Head-dibs

"God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:19) "Reconciliation" can be defined as follows: “Brought back together after being forced apart. Two beautiful pictures illustrate this truth: First, God and man stood face to face with each other. Adam turned his back on God when he sinned, so God turned His back on Adam. Christ’s death satisfied the justice of God and God turned his face toward man again. It remains for man to turn and face God. God has been reconciled by the death of Jesus; now man is asked to be reconciled to God. Second, consider the "Door of Reconciliation." This door is on display in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland. Note the peculiar rectangular hole hacked out of its center. In 1492, while Columbus sailed the ocean blue (sorry, could not help myself) Sir James Butler, Earl of the Ormonds holed himself ...

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” [2 Cor 5:10 NASB] Buildings under construction require inspections at different stages. Specialists representing the government who carry State certification or specialists representing the International Code Council (the people who set the codes) check to make certain the plans match the workmanship. Is the foundation sound, secure and is the structure properly attached?  Are the right materials being used? wood, hay, stubble?   In the process of building, has any damage occurred?  Is the mechanical equipment in place and working properly?  Is the electricity & Plumbing connected? Does it flow properly? Is this a place of safety, functioning as intended by the Master Builder?  Judgment Points to the Divine Position of Jesus, The Builder of the Church, as judge. He has e...

“For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” [2 Cor 4:6 NASB] “Science” comes from mid-14th Century Latin word (scire) meaning “to know” or “acquire by study.” One reason science is so enjoyable is that human knowledge is always playing catch-up to what God has already said and done. Take for example the surprising results of exploring light. Science found that light consists of three rays, or groups of wavelengths, and each ray is distinct from the other. There would be no light if any one of these rays or wavelengths were missing as each ray has its own separate function that affects the whole: The first ray, “invisible light” is neither seen nor felt yet this first ray is the origin of light. The third ray or wavelength is also invisible, but is felt as heat. The second ray makes light both seen and felt. Again, science discovers nothing new. S...

"For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake."  (2 Cor 4:5) Mention "church" to most people and they respond with some thought regarding preaching. Almost never the music, fellowship or even the food. Always the preaching. Why is preaching a central feature of the way we do church? We preach because of John 3:16 . God keeps no secrets, requires no secret knowledge, no hidden wisdom. Preaching is the open proclamation of heavenly matters, the beginning of the legislation of heavenly matters here on earth. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Corinthians that preaching is not mere demonstration of eloquence but a demonstration of the Spirit’s power for the purpose of establishing faith not on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God! What is the message we proclaim? “Christ Jesus the Lord!” If this is not the message of the church, there is no message at all and neither is the church the chu...

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.” (2 Cor 2:14-16) Christ is building His church, a feature not to be kept hidden in a personal showroom but always on display, a demonstration of yet another great thing He has done. Triumph cannot be contained--it must be spread. Notice the text, saying: “God . . . through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” Interesting that the triumph of Christ is described in the context of the five senses, specifically, the sense of smell. Smell is the way we tell people apart. You can tell a clean person from an unclean person by smell. Anything fresh, clean is appealing, has a good smell while others bear smells that bring ...

After a 4.5 mile run, I was flat on my back catching my breath when I noticed this circular cloud directly above my head--as if God was telling me I was going to be "ok." Or He was blowing smoke rings . . .

 "Now thanks [be] to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place." (2 Cor 2:14 NKJV) February 7, 2013, the Carnival cruise ship “Triumph” set sail from Galveston, TX for a four day cruise to Mexico. The third day, the ship suffered a fire in the aft engine room. The fire was immediately extinguished, but the ship lost power and propulsion and remained adrift 150 miles off the Mexican coast. For the next five days the 4,200 people on board had to endure unsanitary conditions, food shortages and camping out on deck until the ship was towed into Mobile, Alabama. Not much of a Triumph, was it? It was big ship, massive, loaded with all the amenities for a good time; but, it was crippled, a failure--a barge of unhappiness. The good ship Lolly-pop, dropped--with fuzz stuck all over it. The perfect picture of what the world has to offer. So many shiny things distract our attention that we forget what really...

"It seemed to Kunta that older people always could remember something worse." (Haley, Alex. Roots . New York: Doubleday, 1976).

(ht: Kenny Crowder)

(2 Cor 1:3-5) “ Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ .” Someone said that when Jesus was born, his first cry was God’s way of saying, “I got this. Everything’s gonna be alright.” I read a story recently of a 15 year old boy who was admitted to the hospital due to a high fever. Turned out the young man had leukemia and endured blood transfusions, spinal and bone marrow tests, and chemotherapy. Then he developed pneumonia. For five days his mother stayed in his hospital room. The only words they heard from the doctors were in the plain terms and seriousness of his disease. Though he had never been in the hospital before, he looked around his room then finally sai...

Answer:  two different questions--seemingly related, but different. The answer to the first is, “yes, everyone dies.” The answer to the second question is “no, Enoch did not die.” Everyone dies because death has been the paycheck for sin since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden--and for them, death was spiritual before it was physical. The same remains true for us, as we come in to the world spiritually stillborn in sin. The reasons Enoch did not die is explained in the New Testament. “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’ for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” (Hebrews 11:5) Genesis 5 records a fact about Enoch we should not miss. The text says Enoch was 65 years old when his son, Methuselah, was born (Genesis 5:21). The next verse says that it was not until after Methuselah was born that he started walking with God (Genesis 5:22).  In other words, Enoch only walke...

Here is your plan to read through the Bible in a year , arranged by Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1813-1843). Print this pdf front and back, make a bookmark and enjoy the unchanging Word of God all year long!