The Absolute Love I John 4:8,16 #God is #love.

2013-08-29T16:09:00.001-07:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWiVRCmUdnQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The focus must be on the deep unknowable God

2013-02-11T05:00:00.000-08:00

#Gospel

We Christians in the United States are more comfortable with focusing on the practical response to The Gospel of God than we are of delving deep into the the knowledge of God. J.I. Packer sounded this message clearly decades ago in his book "Knowing God."

"The modern way with God is to set him at a distance, if not to deny him altogether; and the irony is that modern Christians, preoccupied with maintaining religious practices in an irreligious world, have themselves allowed God to become remote. Clear-sighted persons, seeing this, are tempted to withdraw from the churches in something like disgust to pursue a quest for God on their own. Nor can one wholly blame them, for churchmen who look at God, so to speak, through the wrong end of the telescope, so reducing him to pigmy proportions, cannot hope to end up as more than pigmy Christians, and clear-sighted people naturally want something better than this. Furthermore, thoughts of death, eternity, judgment, the greatness of the soul and the abiding consequences of temporal decisions are all “out” for moderns, and it is a melancholy fact that the Christian church, instead of raising its voice to remind the world of what is being forgotten, has formed a habit of playing down these themes in just the same way. But these capitulations to the modern spirit are really suicidal so far as Christian life is concerned."
Packer, J. I. (2011-09-26). Knowing God (Kindle Locations 157-165). Intervarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

Instead of focusing on God and knowing God. We shy away from knowing the deep things of God. We say we have tiny little minds, we cannot understand. This is all true.
Yet God has revealed Himself in such a way that calls for us to focus upon Him and not ourselves. In fact the very nature of focusing upon ourselves is death and condemnation.
John Piper sounds the warning bells clearly in His book; "God is the Gospel."

The sad thing is that a radically man-centered view of love permeates our culture and our churches. From the time they can toddle we teach our children that feeling loved means feeling made much of. We have built whole educational philosophies around this view of love-curricula, parenting skills, motivational strategies, therapeutic models, and selling techniques. Most modern people can scarcely imagine an alternative understanding of feeling loved other than feeling made much of. If you don't make much of me you are not loving me.
Piper, John (2008-04-07). God is the Gospel: Meditations on God's Love as the Gift of Himself (p. 12). Good News Publishers. Kindle Edition.

"This distortion of divine love into an endorsement of self-admiration is subtle. It creeps into our most religious acts. We claim to be praising God because of his love for us. But if his love for us is at bottom his making much of us, who is really being praised? We are willing to be God-centered, it seems, as long as God is man-centered. We are willing to boast in the cross as long as the cross is a witness to our worth. Who then is our pride and joy?1"
Piper, John (2008-04-07). God is the Gospel: Meditations on God's Love as the Gift of Himself (pp. 12-13). Good News Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Yes the difference is subtle. Yet rather than delve deeply into the sovereign wealth of God's Love as a focus upon God, a focus upon His Love of The Son and The Focus of The entire Trinity upon conforming the saved to conformity with the Son, we focus upon our response to God because He loves us. "We are willing to be God-centered, it seems, as long as God is man-centered."

This yes, is a Biblical truth, God is Love, but it is often not understood or explained that His love for us is, in the end that He sees in our becoming full image bearers of Jesus, The Son. He is Absolute Love. His love is not subjective. God's Love is objective, emanating from His nature, focused on the object of The Son. We shy away from and pass by the depths of doctrine believing it gets in the way of the Gospel. People will not feel warm and fuzzy over that type of message. We must walk softly and temper the blow of eternal unimaginable truths. Yet doctrine more pointedly Theology Biblical Theology is eternally undeniably essential to responding in the way of Romans 10; confess and believe must be linked to the context of God has foreknown, called, justified and glorified us intending us to be conformed to the image of His Son Romans 8. As John Piper puts it, God is The Gospel. The gospels is news, good news, but it is lost without doctrine, without a clear strong Biblical Theology.

