amongst other believers, no disharmony, no sects or divisions, no anger or hate, and no end to our sense of serenity, contentment, and harmony within us, with our brethren, and mostly with God. To have the unity God intended us to have after all is accomplished in this age of man is truly valuable and amazing.
Look forward to hearing from you. I continue to pray for you and your living situation.
We had a power outage here for the last few hours. it is in the 20's outside so we were getting pretty cold indoors. But, praise God, the power is back on and we are warming up.
Nice to see you are continuing with God's attributes (looks like you made a little typo in the last sentence...)
Interesting comment from Acts as to how Christ secured our peace through His sufferings. No one likes to suffer (at least of sound mind); but of course many verses show how we are to suffer for His Name's sake and go through persecution in this life along with gaining family and eternal relationships. Other verses come to mind such as perfect love casting out fear; and concepts such as the fact that there is no peace for the wicked; so the loving thing of course is to warn sinners that they are in enmity with God because of sin and that they must be redeemed through His atonement to have peace with their Creator.
Knowing the end from the beginning allowed Christ to have peace which He offers to us. Knowing that when our labors cease there is an end to suffering; and a reuniting with other believers after the Rapture (and in our transitional state after death should He tarry) should give us encouragement. Knowing that now we are seated in heavenly places ( Ephesians 2:6) is a present reality. And finally knowing that He will come to reign and rule with an iron rod yet perfectly justly in His judgments and the restored Millennium earth and beyond into eternity once Satan is bound and then judged also gives us hope with the restoration of all creation from this present misery.
Thanks for being faithful in continuing all this stuff. I have something that happened yesterday that I'd like to share in my next post; Lord willing. BTW did pray on your home issue; hope there is something good to report soon.
God's people are "the bride", there are only two camps. In Christ, or not. 490 years were given to "finish the transgression".. Dan 9.. Galations tells us that all who come to Christ through faith are "heirs" to the promise, also says that the Jerusalem (in Arabia) is represented by Hagar, "cast out the bondwoman", and that Jerusalem that is above is free, and is the mother of us all Gal 4:26. The Jerusalem that is above.. Rev 21:2.. John saw the city new Jerusalem coming down from heaven..This "literal" Israeli thing is a snare. A falsehood of satan. There are only "two camps".. wheat or tares, sheep or goats, wise virgins, unwise virgins.. "in Christ.. or not.
Thanks Jema. We remain disciples/students for our whole lifetime, we are learning all the time and hopefully stop doing the same mistakes. Have a blessed week.
God chose Israel for a unique purpose. He wanted, and so He created a nation through Abraham, in order to preserve through them the faith to the true God until the Savior appears on earth. At that point their mission as a nation ended and the church took in charge. In the church all nations and people all over the world are included, including Hebrews, that little remnant that accepted and still accepting Christ. The purpose of the church is very different from that of Israel's. We have to bring the gospel of salvation to all people all over the world, that was not what Israel was expected to do, it wasn't their mission. So who is God's chosen people? Both, for different reasons. Israel for bringing the Savior to the world and the church for bringing Him all over the world. But we must know that Israel 's mission has ended 2th years ago and it is now the church that has a mission. If Israel had accepted Christ they would have been the most honourable and important nation in the church, but they didn't and they have been cut off the olive tree. But God preserves them for a reason. Because He knows that under the pressure of antichrist they will turn to Him that they crucified and so they will be saved at the end. But we must know that they are not saved now (neither for the past 2 th years) and if they end their lives in sin they will not go to Heaven. I don't know how God is going to judge them, according to their faith or according to their works/conscience? ( Romans 2:11-26). But it is going to be really tough for them in the Judgement for as long as they are not receiving Christ as their Savior.
Ephesians 2:3-14, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:Having predestinated us unto the adoption .."
To continue study of our Great God for the letter "P"
He is our Prince of Peace
Is. 9:6 " For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."
Acts 5:30-31 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins."
Jesus is our Prince. He does not rule as earthly princes do, but is humble, though mighty, sacrificial for us, not greedy, with us, not stand offish.
He give peace to His people, as He did for Israel in the land under David and Solomon. Not only is Jesus the Prince of Peace but the eternal King of Kings also.
Ps. 29:10-11 "the LORD sitteth King forever, The Lord will give strength unto his people, the LORD will bless His people with peace."
Jn 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
Rom. 16:20 "And the God of peace will soon bruise Satan under your feet shortly."
