Deus ex Machina

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Pete Garcia Here in the spring of 2017, we often have difficulty reconciling the prophetic pages of Holy Scripture with the reality of what we see daily in the news. We wonder what exactly that final world government, final world religion, and final world leader will look like. Much speculation has been put forth recommending this person or that religion, with supposed proof texts both from secular and scriptural sources, but the truth is, we will not know until it happens. But two instances will absolutely force an immediate change in the world. The first is the Rapture of the …

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Six Reasons why the Church and Israel are Distinct by Arnold Fruchtenbaum.

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Arnold Fruchtenbaum has listed about six reasons supporting the argument that the church is a distinct work in God’s household from His people Israel: 1) “The first evidence is the fact that the church was born at Pentecost, whereas Israel had existed for many centuries” (116). This is supported by “the use of the future tense in Matthew 16:18 shows that it did not exist in gospel history” (116). Since the church born at Pentecost is called the “Body of Christ” (Col. 1:18), and entrance into the body is through “Spirit baptism” (1 Cor. 12:13), in which Jew and Gentile …

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Seek God Early

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Good Morning! When we spend time with the Lord in the morning, He fills and prepares our heart for the day ahead Psalms 63:1 – 63:8 1 (A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.) O God, thou [art] my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; 2 To see thy power and thy glory, so [as] I have seen thee in the sanctuary. 3 Because thy lovingkindness [is] better than life, my lips shall praise thee. …

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Love vs. The Wrath of God

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Reflections For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. (Rom. 1:18) The Bible speaks of the wrath of God, but it also reveals that God is love. (I Jn. 4:8) But if God IS love, then that means that love is His nature, not just His action. Thus, we must reconcile the fact that God IS love to the fact that there is a wrath of God. The wrath of God IS His love — the only possible expression of it — towards those who refuse …

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THE LAMB OF GOD

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John 1:29-36 29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. 30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. 31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. 32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. 33 And I knew him not: but …

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“They took Jesus, and led him away.” John 19:16

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He had been all night in agony, he had spent the early morning at the hall of Caiaphas, he had been hurried from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, and from Herod back again to Pilate; he had, therefore, but little strength left, and yet neither refreshment nor rest were permitted him. They were eager for his blood, and therefore led him out to die, loaded with the cross. O dolorous procession! Well may Salem’s daughters weep. My soul, do thou weep also. What learn we here as we see our blessed Lord led forth? Do we not perceive …

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Left To Our Own Devices

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By Grant Phillips One of the most frightening thoughts that comes to mind, is the thought of God turning us over to our own devices. You might say, He washes His hands of us and walks away. I’ll never forget what one of our coaches said to us in high school. It went something like (leaving out the expletives), “When I’m on your case, I see potential in you. When I’m not on your case, I’ve washed my hands of you.” That has always stayed with me, and I found it to be true later in life when I did …

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WISDOM’S BENEFIT PACKAGE

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  Proverbs 2 2 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, 4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is …

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Chastisement vs. Punishment

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Reflections For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. (Heb 12:6) The Father in heaven NEVER punishes his children. But the Lord does chastise us. There is an immense difference. Punishment – under the normal use of the word – tends to be vindictive in nature. Punishment is not merely the satisfying of justice, and it is not necessarily redemptive. It is really the exacting of suffering as a payment. But such motives are not the Truth pertaining to God. God never punishes because these definitions are not the Truth about the character of …

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A Heart for God

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We know we love God when we consistently—though imperfectly—make His desires our own. Acts 13:16 – 13:22 16 Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with [his] hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. 17 The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it. 18 And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. 19 And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land …

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“Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” Isaiah 53:4

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Whatever the cause of grief may be, there is rich comfort in the remembrance of the sorrows of Christ. It assures us that Christ understands our pain. In the garden he went a stone’s cast farther than any of his disciples went. The picture is a parable to us. It is always so. Wherever you bow in the deep shadows of grief, you have but to lift up your eyes, and you will see Jesus in still deeper shadows—a stone’s cast beyond you. His sorrow was sorer than yours. There is comfort also in the remembrance that blessing comes out …

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Thank You For Praying

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“Everyone has someone in your life you can recall, a constant source of strength for you whenever you would fall. And when you felt so lonely, in times of desperate need, you knew that you could count on them to be down on their knees. To our heroes of the faith, there’s something that we would all love to say, Thank you for praying, praying for me.I never could repay the time you spent down on your knees. I’m where I am today because you chose to pray & intercede. Thank you for praying, praying for me.” Phillips Craig Dean …

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“The spirit is willing but the body is weak” (Matt. 26:41)

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Gracethrufaith Question of the Day: Q. How come I can hear what God is saying to me and know when I need to do something, but often I cannot act on it. I can’t seem to get my body under control. I understand that its not my works but my belief, which is that I’m redeemed by Jesus and what he did, it just really frustrates me. A. First, let me commend you for your honesty. Many Christians fool themselves into thinking they’re doing just fine in the sin department and a few actually claim to have stopped sinning altogether. …

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