Saturday, April 21, 2007

THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION OF YOUR LIFE!!!

THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION OF YOUR LIFE!!!
At some point in your life you will have to make a decision about whether you will accept or reject God's free gift of salvation to you, if you will allow Jesus Christ to take the punishment for your sinful nature and give Him your life that He paid for with His blood. Other decisions may affect you for a lifetime, this decision will affect you for eternity.

This message contains a sample prayer you can pray when you are ready to accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord. Some things you need to acknowledge or be aware of before you make this decision are:

1. You were born with a sin nature, therefore you have sinned. Rom. 5:12 Rom. 3:23 1 John 1:10
2. The price of sin is death. Rom. 5:12. Rom. 6:23
3. Jesus Christ paid the price of sin for us. Rom. 6:23 Heb. 9:26-28
4. We only have access back to God through Jesus Christ. John 14:6
Romans 8: 1 - 39
5. You are not saved by confessing all your sins but by confessing with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord and believing in your heart God raised him from the dead. Rom. 10:8-13 Eph. 2:8,9

When you decide to accept God's free gift of salvation, you are doing much more than just repeating a prayer someone asks you to pray to "get saved", you are making a total life commitment. Confessing Jesus as Lord means that from now on obedience to Him and following His will for your life is your first priority and believing that God has raised him from the dead means that you understand that everything necessary for your salvation was accomplished in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. In death he took your place so you wouldn't have to die in your sins, he became your sacrifice; during His burial period He went into Paradise where all the righteous dead had gone, (Jesus told one of the thieves who was crucified with Him, and had acknowledged belief in Him, that he would be with Him is Paradise that day - Luke 23:39-43) but Jesus didn't stay there and no longer would they, He brought them out and took them to Heaven with Him (Eph. 4:8-10 and Matthew 27:52 and 53 states that after the resurrection of Jesus the graves of many saints were opened and they that slept arose, came out of their graves, went into the holy city, and appeared to many; in His resurrection He broke free, and set all who receive His salvation free, from every sin and bondage. Death and sin no longer had a hold on Him nor on anyone else who would believe in and accept Him as Saviour and Lord.

A PRAYER YOU CAN PRAY (or pray your own prayer from your heart)(Repeating these words won't save you, praying them to God and meaning them from your heart will change your life and your eternity.)

FATHER GOD, IN THE NAME OF JESUS I COME TO YOU TO ACCEPT YOUR FREE GIFT OF SALVATION. I BELIEVE THAT JESUS CHRIST DIED IN MY PLACE TO TAKE MY SINS AND MY SINFUL NATURE FROM ME, HE TOOK MY PLACE SO THAT I WOULDN'T HAVE TO DIE AN ETERNAL DEATH AND SO THAT I CAN LIVE WITH YOU FOREVER AS YOUR CHILD. HE PAID THE WAGES OF MY SIN, WHICH WAS DEATH. I BELIEVE WITH MY HEART THAT YOU RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD, THAT IN HIS RESURRECTION HE BROKE THE POWER OF SIN AND DEATH OVER MY LIFE, HE WAS THE FIRST ONE WHO COULD RIGHTFULLY ENTER HEAVEN TO LIVE WITH YOU, AND NOW BECAUSE OF HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION I CAN LIVE WITH YOU FOREVER. LORD JESUS I NOW ACCEPT YOU AS MY LORD AND SAVIOUR, YOUR SPIRIT WILL LIVE IN ME AND I WILL KNOW THAT I AM A CHILD OF GOD. FATHER, I BELONG TO YOU, I AM YOUR CHILD. I AM RESPONSIBLE TO BE OBEDIENT TO YOU AND YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE TO TAKE CARE OF ME AS YOUR CHILD. THANK YOU FATHER GOD AND MY LORD JESUS CHRIST FOR SAVING ME.

