Lynnely

These verses might give someone leave to sin b/c Jesus is there to plea for us and He has already covered that sin...but those of us who know what this is really saying are so grateful to the Father and the Son for their love, mercy and grace. Jesus did die for the world's sins...but this sacrifice was a gift given to everyone who will accept the gift. Those who won't reach out, who are dull of hearing and refuse the truth of Jesus will die in their sins. This is a simple instruction to us all. We all sin daily by omission or commision and when confessed, these sins are forgiven, covered by His blood. But if we choose to live a "life of sin", we have become that "dull of hearing" person. Beware!

As I look at friends and acquaintances around me, I see exactly what John is talking about....People doing what THEY want instead of what God wants. A young couple living together....an older couple living together....coming to church without a Bible probably b/c they don't know where it is, haven't read it in ages...gossiping....etc. The little bracelets showing "WWJD" is not a bad idea. It brings forth the question "what WOULD Jesus do" in a situation. If the time hasn't come that a tug on the conscience would make a person stop and think, maybe a few "wrong" decisions wouldn't occur! The result of a "Christian" walking in darkness is an aximoron...not to happen! If you believe in God and His statutes and laws, His love and mercy, you would not "walk" in darkness. Would a Christian stumble? Daily! But it's not a "way of life" for us...and we will usually recognize the sin and ask forgiveness. In God's love and mercy He picks us up and sets us back on our path.

I think I might be misunderstanding your statement "Though to our knowledge, the name Immanuel was never given to Jesus, it certainly applied to him, since "God with us" is a perfect way to describe the birth of the God-Man, Jesus Christ, who is fully man and fully God" I found at least 3 vss in my Bible where Jesus was named Immanuel. Isa 7:14 ...a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. Matt 1:23...which restates the above verse Isa 8:8 referring back to 7:14 Can you clear this up for me?

How can WE go to God and ask forgiveness day by day...and many times for the same sin? David could go, as we can go, because His Word tells us of His grace, His lovingkindness, His patience, His all-knowing. He knows our hearts, as He did David's. He knows when we are truely sorrowful and contrite. He knows our hearts!

We are to worship God because He IS God...and we are not! He is a GREAT GOD and a great King above all gods. He holds reign over even the depths of the earth as well as the tops of the mountains. He made the sea and formed the dry land...He is the Creator. And that is why we should worship Him! Also because He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. We are the objects of His greatest creation. We were created to have fellowship with HIm...to worship, love and adore Him. I sometimes wonder if He isn't sorry He gave us that mission...instead of the beautiful horse, or fleet deer, or the Monarch butterfly, or the flighty little hummingbird...or the dog who always loves, regardless of how the master treats him/her, whose eyes are always full of forgiveness and readiness to get on with things! We must be such a disappointment to Him! God WAS disappointed with the Israelites in the wilderness. They complained about all the miraculous ways He had taken care of them from delivering them from captivity to feeding them and giving them fresh water to drink in the desert. They preferred their old captivity to the life He was taking them...a land of milk and honey...and His rest. Don't we try Him every day? Aren't we unhappy at times with our lives...don't we complain? Don't we forget to thank Him for our very breaths? He was warning us NOT to harden our hearts as to forget who is God.

This Psalm shows us the importance of "praise"...as it mentions it 13 times in 6 verses. I believe praising Him will be our finest and usual activity in heaven. Praise should occur anywhere, anytime and in any way, but in keeping with the words of the psalm, in His sanctuary, which sort of tells us that maybe we ought to be a little more "praiseful" to Him when we go into His sanctuary and not be so concerned with visiting with our fellow Christians; in His might expanse...perhaps we need to look around us as His great beauty and try to help keep it beautiful. He made the heavens and the earth for our enjoyment and we all but trash it at times, sending all kinds of vile things into the heavens and leaving even more vile things on his earth. This psalm says we are to praise Him with musical instruments and dancing. The trupet, harp,lyre, timbrel, stringed instruments, pipe, loud cymbals and resounding cymbals are mentioned. Dancing would be very "foreign" to me in my Church, I don't think I can quite do that yet...although I've been known to sway to and fro at times! ) Maybe I should work on my dance steps! Actually the question "who" should praise might better read "what" should praise...the answer "everything that has breath. At one time even the trees will praise Him...but it's comforting to think that maybe even the animals should be praising Him. Do they have souls or even a brain to think about God...who knows, but God!!! I choose to believe animals may be a bit closer to Him than we. God had to love all animals and creepy crawly things, otherwise why would he have created the spider, or the fishing worm, or the roach? He had a purpose for them all...maybe it's to praise Him when we're too busy! We should praise Him because He says we should...but this psalm says because of His mighty deeds and His excellent greatness. We need to praise Him because He is God...and we're not! Maybe this psalm has a 'wakening' effect that tells me I've been lazy and lax in my praise. I would imagine He gets pretty disappointed when I go to Him with petitions so many times and forget to praise Him for Who He is and What He is...the Creator of this universe, including ME. As we often forget to thank our parents for giving us life and taking care of us as we were children, we forget to thank and praise Him for the same thing! Yes, Psa 150 makes me think a bit more about praising Him!

