Month: January 2017

By David A. DePra Nine times in the gospel of John Jesus says, “I am…….” These statements are familiar to most believers. He said: I am the Way. I am the Truth. I am the Life. I am the Resurrection. I am the True Vine. I am the Bread of Life. I am the Door. I am the Good Shepherd. I am the Light. There are also numerous other, “I am….,” statements in scripture, such as, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” etc. Each of these statements point out a particular dimension of the nature and character of Jesus …

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Psalm 89:1-10(KJV) 89 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. 2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. 3 I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, 4 Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah. 5 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. 6 …

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Reflections Death is swallowed up in victory….thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 15:54-57) Victory is not handed to us merely BECAUSE of Christ – as a THING. Rather, all victory is IN the Person of Jesus Christ. In short, God doesn’t give us a victory – He gives us Christ – whose very presence in us is the victory. The only real victory in all of God’s creation is that of the resurrection life of Jesus Christ. And the victory of that life is total. The good news is that …

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The Holy Spirit’s leadership is always right, but sin can cause us to misread His directions.   John 16:12-15   12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15 All things that the Father …

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Reflections For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Tim 2:5) A, “mediator,” is a proxy; one who connects two parties. Jesus Christ is the sole Mediator between the believer and God. If Christ is in us, then by His very presence in us, we are joined to both Him and the Father. Now, notice what this means: It means that there must NEVER be anyone or anything introduced into our relationship with God who acts as ANOTHER mediator. There are no mediators in addition to Christ – there is no …

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Titus 3:5-8(KJV) 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. When …

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Reflections From the Psalms He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity. (Ps. 10:6) The human race is cursed with the delusion of self-sufficiency, which is equal to self-righteousness. You don’t have to be religious to be self-righteous. Self-righteousness is simply the delusion that you are RIGHT – it is thinking that you have a RIGHT-NESS — that you are sufficient in yourself. The fact that this is often carried over into Christianity is because those who claim to profess Christ have never seen the Truth about themselves. Thus, they …

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Jesus said to the woman, “the hour cometh, and now is.” Then He dismissed the whole system that had existed up to that time. It was the whole system of Judaism according to the Old Testament. In one sentence, He dismissed the whole dispensation. And He introduced an altogether new order of things. What did He mean? Because when He said the hour cometh, and now is, He did not mean literally just an hour and so many minutes. He meant that it was the first hour of the new day. With this hour an altogether new day has come. …

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WAS ISRAEL’S MONARCHY OF GOD OR OF MAN? By Thomas S.McCall,Th.D.  Jesus asked the Jewish leaders if the baptism of John was of human or divine origin.  Matthew 21:25   “The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ (NASB) As our Lord Jesus indicated, it is important to know whether any event or institution is of God or of man.  Many believe that the Israeli monarchy was of human origin and …

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For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:8-10) The relationship between grace, faith, and our works, is given in this passage. In short, we are saved BY grace, THROUGH faith, UNTO good works. If we alter this relationship we are in danger of creating a false gospel; a false Christianity. It is a fact that faith …

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A Bible Study by Jack Kelley “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:26).” This is the verse the Lord impressed upon my heart as I was asking for a topic for this article. It’s familiar to anyone who has ever experienced any Christian counseling, and like many Bible verses it bears closer examination. Translations differ slightly in rendering this passage and the Greek contains some interesting insights, but Paul was quoting from Psalm 4 where the intent of the …

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Dr, Mike Murphy As I have battled with cancer, finding myself coming home from the local hospital has become familiar to me.  But as I found myself again heading home, it was not my cancer that had brought me to the hospital that day.  It was a friend of several years, and the desire to spend a few moments with his family.  A couple of days before, he had suffered a massive stroke, and was now taking his last breaths in the hospital’s ICU. It had been a few years since I had seen my friend.  Like so many, we …

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