You were made righteous and became a child of God when uou confessed with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believed in your heart God raised Him from the dead, but you are a spiritual baby who will make mistakes, and your Father, God, has given to you God the Holy Spirit and a selection of many good bible believing churches to teach and guide you so you can learn and grow into perfection. You need to learn more about God, we need to read His covenant with us (The Holy Bible - especially the New Testament). You need to pray (Matt. 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.), God wants us to communicate with Him. You need to find a good church that believes the whole bible is the inspired Word of God and teaches you the truths from the bible, as a spiritual baby you need some help to learn and grow.

This is a link to a site where you can look up scripture references in many different versions of the bible: http://www.biblegateway.com/

Monday, January 15, 2007

THE INSPIRED WORD!

I found a great website for anyone for anyone who wants answers to their questions about the inspiration and accuracy of the bible:

http://www.allabouttruth.org/

"Bible Contradictions - Earnestly Investigate for Yourself! It's utterly fascinating how many people reject God's Word by focusing on a little list of alleged Bible contradictions. Yet, when presented with the miracle of the Bible's structure, survival, integration, historical veracity, archaeological evidence, scientific insights, outside corroborating records, and hundreds of fulfilled prophecies (each of which far surpass any other "holy book"), people look the other way. When viewed alongside other historical writings, the double standard in textual criticism is obvious. Remember, "God is not the author of confusion..." (1 Corinthians 14:33). If someone presents you with a supposed contradiction in the Bible, take a moment to earnestly investigate for yourself. "
http://www.allabouttruth.org/bible-contradictions.htm

Monday, January 01, 2007

CAN I PROVE GOD EXISTS?

Comment:
You can't possibly "know" God exists. You can't provide any evidence, failing to meet the criteria of "knowing." You believe God exists, have faith that God exists. Slight difference.

Response:
Can I prove God exists to someone who doesn't want to believe in Him? No! His word says He has to be accepted by faith. Everything God does for us and expects from us is by faith. Do I know He exists? Well either He does or I've lived a charmed life or have magical powers?

When I was young my family lived in an apartment on top of a building called the "Floor Store", one winter day I started down the stairs which were iced over and lost my balance, I was going to fall and there was no way to stop it, all of a sudden for no reason I could figure out I just straightened back up, I was just as amazed by that as I was frightened that I could have fallen to my death.

On my way to school once, I had a pack of dogs surround me growling at me, for no reason I could figure I just barked and the dogs scattered, I don't know why I barked, I don't know why they scattered??? (Other people might think I look like a dog but my husband doesn't and that's all that counts).

I came from a poor family and college didn't seem to be an option for me, but I graduated from an Assembly of God college and didn't have to pay much back on my loans because I taught for a while in low income schools.

I had never been to a dentist till I was in my 20s, before I went I prayed that I wouldn't have a lot of expensive dental work, after having my teeth cleaned the dentist was amazed not to find any cavities, I've since had only one and I think I should have gotten a second opinion about that.

When my husband and I decided to move from an apartment to a house we didn't have a lot of money, we kept going by a house that already had appliances, my husband was reluctant, but we decided to go for it anyway, we didn't have the down payment and we were not allowed to borrow the money because that would be another debt, there was no one to borrow it from anyway, before closing my husband got a letter about an insurance policy his mother took out on him as a child, he cashed it in, that covered the down payment, we bought the house in the 20s it's market value is now in the 90s and it's paid off. By the way we prayed for all these things.

My nephew got in trouble two or three times for drugs, before the last time he was told if it happened again he would go to prison, his mother and I prayed, his former lawyer who used to be a judge was pretty much through with him by the time he got in trouble again, all of a sudden he changed his mind and decided to help him, he spent a few months in county jail but didn't have to go to prison, no one, even the judge understood why everyone was being so lenient with him, anyway he decided he didn't like jail or prison and hasn't gotten in any more trouble and that's been two or three years ago.

God gave me a little bit of a computer program at work, that I worked at and revised with His help till I got all the forms I work with on one program and can fill them out from one data sheet, and I had no formal training that way at all. Other people also use them and depend on them now, they don't want to go back to typing the forms on the typewriter.

These are just a very few of the prayers God has answered for me and things He has helped me with. I may not be able to convince anyone there is a God, but no one will ever convince me there isn't one. There's just too much evidence in my life experiences that He exists and that He cares about me.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GRAVITY?

