Latest Posts

Word Notes – Always There

May 13, 20090

Word: Romans 8:31-39
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Notes: Who can stand against God, really? Even if one were to stand up to God against us, would it matter? Would they matter?

Word: … 34b Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Notes: Christ is not just sitting idly by as we face adversity. He is pleading our case, actually His case on our behalf. Who do you think is going to win that argument?

Word: …35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

Notes: If Christ’s love cannot be separated from us, then it is always with us. If we are always loved by the most powerful and most gracious, what do we have to fear? We will all face at least some of these but will not face them alone. God does not run away from these things. He is not moved even an inch by hardships and adversity.

Word: … 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Notes: There is nothing that can separate us from God’s love. That doesn’t mean that He is just looking at us with a sense of pity saying, boy I wish they didn’t have to experience this. That would mean He is impotent. God is anything but impotent. He is Omnipotent. He is actively involved in us as we go through the adversity and hardships and trials. His power is with us, literally. We must recognize it, acknowledge it , and surrender to it and we will be more than conquerors.

General

, ,

Word Notes – Good by Grace

April 30, 20090

Word: Romans 4:13-15
It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

Notes: We are not good because we obey the law. We try to obey the law because God has made us “good”. The law points out that we fall short of God’s standards. We do not obtain “goodness” by obeying for 1) we cannot be successful in fully obeying due to our sinful nature and 2) that is not the purpose of the law – to make us good. That is the purpose of grace.

General

Coffee Talk Edition 1

April 28, 20090

I recently started something new in an effort to keep getting the great message of Christ to as many as possible in different ways. I got together with Rev. Dave Rodgers for what I call “Coffee Talk”. Coffee Talk is a time of informal discussion (sitting around with a cup of coffee) about matters of Christianity presented in a Podcast. You can listen directly to each edition of Coffee Talk here on the God Makes Sense website or you can download the Podcast and listen to it later on your favorite MP3 playing device.

The topic of the first edition of Coffee Talk is ‘Our Conscience – What’s it All About’

[display_podcast]

General

,

Word Notes volume 1

April 21, 20090

Word: Romans 8:1-2
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life
set me free from the law of sin and death.

Notes: Through the sacrifice of Christ we are set free from the bondage, torment, guilt, and punishment of the law of sin and death.  It is the law of sin and death that drives us to actions and attitudes of disobedience (see Romans chapter 7).  This law of sin and death has been conquered by the sacrifice of Christ – but only if we accept it and surrender to it, is the victory realized in us.

General

, , , ,

How Can Good People do Bad Things

April 21, 20090

We often struggle with the fact that people who seem to be able to produce so much good in their lives can also produce such bad. It makes us question all that we view as right about the world. It can even make us question God. After all, if God is the all-powerful creator , can’t He either a) make us in such a way that we cannot do such bad or b) keep us from doing it? Now I will address the second of those more thoroughly in another article. Suffice it to say for now that God can indeed ‘keep us’ from doing such bad but only as we allow Him.

The one who is able to do much good has equal ability to do much bad. It is precisely the ability to do such good that enables them to also do the bad. The one who is creative in his doing of good can use that same creativity toward the doing of good. It requires submission to the greater will of God to channel this ability toward good.

General

, , ,

Wrong = The Absence of Right

April 14, 20090

There are several terms we use as descriptors as if they are an absolute condition or state of being. Some of them are misleading insomuch that they seem to be on equal footing with their supposed counterpart.

Take for example the term dark, when used in reference to a room or the night around us. Dark is not a true measurement. There are no units of dark. There are only units of light. We measure light and use the term dark to describe the absence of light. Dark is solely a term of relevance, describing a condition where someone feels there is sufficient absence of light. Cold is another term like this. We measure units of heat and we say something is cold when it reaches some level of an absence of heat.

To refer to something as wrong is similar. When we refer to something as wrong we are describing it as being absent of or deviating from the condition of being right. Right is the standard. When we say something is wrong, we mean it does not or is not at the time, living up to the standard of being right. Whether we want to accept it or not we all have within our natures some level of understanding of an absolute standard of right. See my previous articles on God and intelligent people along with the article discussing other gods for more background. When we talk of something being wrong, or unfair, we are measuring it against this standard that originates with God.

Wrong is not an alternative means of doing something. It is the choice to deviate from the right way or the standard.

General

, ,

Believing Something Based on Authority

March 28, 20090

Religion, and specifically Christianity, is routinely attacked or questioned on the basis that its followers believe something written over 2000 years ago. We, the followers, believe something because someone else said it. We believe based on the authority of the people who said it, rather than having seen it ourselves.

Why is this a basis for such questioning and doubt? Is this not common among all people? How much of what anyone believes to be true or factual is not based on what someone else has said, upon their authority? Those who question Christianity have no trouble believing and accepting as fact that a George Washington or Abraham Lincoln existed or that Lincoln indeed delivered the Gettysburg Address. They believe this based on what they have read or heard, for they certainly did not see Washington or Lincoln with their own eyes. Nor were they present to hear Lincoln give the Gettysburg Address.

This acceptance of authority is not limited to historical figures or items. I have never been to London but I completely accept its existence. I even have opinions as to what it is like – all based on what I have read or heard. Some will say, “yes, but you have seen pictures or video of London on TV.” I’ve also watched “westerns” with Clint Eastwood depicting life in the Old West of America, that were filmed in Italy. These movies were quite convincing that the action was taking place in the American west.

Those who question will also say, “I have no reason to not believe in Washington or Lincoln, or to believe there is a London.” Well, what reason do you have to not believe in Christ and what He did and said, other than the fact you don’t want to?

General