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NAPOLEON ON JESUS
The emperor and conqueror of nations, Napoleon Bonaparte, rightly recognized the absolute uniqueness of Jesus, & expressed it in these words: "I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the World there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius?--Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His Empire upon Love, and at this hour millions of men would die for Him."
The greatest command in the law is the secret to destroying racism and that is to love God with all your heart. Then love your neighbor to the same degree that you love yourself.
Sermon Central Staff
WORSHIP WARRIOR
I like the way songwriter and worship leader, Brian Doerksen, puts it. He says, "Becoming a worshipper means becoming a warrior... And by toning that down...we have sent men and women away from the church in droves. It's time to call them back," Doerksen says, "as worshiping warriors." That is as "warriors who are surrendered to God, warriors who know that their authority comes because they are under authority, warriors willing to wait even when everyone else is rushing ahead, or [warriors willing to] act decisively...in obedience" to their commanding officer, Jesus Christ, even when everybody else is lagging behind in disobedience.
(Brian Doerksen, Make Love, David C. Cook, 2009. From a sermon by C. Philip Green, Take a Risk, 5/25/2012)
Spurgeon:
“It is my first public declaration that a thing which looks to be unreasonable and seems to be unprofitable, being commanded by God, is law, is law to me. If my Master had told me to pick up six stones and lay them in a row I would do it, without demanding of him, ‘What good will it do?’ Cui bono? Is no fit question for soldiers of Jesus. The very simplicity and apparent uselessness of the ordinance should make the believer say, ‘Therefore I do it because it becomes the better test to me of my obedience to my Master.’” When you tell your servant to do something, and he cannot comprehend it, if he turns round and says, “Please, sir, what for?” you are quite clear that he hardly understands the relation between master and servant. So when God tells me to do a thing, if I say, “What for?” I cannot have taken the place which Faith ought to occupy, which is that of simple obedience to whatever the Lord hath said. Baptism is commanded, and Faith obeys because it is commanded, and thus takes her proper place.
Rick Warren in his book The Purpose Driven Life says, “Life is all about love!”
“Because God is love, the most important lesson he wants you to learn on earth is how to love. It is in loving that we are most like him, so love is the foundation of every command he has given us; ‘th...
ISLAM
What’s the main idea?
On his many caravan rides along the trading route between
Syria and Arabia, a merchant named Muhammad observed people of
all kinds of faiths. He became increasingly concerned that
people were straying from ethical and moral responsibility. In
A.D. 610, when Muhammad was 40 years old, the angel Gabriel
allegedly commanded him to become a prophet, calling people
back to the truth. The foundation of Islam was laid.
Islam is the second-largest religion in the world (after
Christianity), claiming one billion followers, called Muslims.
The religion hangs on the phrase, "There is no god but Allah
and Muhammad is his prophet." Allah (Arabic for "God") is
alone to be worshiped. So it’s a big mistake to think Muslims
view Muhammad the same way Christians view Jesus. Muhammad was
not a deity to be worshiped, but the last and greatest
prophet -- someone who brought a perfect message from God.
Muslims aren’t concerned as much about the right beliefs as
they are about the right actions. In "submitting to the will
of God" (that’s the meaning of the word "Islam"), they stick
to the Five Pillars, a set of important requirements that
includes regular charity, praying five times a day, and making
at least one hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca (Islam’s holy city).
In addition to this, most Muslims devoutly refrain from
alcohol, drugs, gambling, and certain foods such as pork. The
Qur’an (or Koran), which Muslims believe is the written
recollection of the visions Muhammad received, is the most
important text, although our Old and New Testaments are also
significant in Islam.
ANY COMMON GROUND?
Christians and Muslims share a lot of similar beliefs. For
instance, Moses, Jacob, and David are influential in both
faiths. And Muslims have enormous respect for Jesus, seeing
him as the second-greatest prophet. Muslims also believe in
Jesus’ virgin birth and his miracles, even saying he’s the
Messiah.
WHAT SETS US APART?
Muslims don’t believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection, and
they consider the Christian claim of Jesus’ divinity
blasphemous. In Islam, Muhammad is the greatest and most
authentic prophet. While they think highly of the Bible,
Muslims think the Qur’an is the true Word of God. Most
significantly, the Christian concept of grace is completely
absent in Islam. Allah is relatively cold and removed, and the
principles of right and wrong, do’s and don’ts, form the
foundation of the faith.