Do you believe in the gravity? We've all heard the old saying "what goes up must come down" but you can't see it so how do you know it exists? You know because you experience it every moment of every day. The http://www.yourdictionary.com/ definition is : grav·i·ty [ grv-t ]n. Physics a. The natural force of attraction exerted by a celestial body, such as Earth, upon objects at or near its surface, tending to draw them toward the center of the body.

If someone told me they belonged to a group that didn't believe in gravity and to prove to the world it wasn't real they were going to jump off a cliff, I would plead with them not to do it, I would remind them that other people who jumped off cliffs did so with tragic consequences, I would even call the authorities to get them to prevent the person from jumping. I would do all this because I believe in the law of gravity even though I can't see gravity. I believe it because I experience it.

To other Religions of the world Christians are an infuriating lot. We don't just believe in God, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, we know They are real because we've experienced Their reality. I've had prayers answered down to details. I get directions and instructions from God in my Spirit and from His Word. Many tragedies have been averted in my life because I've placed my life in God's care. We can't be "politically correct" because the bible we read says that salvation is only available to us through Jesus Christ. Frankly there's just not enough time left to tiptoe around the subject trying not to offend anyone. We honestly don't want to offend anyone, we just don't want them to jump off the cliff.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

WHO IS JESUS?

I'm a Christian, so of course, as a Christian, I recognize the New Testament as the living Word of God. It's the new and better covenant, it didn't do away with the old covenant, it perfected it. The New Testament is not "politically correct". Jesus is the spotless, sinless, lamb of God. The sacrifices of animals in the old covenant was a prelude to the ultimate sacrifice of the Son of God.
Hebrews 10. When Jesus says I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me John 14:6 He excludes any other belief or religion as a means of salvation.

Matthew 16:15-17 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. If Jesus is who He claims to be, the Son of the Living God, then instructions God inspired Paul to write in Romans about obtaining salvation ought to be taken seriously: Romans 10:8-10 8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 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. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Who is Jesus?

He is the seed of woman:
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Galatians 4:3-5 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

He is the Son of God, born of a virgin:
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (God with us)*.

Luke 1:26-35
26
And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named * * Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. 29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 and, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

He existed eternally with God:
John 1:1-18 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, * (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. 16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. 18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

He is the heir to David's throne:
Luke 1:30-33 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
OF JESUS: Revelation 5:5 5
And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of * the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

He is my Saviour, my Redeemer, my Advocate, my Lord, and my King.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

IS JESUS THE MESSIAH?

PAMI:
Quote:
Originally Posted by PAMI
Click on these links, they tell about the Old Testament prophecies Jesus fulfilled:
http://www.christiananswers.net/dict...rophecies.html
http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/messiah.htm

MQ:
Click this link to see what Old Testament prophecies Jesus DIDN'T fulfill:
http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/jews-jesus/jews-jesus-index.html
Messiah :
The Criteria
Judge for yourself:
Did Jesus fulfill ALL these criteria?
The Jewish tradition of "The Messiah" has its foundation in numerous biblical references, and understands "The Messiah" to be a human being - without any overtone of deity or divinity - who will bring about certain changes in the world and fulfill certain criteria before he can be acknowledged as "The Messiah".

PAMI:
Isaiah 9:6 (King James Version)
6For 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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

MQ:
First of all, he must be Jewish - "...you may appoint a king over you, whom the L-rd your G-d shall choose: one from among your brethren shall you set as king over you."
(Deuteronomy 17:15) He must be a member of the tribe of Judah - "The staff shall not depart from Judah, nor the sceptre from between his feet..." (Genesis 49:10) To be a member of the tribe of Judah, the person must have a biological father who is a member of the tribe of Judah.

