Jesus

Strengthen Your Faith In God, Not Things

Faith Happens

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I always laugh when someone tells me he or she has no faith, because I know it’s probably not true. Everyone lives by faith to a certain extent. When you go to the doctor, you need faith to trust his diagnosis. When the pharmacy fills your prescription, you have faith that you will receive the proper medicine. when you eat at a restaurant, you trust that the people who serve you have not contaminated or poison the food. (Some restaurants need more faith than others.) Everyday is a walk of faith on some level. Everyone believes in something. “God has dealt to each one a measure of faith”” (Romans 12:3).

We choose what we will believe in. Some people choose to believe in themselves, some in government, some in evil, some in science, some in newspapers, some in hard work, some in other people, and some in God. faith is something we cannot live without.

Faith is something we cannot die without either. Our faith determines what happens to us after we leave this world. If you have faith in Jesus, you know that your external future is secure. That’s because “the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead…will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11). In others words, if the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the  dead dwells in you, He will raise you up as well.

Having certainty about what happens to us when we die will affect greatly how we live today. Confidence in our external future gives us a perspective on living in the present that is laced with confidence as well.

Here is a scary thought! when healing some blind men Jesus said, “According to your faith let it be to you” (Matthew 9:29). Doesn’t that make you want to reevaluate your trust in God? The good news is that this means we have a certain amount of control over our lives and can, to some extent, decide how things are going to turn out for us. Our lives do not have to left up to chance, or allowed to go flopping in the breeze according to whatever wind is blowing at the moment. Our faith will help decide our outcome.

We all have times of doubt. Even Jesus wondered why God had forsaken Him. It wasn’t that he doubted God’s existence or ability to come to His rescue , He just didn’t expect to feel forsaken. Sometimes we do not doubt God”s existence, or whether He can help us, we just doubt His desire to have any immediate impact on our lives. Surly He is too busy for my problems, we think, But the truth is, He is not.

Heaven is the new Jerusalem. Is it real?

The New Jerusalem

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Many people believe heaven is a wishful fantasy that weak-minded people cling to in order to cope with, or escape from, the tough realities of life here on earth. Some assume that eventually everybody will end up in heaven. But others say very few people will make it there. And nearly all argument about heaven typically generate more heat that light and more controversy than understanding.

So much confusion! So many opinions! But why all these different opinions and theories when the Bible is full of details about heaven? Yes, God wants us to know what heaven is like so that we will want to be there! Heaven is not a place He is trying to keep secret from us.

According to a Harris poll taken in January of 2003, 82 percent of Americans believe that a heaven does exist. But the truth is that these days most people–including Christians spend very little time thinking about heaven. From the moment we wake up in the morning till we collapse  in exhaustion into our beds again at night, we’re running, going, doing, eating working and doing all manner of things.

Meanwhile we Christians believe that somewhere inconceivable in the universe is an unseen place that we’ve been taught about and it’s called heaven. It’s part of the distant future, not the here and now. And though we can see and touch the immediate environment we live in every day, heaven is out of sight and out of reach. Therefore, it hardly seem real. Besides, our lives move so fast and are so full that we can barely keep pace with what’s happening around us, much less stop to contemplate a place to which we’ve never been.

Part of the problem is what many of us typically believe about heaven leaves us considerable  less than impressed. What if, for example, you are just not into playing harps all day? What if fleecy white clouds and halos and singing in heavenly choir leaves you cold? And do you really have to run around in a white robe all the time?

Undoubtedly one reason so many of us have a hard time getting excited about eternity is that we carry around a stunted and juvenile view of heaven as a spectacular setting in which we float around endlessly doing bland things and “being holy.”

But John tell us exactly what heaven will be like. “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:1,2).

This city is not just something that John saw and know about–God’s people have been aware of it throughout the ages. God tells us that all of His holy prophets had spoken about God’s plan to deal with a sin damaged world. Peter told the people of old Jerusalem that God would “send the Christ, who has been appointed for you–even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as He promised long ago through His holy prophets” (Acts 3:20,21)

Spreading The Gospel Through Contemporary Worship Music

Road up Mount Bently, Palm Island

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Contemporary worship music (CWM) is a loosely defined genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship. It has developed over the past sixty years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are often referred to as “praise songs” or “worship songs” and are typically led by a “worship band” or “praise team”, with either a guitarist or pianist leading. It is a common genre of music sung in Western churches—particularly in Protestant churches, both denominational and nondenominational.

Opposition To Contemporary Worship Music

Many people in the body of Christ oppose Contemporary worship music 

Criticisms include Gary Parrett’s concern that the volume of this music drowns out congregational participation, and therefore makes it a performance.[8] He quotes Ephesians 5:19, in which St. Paul tells the church in Ephesus to be ‘speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit’, and questions whether the worship band, now so often amplified and playing like a rock band, replacement than enable the congregations’ praise.

Tell us what you think!…Do you think Contemporary Worship Music has a place in the Body of Christ?

Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 100:1-5

1Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

2Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

3Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

I will sing a new song to You, O God; Upon a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You (Psalm 144:9).


Beware Of False Christs And Prophets

the Gospel of Matthew

In Matthew 24 Jesus gave His disciples the signs that precede His return at the end of human history. “For many will come in my name, claiming , I am the Christ.’ and will deceive many,” (Matthew 24:5).

The last days will not be characterised by voices coming from different corners of the religious world declaring , “This is the way.” Follow me.” “I am a voice from heaven.” Many people will claim divine light, prophetic powers, and even equality with the Son of God. Men and women will perform amazing miracles and great wonders to “to deceive even the elect–if that were possible” (Verse 24). Such deception will be so overwhelming that even God’s people will be misled.

Cult groups have grown exponentially throughout the world during  recent decades. In survey results first released by USA Today in the mid 1990s some 20,ooo in a sample of 113,000 claimed they accepted the theories of the New Age movement. False religions have increased phenomenally in our generation. Books on paranormal sell in the multimillion  throughout America. Universities offer students classes in nontraditional religions. Many young people who were raised in Christianity have begun to explore non-Christian religions and teachings. Cult especially target those who are searching.

Whether it be the New Age movement admonishing its followers to develop the god within them or cult leaders claiming they are divine, the result is the same deception. The gradual increase of interest in alternative religions and the proliferation of religious leaders claiming divine powers reflect the accuracy of our Lord’s prediction.

Deception is part of Satan’s plan: “They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty” (Revelation 16:14).

One thing is certain–such people will not come with a sign around their necks saying, “We are false christs and false prophets.” they’ll simple lead and those who are looking for a leader will follow them.

In March 1997, 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult produced a farewell video and then took their own lives. They believe that trailing the Hale-Bopp comet was a spacecraft coming to take them to the next level of existence. Investigators found the victims with purple cloth over their head and shoulders.

In trying to identify the bodies, police set up toll free numbers for relatives to call. In 24 hours they field calls from more than 1,500 anguished  relatives who had been out of contact with their loved ones for months or even years and suspected they might be part of the cult.

Such false christs and false prophets do not limit themselves to any one part of the world. On the continent of Africa religious leaders who claim to heal the sick and raise the dead have arisen. they presents themselves as the new Messiah. Mary David Christ purported to be reincarnation of divinity in Russia. She attracted more than 15,000 followers whom she called the “White Brotherhood.” Central and South America have their  share of counterfeit messiah, Jesus’ words are being fulfilled.