Friday, August 21, 2009

http://vinodisaac.com/

From Vinod's Desk

Dear Friends,

Loving Greetings in the Sweet and infallible name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.' (Bible --> Jeremiah 33:3)

When my eyes slipped over this verse in Bible, I got greatly astonished with the fact that how gracious and loving the God is.

If we look at the previous chapters and verses in Jeremiah, we find God is dealing with a set of people who are rebellious and are determined to do every thing against God's will, Yet the God who is intolerant toward sin is showing His great tolerance toward human beings and giving an opportunity to come back and get restored. That is why He is saying Call to Me, and I will answer you.

In Verse 6 God says 'Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. Is it not wonderful that not only God asks, the violators of rules, to turn back but also promises to give abundance of peace and truth beside health and healing.

Yes my friends this the greatest quality of God that He cares for us and He has concern for us that is why He did send His only begotten Son in to this world to die for our sins and to give us eternal life.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

If you want to receive the forgiveness of sins and wants eternal life, Jesus is the answer. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins and ask Him to come into your life. You will have life in abundance.

May God bless you and help you to lead a holy life, a life without spot. Amen

Vinod Kumar Isaac

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Stop stupidity!

A post from Jon Courson:

Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Ephesians 6:11

The first step to being strong is to realize that life is not an encounter group. Life is not a bonding meeting. Life is not a playground. Life is a battleground. And the reason so many in the Church are weak is because they’re not armed for battle.

If the men who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day did so dressed in their jammies, something would have been terribly wrong. Yet I believe we live in a day of ‘jammy Christianity’. ‘Let’s put on our jammies and talk about how we feel,’ we say. ‘Let’s have a slumber party, and we’ll all bond.’

No. Paul tells us to put on our armor, to take advantage of the equipment God has given us to navigate life and negotiate the war which surrounds us.

Dear saint, you can stand against the wiles of the devil — the cunning, clever attacks of Satan — only to the degree that you’re protected with the whole armor of God.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

A post from Jon Courson - http://www.joncourson.com/

August 15

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you ...
Ephesians 4:1

The word ‘therefore’ being such a pivotal word in Scripture, whenever you come across it in the Word, it’s good to stop and ask what it is there for. In this case, as Paul begins the second half of his letter, launching into the practical aspects of our life in Christ, he refers to the doctrinal foundation he laid in Chapters 1-3. In other words, before telling us how we are to walk, he reminds us we must first understand where we sit.

In Chapters 1-3, Paul told us we were adopted into God’s family, elected before the foundation of the world, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, sealed with the Holy Spirit — all while we were dead in our sin. And this is where so many Christians stumble. They try and walk before they sit. Sermons are preached; seminars are given; books are published on the way husbands should love their wives and the way wives should submit to their husbands; or the way we should live in purity; or what we should do as a Church Body — all without acknowledging what God has already done for us, all without factoring in the fact that there’s nothing we can do to make God love us any more than He loves us right now.

I have found that most Christians believe they are the initiators in spiritual life, feeling that if they can just pray enough, do enough, be enough, God will love them and bless them. So they try to walk worthy — but sooner or later, they fail and throw in the towel.

Our Christian walk is not something we do to try to earn God’s favor or merit His love. Rather, it is a response to how He loves us, what He’s done for us, how good He’s been to us. 'We love Him,' the Apostle John said, 'because He first loved us' (I John 4:19). He is the Initiator, we the responders. We don’t love Him so He’ll love us. We love Him because He first loved us.

This Daily Devotional is an excerpt from the book "A Days Journey" by Pastor Jon. "A Days Journey" is a collection of 365 short devotions from the New Testatment. If you would like your own copy of "A Days Journey" you may go to his web and obtain it from there.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Would it be bad if "our church" got wiped off the face of the map??!!

