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notice Satan’s version of grace - it had an IF clause attached to it. [[This reminds me of the many ploys out there today - get 400 dollars of free merchandise - IF you sign up for MSN for three years. No money down - no interest for 12 months - you can own a new car NOW! But all you have to do is make payments for the next five years! It’s not exactly as free as you thought! ]] Satan said, “I’ll give you ALL these kingdoms, if you bow down and worship me!”
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Numbers of the Bible”
One
The number one is for God. We must begin with number one or we cannot have number two or any other number. Mathematically speaking we cannot get anywhere without the number one. We must begin with God.
Two
The number two is for man. Man as an individual. God made man and Christ is “called the second man.”
Three
Three is the number for the Trinity. God is a triune God; Father, Son and Spirit. The atmosphere, which we live in, is a trinity of oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen. The tabernacle was a trinity with its court, holy place, and Holiest of Holies.
The first chapter of Revelation is full of trinities of Truth.
V. 2 – The Word of God, The testimony of Jesus, All things that He saw.
V. 3 – Read, Hear and Keep.
V. 4 – Which is, Which was, and Which is to come.
V. 5 – The Faithful Witness, The First begotten of the dead, The Prince of the kings of the earth.
V.5, 6 – Loved us, Washed us, Made us kings and priests.
V. 7 – Every eye shall see him, They also which pierced him, All kindreds of the earth.
V. 9 – Tribulation, Kingdom, Patience
V. 18 – I am He that liveth, Was dead, Alive for evermore.
V. 19 – Things seen (Past), Things which are (Present), Things which shall be (Future).
Who would dare to contradict the trinity as these Ten appear in one chapter alone, chapter one of Revelation. Certainly no Spirit filled believer or student of scripture would not affirm its validity.
Four
Four is the number of humanity as a whole. There were four men in the Ark, four men in the fiery furnace, four on the mount of Transfiguration. The four points of the compass comprise the whole of humanity in all the earth.
Five
Five is the number for grace – grace accepted or grace rejected. There are five wise and foolish virgins.
Six
The number six is the number for evil. A man with six toes and six fingers is called a wicked man in the Bible. Nebuchadnezzra’s image was sixty feet high and six feet in circumference and six musical instruments called the people to worship. The number for the Anti-Christ is six hundred sixty-six. This is set forth the trinity of evil, the climax of wickedness, and the culmination of iniquity. There can not be anything worse than 666.
Seven
Seven is the number for perfection. This number is frequently mentioned in scripture: seven churches, seven stars, seven heads, seven horns, seven eyes, seven Spirits of god, the seven branches of the candlestick.
In Judges, the seventh book of the Bible, there are seven departures from God; seven times the people repented and seven times Jehovah delivered his people from their enemies.
Eight
Eight is the number for that which is New. There are eight beatitudes which set forth something entirely new. Everything good in this sinful world owes its presence and existence to the Word of God. The resurrection of Christ and of many of the saints took place on the eighth day. Here indeed and in truth was something new.
Ten
Ten is the number of completeness. Jacob’s wages were changed ten times, which sets forth complete disappointment outside the will of God and his Promised Land. Eliezer, the servant, took ten camels with him when he started from home in order to obtain a bride for Isaac. God gave his people Ten Commandments. Daniel and his three friends were proved ten days and at the end of the test were ten times better than the others. Christ gave the parable of the ten pounds and ten talents. Christ healed ten lepers. The dragon of Daniel and Revelation had ten horns, which represent ten kings. The tenth or the tithe is the Lord’s.
GOD WORKS IN THREE’S (foundations of grace) death, burial, resurrection; (the kingdom of God) righteousness, peace, Holy Ghost ;( the greatness of God) was, is, is to come ;( three manifestations of God) Father, Son, Holy Ghost ;( in him we) live, move, have our being ;( now abideth these) faith, hope, love
The third of the threes are always sovereign ….the first two are always humanistic
It seems that hell isn’t as hot as it used to be. Hell has become "more of a deep funk than a pit of fire." A January 2000 U.S. News & World Report poll reveals that 64 percent of Americans believe there is a hell, 25 percent say there isn’t a hell, and 9 percent don’t know. Most respondents think of hell as "an anguished state of existence" or "an unpleasant solitary confinement" rather than as a real place.
Professor Douglas Groothius of Denver Seminary believes many Christians are ashamed of the doctrine of hell. Yet Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, worries about downplaying the reality of hell. He believes that doing this "does irreparable damage to our deepest comforts—our understanding of God’s grace and love. . . . To preach the good news, we must preach the bad."…
Can the threat of spending eternity in hell motivate individua...
