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Showing posts from July, 2010

The Awesome Restraint of God - Part One Restraint of Vision

In the next few posts I would like for readers to consider the uses of restraint that are found in scripture. Starting with the Restraint of Vision I will work through five types of restraint that I see used in the scripture. The other four are The Restraint of Darkness, The Restraint of Conviction, The Restraint of Grace, and The Restraint of the Church. Shortly after Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and some other women, Luke 24:10 had found the tomb miraculously empty on that first resurrection Sunday another amazing miracle occurred. It happened to the two travelling companions of the Lord as they made their way toward the nearby city of Emmaus; the Bible relates this way: Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes

One Lord, One God, One Truth - No Syncretism

Jesus said "...on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." (Mt. 18:18b NKJV)  Lest we forget our roots let us memorialize these eternal words of Christ who also said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away." (Mark 13:31 NKJV) Two of the awesome gifts of Christ to the world were His word and His Spirit. No other religion ever has nor ever will be able to claim these two gifts as universally given from above for the empowerment and illumination of every believer. By themselves alone they cast life changing and life generating power into every faithful believing heart. Christianity is truly unique and it's foundation secure. In Christ "we live and we move and we have or being" (Acts 17: 28a NKJV)   We, as God's faithful, must never grow weary in upholding the banner "We Shall Not Be Moved!" There was a time in history when this was not so in the lives of

Taught By God

“Who among you fears the LORD? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness And has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD And rely upon his God. Look, all you who kindle a fire, Who encircle yourselves with sparks: Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled— This you shall have from My hand: You shall lie down in torment. (Isaiah 50:10-11 NKJV) At one point in my life, while living in Kansas, I moved to a somewhat secluded rural home on some beautiful land in the country. Nearby there was a small white church that was sitting on the lonely corner of a soy bean field. There was not a tree in sight and it had a circle drive that was half weeds and half gravel. The only time I ever witnessed any traffic there was, of course, on Sunday morning. There would be the usual 8-10 cars and maybe 15 on a special holiday. Year after year it was the same. It was what had become known to some as a “Family Church”. All the offices of the church were held