We have most of us heard the song nothing but the blood! A beautiful song,that tells the joy of the cross quite well. Now imagine ,if you will, where we would be if God had stopped at nothing:

What can wash away my sin? nothing!

what can make me whole again? nothing!

We know full well that we are sinners saved by grace, we know full well that we deserve to die, we know full well that we have fallen far short of the glory of God. How wretched and poor would we be if God had stopped at nothing! Nothing to clean us from the stain of sin in our lives, nothing to make us a new creature in him.Nothing to lift the burden of guilt from our heart and our soul.

What can wash away my sin? NOTHING!

Lord help me, let me stand in your presence, to feel your love and know that I have been forgiven. What can wash away my sin? NOTHING!

What can make me whole again? NOTHING!

Remove this guilt, and shame, and let me stand in your presence. Fill this emptiness inside of me that only you can fill.Take out this heart of stone, and put in a heart of flesh. What can make me whole again? Nothing!

What can change me from the harsh, bitter, vengeful person that the world as a whole believes that we are to be, and make me into the kind of person that I want to be?

Thank you father that you did not stop at nothing! Thank you  that you provided a means for me to get to know you in the fullness of your glory.

What can wash away my sins? NOTHING but the blood of Jesus!

What can make me whole again? NOTHING  but the blood of Jesus!

How precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. Thank you Lord for the cross of calvary, thank you that you died so that I could live. Thank you that there is a way to come boldly before your throne of grace that I might obtain a help and a mercy in time of need.

Thank you for the words spoken on the cross: "IT IS FINISHED!"

It is finished and our salvation was bought! It is finished and my joy was paid for!It is finished and I could stand under the flow of calvary,be washed in the blood, made whole again.Great is the Mercy of our loving father, who gave to us  that which we did not deserve, so that we could give to Him the love, worship, and devotion that he does deserve!

I was not sure if I should post this here, or somewhere else, I'm sure if it is in the wrong place that Tom will put it where it belongs.

how many of us remember growing up with a hero that we admired?!

It may have been an older family member that seemed to be able to do everything, an older brother or sister, or maybe even a parent. They could solve every problem, and absolutely nothing could stop them. Maybe it was someone from a T.V. show.They always saved the day, got the "bad guys", and of course they always got the girl! No matter how bleak the situation, this hero would end up saving the day!

Here is a news flash for you, you are the hero that God has chosen for your area to save the day! I know, I can already hear the gasps, and the comments. "I'm just an ordinary person, how can I be a hero?!?

Let me remind you of a few other ordinary people throughout history. A wandering nomad of the dessert will eventually become the father of a nation. this nomad was nothing special in the eyes of the world, in fact he chose to become homeless, leaving all of the comforts that he had, and moved to places he did not know(simply because he heard the voice of God) In this society we live in these days, if we should do something like this we would be committed! Yet Abram,our wandering nomad, became the father of the nation of Israel.

Another ordinary man, like those he lived around, began building a boat in the middle of dry land. He built this boat, and preached of salvation for 120 years. All of that time he was mocked and ridiculed, but Noah saved the human race from extinction!

there are many examples of the life changing power of God in peoples live thru the bible. David went from poor shepherd to king, Daniel went form hated brother, and slave , to  a ruler of the known world of his time.

But what does this have to do with me you ask? Good, if you did ask I have gotten your attention. We are children of the king, and not just any king, but: The King of Kings.We are given the right to come boldly before the throne of grace, not with heads bowed begging, but as children expecting to receive what we ask for!We see all around us the sin, corruption, immorality and other works of the enemy of our souls. Now what do we do about it? Do we do as most do, and just ignore it? Do we half-heartedly pray,hoping that God may do something about it?Do we tell others how terrible it is, but do nothing to change it?

I f you answered yes to any of my last questions then fall on your knees and repent, asking our Adonai to forgive you!Then get up and begin to do what you can to change what you see around you! We start with prayer. The fervent effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much. How many of us are willing to pay the cost it takes to die out to self daily? How many will say here am I Lord USE ME! How many will begin to pray like Isaiah "I am a sinful man amidst a sinful people " "forgive me , and then use me my LORD!

God never promised us that everything in life would be easy, or that it would even be to our liking. What he did promise us though was a peace that surpassed all understanding. A peace in the midst of hard times that says I know, that I know, that I know, that I know that my life is in his hands and that he will never leave me or forsake me, he will be with me always to lead, guide and direct my every move, if I have the courage and commitment to ask him!

He has also promised us a joy unspeakable and full of glory! Notice that the word used was joy, not happiness. There are times in my life where circumstances, or events will remove my happiness. But I will never, never, never loose the joy of knowing that I am a child of the King, that I will one day see the face of him who loved me enough to die for me, and most important hear him say:"well done thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the JOY of your lord."

Notice we are given an armour in the book of Eph. We have a helmet, a breastplate, a shield, a weapon, and our feet are shod. No where in the list do I see anything to cover our back, where we can turn and run from the enemy of our soul. He is described as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Only the old lions, no longer able to hunt roar(to scare their prey) I have no fear in Jesus for he hath not given me a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind.I know that I am already triumphant in every thing he tells me to do. I am not the one responsible for the victory! When my father tells me to do something, it is not I who is showing power, rather it is the spirit within me, who can and will overcome all.