This is a small extract from Jack Deere's book "Surprised by the voice of God"

We all agreed that evangelism was an important aspect of the work of the kingdom. At that time, our church had anywhere from four hundred to five hundred people attending on Sundays. We asked ourselves how many people had been led to Christ through the ministry of our church in the last eighteen months. We could only come up with four names, and the leadership of the church had led none of these people to Christ. It was almost as if they had accidentally fallen into the kingdom of God and ended up in our church. We concluded that if our church didn't exist, there would be no great loss of evangelism in our city. Then we asked ourselves how many people had been physically healed through the ministry of our church in the past eighteen months. After all, healing was important in the New Testament. It was certainly a sign of the coming of the kingdom. The Lord commanded the elders of the church to pray for the sick so that he could heal them (James 5:14-16). Although we had begun to pray for the sick in our church, at this point we couldn't count very many people who had been healed through our prayers. We concluded that that the healing ministry of the Holy Spirit would suffer no great loss in our city if our church no longer existed. Then we asked ourselves how many people no longer had to take antidepressants or no longer visit the psychiatrist's office on a regular basis because of the ministry of our church. We couldn't count anyone here. We could, however, count a few who had started taking antidepressants. We couldn't count any failing marriages we had saved. But we could count some we had lost. Next came addictions to drugs, alcohol, and sex. From our private counseling sessions we all knew people in our church who were struggling with these sins, but none of us could point to one person who had been conclusively delivered from one of these sins. We also realized that if our church ceased to exist there would be no missionary who would be forced to come home from the mission field, nor would there be any significant loss in the social care programs for the poor in our own city. We were forced to conclude that without the existence of our church the kingdom of God in our city would suffer no appreciable loss in evangelism, in the healing of bodies, spirits, emotions, marriages, in the care of the poor, or in the support of missionaries in other lands...."What! What have you three guys been doing?" the elders asked. "Praying" [about their church]...I realized that the church I had built had more in common with a country club than it did with the church of the New Testament.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

predestination a devotional by Jon Courson - I got this one from Jeff & Liz Harshbarger www.refugeministries.cc

Having predestinated us ...
Ephesians 1:5

Is there a pre-determination concerning salvation? Yes. But guess what? God is never seen anywhere at any time in the Bible predestining someone to go to hell. He only predestines people to go to heaven.

He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels (Revelation 3:5).

The implication of this passage is enormous, for it seems to suggest that every man’s name is written in the book of life — until he makes it clear that he has no interest in the Lord, that he doesn’t want to walk with the Lord, that he wants to turn his back on the Lord. Only then is his name is blotted out.

Thus, when the book of life is opened at the Great White Throne Judgment, when all of the unbelievers are brought before God and discover their names absent from its pages, it’s not that their names were never in the book. It’s that their names were blotted out because they chose not to accept God’s plan of salvation for their lives.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29).

Before the world was even spoken into existence, God saw the people who would respond to His love — not those who would initiate a search for Him, for none seeks after Him (Romans 3:11) — but those who would be inclined to respond to Him.

Whom He foreknew, He predestinated, saying, ‘I can see that Mitch is going to respond when I make Myself known to him, when the Gospel is shared with him. Therefore, I predestine Mitch to be part of My eternal Kingdom.’

‘Well,’ you say, ‘then why was someone who God knew wouldn’t respond to Him allowed to live in the first place?’

The answer is that if a person was not allowed to play his life out to the fullest extent, he could protest at the Great White Throne.

‘I got rid of you early because I could see that you weren’t going to respond to Me,’ God would say.
‘Oh, but I would have,’ the unbeliever would protest.
‘No, you wouldn’t,’ God would say.
‘Yes, I would have,’ the unbeliever would insist.

And there would be a perpetual argument. So even though it is His desire that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), God lets Joe Schmo live his 70 years to prove that righteous and true are His judgments (Revelation 16:7).