"But the gospel is not only news. It is first news, and then it is doctrine. Doctrine means teaching, explaining, clarifying. Doctrine is part of the gospel because news can't be just declared by the mouth of a herald-it has to be understood in the mind of a hearer. If the town crier says, "Amnesty is herewith published by the mercy of your Sovereign," someone will ask, "What does 'amnesty' mean?" There will be many questions when the news is announced. "What is the price that has been paid?" "How have we dishonored the King?" When the gospel is proclaimed, it must be explained. What if the shortwave radio announcer used technical terminology that some of the prisoners were not sure of? Someone would need to explain it. Unintelligible good news is not even news, let alone good. Gospel doctrine matters because the good news is so full and rich and wonderful that it must be opened like a treasure chest, and all its treasures brought out for the enjoyment of the world. Doctrine is the description of these treasures. Doctrine describes their true value and why they are so valuable. Doctrine guards the diamonds of the gospel from being discarded as mere crystals. Doctrine protects the treasures of the gospel from the pirates who don't like the diamonds but who make their living trading them for other stones. Doctrine polishes the old gems buried at the bottom of the chest. It puts the jewels of gospel truth in order on the scarlet tapestry of history so each is seen in its most beautiful place.

And all the while, doctrine does this with its head bowed in wonder that it should be allowed to touch the things of God. It whispers praise and thanks as it deals with the diamonds of the King. Its fingers tremble at the cost of what it handles. Prayers ascend for help, lest any stone be minimized or misplaced. And on its knees gospel doctrine knows it serves the herald. The gospel is not mainly about being explained. Explanation is necessary, but it is not primary. A love letter must be intelligible, but grammar and logic are not the point. Love is the point. The gospel is good news. Doctrine serves that. It serves the one whose feet are bruised (and beautiful!) from walking to the unreached places with news: "Come, listen to the news of God! Listen to what God has done! Listen! Understand! Bow! Believe!"

Yes we must believe and confess but it must be clear what we believe about God and what we are confessing about Jesus' Lordship. It is clear that many people say they believe in Jesus, it doesn't, to many, have anything to do with becoming like Jesus. There are many who say Jesus is Lord, yet they continue to be their own measure of right and wrong. Jesus is Lord they acknowledge and yet they remain the captains of their own fate. It is their own will not be done, not "Your will be done." John Piper clearly laid out the claim of God in the Gospel is to put all of your trust in the final fulfillment of finding pleasure only in God.

"Someone may ask, “If your aim is conversion, why don’t you just use the straightforward, biblical command ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved’ (Acts 16:31)? Why bring in this new terminology of Christian Hedonism?” My answer has two parts. First, we are surrounded by unconverted people who think they do believe in Jesus. Drunks on the street say they believe. Unmarried couples sleeping together say they believe. Elderly people who haven’t sought worship or fellowship for forty years say they believe. All kinds of lukewarm, world-loving church attenders say they believe. The world abounds with millions of unconverted people who say they believe in Jesus. It does no good to tell these people to believe in the Lord Jesus. The phrase is empty. My responsibility as a preacher of the gospel and a teacher in the church is not to preserve and repeat cherished biblical sentences, but to pierce the heart with biblical truth. In my neighborhood, every drunk on the street “believes” in Jesus. Drug dealers “believe” in Jesus. Panhandlers who haven’t been to church in forty years “believe” in Jesus. So I use different words to unpack what believe means. In recent years I have asked, “Do you receive Jesus as your Treasure?” Not just Savior (everybody wants out of hell, but not to be with Jesus). Not just Lord (they might submit begrudgingly). The key is: Do you treasure Him more than everything? Converts to Christian Hedonism say with Paul, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). This leads to the second part of my answer. There are other straightforward biblical commands besides “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” The reason for introducing the idea of Christian Hedonism is to force these commands to our attention. Could it be that today the most straightforward biblical command for conversion is not, “Believe in the Lord,” but, “Delight yourself in the LORD”? And might not many slumbering hearts be stabbed broad awake by the words “Unless a man be born again into a Christian Hedonist he cannot see the kingdom of God”?
Piper, John (2011-01-18). Desiring God, Revised Edition: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (Kindle Locations 855-873). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Yes the gospel demands a response of humility and surrender, but we will not get there by focusing on what the response should be to God's love for us. The proper response is only and always a response of looking deep into the person, majesty, and incomprehensible nature of God. Yes we have finite little minds. This is more a reason to spend more time in the depths and not a reason to bypass the depths. We will be amazed eternally learning of God forever in humility forever in glory.

