Seek First The Kingdom of God and His Righteousness

  Grace and Faith, Death and Life.  These really must be taken as pairs for if we only focus on one half of the pair we miss out on some very important things and we wind up in a ditch.     For us each half of the pair is dependent upon the other half.  Grace does US no good without faith, and what good is faith to us without grace?  Since the fall there is no life without death and to obtain life there has to be a death.  Sounds crazy right? Grace is manifested in Jesus dying on the cross for sin past, present and future? Correct?  This means all sin was forgiven at the cross from the beginning of time till the end of time. Correct?  So then why are there people in hell now and why are there people who are and will still go to hell and who will be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death, to exist for eternity? Did God’s grace not apply for them?   The problem wasn’t God’s grace the problem was...

  Romans 10:9-15   If you are a Born-Again believer in Christ Romans 10:9-13 isn’t for YOU anymore.  “ that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”’ It is for those who have not yet believed. Born-Again believer in Christ Romans 10:14-15,17 IS FOR YOU! 14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?...

  2 Chronicles 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.     This verse came up during a prayer meeting today and we were discussing what it is to humble ourselves.  Fasting and prayer where mentioned as ways we can humble ourselves but then Isaiah 58 came to mind. “Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God. 3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ “In fact, in the day of you...

  Romans is a book that teaches us about righteousness and how we actually obtain the righteousness of God.  Romans also teaches us a great deal about faith.  It is by grace that we are saved but we don’t receive that salvation without faith. God’s grace provided forgiveness of sin but that gift is only received through faith.  God’s grace is there for everyone, hence the term “but by the grace of God go I” is not a good term to use because it implies that God’s grace wasn’t there for someone else who did something bad or had something bad happen to them.  God’s grace is available to everyone the problem is that everyone doesn’t have faith in God to receive that grace.  Faith is so important for living the Christian life.  Faith is so important that there is actually a law of Faith. Romans 3:27-30  Where   is   boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the  law of faith .  { Andre...

  3 times a day   Daniel 6:10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.   Quick context for this verse for those not familiar.  Men who were jealous of Daniel and his position in the kingdom had tricked king Darius into making a law that for thirty days people could only pray to the king or else be thrown into the lion’s den.     Key points from this verse.  Regardless of the law Daniel stayed devoted to the Lord.  Daniel didn’t start praying 3 times a day because of this law.  This was his custom since his early days.  He prayed 3 times a day in obedience to God’s Word.  Psalm 55:17 “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice.” (t...

  A thought on communion. The definition for communion is Fellowship; intercourse between two persons or more; interchange of transactions, or offices; a state of giving and receiving; agreement; concord. Sadly, like so many things, the church has lost sight of what communion is and instead has been watered it down to a religious tradition that we hurry through like it is an afterthought. Just from simply looking at the definition of the word this is something that should be serious and not be done in a rush. When Jesus instituted this it was from a part of the passover feast. I picture a lot more time being involved especially after His death and resurrection. The memories and the contemplation of what the elements represented. There is so much more that can said but I will pause here. Blessings

  120 Years Genesis 6:3 And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” From Genesis 6:3 we see that God limits the life span of humanity to 120 years. Why do we settle for living for less than this? Deuteronomy 34:7 sums up Moses life as follows: Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished. Why can’t we have the same, especially if we are in Christ? Could it be that we lack vision for living this long the Bible says in Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he? Is it that we only have vision for a much shorter life and so we succumb to death earlier than we could if we just had a longer vision? We have all heard of people who die shortly after retirement. Many speculate this is because they didn’t have anything left to give them purpose for living. Could it be...