Then why does hell exist? Jesus gave us the singular reason: Hell exists for Satan and his demons (Matthew 25:41). It was never God’s intent to allow anyone on earth to spend eternity in hell. In fact, the only way anyone can get there is over the dead body of His Son.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Psalm 107

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say this—
those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

3 those he gathered from the lands,
from east and west, from north and south. [a]

4 Some wandered in desert wastelands,
finding no way to a city where they could settle.

5 They were hungry and thirsty,
and their lives ebbed away.

6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.

7 He led them by a straight way
to a city where they could settle.

8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men,

9 for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.

10 Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom,
prisoners suffering in iron chains,

11 for they had rebelled against the words of God
and despised the counsel of the Most High.

12 So he subjected them to bitter labor;
they stumbled, and there was no one to help.

13 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.

14 He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom
and broke away their chains.

15 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men,

16 for he breaks down gates of bronze
and cuts through bars of iron.

17 Some became fools through their rebellious ways
and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.

18 They loathed all food
and drew near the gates of death.

19 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.

20 He sent forth his word and healed them;
he rescued them from the grave.

21 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men.

22 Let them sacrifice thank offerings
and tell of his works with songs of joy.

23 Others went out on the sea in ships;
they were merchants on the mighty waters.

24 They saw the works of the LORD,
his wonderful deeds in the deep.

25 For he spoke and stirred up a tempest
that lifted high the waves.

26 They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths;
in their peril their courage melted away.

27 They reeled and staggered like drunken men;
they were at their wits' end.

28 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and he brought them out of their distress.

29 He stilled the storm to a whisper;
the waves of the sea were hushed.

30 They were glad when it grew calm,
and he guided them to their desired haven.

31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men.

32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people
and praise him in the council of the elders.

33 He turned rivers into a desert,
flowing springs into thirsty ground,

34 and fruitful land into a salt waste,
because of the wickedness of those who lived there.

35 He turned the desert into pools of water
and the parched ground into flowing springs;

36 there he brought the hungry to live,
and they founded a city where they could settle.

37 They sowed fields and planted vineyards
that yielded a fruitful harvest;

38 he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased,
and he did not let their herds diminish.

39 Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled
by oppression, calamity and sorrow;

40 he who pours contempt on nobles
made them wander in a trackless waste.

41 But he lifted the needy out of their affliction
and increased their families like flocks.

42 The upright see and rejoice,
but all the wicked shut their mouths.

43 Whoever is wise, let him heed these things
and consider the great love of the LORD.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Adopted as Sons of God - we are all HID in Christ - you the women too!

A devotional by Jon Courson http://joncourson.com/ - got it from Jeff & Liz Harsbarger www.refugeministries.cc


But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Galatians 4:4-5

The Greek word for 'adoption' is huiothesia. 'Huios' meaning son, 'thesis’ meaning position. ‘Huiothesia’ means taking the position of a son. The Son of God took our position on the Cross of Calvary, paying for our sins, in order that we might in turn take the position as sons of God.

Understand this: adoption is not the method of entry into God’s family. As Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, we enter into God’s family only by being born again. Rather, adoption speaks of our privilege and standing within God’s family. The moment we were born again, we were placed in an adopted state as heirs, as sons of God.

We think of adoption in terms of adopting a little baby. But that’s not the biblical concept of adoption. Biblical adoption refers to a full-grown adult. It would be like, before retiring from Ford Motor Company and having no sons, but wanting his name to continue, Henry Ford approached a 24-year-old Harvard student and said, ‘Would you let me adopt you? If you will, you’ll have a place on the Board of Directors, a salary of 2.5 million a year, a summer house in Hawaii, a winter house in Tahiti, a private jet, and your own yacht.’

So too, the moment you were born again, you assumed the position of an adopted son — heir to the riches of the Father. Too often people say, ‘I really can’t be used by the Lord because I’ve only walked with Him five years,’ or, ‘I can’t get involved in intercessory prayer because I’m just a new Christian.’ Wrong. As far as the privileges and responsibilities of the Kingdom go, you were adopted as a mature son with as much right to be blessed and used by the Lord as Billy Graham.