The focus of evangelism on response produces what Dietrich Bonhoeffer has termed the dispensing and acceptance of "Cheap Grace." A grace without cost or change of direction. Jesus words should ring loudly; Luk 14:27 - 33 "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."

Unconditional Absolute Love Gospel Simply Stated

2013-01-24T07:44:00.000-08:00

Everyone loves Romans 8:31

Rom 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Yet many gloss over or try to rationalize the clear meaning of Romans 8:29-30.

Rom 8:29, 30 "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."

This is the gospel simply stated.

An Absolutely Sovereign God, Creator and Ruler of the universe, has chosen from the overflow of His Absolute Love to create. In His creation He has determined to demonstrate to all His Absolute Love that by preconception and free choice, He has determined for some to become lovely in His sight, by planning a way for them to become conformed to the His image. His image is reflected in The Eternal Son. Upon this unconditional and absolute choice He brings His plan to completion by a process of calling to belief, justifying by applying the propitiation of His Son's sacrifice of shed blood and broken body and glorifying in the completed work of resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ, Yeshua Messiah, Isa Al Masih; bringing the called to glorification.

This is what leads to Romans 8:31.

Some may argue that this act is for all and unconditional means "God loves everyone".

Doesn't it say so in the next verses?

Rom 8:32, 33 "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies."

Paul is very clear who are the "us all" in verse 32 it is "God's Elect".

Would we also presume that "graciously give us all things" is a literal "all the things we selfishly and sinfully want'?

No God's Unconditional Absolute Love is a reflection of His choice and that He chooses without respect of persons. His choice is free and unconditional graciously given apart from our worthiness. The worth belongs to Jesus and our becoming like Him through the transforming power of calling, justification and glorification.

All of God. All of grace.

2013-01-01T07:08:00.003-08:00

1Jn 4:7-19 "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us."

I am taking a break from daily blogging my thoughts from Scripture, on God's Absolute Love. If you are interested please look back at the past two years of entries, there is much food for thought from God's Word and other authors. I pray my words do not detract from what The Spirit of God will do through the past posts.

2012-12-28T04:30:00.000-08:00

In God's school of holiness our Lord Jesus Christ (the Father's Son and the Christian's Savior) is with us, and we with Him, in a controlling relationship of master and servant, leader and follower, teacher and student. It is crucially important to appreciate this. Why is it that in the school of holiness, as in the schools to which we send our own children, some move ahead faster than others? How are the different rates of progress to be explained? Fundamentally, the factor that makes the difference is neither one's intelligence quotient, nor the number of books one has read nor the conferences, camps and seminars one has attended, but the quality of the fellowship with Christ that one maintains through life's vicissitudes. Jesus is risen. He is alive and well. Through His Word and Spirit He calls us to Himself today, to receive Him as our Savior and Lord and become His disciples and followers. Speaking objectively-with reference to how things really are, as distinct from how they might feel at any particular moment-the "there-ness" ofJesus, and the personal nature of His relationship with us as His disciples, are as truly matters of fact as were His bodily presence and His words of comfort and command when He walked this earth long ago. Some, however, do not reckon with this fact as robustly and practically as others do. That is what makes the difference. I mean this. Some who trust Jesus as their Savior have formed the habit of going to Him about everything that comes up, in order to become clear on how they should react to it as His disciples. ("Going to Him" is an umbrella phrase that covers three things: praying; meditating, which includes thinking, reflecting, drawing conclusions from Scripture, and applying them directly to oneself in Jesus' presence; and holding oneself open throughout the process to specific illumination from the Holy Spirit.) These Christians come to see how events are requiring them to: • consecrate themselves totally to the Father, as Jesus did; • say and do only what pleases the Father, as Jesus did; • accept pain, grief, disloyalty, and betrayal, as Jesus did; • care for people and serve their needs without either compromise of principle or ulterior motives in practice, as Jesus did; • accept opposition and isolation, hoping patiently for better things and meantime staying steady under pressure, as Jesus did; • rejoice in the specifics of the Father's ways and thank Him for His wisdom and goodness, as Jesus did; and so on. Kept by this means from bitterness and self-pity, these Christians cope with events in a spirit of peace, joy, and eagerness to see what God will do next. Others, however, who are no less committed to Jesus as their Savior, never master this art of habitually going to Him about life's challenges. Too often they start by assuming that their life as children of God will be a bed of roses all the way. Then when the storms come, the best they can do is stagger through in a spirit of real if unacknowledged disappointment with God, feeling all the time that He has let them down. It is easy to understand why those in the first category advance farther and faster in the love, humility, and hope that form the essence of Christlike holiness than those in the second category.