He is our peace who has absolute power over the enemy and the Peace that unifies the church.
Eph. 2:14-15 "for He is our peace who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us." (between Jewish believers and Christian believers)
Hebrews 13:20-21 "Now may the God of Peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to Whom be glory forever and ever, amen."
1 Th. 5:23 "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly,"
The peace of God is transcend all other types of peace. It is above and beyond what we is of the world
Although my comment was about Judas and I just wanted to explain what probably had happened to him using an experience of mine, I must say that none of us have walked that road before, so we are learning along the way. We must grow up and start eating meat, not milk all the time. Christ is a life experience not just mere knowledge. There are many scholars and theologians that know the gospel perfectly well, more than any of us do, but they don't know Christ personally. Our relationship with our God is personal, it is not adequate to know about God but one has to know God Himself. A Christian that never ever had any personal experiences with God is lacking in many marvelous things like joy and peace and comfort. I wish you have a blessed week.
We do need to pray to Israel that they will wipe out Hamas and end this, but the world says: "lets give Hamas a break so they can regroup during the cease fire, and, of course, Hamas isn't just satisfied with returning hostages, which is imperative, but also demands more then twice the number of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages to be released. I know as God's people Israel will never be wiped of the face of the earth, as the Palestinians so dearly want to happen.
We also need to be sure we are praying for the Jews to find the Lord. There are organizations like One For Israel that provide food, clothing and companionship for the elderly Jews and their families are seeing this. It gives them a great opportunity to, not only tell them of the Lord, but show them also. They are also helping the soldiers and their families with support and supplies. I pray for the soldiers and their families, the healing of the hostages. I pray for peace but only what is best for Israel. I hope they won't relent until all of Gaza is freed from the terrible hold Hamas has on it.
I don't believe this is for sure a sign of the end times because as this quote says: "Conflict in Israel has been a reality whenever Israel has existed as a nation. . . .attempts to completely destroy Israel will always fail. The Persecutors of Israel will come and go, but the persecution will remain until the second coming of Christ. As a result, conflict in Israel is not a reliable indicator of the soon arrival of the end Times." Got Questions: "What is Israel's role in the end?" God Bless :)
These are God's people and He definitely has their souls in His hands also the terrorists need salvation so I am praying for them also. God Bless :)
it occurred to me that a point that I left unsaid in my reply. You cited your own case which I can well appreciate.
In everyday walk among the worldly a quarrel is over one's self-esteem. At any cost to make the other lose his argument or his face, so my self worth is shown in better light. When we have died to the world and to sin what self- worth are we talking about? Christ is the head. No glory of this world can match his? "For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God./Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."(Ro.6:10-11)
When we are living unto our Lord we bear our cross, and smarting under a false accusation or called names, so we do not put obstacles in our path. That takes time and only now I am beginning to understand what it means to be mature Christians. Our glory is in our faith. When Christ who is our life shall appear we shall be with him in glory. Joy and peace in Him
Holy convocation for Israel was restricted to specific days, which is not how Christians are enjoined to observe. Total sanctification is to be conformed to the image of Christ not by fits and starts but a continual process of walking the talk.(2 C0.3:18),
The cross we take in order to follow Christ is about death and life. We identify with his death as well as live in heavenly places. Unity of the Spirit is to guide every believer 'evening and the morning' without break leading us to the day of Regeneration that is the rhythm of abundant life in Christ. (Ge.1:5)
(See entry above-Continual)
" Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him."(Ro.6:8)
"For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you./ Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"(2 Co.13:4-5)
As Believers, we know that the LORD JESUS CHRIST is our only answer for the trials and troubles we are going through today in the Middle East and in our nation here in the USA. Let us, as saints, be faithful, diligent, and obedient to HIS Word.
Hebrews 2:
1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
GOD bless our leaders in DC with the mind of CHRIST through HIS salvation. The LORD to shine HIS face on our state and local leaders in CHRIST name. Bless our pastors and true believers to lift up HIS name at all times through our conversation, witness and testimony.
One contractor I have already met. He remodeled the home next to us for his daughter to live in. One of my colleagues at work at the time knew him and also said that he does good work.
The other one we do not know other than a recommendation from the insurance adjuster.
Feeling remorse is not restoring peace with God. Judas did not turn to God for it. He responded to his remorse in a manner as man does, cursing himself out of frustration or hanging (an extreme case). Esau also responded to his folly in giving away his birthright so cheaply. "For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears."(He.12:7) David did a terrible thing but he found grace. He had to pay the price for it. His family life was ruined what with Absalom turning against it. His contrition was backed with genuine remorse. Ps.51 is a study in the manner he came back into the fold.
