Tag / creation

by In Light Of The Cross

Why Go To Church?

I am writing today from beautiful Tulsa Oklahoma (Boston Avenue Methodist Church)

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”  Hebrews 10:25

Over the years, I have heard many people tell me they don’t need a church. They can just study the Bible for themselves. They don’t need to go to a church that is filled with hypocrites, even if there is always room for one more. However, you can’t have a “one-person” church and fulfill the counsel in Hebrews 10:25. By setting up His church, God does more than command us to study and worship. He commands us to do more than spread the gospel by ourselves. Hebrews 10:25 is a command to be social. Paul does not merely say, “Do not give up hope and do not stop studying the Scriptures. He says, “Do not stop meeting together in a social setting.”

Paul, of all people, knew the importance of a church. Once he was converted in Acts 9, God directed him to the city where he met Ananias and Barnabas and the rest of the church. Even though Paul had a one-on-one encounter with God, he still needed to understand the importance of living and growing in a church setting.

Paul counseled us to keep being social, because he knew it was not good for man to be alone. Now think about this for a moment. God creates Adam. Adam has God and God has Adam. Yet God does not say, “Adam has Me, and I am all that he needs.” No, God Himself says, “It is not good for man to be alone.” Genesis 2:18

Now let this soak in. God Himself is saying, “I am not all Adam needs! He needs a community.”

If you believe God is all you need and that you don’t need anyone else in your life, then you are contradicting the God you serve! He Himself says He is not all you need. You need a community of believers. God created a mate for Adam, and thus fulfilled some other obvious needs of Adam, but ultimately they fulfill God’s purpose of creating a community. God knew Adam needed more than just to be able to worship God alone. He needed to be able to worship and serve God with a community of believers.

If you ever date someone who tries to isolate you from your family and friends, be very concerned about that. If their love is a Godly love, they will love like God and encourage you to be social and active in your family and community. If God Himself realizes we need more in our lives than just Him, how dare a mere mortal human being tell us they are all we need!  If their love is from God they will not be egotistical and tell us we don’t need anyone but them. God’s love is a healthy love which does not isolate. A love that tries to isolate is very unhealthy.

Worshiping in a social setting such as a church, means we will meet hypocrites, and they will meet hypocrites when they meet us. Hypocrites are just people who do not live up to all of their ideals, and that is all of us. But by God’s grace, He is getting us there and will get us there. In the meantime we need each other to get there.

I have a community Bible study where people of all faiths are invited to our church on Wednesday mornings. One morning an elderly lady said something that has always stayed with me. She said, “If someone in the church keeps rubbing you the wrong way, maybe God is just using them to polish your character.” I think she is right. God says it is not good for us to be alone. We need a community of believers. Some will encourage us, and even those we don’t get along the best with, will help polish our characters.

We need each other!

You may study this week’s SS lesson here.

by In Light Of The Cross

Glimpses of Our God; In The beginning

I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.  John 1:1-3

I have always heard people say it takes more faith to believe in evolution than it does to believe the Bible creation story.  I have heard people say, it takes more faith to believe that there was a big bang and all of a sudden there was life. However, while fully believing the creation story, I did not necessarily agree with their logic. To me it takes as much faith to believe, “bang! there is God” as it does to believe “bang!! there is life.”  Finally I realized the difference. With God there was no bang. He did not just begin existing. He has always existed. He never began. He always was, is and will be. To me, as mind boggling as that is, makes a lot more sense than a big bang theory to begin life or a God. To me it answers the logic issue about it taking faith to believe in a big bang which began God or life without a God.

The evolution theory robs the concept of love and the cross from the brain. Not only do we have a loving Creator, but He was also our Redeemer from the foundation of the world. He created the tree He knew would be used to make the Old Rugged cross. What Love!

By the way, a few weeks ago I was watching a documentary on the History Channel. They were saying scientists have discovered a gene that clearly has never evolved. It had to have been created. They were suggesting an alien from outer space came and donated that gene. I could not agree more! By the way, I call that gene donating space alien GOD!

To study this week’s SS lesson click here.

To download the SS lesson guide app to your phone click here.

by In Light Of The Cross

Worship: The Sabbath

I am writing today from the beautiful Tampa Bay area.

As we study this week’s SS lesson, we realize we all have our own ideas about Sabbath and worship. That is good! God has too many wonderful ideas to pack into any one human brain. Sometimes our ideas come from tradition instead of the Bible. We need to be careful to follow the Bible. Sometimes people will throw away human tradition which is good, but then they also throw away Bible teachings with it. We must be careful to save the Bible standard of worship while not making human tradition law. In pursuit of this goal, here are some blog posts that I hope you find helpful in following the Bible and your own convictions, placed in your heart not by man, but by the Holy Spirit.

Sabbath Observance myth Busters #1 Sabbath Afternoon Naps.

Sabbath Observance Myth Busters #2 Saved By Grace

Preparation Day: The Other Forgotten Day.

First Day of the Week Bible Texts.

The Sabbath in Light of the Cross.

El Sabado 

 

 

by In Light Of The Cross

A New Look at Life

Sunsets St.Pete 011

I am writing from the beautiful Tampa Bay area today.

 

After spending the weekend in the Emergency Room I am feeling much better! I was not sure what I had, but my muscles were very weak and extremely painful. It took me five minutes to get the tab off a new orange juice carton. I about never got dressed for church, but had to since I have not missed a service in 20 twenty years.

 

The ER said my CPK count got up to over 1400 and is suppose to be less than 300. CPK is a chemical your body puts out when the muscles are shutting down. Thanks to much prayer my count is down to 700 and I feel great! My hand is writing a lot better too. I have been back to work the last three days now. I see the doctor again on Monday. We are still not sure what happened but need to find out. I love mysteries but not when they involve my health!

 

I want to thank those who have brought over food, visited, called and most of all prayed for me. While this has been a very painful ordeal it has also been very eye opening to see all the love that is out there. I appreciate it very much.

 

Friday night and Saturday night were very rough nights for me. Very painful and wondering what is wrong? Times like these call for much prayer and even some deep soul searching. Here are some conclusions I have made in the middle of those painful, prayerful nights.

 

It is foolish to ask God why bad things happen to good people for the simple fact that there are no good people for bad things to happen to. Psalms 14:3 When I wake up in the morning feeling good I praise my God who makes good things happen to bad people just like me! Romans 2:4, Ephesians 2:8-9.

 

I am going to take my health much more seriously. I thought it was frustrating when my computer or cell phone was not working right. Now I could care less how those things work or don’t work. I just want my body to work right and I need to take care of it!

 

I used to think that some people thought I over did the sunset and Florida scenery pictures. I don’t think God’s beauty in nature can be over appreciated now. If someone thought I was crazy for taking so many pictures I have news for them, I think you are crazy for not being out there taking pictures with me. I may have taken a million pictures and I plan on taking millions more.

 

Again, while some wonders get old to some people they never get old to me. I used to think I was silly when the airplane would be taking off and everyone was relaxing with their head sets on and eyes closed or their nose buried in a book, while I was looking out the window thinking “This is so cool!” even though its my 50th plane ride. Well guess what? On my next plane ride I will have a window seat and will be looking out the window thinking “This is so cool!” even though it will be my 51st plane ride. Life is too wonderful and precious and I don’t think I can over appreciate it.

 

I am going to let people know I love them no matter how corny it makes me look or how awkward it makes them feel. I am not going to worry if they love me back or not. Life is short and I only have time to love!

 

Love ya!