J. I. Packer. Rediscovering Holiness: Know the Fullness of Life with God (pp. 16-18). Kindle Edition.

2012-12-27T04:30:00.000-08:00

The process of learning to be holy, like the process of learning to pray, may properly be thought of as a school-God's own school, in which the curriculum, the teaching staff, the rules, the discipline, the occasional prizes and the fellow pupils with whom one studies, plays, debates and fraternizes, are all there under God's sovereign providence. As pushing ahead on the path of prayer and holiness is a prime form of spiritual warfare against sin and Satan, so it is an educational process that God has planned and programmed in order to refine, purge, enlarge, animate, toughen and mature us. By means of it He brings us progressively into the moral and spiritual shape in which He wants to see us. Physical education in grade school and adult workouts in fitness centers offer perhaps the closest parallels to what is going on here. They, too, require us to endure things we find it hard to enjoy. As a schoolboy I was gangling and clumsy. I loathed "P.T." (physical training, as it was called in those days). I was in fact very bad at it, but I do not doubt that it was very good for me. Having to heave and bump my dogged way over a period of years through physical jerks that others found easy (and treated as fun and did much better than I could) may well have helped me grasp the virtue of keeping on keeping on in other disciplines that are not immediately gratifying: and God's program of holiness training always includes quite a number of these. We must be clear in our minds that whatever further reasons there may be why God exposes us to the joys and sorrows, fulfillments and frustrations, delights and disappointments, happinesses and hurts, that make up the emotional reality of our lives, all these experiences are part of His curriculum for us in the school of holiness, which is His spiritual gymnasium for our reshaping and rebuilding in the moral likeness of Jesus Christ. It is reported that on one occasion when Teresa of Avila was traveling, her conveyance dumped her in the mud. The spunky saint's first words as she struggled to her feet were: "Lord, if this is how you treat your friends, it is no wonder that you have so few!" One of the most attractive things about Teresa is that she could be playful like this with her God. But none knew better than she that the ups and downs of her life were divinely planned in order to mold her character, enlarge her heart and deepen her devotion. And what was true for her is true for us all.

J. I. Packer. Rediscovering Holiness: Know the Fullness of Life with God (pp. 15-16). Kindle Edition.

2012-12-26T05:03:00.004-08:00

Holiness, like prayer (which is indeed part of it), is something that, though Christians have an instinct for it through their new birth, as we shall see, they have to learn in and through experience. As Jesus "learned obedience from what he suffered" (Heb. 5:8)-learned what obedience requires, costs and involves through the experience of actually doing His Father's will up to and in His passion-so Christians must, and do, learn prayer from their struggles to pray and holiness from their battles for purity of heart and righteousness of life. Talented youngsters who go to tennis school in order to learn the game soon discover that the heart of the process is not talking about tactics but actually practicing serves and strokes, thus forming new habits and reflexes, so as to iron out weaknesses of style. The routine, which is grueling, is one of doing prescribed things over and over again on the court, against a real opponent, in order to get them really right. Prayer and holiness are learned in a similar way as commitments are made, habits are formed and battles are fought against a real opponent (Satan, in this case), who with great cunning plays constantly on our weak spots. (That these are often what the world sees as our strong points is an index of Satan's resourcefulness: presumptuous self-reliance and proud overreaching on our part serve his turn just as well as do paralyzing timidity, habits of harshness and anger, lack of discipline, whether inward or outward, evasion of responsibility, lack of reverence for God and willful indulgence in what one knows to be wrong.) Satan is as good at judo throws as he is at frontal assaults, and we have to be on guard against him all the time.