Having a quarrel with brethren "Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." You have to respond to what the Spirit has shown you as your lapse and not leave for the other.
About Judas a lot has been written by many. The usual question is: why didn't God forgive Judas since he "repented"?
But did he repent? The answer is no, he didn't. He merely felt bad about what happened, and he never went to God to ask for forgiveness.
Firsty in greek the verb used in Matthew 27:3 is not the same as in other places in the Bible where repentance is mentioned. The grk here shows that somebody feels bad/sad for something that has occured and wishes that it hadn't occured. So does that mean that they repent? To answer that I will go to what happened to me, not long ago. One Sunday morning after the church service I quarreled with a fellow dear brother (never mind who started it). I spoke to him very badly infront of almost the whole church. In the evening as I was sitting in my house and was thinking about it and feeling very bad about the whole incident, I asked myself one question. Was I feeling bad because I hurt my brother's feelings or was I feeling bad because I made myself a fool infront of the church and created a bad situation in the church? To be honest it was the second case. So did I really repent? No I didn't, I just wished it never happened not because I hurt my brother but because I created a bad impression of me in the congregation.
So lets go back to Judas. Judas was just feeling bad because of all that happened and most probably everybody figured him as his master's trator. So a whole bad situation occured about him. Probably everybody started avoiding him, nobody likes and approves betraying. But he didn't realy care about Jesus. He said to the Pharisees that he betrayed an innocent blood. But he knew that before betraying Jesus, didn't he? Maybe he didn't expect that they wanted to kill Jesus? But he knew that they wanted to do that, it was obvious from the beginning.
So he didn't actually repent, that is why he never asked for forgiveness. He was only thinking of his own situation, not Jesus'
I'm glad your prays include them.
I will get back with you on this. It's after 8pm here, that's past my bedtime.
God bless you.
I hope you have a spirit filled year as well.
God bless.
Last night enroute to my car to go to a Christian coffee house I met a shivering lady with the typical Catholic garb of a large cross; beads; etc. She spoke broken English; but I surmised from what she stated that she needed a ride down the street. It appeared that the parking lot of the church up the road had some restriction preventing her from moving a car in the parking lot and she needed a ride less than a mile down the road at a nursing home facility.
During the ride she explained how she had been praying over the situation and then I mentioned I was a Christian after she prayed for me (invoking Rafael and of course the Virgin Mary asking for blessings and protection over me. I didn't have time to get into a long explanation of the error of such prayers; being satisfied that at least she mentioned the blood of Christ. At the time I dropped her off I looked for a spanish gospel tract which clearly explains that Christ only saves and I was briefly troubled that I couldn't find it; then realized that she had been sitting on it. That was an answered prayer in her behalf; I realized that others were meeting her and hoped they would see the tract; and I had been waiting months to find someone to give it to who spoke Spanish.
Since I am not sure if I can mention any specific names here; I will just state that the two bands at the coffee house were outstanding (can't always be sure). I don't mention where I attend church either. Let me make a general statement here; there are artists (in this case at least the one lady who has stuff on YouTube) who actually are talented musically and honor God with convicting lyrics (the one song was about taming the tongue).
Let us all seek the Lord for opportunities however brief or unexpected to witness to people and help to fulfill the Great Commission. As a sidenote let us remember part of that is to make disciplles; a long term commitment for mature believers
I am the divine heavenly now I become able to receive God riches.
Its too too late here now, time to go to bed. We will talk again tomorrow. Have a blessed night..
I meant to say that the peace we have in
Christ is nothing like any type of peace we may have in this world.
Knowing that God is our Peace, then we can be assured that when we enter into the final state of eternal life there will be no wars, no fighting amongst other believers, no disharmony, no sects or divisions, no anger or hate, and no end to our sense of serenity, contentment, and harmony within us, with our brethren, and mostly with God. To have the unity God intended us to have after all is accomplished in this age of man is truly valuable and amazing.
Look forward to hearing from you. I continue to pray for you and your living situation.
We had a power outage here for the last few hours. it is in the 20's outside so we were getting pretty cold indoors. But, praise God, the power is back on and we are warming up.