Psa 8 teaches us that God is the Supreme Creator of all things...and as Creator, He is to be honored and praised by all His creation. The greatest of His creation is Jesus Christ Himself, His only begotten Son without whom we'd be doomed to hell.

The primary temptation of drugs and alcohol is to be like most of your friends...doing something that you know is forbidden by most people, more importantly, God. It's that first step of "disobedience" that catches people. How would you know that being drunk or high will transport you from a world of reality to a world of haze, immorality, timelessness, etc? It's that first step of disobedience...something we're all subject to. But one has to decide as a young (and it's getting younger all the time) person that they are NOT going to take that first step. There is nothing any more demoralizing than to come to the realization that you've disappointed God by disobeying Him. Next comes the parents...how as a child, you've let your parents down, unless they've led you into the situation themselves! And how as a parent, you've let your children down, teaching them it's OK to escape in a world of nothingness! In my estimation, the "highs" of external intakes can NOT substitute for the wonderful "high" of knowing God is well pleased with you! Nothing can top that! Nor should it! The person who has made up their minds early on...and said 'no' to alcohol and drugs... should be so proud of themselves. Show me pride in a slobbering, gibbering drunk or addict. It's not pride that you are better than the other, but pride in knowing you have made the right decision. And it's pride in knowing that one day you won't have to go through the hell of getting sober or clean! I know addictions to anything is hard to break...we all have addiction to something.

Sin is sin...all sin is against God. But sexual sin in not only against God, but against one's own body. Having sex before or outside of marriage is becoming a common problem now days. Many don't see it as a sin because so many are doing it...but eventually it will catch up with you. A time will come when you wish you had saved yourself, or been true to your spouse...and as most sins, fornication cannot be un-done! You can't make restitution and often times you can't even apologize to the other person. Sexual sin, as all sin, is a part of our spiritual life...as well as our own personal integrity. Besides cheapening our life, it leads us down the road to commit different sins.

Without patience tempers can fly off the handle and dis-unity will result. Without humility one will think they have the right to have everything their way, because it's the best! Case in point: I have a member of the famiy who chews ice constantly. As a child growing up I was never allowed to make noise when I chewed...celery, apples, gum, and never ICE ! As an adult I have a very high intolerance of people who make noise eating/chewing. This member knows how this affects me and why, but insists on doing it anyhow. My impatience and prideful attitude has caused her to do this, I believe, because she can and because I have no right telling her she can't. My solution now is to just remove myself from the situation as long as she has a glass of ice...in MY home! This has NOT caused a volitile situation...but an unpleasent one...almost every time we're together! Yes, patience and humility are very important in preserving the unity! We should never change what we believe to be right, but we should never be arrogant in our belief. And we should never be so arrogant to think we can't learn something from someone if we just listen...listening opens the door for sharing...and possibly enlightening someone in their errors. Christ didn't always speak with gentle words (money changers in the temple, "Oh you brood of vipers", etc) but He was quick to point out the proper way to behave and believe. We are Christ's ambassadors, we must act like Jesus did...we represent Him.

God Almighty, Creator of the universe, including me, has called me to walk in a way that is worthy of Him. Everything I do is a reflection upon HIm...how do I want to represent Him? How do I want others to see Him? I must walk in a way that is pleasing to Him first...then in a way that will reflect His goodness, His forgiveness, His love, His wisdom, His mercy and His kindness...just to name a few!

We should approach God with the assurance of our access to Him, He bids us come to Him with our petitions; with boldness and confidence, not with fear or trembling; with confidence, certain assurance that God will answer all prayers within His will. God loves us and wants us to be happy, but He won't give us things that will hurt us, or hinder our walk with Him.

Paul knew his message to the Gentiles might make them want to follow Paul...instead of Christ, which would be devastating to him. He wanted people to know who he was and from where he came...and his change came about exclusively through the power of Christ. As a Christian one might feel somewhat better than the unbeliever, more privileged and a little smug. Christ said we are all equal as believers and all are invited to come to Him.

Paul's mystery he was speaking of is the fact that Jews and Gentiles both will be accepted into God's kingdom. The Jews were the chosen people, but b/c they denied Christ, God chose to include the Gentiles. Since the Jews were the chosen people, the Christian Gentiles may have felt like the orphan child, second-class, but God has accepted both races equally in His sight!

Since the Church is God's possession, why shouldn't He be able to prescribe the way it should be formed and carried out? God alone is the Head of the Church. If we were to put into practice (which we humans often do because we think God can't handle things of today by Himself) what we "thought" would be a better idea or way...churches would fail....and do! Straying from God's revelation is not only sinful, but it's promoting failure. Satan would like nothing better than to see an active, Spirit-filled church go down the drain. When we start changing God's plan of the Church by watering it down to fit the standards of the world, we see failure. Today I see many churches changing their names from, for example, First Christian Church to Elmwood Family Plaza. This is so as not to scare the un-churched away??? Give me a break! It's because we're more interested in mega-attendences than mega-scriptural knowledge and wisdom! I believe for the most part God has revealed to us today...and tomorrow...all the things He wants us to know. Have we figured out all His revelations...not yet! But it's there for us to ponder and ingest. The most important revelation is Jesus Christ!