Sat, Dec 22nd - 12:53AM

Luke 1:26-56

Luke 1:26-56

The main subject in these verses is Mary.  Mary was a faithful young woman who submitted to the will of God.  She allowed herself to be used to fulfill the will of God.  It took a lot of faith on the part of Mary to accept the role she would play in bringing the Savior into the world.  She was probably selected by God because of her faithful behavior.  Mary is one of countless faithful individuals who have submitted to the will of God so God could do great things through them, including Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, the Disciples, Paul and the thousands of God’s faithful servants since then that have allowed God to do great things through them including Martin Luther, John Wesley, Charles Finney, Dwight Moody, Billy Graham and thousands of others.  All of these individuals submitted to the will of God so God could do great things through them.  It wasn’t them that did great things it was God doing great things through them because they submitted to the will of God in their lives.  And there are thousands of lesser known individuals that we never hear of that also allowed God to work through them to fulfill His will.

I say all of that because sadly the Catholic Church has tried to turn Mary into something she is not.  Mary is not a deity to pray to.  Mary does not make intercession for us.  There is only one person who makes intercession before God for mankind and that is Jesus Christ.  Sadly the Catholic Church has turned Mary and it lists of saints into idol worship.  Nowhere in the Bible does it instruct us to pray to anybody but God.  Nowhere does it mentions anybody but Christ making intercession for man and only Christ can forgive us of our sins.  Nowhere does the Bible say Mary remained a virgin.  There was only one person born to a virgin and that was Christ.  There was only one person who lived a sinless life and that was Christ.  No one can forgive you of your sins except Christ especially any man rather that be the Pope or anybody underneath him.  There whole system of who should be a saint is decided by other men and not God.  The point is Christ died on the cross so you can have a personal relationship with God through Christ.  No one should stand in between that personal relationship with God.  Anybody you put in between you and Christ is an idol.  Anybody you pray through to God besides Christ is an idol. 

Thu, Dec 20th - 12:48PM

The Lostness of Man.

When I think of the lostness of man I think of Romans 1:18-32.  These verses basically lay

out the history of man’s rebellion against God.  Paul says man knows the truth because God has

made it obvious to them. (v.19)  Since man can clearly see His invisible qualities, His eternal

power, and divine nature they have no excuse for not knowing Him. (v. 20) Yet they refused to

worship Him or give thanks to Him so they began to think up foolish ideas about God.  As a

result their minds became dark and confused. (v.21)  Thinking themselves wise they instead

became fools. (v.22)  And instead of worshipping God they worshipped idols made to look like

people or animals. (v.23)  So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts

desired and as a result they did vile and degrading things with each other. (v.24)  They traded the

truth for a lie and worshipped things they created instead of the creator. (v.25)  God abandoned

them to their shameful desires which resulted in homosexuality. (vs.26, 27)  Since they thought it

foolish to acknowledge God He abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things

that shouldn’t be done and their lives became full of wickedness and sin. (vs.28-31)  And verse

32 says they know that those who do such things deserve to die but they do them anyway. 

Mon, Dec 17th - 10:33AM

Mark 16:16

Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

These verses seem very straightforward to me, believe and be saved, don’t believe and be damned.

What are to believe?

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Acts 16:30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

What does it mean to be damned?

Revelation 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Sun, Dec 16th - 11:26PM

Mark 16:15

Mark 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. (NIV)

This is Mark’s version of the Great Commission.  In Matthew it says to go and make disciples of the world and Luke says we are to be witnesses to the world.  The point is all the same Jesus commanded us to evangelize, to tell the world about Him.  After receiving this commandment the Disciples didn’t say “that is great, now we will meet every Sunday and let everyone else make their own way,” no they went and preached the Gospel to the world.  If you are a believer you know the cure to the biggest disease affecting mankind.  That disease is sin and it is sending thousands to hell every day and keeping this world locked in darkness but you know the cure and the cure is Jesus Christ who died on the cross so that whosoever believes in Him and accepts Him as Lord and Savior can have the forgiveness and eternal life through Him but they will never know this cure unless You tell them about it. 

Tue, Dec 11th - 7:23PM

Mark 15:33-38

Mark 15:33 And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 35And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias. 36And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down. 37And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. 38And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.

Why was the veil of the temple torn?  The veil was a thick curtain that separated man from the Most Holy Place which was reserved for God Himself.  It was entered once a year on the Day of Atonement by the high priest who offered a sacrifice for the sins of the people.  With the death of Christ on the cross this was all done away with.  Christ became our sacrifice for our sins.  No more would animals be sacrificed for our sins.  Through the blood of Jesus on the cross all that accept Him as Lord and Savior can have their sins forgiven and eternal life through Him.  No more would man be separated from God by a curtain in the temple because Christ became our one and only way to God.  No more would there be a need for a system of priests and temples and sacrifices.  Christ became our eternal High Priests forever making intercession for the people God.  God would dwell in the hearts of believers through the Holy Spirit given to all believers.  In A.D. 70 as prophesied by Christ the temple itself would be destroyed. 

Mon, Dec 3rd - 8:26PM

Mark 14:61,62

Mark 14:61 But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? 62And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

I have heard people try to argue that Jesus never claimed to be the Son of God.  That is such a silly statement and a very false statement.  Jesus never hid who He was.  Jesus was the Son of God, born of a virgin, He lived a sinless life, He died on the cross for our sins that whosoever believes in Him and accepts Him as their Lord and Savior can have the forgiveness of their sins and eternal life through Him, He rose from the died and He is coming back to claim His church and to judge mankind of its sins and rebellion against God. 

The ones who usually say Jesus never claimed to be the Son of God try instead to portray Him instead as just another prophet as the Muslims do or they try to portray Him as a great ethical teacher as the New Agers or the Eastern religions try to do but Jesus is so much more than that because He is the One and only Way to heaven.  If He is the One and only Way to heaven than that means all other religions and ways are all false and only lead to hell.  That isn’t popular to say in our modern plurastic society but truth is truth and anything else is falsehood.  Jesus is the only Way to heaven if you are trying to get there by any other means including believing you can be good enough on your own you are following a false trail that only leads to hell.