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| HEY!!! leave me comments and i may start posting these things more... | | |
| Hey guys, yesterday was resurrection sunday and I was reading a little book about easter and Jesus' death and resurrection. The book said something I found to be quite amazing. It said that the Lord didn't just die on the cross for us, but he PUNISHED himself on the cross for us. Also, it said that if the Roman soldier that put the nails into Jesus' hands had backed out at the last minute, Jesus himself would have nailed himself to the cross for you and I. Think about that...one last thing. If you saw the Passion of the Christ, that was only about 30 minutes of the torture he went through. There were 12 hours more than the movie showed. Then, after the movie was made, people complained about it being "too bloody" and things like that. In reality, that movie was just a glimpse of what truly occured. He hung on the cross for 6 hours. He went through all of that and would do it ALL again for us if he had to... and what do we do to repay him? We deny him, we try to ignore it all, we turn away, we don't even praise the fact that he did all of this for us except one day a year, and when we do, it's all covered up by the "easter bunny." He loves us so much he died the most horrible death possible for us and would do it all again. What can we do to repay him? Live for him. Show him that you love him. Read his word. Don't just call yourself a Christian, LIVE IT! Make it so that people know, without asking, that you are a Christian.
~In Christ,
Scott Kinkade | | |
| Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
~1 Timothy 5:23
We, as Christians, often times frown upon alcohol. It says in the Bible that alcohol is okay as long as you do not get drunk. I do not believe that this verse is talking about alcohol necessarily. I believe that when this verse says wine, it is talking about non-believers. He is saying that we need to get out of our comfort zones (water) and start being around non-believers (wine). The verse says “because of our frequent illness.” We can become satisfied with where our faith is, and this is bad. We become comfortable so that we do no strive to make our relationship any stronger (comfort zone). When we are comfortable with our faith, it is extremely easy for Satan to creep into our lives and tempt us. This is because we are not trying to become closer to God. We are idle in our faith. I am a firm believer that an idle mind is the Devil’s workshop/playground. That is why we need to constantly be in his word. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says “pray without ceasing.” We need to also be cautious as we go out into the world that we do not change and be like the world. 1 John 2:15-16 says “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.” We can easily be caught up in the world. We need to go in pairs out into the world. It is easier to pull one person down than two. One can encourage and strengthen the other. Also, know when to come back and rejuvenate your relationship with the Lord. Maintaining our relationship with the Lord is more important than reaching others. If you start to feel yourself being drug into sin by the person/s you are trying to witness to, draw back and revive your faith. We are of no use to the lost if we are lost too. In 1 Corinthians 15:33-34 it says “Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character. Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.” There are five times when we need to draw back from the relationship with the lost person and re-ignite the fire with the Lord and they are, according to Stewart Hall, as follows. First, when your motive for pursuing the relationship changes. If you start to realize that that lost person is attractive and you would like to date them, draw back; the bible says “do not be unequally yoked with non-believers.” NEWS FLASH! Missionary dating doesn’t work! Secondly, when you’re too tempted to drop out. When you feel like it is not going to happen and the devil is tempting you too much, draw back and re-ignite the fire. Thirdly, when you violate a standard twice. The first time you slip and say something you normally wouldn’t, apologize, but we all make mistakes. The second time you violate one of your standards, you should realize that you have a problem and you need to draw back. Fourthly, when your parents say it’s over, it’s over. Even if your parents are non-believers, actually, ESPECIALLY if your parents are non-believers. Our parents want the best for us even if we sometime don’t think so. They have been through life before and if they notice something they don’t like, it is probably time to draw back and re-ignite the fire. Lastly, if the Holy Spirit tells you it’s time to back off, it is probably a good idea. Guys, most importantly, love everyone. I cannot begin to stress to you how important this is. 1 John 2:9-11 says, “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.” Guys, we cannot say we are Christians and not love EVERYONE we come into contact with. We are not supposed to just act like we love them either. We are called to love them like Jesus would. In 1 John 3:18 it says, “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” We have to mean it. Also, as you go out into the world, do not be discouraged because you are “too young.” 1 Timothy 4:12 says, “Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” | | |
| “What one can conceive, one can achieve.”
~Walt Disney
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
~Philippians 4:13
We can in fact achieve anything we conceive, but only through Christ, who strengthens us. We can achieve anything through him. He gives us the strength for it. His strength is beyond measure. He created the world, for example. He did it in 6 days. Do you really think he really needed 6 days? And that he needed to rest on the seventh? I do not. He did this to set an example for us, to lay out the calendar, which we still use today. He says that if we have faith “as small as a mustard seed, we can tell this mountain to get up and jump into the sea, and it will, nothing will be impossible for you.” We can do whatever we can conceive. I say what one cannot conceive, God can achieve. We cannot even begin to comprehend what God has planned for us, but he can. He displays this every day for us, we just have to open our eyes and look for it. If we ask him, he will help us to achieve anything, we just have to have the faith that he will help us. What one cannot conceive, God can achieve.
In Christ,
~Scotty Kinkade | | |
| The sun itself sees not until heaven clears.
~William Shakespeare
Heaven is seen by most as merely a place where there are clouds and angels flying around everywhere. Shakespeare may have meant that even the sun, in all its amplitude and loftiness, cannot even see heaven until heaven presents itself to be seen. Heaven is a mysterious place to all of us. We do not know very much about heaven. In Luke 23:43, Heaven is called “paradise.” In John 14:2 it is called “a prepared place for us.” We do not know anything about heaven more than what is in the scriptures, because no one has ever been there and returned to tell us what it is like. In the same way, we do not know very much about the sun. The sun is a ball of fire that has perplexed humans for thousands of years. We have theories about what it is made of, and how it stays ablaze, but those are merely theories. In Shakespeare’s quote, he is not talking about the sun, but the principle of the great prominence of it. We know that the Heavens were opened up when Jesus died on the cross and the temple veil was torn, thus removing the separation from us and God. This is what I believe Shakespeare meant by “Heaven clearing.” Even the Sun could not see Heaven until Heaven was open to us all. Not even the most important person could see Heaven until Jesus death on the cross. We now can by salvation; we can be born again in Christ and then see Heaven when we die. That is the only way.
In Christ,
~Scott Kinkade | | |
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