Good Stuff

Just thinking over the sermon I heard today. Our pastor was speaking about how Jesus was in the courtroom as our advocate. This made me think of how Jesus went from the cross to the courtroom on our behalf. First on the cross He became the guilty one by taking on the penalty for our sins. For the wages of sin is death and that's what Jesus endured for me. Also on the cross He endured the wrath of God. He became cursed as is written. Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. The other part of the wrath of God was separation. Christ felt that when He yelled out from the cross, "why has thou forsaken me". Jesus was on the cross making intercession for us. He continues to intercede for us as in a courtroom. Whether it's satan or ourselves trying to prove that we are still guilty and deserving of the punishment of God. But the word says there is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. In other words the debt is paid. The bail has been paid, our reco...

Have you ever had a conversation with someone who just couldn't grasp that Jesus was and is God. They believe He is a teacher, a prophet or just a good man. Well as followers of Christ we believe that He is God. After one of these conversations I decided to just search the scriptures for myself. This is just the surface of me looking at scriptures from the Old Testament and comparing them with passages in the New Testament. I believe that Jesus is God completely and I believe that He proves it by what is said about Him and what He says about Himself. In Isaiah 42:5 - God says that He is the creator of the heavens well in Colossians 2:16 Christ is said to be the creator of the things in the heavens and on the earth. Well we can't have two creators of the same thing can we? In Isaiah 42:8 - God says His name is LORD which means YAHWEH, well in John 8:58 Jesus says that "before Abraham was born, I am". When He says I am that is referring to the name that Moses was tol...

In a conversation this morning with 2 Jehovah witnesses I used this example to explain why Jesus is God. "Imagine you are a boss and you have employees. When you want something done correctly you show them. You become the example for them to follow. A human phrase is "if you want something done right do it yourself". That's what God did, he had used Adam, patriarchs, priests and prophets yet His people still couldn't keep His law. Then He sent Himself in the form of man to be the example" Her response was she has never seen a boss do the job himself he just hires someone else. She is so brainwashed that common sense is lost. Then we went on to look at the passage she came armed with today.  You see this was our second encounter. I urged her to come back to talk with me.  So we looked at Philippians 2:5-9. She stated that form meant heavenly being which the passage gives no reason to believe that. I then showed her the original term in the Hebrew-Greek study ...

So you know how you gather your group of close friends together to pray intently for you in a situation. But then when the Lord answers your prayer sometimes you forget to call them and tell them that God answered the prayer. I've encountered this about 3 times in the last few months. I love to praise the Lord when He does something amazing. As my friends or close acquaintances know I like to run a lap when God has done something amazing. The more I thought about this, the more I started to wonder why we do that. Why don't we praise and share our praise reports more often. Instead we are always sharing our prayer request but very seldom share our praises. In Hebrews 13:15 it states, Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.  Our God is so worthy of praise but at times we withhold the praise from Him. We praise Him alone instead of corporately. Oh sure we partake in praise and worship at ...

It's funny how people begin to say phrases or copy the mannerisms of others the more time they spend around them. Well I noticed that people who spent significant time around me started saying "good stuff". I'm not sure when I started saying it or where I got it from. I find myself saying it in response to a quote I hear, or a sermon or a verse I read in the bible. It's funny I actually have the words good stuff written in books that I've read and in the margins of my bible. When you heard the gospel for the first time, what was your response? Did you rejoice, were you confused, were you afraid, or were you amazed. Well I first heard and understood the gospel of Jesus Christ in 1997 on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago. There was a church meeting on our campus, the name of the church was Chicagoland Bible Fellowship. I remember being invited to attend this church on a few occasions, but I denied the previous invitations. Until one Sunday m...