I have read the last page of the book my brethren, and we win! God will, and is, triumphant over all.

Remember that heroes are those ordinary people who do extraordinary things! I strongly believe in Jesus that we can, and  should be superheroes for him. Let us learn to lead by following him, let us learn to stand by first falling upon our knees, and most importantly let us learn that it is Christ in us our hope of Glory!

May all praise, and glory, and honor be given to Jesus

We find in Paul's writings that the Torah, and Tenach were given to us so we could know the mind of God. As we study and learn the commandments our Lord, all 613, we see what His desire for us is.
 
Does this mean that we are under the law?,heaven forbid. Does this mean that we are saved by our works? Again I say heaven forbid.  For by grace are we saved thru faith, and not of works lest any man should boast. We must fully understand however, that once our heart and mind have been given to God we will obey his commandments. We do so not in fear of punishment, even though that is there, but rather out of love and a desire to please the one who gave his all for us.

When we make mistakes and sin, our repentance should not be out of fear, but rather our hearts should be broken because we have hurt the Lord. Will we make mistakes and sin, yes(those of you who claim never to sin find an alter and repent for lying). The good new is he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Back to the question. We keep the commandments of our Lord out of love and respect for his wishes in our lives.

Ecc. 12:13 let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, fear God, Keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

respectfully yours in Yeshua:

ravenloche

Grandkids can have that effect on a person but it's a whole lot of fun anyway.

If I had known that the grandkids were this much fun, I would have had them first

On this point we must agree to disagree!

there is so much that we see together, and some day when we stand before our Savior, together, I don't think that we will be discussing semantics!

If we all were exactly the same we would not be brothers, we would be clones.

I appreciated your posts, and enjoy reading them.

Respectfully yours in Yeshua in love:

ravenloche

The number one problem with the concept of apostolic succession is the definition of an apostle.  An apostle was an apostle because:

1.  They personally witnessed the risen Christ.
2.  They were personally taught by Christ.
3.  They were personally called an apostle by Christ.

See a common thread?  My problem with this "succession" is that in order for it to meet the defenition, both historically and scripturally, Jesus is still giving us further revelation.  This is, biblically speaking, heresy.

Acording to the above criteria we must now throw out 2/3 of our new testament!

Saul, later called Paul, was not part of the original members of the upper room(I start there to shorten the gasps I still hear from my statement above)

Eph 4:11--he gave some apostles, some prophets,some evangelist, pastors, and teachers. for the working of the ministry-the edifying of the body, and the perfecting of the saints.

we have been given a five fold ministy by the Lord to teach us how to walk with him. Yet seldom do we see more than three of these ministries active in the body of believers. If we are not perfect(I'll raise my hand to that! and those of you who don't need to go to the alter and repent!) then we still need, and have all 5 ministries present. I firmly believe this, but I also know that many will not claim to be "prophets, or apostles" because of the ridicule they will receive, not from non-believers, but from within the body of the church. God has not change, God will not change. What he gave to one person is available to anyone who is willing to pay the cost of obedience to receive it.

Do you think Paul had fun being beaten? shipwrecked? put in chains? Prison? Do you think it brought him fame and fortune? Or do you think when he sold out to a loving savior he gave his all. We must learn that in order to live we die, in order to be anything at all in the kingdom of God it must be Christ in us our hope of Glory.

We can not get from God what we are dying to receive untill we can give to Him what is killing us.

As we sell out all that we have, and die to all that we are, then the new creature that we are will mature into the measure and the stature of the fullnes of Christ. we will become sons of God, and workers in the kingdom of our Lord

respectfully yours in Yeshua

ravenloche

don't forget that chic-fillet is a christian based business. The owner even refuses to allow any of the stores to be open on sunday!

AMEN BRO TOM!

One thing I would like to point out in Isaiah 53:5 that so many seem to miss
...he was bruised for our iniquities...

When someone is bruised they bleed on the inside. "By his stripes we were healed"
He bleed on the outside for our diseases to be healed, but he also bleed on the inside
so that our insides (emotions,feelings,and our mind) could be healed as well

excellent post Bro Tom!

respectfully yours in Yeshua

ravenloche

Thanks for that , i just wanted to hear someone say that.

There is a slight problem here! You got the answer you were looking for, so your emotions, and your self-indulgence
was satisfied. My next question is why seek for an answer that you feel you already have? As children of God we must
go beyond what is the normally accepted standards of society, and embrace the word of God as being absolute!

Was the woman right in what she did/ is doing? no. but here is the hard part: If the person who is offended continues
to let it eat at him, then he has not forgiven either! Holding a grudge, resentment, or bitterness does not hurt
anyone but the person holding the grudge,etc. Matt. chapter 6 tell us that we should ask God to forgive us, AS WE
FORGIVE OTHERS!