Dr. James Lewis, Associate Professor of World Religions at
Wheaton College and Campus Life.
http://ChristianityToday.com/cl/9c2/9c2048.html
June 26, 2002
"Deep within California’s remote and rugged desert mountain ranges, living on the brink of extinction, less than a thousand bighorn sheep maintain a fragile grip on the future. Their hope lies with the crop of lambs born each winter. In preparation for this moment, ewes wander alone into the rocky wilderness to find quiet nooks where they give birth. Few people have ever seen a newborn lamb, but a couple of days after birth it is frisking about like a colt and ready to rejoin the rest of the herd. More lambs are born and survive during years with lots of fresh, green vegetation, but in the face of introduced diseases, predation by mountain lions and disturbance by hikers nothing is certain in the world of bighorn sheep. NATURAL HISTORY Bighorns are intelligent, playful and mischievous. One scientist raised a lamb and watched as it learned the rituals of the household, came to recognize voice commands (better than a dog) and slept with a litter of kittens. The lamb even claimed a seat in the family car." LOS ANGELES TIMES February 15, 2005 FIELD GUIDE Bighorn sheep David Lukas
CHILDREN ON SILENCE
Author Kathleen Norris used to play a game with elementary-school children in which she would make a deal with them. "First you get to make noise," she would bargain, "and then you’ll make silence."
The time of noise was always predictably chaotic -- shouting, pounding and stomping, like a football team exploding out of a locker room. But the period of silence that followed was unexpectedly passionate and creative. When the children were asked to write about it, reflects Norris, "their images often had a depth and maturity that was unlike anything else they wrote."
One boy discovered that "Silence is a tree spreading its branches to the sun."
One third-grader’s poem turned into a prayer: "Silence is spiders spinning their webs; it’s like a silkworm making its silk. Lord, help me to know when to be silent."
And a little girl offered a gem of spiritual wisdom that Norris finds herself returning to when her life becomes too noisy and distracting: "Silence reminds me to take my soul with me wherever I go"
(Kathleen Norris, Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith [New York: Riverhead Books, 1998], 16-17).
When we follow the command of Jesus to be silent, we spread our branches to the sun and soak up the light of God’s love, forgiveness and peace. When we hear God’s still, small voice, we are like silkworms spinning the silk of a sanctified life. When we listen for the guidance of the Lord -- really listen, instead of telling the Almighty all about what we are convinced we need to achieve -- we rediscover that our most precious treasure is the God-breathed soul that each of us has from the very beginning of life, a soul that we really should remember to take with us into all the splendid surprises of each day.
Comments About Muhammad Originate in Key Islamic Source
Two former Muslims responded June 12 to complaints from Islamic groups that a speaker’s comments at the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference in St. Louis were "bigoted" and "hateful."
National media have widely reported that Jerry Vines, pastor of First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla., described Muhammad as a "demon-possessed pedophile" during a June 10 sermon and that Vines inferred that Islam teaches the destruction of non-Muslims.
Clarifying that Vines not only quoted from their recent book, "Unveiling Islam," Emir and Ergun Caner said Vines also quoted from the Hadith, a highly respected source for Islamic teaching among Muslim clerics and followers worldwide. The Hadith itself verifies that Muhammad married a 6-year-old girl and consummated the marriage when she was 9, the professor-brothers said.
"It’s simply a matter of quoting [Islamic] sources," said Emir Caner, an assistant professor of church history and Anabaptist studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. "If we are wrong in our understanding of the Islamic scriptures, we would be happy to be corrected."
The specific Hadith citation concerning Muhammad’s pedophilia is in volume 7, book 6, number 64 and 65, said Ergun Caner, an assistant professor of theology and church history at Criswell College in Dallas.
Both Emir and Ergun Caner were Sunni Muslims who became Christians in 1982.
"The comments in question cannot be considered bigotry when they come from Islamic writings," Ergun Caner said.
A lengthy passage from the Hadith, volume 1, book 1, chapter 1, shows that Muhammad himself believed he was under demonic influence, but it notes that Muhammad’s wife is the one who deemed his experience as "divine," Ergun Caner said.