Interesting comment from Acts as to how Christ secured our peace through His sufferings. No one likes to suffer (at least of sound mind); but of course many verses show how we are to suffer for His Name's sake and go through persecution in this life along with gaining family and eternal relationships. Other verses come to mind such as perfect love casting out fear; and concepts such as the fact that there is no peace for the wicked; so the loving thing of course is to warn sinners that they are in enmity with God because of sin and that they must be redeemed through His atonement to have peace with their Creator.
Knowing the end from the beginning allowed Christ to have peace which He offers to us. Knowing that when our labors cease there is an end to suffering; and a reuniting with other believers after the Rapture (and in our transitional state after death should He tarry) should give us encouragement. Knowing that now we are seated in heavenly places ( Ephesians 2:6) is a present reality. And finally knowing that He will come to reign and rule with an iron rod yet perfectly justly in His judgments and the restored Millennium earth and beyond into eternity once Satan is bound and then judged also gives us hope with the restoration of all creation from this present misery.
Thanks for being faithful in continuing all this stuff. I have something that happened yesterday that I'd like to share in my next post; Lord willing. BTW did pray on your home issue; hope there is something good to report soon.
Agape; RIch P
Well stated.
God bless you and all youdo.
My opinion about Israel.
God chose Israel for a unique purpose. He wanted, and so He created a nation through Abraham, in order to preserve through them the faith to the true God until the Savior appears on earth. At that point their mission as a nation ended and the church took in charge. In the church all nations and people all over the world are included, including Hebrews, that little remnant that accepted and still accepting Christ. The purpose of the church is very different from that of Israel's. We have to bring the gospel of salvation to all people all over the world, that was not what Israel was expected to do, it wasn't their mission. So who is God's chosen people? Both, for different reasons. Israel for bringing the Savior to the world and the church for bringing Him all over the world. But we must know that Israel 's mission has ended 2th years ago and it is now the church that has a mission. If Israel had accepted Christ they would have been the most honourable and important nation in the church, but they didn't and they have been cut off the olive tree. But God preserves them for a reason. Because He knows that under the pressure of antichrist they will turn to Him that they crucified and so they will be saved at the end. But we must know that they are not saved now (neither for the past 2 th years) and if they end their lives in sin they will not go to Heaven. I don't know how God is going to judge them, according to their faith or according to their works/conscience? ( Romans 2:11-26). But it is going to be really tough for them in the Judgement for as long as they are not receiving Christ as their Savior.
Ephesians 2:3-14, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:Having predestinated us unto the adoption .."
He is our Prince of Peace
Is. 9:6 " For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."
Acts 5:30-31 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins."
Jesus is our Prince. He does not rule as earthly princes do, but is humble, though mighty, sacrificial for us, not greedy, with us, not stand offish.
He give peace to His people, as He did for Israel in the land under David and Solomon. Not only is Jesus the Prince of Peace but the eternal King of Kings also.
Ps. 29:10-11 "the LORD sitteth King forever, The Lord will give strength unto his people, the LORD will bless His people with peace."
Jn 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
Rom. 16:20 "And the God of peace will soon bruise Satan under your feet shortly."
He is our peace who has absolute power over the enemy and the Peace that unifies the church.
Eph. 2:14-15 "for He is our peace who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us." (between Jewish believers and Christian believers)
Hebrews 13:20-21 "Now may the God of Peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to Whom be glory forever and ever, amen."
1 Th. 5:23 "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly,"
The peace of God is transcend all other types of peace. It is above and beyond what we is of the world
God Bless :)
Although my comment was about Judas and I just wanted to explain what probably had happened to him using an experience of mine, I must say that none of us have walked that road before, so we are learning along the way. We must grow up and start eating meat, not milk all the time. Christ is a life experience not just mere knowledge. There are many scholars and theologians that know the gospel perfectly well, more than any of us do, but they don't know Christ personally. Our relationship with our God is personal, it is not adequate to know about God but one has to know God Himself. A Christian that never ever had any personal experiences with God is lacking in many marvelous things like joy and peace and comfort. I wish you have a blessed week.
We also need to be sure we are praying for the Jews to find the Lord. There are organizations like One For Israel that provide food, clothing and companionship for the elderly Jews and their families are seeing this. It gives them a great opportunity to, not only tell them of the Lord, but show them also. They are also helping the soldiers and their families with support and supplies. I pray for the soldiers and their families, the healing of the hostages. I pray for peace but only what is best for Israel. I hope they won't relent until all of Gaza is freed from the terrible hold Hamas has on it.
