Sharing the Good News with Faith, Hope and Love

Their are places were Christians are more concerned with weather or not people know how to use all the hymnals, BCP (or other books depending on denominations), or know all the response's during worship service. Though we ultimately must remember this is about salvation and we must be more caring to those outside of the church, as the church is meant to draw others in, be a benefit to the world, and to do its best in following God and its will. Of course at times that the truth of the Good News will conflict with worldly understanding but that doesn't mean we  shouldn't invite people were they are as Christ can and will change them if it is his will. Yes the church isn't just their to reflect the trends of society either- we are also here to challenge the worst that their is and support what is good and constructive. The church should not be a place where you must know completely how to dress and act, as Jesus loves all and meets us where we are. We must not just invite people to have a saving relationship with Christ but also welcome them to the community, to the body of Christ. I think some Christians and I myself at times can be very judgmental and we mustn't be. We like to judge other peoples sins which isn't right- We go She (or he) must be a worse sinner than I, thank God. This is a parallel to the women who walks into Simons house with her head uncovered. Oh man, how scandalous ---she is a obviously a women of the street. Also she is embarrassing to them, as she is crying and particularly on our saviors feet and cleaning them with her hair. Oh gosh, I cant believe this, why Lord-this is crazy now she is covering him in perfume, We Cant Have This In A Proper House! What will people think? This just wont do at all, how could he let this happen (referring to Jesus). I guess we know what kind of person he is, as a man of God he should know better than to hang out with sinners. Despite what they think it is this women's love and humbleness before Jesus that brings her to be forgiven before the Lord, the Son of God. She doesn't even have to ask, Jesus knew in her heart she wanted to start over, to know God, to be forgiven, and for her heart to be changed and it was. Their is another aspect to Jesus's example that no matter your past God can forgive and loves you. Also it is an example that we shouldn't be always hanging around other followers of Christ, otherwise their is no one to witness to...It isn't going to do any good to always be bunched together, we need to go out into the world and proclaim the Good News and share God's love with all. Finally the last aspect is that we must realize we are still sinners too, we were once in that position and are sins are no less. We have been forgiven by Christ's sacrifice and we are to forgive others as God forgives us (Jesus told Peter 70 x 7)...God Bless

Tidus warns us to preach the true Gospel of the Lord.

Tidus is often very busy telling us how one should behave and engage. A paraphrase of what he says is To teach what is consistent with sound doctrine; to be serious prudent and sound in faith love and endurance (it is a marathon, not a race). Let us not to slander others ourselves or anything in general, not to slaves to drink or more simply alcohol, teach what is good, to be self controlled, models of good work and integrity to show gravity and sound speech. We are told by the prophet to do these things not to win our salvation but as a response to God's grace and mercy, God loves us enough to save us from our missteps, misbehavior, sin, and our disasters continually! God loves us and respects us enough to not save us simply by making us puppets and pulling our strings or manipulating our actions. No, he has given us free will so we may chose, because Love is a choice and beyond just emotional aspects and without free will one can not really love. Instead God gives us amazing gifts and freedom and redemption. Any single one of these aught to be enough to bring us to our knees on their own, also to become people who do their best to show God that we respect and thank him for such Grace by trying to follow him and his Son to the best of our capabilities. It is our destiny to be faithful stewards to become more Christ centered. We are called to serve God not just because Must, we are called to serve God cause we can and this is the greatest of all honors, Amen.

God comes before All!

The modern world is very toxic to followers of Christ. Their are so many distractions to take us away from God. Their are so many different things that can really get us. We are so distracted in general with tv, school, hw, the treasures of this world, and more. Perhaps I should say burn what you worship and worship what you burn! Idolatry is still an issue for all of us who follow Christ, it really is they just may be a little different. A lot of people these days collect a whole bunch of teachings according to their own taste. We should ignore these as we have the Real God who loves us enough, a farther (which some would now would want us to say creator) who sends his only Son into the world to save it and die for our sins.  The trinity is not the Creator, the redeemer , an sanctifier.

No it is in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! The modern world believes in the idea people can basically do whatever they want and you have to accept that. People now say you can lose weight through mother earth, get through depression with Mother Earth. I don't understand how intelligent people can get trapped in that,  but we just need to pray. Astrology is big now and I'm not sure why, their is all this creation up their designed by God. Their are five million people get the same message something good is going to happen. Yeah I can thank God for giving me another day. Now granted and admittedly most of us don't put up or set up statues of multiple god's on our alters anymore or as the prophet Jeremiah tells us as dumb scarecrows in our cucumber fields (Jeremiah is a cool prophet)!