My , and your salvation, is not based upon feelings,or emotions, or even what we believe to be true! We are saved
because Jesus shed his blood. We know this to be true because the Word of God tells us so. I stand upon the
truth of the word, not what I think, feel or want. God said it, that settles it!
Paul said I die daily; if I kick a dead body it will not jump up and say that hurt! In the same manner we must learn to
rely totally on Jesus to help us past our emotions, and feelings until we stand in the truth of the word that says
for me to live is Christ. We are an epistle written of God for all men to read, what kind of Epistle are we showing?
If Jesus can forgive all that he went thru for me, can I do anything less for him?

I know that words are easy, and that when a person is hurt they want to lash out and attack; but I beg you to try
this instead. Pray for that person(she needs it) and ask God to bless her in every way. You will find it very hard to
hold resentment against someone you are praying for. Soon your prayer will no longer be a sacrifice, but will be
another testimony of the power of God in your life

sincerely yours in Yeshua

ravenloche

I think that Paul said it best in Corinthians; "filthy comunication corrupts good manners"
The influences we have around us will, and do, affect the way we think, act, and react
to what is happening around us. I will not allow my son to play any of the "blood, kill, maime
slaughter ect type games.

There are plenty of bible games, including adventure games that promote morality and the
things of our Lord. I can not allways control how my son is influenced, but I can control what
kind of influence I am on him!

Proverbs says raise up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from
it.

I pray that my son sees, not only that I talk about living for Jesus, and shun the very appearance of evil, but
that I live it as well

respectfully yours in Yeshua

ravenloche

True believers are people who believe God.  They, therefore, value what God says and stands for; keep His commandments (John 14:15; 1 John 2:3-6); and live a Godly life.  Shouldn’t they, therefore, like Jesus, love those who hate them (Luke 6:27) and sacrifice their own interest in order to compensate for the offenses their offenders have caused them?  God stayed faithful to His people although they abandoned Him and were unfaithful to Him.  Shouldn’t true believers, therefore, always stay faithful to their spouse; even if their spouse has been unfaithful to them (Hosea 3:1)?  In addition, because God is love, true believers will have an absolute trust, that through love all problems can be solved.  Shouldn’t they, therefore, not resort to law suites (1 Corinthians 6:7), revenge (Romans 12:19) and war (Matthew 5:21-22; Matthew 26:52; Ephesians 2:14-16 & Zech 4:6)?

to surrendersacrifice:

I wish that you were a member of my church, so that we could set down on a one to one basis, and discuss the
things that have obviously harmed you.
We as christians are children of the most high God,The el-shadaiah(the God who is more than able to meet the need)
Yes we are to love unconditionally, and yes we are to forgive, and forget, those who have harmed us. We
are told by our savior that he will disipline those who have done us wrong.
But I ask you to understand as well that we did not become throw rugs for everyone we meet to trample under
their feet. WE SERVE THE LIVING AND RISEN SAVIOR.We are children of the king, and have to right to come
BOLDLY before him, not as servants with our hat in our hand, but as children knowing that he will answer, and
meet our needs.
The book of Joel tells us that we will take back, by force, the things that the enemy of our soul has taken!
We can do ALL things thru Christ who strengthens us, including, and especially living a joyous and overcoming
life. We are the head and not the tail the book of Isaiah tells us. We are leaders, not follower, we are greater than
anything this world has to stand against us, and we are CHILDREN OF THE KING!
The only time we should sacrifice our desires, and needs for others, is when that sacrifice will further the kingdom of
our Lord. Being meek does not mean being  a throw rug, it means not speaking untill you have something worth
saying. We have something worth saying every time we promote the truth of the gospel.

respectfully your friend in Jesus

ravenloche

AMEN! Tom

'Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that most Imams and clerics of Islam have declared a holy jihad [Holy war] against the infidels of the world and, that by killing an infidel, (which is a command to all Muslims) they are assured of a place in heaven. If that's the case, can you give me the definition of an infidel?'

There was no disagreement with my statements and, without hesitation, he replied, 'Non-believers!'

I responded, 'So, let me make sure I have this straight. All followers of Allah have been commanded to kill everyone who is not of your faith so they can have a place in heaven. Is that correct?'

The expression on his face changed from one of authority and command to that of 'a little boy who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.'

He sheepishly replied, 'Yes.'

But islam is a "peacefull religion!"

There is a major difference between allah and YHVH.
The writings of allah say if you love me give me your sons to die for me!
The Lord YHVH said I love you so much I have sent my son to die for you!

Jesus has died for us, the very least we can do is live for Him!

respectfully yours in Yeshua

ravenloche

Greetings one and all in the wonderful name of our Lord and savior

Rather than say "good" and "bad" Christians, how about saying that some of our brothers and
sisters are still carnal?!? The good new is that we never fail a test that our father gives us!

We just have to keep taking that test over again until we learn to get it right! Rest assured that as
we grow in him we will learn, some of us are hard headed, and take longer than others, but there
is a time eventually that the light does come on.

respectfully yours in Jesus


ravenloche

hello Tom!

you know that this question will just bring up the issue of osas. I would rather refrain from sin, and thus not have to
ask the question in the first place. If we serve our Lord with all that we have, then we won't have to enter into
sematics.

respectfully yours in Yeshua

ravenloche