J. I. Packer. Rediscovering Holiness: Know the Fullness of Life with God (pp. 14-15). Kindle Edition.

2012-12-25T04:34:00.000-08:00

#advent #endtimes

Isa 43:1-19 "But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made." Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears! All the nations gather together, and the peoples assemble. Who among them can declare this, and show us the former things? Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right, and let them hear and say, It is true. "You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior. I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and I am God. Also henceforth I am he; there is none who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can turn it back?" Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "For your sake I send to Babylon and bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice. I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King." Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

Love makes all things new, and the Absolute Love is the author of live, the creator of all things. We are witnesses of this newness, this creative power, new birth, new life, new creation and a new love brought forth every day to face the old challenges. He is Absolute Love. We are His witnesses.

Act 1:1-8 "In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Go Tell It On The Mountain

While shepherds kept their watching
Over silent flocks by night,
Behold throughout the heavens,
There shone a holy light:
Go, Tell It On The Mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, Tell It On The Mountain
That Jesus Christ is born.

The shepherds feared and trembled
When lo! above the earth
Rang out the angel chorus
That hailed our Saviour's birth:
Go, Tell It On The Mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, Tell It On The Mountain
That Jesus Christ is born.

Down in a lowly manger
Our humble Christ was born
And God send us salvation,
That blessed Christmas morn:
Go, Tell It On The Mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, Tell It On The Mountain
That Jesus Christ is born.

When I am a seeker,
I seek both night and day;
I seek the Lord to help me,
And He shows me the way:
Go, Tell It On The Mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, Tell It On The Mountain
That Jesus Christ is born.
He made me a watchman
Upon the city wall,
And if I am a Christian,
I am the least of all.
Go, Tell It On The Mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, Tell It On The Mountain
That Jesus Christ is born.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo27s_TjPeQ&feature=related

2012-12-24T04:33:00.000-08:00

#Advent #endtimes

Luk 2:1-19 "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart."

O Holy Night translated from French (Cantique de Noel)

1. O holy night, the stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth;
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world¹ rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;

ChorusFall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine.

2. Led by the light of faith serenely beaming
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming
Here come the wise men from Orient land
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger
In all our trials born to be our friend.

Chorus

He knows our need, He guardeth us from danger²
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

3. Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother,
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.

Chorus

Christ is the Lord, O praise His name forever!
His pow'r and glory evermore proclaim!
His pow'r and glory evermore proclaim!

Lyrics Placide Cappeau Music Adlphe-Charles Adam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O1siM3Nm-k&feature=related

2012-12-23T04:32:00.000-08:00

#Advent # endtimes

It is true that much of the cause of discord in this world is brought down to the pettiness of personal or religious likes and dislikes. What is acceptable or held out as proper is not found proper in other people, cultures and religious stigma.
I am not saying that there are not real evils, we cannot, love cannot accept those things that are evil.
Yet we can accept others and be at peace, make peace in non-essential categories. I am not about to tell you what things should be non-essential, but let all of us seek the Word of God, seek The Absolute Love- Yeshua Messiah, Jesus Christ, Isa Al Masih and be less judgmental over our brothers and sisters.

Rom 14:10-19 "Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding."

Let There Be Peace On Earth!

Let there be peace on earth,
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With God as our father
We are family.
Let us walk with each other
In perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With every step I take
Let this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment
And live each moment
With peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth,
And let it begin with me.

(child)
Let there be peace on earth,
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With God as our father
We are family.
Let us walk with each other
In perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With every step I take
Let this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment
And live each moment
In peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.