Concerning terrorism and Islamic jihad, Emir Caner noted variant interpretations by Muslims themselves. Some see jihad as a "spiritual war," and others, "physical," he said.
"Some Muslims want to allegorize their own scriptures because they don’t want to defend jihad," Emir Caner said. "But if you take the Koran at its word, or Muhammad at his word, then you’ll find physical jihad."
The highest level of Muslim heaven -- which has 70 perpetual virgins on couches -- is reserved for Muslims who "shed their blood," said Ergun Caner said, referencing Hadith 135.
Islam’s tilt toward violence, Emir Caner said, also is reflected in the
Koran: "Slay the enemy where you find him, Surah 9.92," whereas Christians are commanded to love their enemies.
"A so-called Christian who bombs an abortion clinic or shoots an abortionist and says God told him to do it does that act against the Bible," Ergun Caner said. "But the Muslim who commits acts of violence in jihad does so with the approval of Muhammad.
"When 9/11 happened, we were all shocked. But where was the international outrage when jihad killed 3 million people in Sudan?" Ergun Caner asked.
As former Sunni Muslims, the Caners cite the major differences between Islam and Christianity as the "personalness" of God, and "grace as opposed to works."
"Jesus Christ ... is ultimately personal and wants to have a relationship with me," Ergun Caner said.
The Koran says Allah "is as close as your jugular vein, which is a place of fear, not of faith,"...
A Prayer for Deliverance
1. Personally affirm your faith in Christ:
“Lord Jesus Christ, I believe You are the Son of God and the only way to God – that You died on the cross for my sins and rose again so that I might be forgiven and receive eternal life.”
2. Humble yourself:
“I renounce all pride and religious self-righteousness and dignity that does not come from You. I have no claim on Your mercy except that You died in my place.”
3. Confess any known sin:
“I confess all my sins before You and hold nothing back. Especially I confess …”
4. Repent of all sins:
“I repent of all my sins. I turn away from them and I turn to You, Lord, for mercy and forgiveness.”
5. Forgive all other people:
“By a decision of my will, I freely forgive all who have ever harmed or wronged me. I lay down all bitterness, all resentment and all hatred. Specifically, I forgive …”
6. Break with the occult and all false religion:
“I sever all contact I have ever had with the occult or with all false religion – particularly …”
“I commit myself to get rid of all objects associated with the occult or false religion.”
7. Prepare to be released from every curse over your life:
“Lord Jesus, I thank You that on the cross You were made a curse, that I might be redeemed from every curse and inherit God’s blessing. On that basis I ask You to release me and set me free to receive the deliverance I need.”
8. Take your stand with God:
“I take my stand with You, Lord, against Satan’s demons. I submit to You, Lord, and I resist the devil! Amen!”
9. Expel:
“Now I speak to any demons that have control over me. [Speak directly to them.] I command you to go from me now. In the name of Jesus, I expel you.”
From Derek Prince’s book, They Shall Expel Demons
Walking in the Confidence of God
Christians walk in confidence because they serve a "Providential God:"
Christians serve a Lord whose plans and purposes come about. Psalms 33:4-11 says, "For the word of the LORD is right and true; He is faithful in all He does. The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of His unfailing love. By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; He puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD! Let all the people of the world revere Him. For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. The LORD foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations."
In gratitude toward God, Job writes, "You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence you watched over my spirit." (Job 10:12) Job was recognizing that he owed God his entire life because God had given him constant vigilance and had absolute control of his life.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia gives us this explanation of "providence." It "implies more than just seeing in advance. It is anticipation causing one to take steps to meet a need through making a plan. It is in a sense that pre-vision becomes pro-vision... Applied to God, providence obviously includes the divine foreseeing, but God's foreseeing has a fuller and broader reference in view of divine overruling. Providence, then, is the preservation and superintendence of all things by God. It is divine governance whereby all possible events are woven into a coherent pattern and all possible developments are shaped to accomplish the divinely instituted goal."
Many Holy Spirit illuminated Christians have seen the Lord provide for a real need in their lives. Walking in the Confidence of God begins with accepting His provision through Christ, who died for your sins so you may have eternal life.
Accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord ?