PAMI:
That Jesus was Jewish from the tribe of Judah, I think, is beyond dispute, both Joseph's line of descent in Matthew 1, and Mary's in Luke 3, reveal he descended from Judah. If he's not from the tribe of Judah, then what is he? Even those who crucified Him taunted Him by calling Him "The King of the Jews". In Mary's line, his grandfather "Heli" was Jewish from the tribe of Judah. And I don't understand why Joseph couldn't consider Jesus his legal son if he married Mary. Then, if as you suggest, Jesus isn't Deity, then Joseph most likely was His biological father. Of course I certainly have no doubts He is the Son of God. I don't agree with the following statement, but it was revealed to me that according to current Jewish laws to be a Jew you must have a Jewish mother, but not necessarily a Jewish father.
"According to Jewish law, a child born to a Jewish mother or an adult who has converted to Judaism is considered a Jew; one does not have to reaffirm their Jewishness or practice any of the laws of the Torah to be Jewish. " http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/whojew1.html

MQ:
He must be a direct male descendant of King David and King Solomon, his son - "And when your days (David) are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall issue from your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will make firm the throne of his kingdom forever..." (2 Samuel 7:12 - 13)

PAMI:
The eternal promise was to David, it was contingent to Solomon. Nathan also was a son of David. Coniah (Jeconiah), a descendent of Solomon, and heir to the throne, was cursed.
Jer. 22:24-30. Jeremiah 22:30 (King James Version) 30Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

MQ:
The genealogy of the New Testament is inconsistent. While it gives two accounts of the genealogy of Joseph, it states clearly that he is not the biological father of Jesus. One of the genealogies is through Nathan and not Solomon altogether!

PAMI:
Luke 3 is the geneology of Mary, her father was Heli, Joseph's father-in-law. Matthew 1 is the geneology of Joseph. In "THE RIGHTFUL KING" I went more into this.

MQ:
He must gather the Jewish people from exile and return them to Israel -"And he shall set up a banner for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." (Isaiah 11:12) Are all Jews living in Israel? Have all Jews EVER lived in Israel since the time of Jesus?

PAMI:
Jews have been returning to Israel since 1948, and even before that. I can't recall the scriptures exactly, but I don't think any say "all" Jews are going to return to Israel, if I'm wrong please show me the scripture.

MQ:
He must rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem - "...and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever and my tabernacle shall be with them.." (Ezekiel 37:26 - 27)At last check, there is NO Temple in Jerusalem. And worse, it was shortly after Jesus died that the Temple was DESTROYED! Just the opposite of this prophecy! He will rule at a time of world-wide peace - "...they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." (Micah 4:3) Have you seen a newspaper lately? Are we living in a state of complete world peace? Has there ever been peace since the time of Jesus?

PAMI:
This is where the prophecies of Revelation 20-22 come in, Jesus has thousand year reign of peace in Rev. 20, followed by a brief skirmish, then on throughout eternity.

MQ:
He will rule at a time when the Jewish people will observe G-d's commandments - "My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow My ordinances and be careful to observe My statutes." (Ezekiel 37:24) The Torah is the Jewish guide to life, and its commandments are the ones referred to here. Do all Jews observe all the commandments? Christianity, in fact, often discourages observance of the commandments in Torah, in complete opposition to this prophecy. He will rule at a time when all people will come to acknowledge and serve one G-d - "And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, says the L-rd" (Isaiah 66:23) there are still millions if not billions of people in the world today who adhere to paganistic and polytheistic religions. It is clear that we have not yet seen this period of human history unfold. All of these criteria are best stated in the book of Ezekiel Chapter 37 verses 24-28: And David my servant shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. they shall also follow My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Yaakov my servant, in which your fathers have dwelt and they shall dwell there, they and their children, and their children's children forever; and my servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them, it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, which I will give them; and I will multiply them and I will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. And my tabernacle shall be with them: and I will be their G-d and they will be my people. Then the nations shall know that I am the L-rd who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary will be in the midst of them forevermore.If an individual fails to fulfill even one of these conditions, then he cannot be "The Messiah." A careful analysis of these criteria shows us that to date, no one has fulfilled every condition.

PAMI:
Again this is all in the future, Jesus rose from the dead, He's going to return to rule, and believe me when He reigns everyone will definately know there is an one eternal, Creator, God, in three person, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

MQ:
Certainly NOT Jesus.

PAMI:
Why not Jesus? It's all in the future for someone, Why not Jesus?