I don't believe this is for sure a sign of the end times because as this quote says: "Conflict in Israel has been a reality whenever Israel has existed as a nation. . . .attempts to completely destroy Israel will always fail. The Persecutors of Israel will come and go, but the persecution will remain until the second coming of Christ. As a result, conflict in Israel is not a reliable indicator of the soon arrival of the end Times." Got Questions: "What is Israel's role in the end?" God Bless :)
These are God's people and He definitely has their souls in His hands also the terrorists need salvation so I am praying for them also. God Bless :)
it occurred to me that a point that I left unsaid in my reply. You cited your own case which I can well appreciate.
In everyday walk among the worldly a quarrel is over one's self-esteem. At any cost to make the other lose his argument or his face, so my self worth is shown in better light. When we have died to the world and to sin what self- worth are we talking about? Christ is the head. No glory of this world can match his? "For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God./Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."(Ro.6:10-11)
When we are living unto our Lord we bear our cross, and smarting under a false accusation or called names, so we do not put obstacles in our path. That takes time and only now I am beginning to understand what it means to be mature Christians. Our glory is in our faith. When Christ who is our life shall appear we shall be with him in glory. Joy and peace in Him
Holy convocation for Israel was restricted to specific days, which is not how Christians are enjoined to observe. Total sanctification is to be conformed to the image of Christ not by fits and starts but a continual process of walking the talk.(2 C0.3:18),
The cross we take in order to follow Christ is about death and life. We identify with his death as well as live in heavenly places. Unity of the Spirit is to guide every believer 'evening and the morning' without break leading us to the day of Regeneration that is the rhythm of abundant life in Christ. (Ge.1:5)
(See entry above-Continual)
" Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him."(Ro.6:8)
"For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you./ Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"(2 Co.13:4-5)
Hebrews 2:
1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
GOD bless our leaders in DC with the mind of CHRIST through HIS salvation. The LORD to shine HIS face on our state and local leaders in CHRIST name. Bless our pastors and true believers to lift up HIS name at all times through our conversation, witness and testimony.
January 13, 2024 Galatians 5:16
thanks of the advice.
One contractor I have already met. He remodeled the home next to us for his daughter to live in. One of my colleagues at work at the time knew him and also said that he does good work.
The other one we do not know other than a recommendation from the insurance adjuster.
Feeling remorse is not restoring peace with God. Judas did not turn to God for it. He responded to his remorse in a manner as man does, cursing himself out of frustration or hanging (an extreme case). Esau also responded to his folly in giving away his birthright so cheaply. "For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears."(He.12:7) David did a terrible thing but he found grace. He had to pay the price for it. His family life was ruined what with Absalom turning against it. His contrition was backed with genuine remorse. Ps.51 is a study in the manner he came back into the fold.
Having a quarrel with brethren "Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." You have to respond to what the Spirit has shown you as your lapse and not leave for the other.
Praise the Lord
About Judas a lot has been written by many. The usual question is: why didn't God forgive Judas since he "repented"?
But did he repent? The answer is no, he didn't. He merely felt bad about what happened, and he never went to God to ask for forgiveness.
Firsty in greek the verb used in Matthew 27:3 is not the same as in other places in the Bible where repentance is mentioned. The grk here shows that somebody feels bad/sad for something that has occured and wishes that it hadn't occured. So does that mean that they repent? To answer that I will go to what happened to me, not long ago. One Sunday morning after the church service I quarreled with a fellow dear brother (never mind who started it). I spoke to him very badly infront of almost the whole church. In the evening as I was sitting in my house and was thinking about it and feeling very bad about the whole incident, I asked myself one question. Was I feeling bad because I hurt my brother's feelings or was I feeling bad because I made myself a fool infront of the church and created a bad situation in the church? To be honest it was the second case. So did I really repent? No I didn't, I just wished it never happened not because I hurt my brother but because I created a bad impression of me in the congregation.
So lets go back to Judas. Judas was just feeling bad because of all that happened and most probably everybody figured him as his master's trator. So a whole bad situation occured about him. Probably everybody started avoiding him, nobody likes and approves betraying. But he didn't realy care about Jesus. He said to the Pharisees that he betrayed an innocent blood. But he knew that before betraying Jesus, didn't he? Maybe he didn't expect that they wanted to kill Jesus? But he knew that they wanted to do that, it was obvious from the beginning.
So he didn't actually repent, that is why he never asked for forgiveness. He was only thinking of his own situation, not Jesus'
Just an opinion. GBU.