 The way home, the way to God is through truth and light, and it isn't found in lesser things. However we always end up finding a way to worship lesser things church cannons, athletes, singers, parliamentary procedure, and more. Everywhere we go we can see the latest political issue or position becoming an Idol! Issues around immigration, debt ceiling, fiscal cliff, democrat vs republican, and more. They are all capable of being important, but are not the way to God. They are lesser things, were do we put our ultimate trust? We should put it into God, the source of all life, the loving God that saves us from our self, and our saviour who died for his love for us, the son of God, Jesus Christ. God Bless.

Restored relationship with God the Father

Around the world diffrent cultures make ways to celebrate relationships in diffrent ways, such as in United States (and Im sure other places) Valentines day marks the love between two people. Nations mark relation with treaties and in several other ways. But what about relationions with God you say? God has his own way of setting relation. One of the first ways God showed he will not abandon us despite our fall and continued sin is through the rainbow which is a sign that after the great flood is his sign of restored relations saying that kind of global destruction will ever happen again (at least not by God's hands. God's creation is beutiful as he creates the sun, the moon, all the creatures of the land and water, and more. Then he creates humans and they are very good, however after the fall of man we realize that our relationship with God had been severly damaged. Though God would not leave us this way though because he loves us. God sent his son Jesus Christ into the world so he might save it, and he does save us. Through the Cross-his blood and sacrifice as the perfect passover lamb he saves us from our sins, saves us fromm the death meant for us. His love changes the world and changes us and he restores the realtion that was broken between God and humans. We see this at our Baptism in a special way after we are baptised into Christ we here you are my beloved, as in we adopted into God's family and through Jesus we are made into children of God. We cant love God unless we really know he loves us, which is made obvious through his sacrifice for us and the Word says We love him because he loved us first.

A deeper look into God's Plan John 3:16

You will notice that it doesnt say that God so loves Christians, followers of Jesus, or God so loves the churches in this verse, but it does say that he so loved the world. This has two main points - God Loves all people and desires them to be saved. In the Older Testement God says he desires to be a light to all nations, and to be the Glory of his people Israel. All people no matter who they are are loved by God regardless of Race, Color, or social economic status are within the confines of God's plans for Salvation. No one is excluded no matter how small they may be, how old, and at whatever stage of life, however do not let yourself forget the word used here for world is cosmos. This means God's plans for redeeming the whole of the universe and all that is, and we musnt ever lose sight of this fact that God's plan is bigger than us, bigger than the Christian Church, bigger than us as followers of Christ, and bigger than the whole of humanity even. It is nothing less than the transformation of this universe that he has created conforms to his original purpose- his purpose for us, the paradise we once had, and for his Glory. The church and world are still seperate distinctions, but some day they shall be one with God! Amen

John 3:16 - 17 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one
and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have
eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not
to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

 

 

Why is Bad Theology so dangerous?

Bad theology is bad for one spiritual, mentally, and physically. I personally believe biblical literacy is at all low within modern American culture. Between the health and wellness preachers and all the strange liberation theology that is around we have really turned a mockery into God's word. One may ask the implications of bad theology besides obviously damaging your relationship with God. The answer to bad Theology is not no theology but good Theology for we must study God's word as it is a lamp unto our feet and is where we meet God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit (we meet them outside the word too but that is another topic). Their are layers of Gods Word- their is a divine level, allegorical, and when you go back about 200 years it was considered one needed a whole lifetime to live with scripture and let it permeate one's soul. To me they were right 200 years ago.

Anyways some of the most heart wrenching and atrocious events in history have been the result of bad understanding of God's word and the honest truth sometimes bad theology even kills people. From the KKK, the Westboro Baptist Church, the burning of witches in England and America, to Adolf Hitler (admittedly not a Christian at all, just used a limited understanding to control and dictate people)who said just as Jesus cleanses the temple of the brute of vipers I am cleansing the world of Jews and doing Gods work in doing so, to the Spanish Inquisition, the crusades. Their is a lot of Bad theology admittedly some are not as violent as these extreme examples but a spiritually destructive.