A new survey by The Barna Group indicates that terminology used by followers of Jesus Christ reflects a breadth of meanings, and that a fourth of people calling themselves “born again” didn’t rely on God’s grace as their only means to salvation. (Christianity.com 12/1/05)
More than 4 in 10 respondents to a recent USA Today poll said they say grace before a meal. (Foster Letter 1/25/03)
Sin is the excrement of our soul. I’m not trying to be gross, but as much as our physical excrement may disgust us, our spiritual excrement disgusts God even more.
We sin every day, even when we try our best not to do so. We sin less than we did before, and when we let Jesus into our lives, we recognize our sins for what they are, but still we sin and in so doing, we soil our soul. If we don’t excrete our sins from our souls, sin just continues to build up, and our spiritual life deteriorates until we finally reject God and any hope for life with him.
Our kidneys process the poisons that accumulate in our bodies, and eliminate them. Without that process, we poison ourselves. Humans die from kidney failure every day. The poisons in our bodies can’t be processed out, and those poisons eventually backup into our bloodstream and kill us.
The Center for Disease Control states that nearly 17 percent of adults in the United States aged 20 and older have kidney disease. That rises to 40 percent for Americans over age 60.
Each year kidney failure sends about 400,000 Americans into treatment.
Most of those people had no idea that they had a kidney problem, that their bodies were slowly killing them by not excreting the poisons that were building up inside.
When doctors told them about the problem, most of them accepted their doctor’s advice, and the required treatment. They want to live, so they follow the treatment plan, and continue living.
Many of those same people, as well as the rest of us, are told through the Bible, our pastors, or even our own consciences, that our accumulated sins will kill us, but that God will cleanse us of those sins and restore us to the sinless state he designed for us originally.
The required treatment is merely to accept his grace through his son, Jesus Christ, who will fill us with his cleansing spirit. You might even think of it as spiritual dialysis. We say that we want to live, but we reject the only treatment plan and guarantee our own spiritual deaths.
Only Jesus can purge the sin from our souls through his sacrifice for us.
Books Influence Pastors: A new Barna survey finds Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life and The Purpose-Driven Church (Zondervan) are the most helpful books protestant pastors have read in the last 3 years. Other popular titles were What’s So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey (Zondervan); Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala (Zondervan); Wild at Heart by John Eldredge (Nelson); Courageous Leadership by Bill Hybels (Zondervan); Spiritual Leadership by Henry & Richard Blackaby (Broadman & Holman); The Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley (Multnomah); and The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell (Nelson). Warren’s books were mentioned by 30% of the pastors and Maxwell’s by 5%. 54% listed at least one book regarding discipleship or personal spiritual growth. Titles about church growth, congregational health or ministry dynamics were noted by 23% of pastors while leadership books were valued by 22%. Less influential types of books listed were theology (9%), evangelism and outreach (6%), pastoring (6%), prayer (5%), charismatic perspectives (5%), trend...
Our text from Romans assures us that the Holy Scriptures bring us encouragement and hope. All our hymns we are singing today affirm the encouragement and hope we receive by being “People of One Book.” I read the daily devotional for March 14 in Kenneth W. Osbeck’s devotional guide AMAZING GRACE: 366 INSPIRING HYMN STORIES FOR DAILY DEVOTIONS, as that devotional centered on our opening hymn “Standing on the Promises.” The Bible contains more than 5,000 promises for God’s people [SOURCE: http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Basics/gods_promises.htm]. In his devotional on “Standing on the Promises” Kenneth Osbeck says, “Bible scholars have pointed out that the phrase ‘fear not’ appears in the Bible 365 times—a reassuring promise for each day of the year.’” [SOURCE: Kenneth W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1990), 85.].
FELLOWSHIP @ THE NEIGHBOURHOOD BAR
Research that shows the more friendships a person has in a congregation, the less likely they are to become inactive or leave. I once read about a survey of 400 church drop-outs who were asked why they left their churches. Over 75% of the respondents said, “I didn’t feel anyone cared whether I was there or not.”
These are shocking results, especially as church should be one of the most caring places in the world!
The neighbourhood bar is possibly the best counterfeit there is to the fellowship Christ wants to give His church. It’s an imitation, dispensing alcohol instead of grace, escape rather than reality, but it is a Permissive, Accepting, and Inclusive fellowship. It is Unshockable. It is democratic. You can tell people secrets and they usually don’t tell others or even want to. The bar flourishes not because most people are alcoholics, but because God has put into the human heart the desire to know & be known, to love & be loved & so many seek a counterfeit at the price of a few beers.
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