Written by Sy Miller and Jill Jackson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv7RXrkiGtk

2012-12-22T04:31:00.000-08:00

#Advent #endtimes

Joh 14:26-27 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."

The peace of God is quite different from what most people think of peace. Not the absence of difficulty or trouble, but an inward peace in the midst of this world and the discord in it. The Holy Spirit of Love and peace is poured out in us. It is a peace that I cannot understand nor explain but it has been given.

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), 1867)

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,Of peace on earth, good will to men

Music Jean Baptiste Calkin composer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ibjbWwJBiQ&feature=related

2012-12-21T04:34:00.000-08:00

#Advent # endtimes

Mat 2:19-23 "But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead." And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: "He shall be called a Nazarene."

Jesus would be called a Nazarene, literally a "root" or "branch" as it was prophesied.
Isa 11:1-4 "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked."

When will this come? Has this happened? Is it yet to be?

Jer 33:14-16 "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.' "

It seems that more is to come. Yeshua Messiah has come, but the dwelling securely part, what has happened to that? Do not miss this! He is our righteousness!

Zec 3:8-10 "Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree."

Is this yet to come? In the second coming of Messiah to be the fulfillment of Absolute Love?

Zec 4:1-6 And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. And he said to me, "What do you see?" I said, "I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left." And I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?" Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord." Then he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.
It is not by power or might but by the Holy Spirit and witness that the Kingdom of God comes.

Zec 4:11-14 "Then I said to him, "What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?" And a second time I answered and said to him, "What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out?" He said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord." Then he said, "These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth."

These are the witnesses of the true God the two Olive Trees and the two Lampstands. The beast and the dragon wage war against them, but they will crush the beast and the great dragon under their feet, they are the witnesses of The Absolute Love.

Rev 11:4 "These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth."

My Deliverer Is Coming

Joseph took his wife and child

And they went to Africa

To escape the rage of a deadly king

There along the banks of the Nile

They listened to the song

That the captive children used to sing

They were singing

My Deliverer is coming

My Deliverer is standing by

Oh, my Deliverer is coming

My Deliverer is standing by

Through a dry and thirsty land

Water from the Kenyan heights

Pours itself out of Lake Sangra's

Broken heart, its broken heart

There in the Sahara winds

Moses heard the whole world cry

For the healing that would

Flow from God's own scars

I hear Moses singing

My Deliverer is coming

My Deliverer is standing by

Oh, my Deliverer is coming

My Deliverer is standing by

He will never break his promise

He was written it upon the sky

My Deliverer is coming

Oh, my Deliverer is standing by

He'll come 'round

He'll come 'round some day

(Just like He said He would)

He'll come 'round

He'll come 'round some day

(Just like He said He would)

I will never doubt His promise

Though I doubt my heart

Though I doubt my eyes

My Deliverer is coming

My Deliverer is standing by

Oh, my Deliverer is coming

My Deliverer is standing by

Standing by, oh He's standing by

Oh, deliver me, deliver me

written by Rich Mullins

http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=DLLD6GNX

2012-12-20T04:32:00.000-08:00

#Advent #endtimes

Rom 16:20 "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you."

How strange it is that wars, strife and upheaval are part of the history of God's rule of Absolute Love. Some would hope and even blaspheme and demonstrate against sinful greed and corruption in this world. Is that what we should do; try to take the world over or deliver the Kingdom of God through force?
It is a great mystery that the kingdom comes through humility, sacrifice, a giving of self and prayerful reliance on the justice of God. The God of peace crushes the perversion and hatred of Satan and those who would follow, through gentleness and love.
He is The Abolute Love.

Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming

words:
verses 1-2, 15th Century carol (Es ist ein Ros entsprungen)
translated from German to English by Theodore Baker, 1894
verses 3-4, Friedrich Layritz, translated by Harriet Reynolds Krauth, 1875
verse 5, translated or written by John C. Mattes, 1914

Lo, how a Rose e'er blooming from tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse's lineage coming, as those of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright, amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.
Isaiah 'twas foretold it, the Rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind.
To show God's love aright, she bore to us a Savior,
When half spent was the night.
The shepherds heard the story proclaimed by angels bright,
How Christ, the Lord of glory was born on earth this night.
To Bethlehem they sped and in the manger they found Him,
As angel heralds said.
This Flower, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor the darkness everywhere;
True Man, yet very God, from sin and death He saves us,
And lightens every load.
O Savior, Child of Mary, Who felt our human woe,
O Savior, King of glory, Who dost our weakness know;
Bring us at length we pray, to the bright courts of heaven,
And to the endless day!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYecrfQjEJU&feature=related

2012-12-19T04:31:00.000-08:00

#Advent # endtimes

There is no greater paradox as likening the birth of a child to the coming of peace. I was in the delivery room when my wife gave birth to our daughter. There was chaos, there was excitement, there was fear and there was joy, but no peace. At least there was no peace outwardly. Then there was relief, exhaustion and later peace.
Paradoxically there is no more peaceful a picture, a time when a mother is embracing a tiny, contented, resting little baby. The baby is a promise of future and an expectation of love.
This is what the birth of the Christ child brings to us a sense of future promise and love. The deposit and full purchase of peace has come. Yet, the receiving of peace is internal to those who accept the deposit. The full realization of peace is yet to come!

Psa 119:165 "Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble."

Rom 5:1-11 "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

2Co 5:20, 21 "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
He is Absolute Love, come and receive the peace of God through Christ.

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born

Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth "

Lyrics by Francis Mohr in German "Stille Nacht"

Music by Franz Gruber

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9T4WB2zfmps

2012-12-18T04:30:00.000-08:00

#Advent # endtimes

The hope of all people is peace. Peace is the fourth candle-fourth week of Advent. It seems that peace does not come. At any moment of any period of history, you look and there has been some sort of conflict on earth.
One of the most interesting occurrences in the Scriptures is the meeting of Abram the father of nations, the person seen as the father of the faith of Christianity, Judaism and Islam with Melchizedek, the king of peace, salem, shalom.

Gen 14:18-20 "And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!" And Abram gave him a tenth of everything."

This king-priest of The Most High God (Yahweh Elohim) blessed Abraham and Abraham gave the king of peace a tenth of everything. The king of peace brought out "bread" and "wine" to make the blessing.
David talks of this king and says in prophecy; Yahweh says to my Lord ... You are a priest forever after the order of the king of peace- Melchizedek.

Psa 110 "A Psalm of David. The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool." The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head."

This fulfillment is in Jesus The Christ Child of Nazareth, Yeshua Messia, Isa Al Masih.

Heb 5:1-10 "For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you"; as he says also in another place, "You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek." In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek."

He is the king of righteousness, the king of peace, the King of kings.

Heb 7:1 "For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever. See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of him, "You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek."

Peace and righteousness have come now for those who love and look forward to the return of Yeshua, he will renew and put us at peace.

Verse 1
O come, O come, Emmanuel
and ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear

Chorus
Rejoice rejoice
Emmanuel shall come to thee O Israel

Verse 2
O come Thou Dayspring come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight

Repeat Chorus

O come Desire of nations bind
In one the hearts of all mankind
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease
And be Thyself our King of Peace

Repeat Chorus

Author unknown 12th century carol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP4iyJqrPvY

2012-12-17T04:30:00.000-08:00

Advent #endtimes

Christmas is a joyful time to think for those who have received the the message, grasped the promise and been given the deposit of The Holy Spirit, those who have had Absolute Love enter their hearts.

1Ch 16:23-30 "Sing to the LORD, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be held in awe above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place. Ascribe to the LORD, O clans of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength! Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth; yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved."

Isa 55 "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. "For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

For those of faith, who believe in His coming and His coming again, Christmas can be filled with joy. In a world of discord and pain joy has come and our joy can be full, even though we see the fulfillment through our faith and the promise of Absolute Love.

O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) is a hymn tune written in 1743. The text itself is believed have been written in the 13th century, and that John Francis Wade is the author. The original four verses of the hymn have been extended to eight, and have been translated into many languages.

Lyrics
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him, born the King of angels;