Some of the modern garbage that is out their is America is the light of the world or as Bush thinks that America's ideals are the light of the world. Um their is a bible verse similar but quite different to that for sure, it goes or as Obama says that America is the last best hope of the planet. No that ain't true we know that we all the light of the world and the hope of the planet and it isn't America, but Jesus Christ the saviour of the world. I love my country but this is wrong. We like to think we are good and doing good but remember the bible us Nobody is good but God! God should be before all else.

So here is some advice about how to avoid such bad understanding of God's word: When reading God's word try and read at different levels. When reading at different levels it helps one to understand and dig deeper into his word. My way doing it is reading is as follows: I start with the face value or literal reading of the passage I am studying, next I look at the historical and social/political context of the passage, and then the deep reading where I try to discern God's will for my life. Another important thing to do is to find yourself a good teacher that is father along on the walk with Christ so that you may learn from them. However also you must remember to spend time on your own with prayer and his word.  If you want answers to anything your greatest tool is prayer to God-tell him what your confused about and ask him to reveal his truth to you and surely he will answer, don't go running for the opinions of people.

Now to leave with some scriptural basis:
Amplified bible 2 Timothy 2: 13-17

¹³ If we are faithless [do not believe and are untrue to Him], He remains true (faithful to His Word and His righteous character), for He cannot deny Himself. ¹⁴ Remind [the people] of these facts and [solemnly] charge them in the presence of the Lord to avoid petty controversy over words, which does no good but upsets and undermines the faith of the hearers. ¹⁵ Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.¹⁶ But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle) talk, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness.¹⁷ And their teaching [will devour; it] will eat its way like cancer or spread like gangrene.

So one last word of advice: avoid and beware of loud mouth teachers who have something to prove and are trying to sell you DVD's on crazy teachings as we have more that enough proof in the Bible, which is the light to our feet. God Bless 

God hears our Prayers

Does God hear and or answer prayers? What do you think? He most certainly does!!!! Remember when God's people were wandering in the dessert for years and years and years and years! God heard those people and Moses now didnt he. When God hears us Cry out, what does he do you may be asking yourself. God is with us even as Jesus and God the Father preside in Heaven the third part of the trinity the Holy Spirit is here with us and when two or more gather in God's name, Jesus is in the midst. Jesus is always in our hearts. We are the hands and feet, the body of Christ until Jesus returns. God often answers using us, his people! That is part or one way God answers, but that isnt all. God motivates us to respond to those who cry out, the poor who need us, the sick, and the lowest among us.

As followers of Christ it is our job to answer God's call for us to help those people. God can hear us, for God is love! God hears us through many ways-through our worries, our prayers or conversations with him, through the suffering of the world, through the love in the world, he hears us when we are gathered as his body for sure, God is beyond humanity. God is mroe than the human part of creation!!! God created all that is and it all reflects his awesome glory and power and love in some way. This shows his ability to create and heal all that is and bring life out of nothing and death. We need to listen to God in our lives, he speaks to us through nature, God is also in the scilence. It is often a subtle and quiet, yet quite obvious feeling in your heart were you here God answer your prayers and suddenly you know what God is telling you. Encouraging video below for the short hymn Here our Pray O' Lord

The Good Shepard

Throughout the bible we know of shepards- David leading his people, Moses, the shepards that saw the north Star, Jesus our Messiah, and probley think of throughout God's Holy Word. We are the sheep and that is not necessarily a compliment (people dont often know this). In ancient Palestine sheep did not have a good reputation to say the least as they are not very bright, and they need lots of direction as they are easily lead astray. However, Jesus says that those who lead the sheep away are these and bandits and wouldnt use the gateway.

Their is another analogy by Jesus that says their will be wolves in sheep clothing, trying to decieve those who are following the Good Shepard. A good shepard is far superior to a highered hand because he isinvested and loves his sheep, willing to leave the 99 to go after one, now that is love. Now these wolves would have a hard time getting in when these sheppards slept in the gateway forcing these wolves to go right over him to get to the sheep (not going to be very easy at all). Jesus is also the gateway into the corall, where all that wish to live with him in pastures a million times greener than the healthiest found in ancient palestine, paradise. Jesus is eluted to in Psalm 23 where it says the LORD is my Sheppard and I shall not want, he shall lead me to calm and crisp water. He will protect us from all evil with his rod and his staff, aka the sheppards crook, guidiing his followers like sheep with his crook, making sure we stay on path so we may not stray and can enjoy a life of undending for all time paradise with him.

His love for us is amazing as he lays down his life for us such as when he died for our sins, the nails in him our sin, taking the nails for us and rising again. Whover goes through his gate will go in and out and be safe and find pasture. He came so we may have abundant life. As he says we know how to discern his voice and those loyal to him sha

ll follow.

Baptism in the Holy Spirit

We have all have had times when we just wish we could start again. It might have been the more you said the deeper the whole you created became. It might have been a relationship where something might have went wrong, and you where never able to put things right again. You might feel its all too late. You can be of any age, color, race , socio economic status, for God celebrates all of His creation. God is love, with God it is never too late and you are always capable of making a fresh start. Baptism is such a wonderful change, you are now dead to selfishness and hate, so powerful that Jesus said it is being born again of water and spirit. Being able to start a new life with God, all mistakes of the past wiped clean, we may still need to face and the consequences of some of these mistakes, but out of God's love for his precious creation promises to give us what we need to live this new life well, making a fresh and renewing relationship with God. Amen.

Angels? What exactly are they

   First off let me start by saying Archangel Rafael will not be discussed since I have never read the appocryphal/deutercononical books and theirfore dont have a theological opinion on this matter and I am not going to comment on what I know but on what God has already revealed to me. To start off Arch Angels are high ranked angel who is in charge of other angels.

  Gabriel is well knowan an angel who typically serves as a messenger sent from God to certain people. From Wikipedia "The Gospel of Luke, Gabriel appeared to Zecharias, and to the virgin Mary foretelling the births of John the Baptist and Jesus, respectively (Luke 1:11–38). In the Book of Daniel, he is referred to as "the man Gabriel", while in the Book of Luke, Gabriel is referred to as "an angel of the Lord" (Luke 1:11). Now Michael is known more as a warrior- from Wikipedia "Michael is mentioned three times in the Book of Daniel, once as a "great prince who stands up for the children of your people". In the book of Revalation we are told that Michael shall be the leader of God's army against that of Satan. where during the war in heaven he defeats Satan. The Epistle of Jude Michael is specifically referred to as an "archangel".

  Regular angels are often charecterised as messengers of God (which they are). It is a source of debate whether they have wings and whether their phyiscal or strictly spiritual beings, however this is of no great theological importance. Angels are creatures of good, spirits of love, and messengers of the savior Jesus Christ (well except for the fallen ones). Diffrent angels are considered to have diffrent roles that they are used for. And although angels have greater knowledge than men, they are not omniscient, as Matthew 24:36 points out. Also we are told that after we are redeemed and saved in heaven we will be above angels (which some have suggested is one of the Reasons lucifer rebelled against God.

  While their is no direct connection to quote end quote Guardian Angels in the bible, we do see that at least some angels take on a similar wrole to what is often considered a guardian angel. While the term guardian angel doesnt exist within the bible, for all intesive purposes some angels basically have the same role as Pslam 91 tells us make it clear that angels do watch over us and that angels are extremely interested in us believers. Mathew 18:10 Jesus: "Beware that you don't look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father."....  so basically for all intesive purpose children have guardian angels just not in terms of that particular word.

Hope this helps, God Bless.

Testifying to the Truth in Faith and Expectance

The basis of this study or devotional is from John chapters 18 and 19. We want to get a complete picture of John's passion for Christ. Johns account leading up to the Crucifixion and death of our Lord and Saviour take a different role, surprisingly enough it isn't the priestly or prophetic aspect of Christ that John highlights but that of the Kingly role of Christ our dying saviour, I say this extremely ironic since John's Gospel unlike the others doesn't give an account for the kingdom of God.

 

Very surprisingly John doesn't focus on his Kingly aspects until ch 18. John only mentions the word King and Kingdom 6 times prior, only 6. The previous three are filled with these themes through and through. They explode towards the end of this Gospel though. Jesus mentions that this Kingdom is not of this world. 16 times the Greek words for King and Kingdom are used in these two chapters. What does it mean to be followers of this King that is not of this world. Do we really have Faith because that is what we are called to do. A recent poll states that 86 percent of all United States citizens consider themselves to be Christians at some level, but less than half knew who preached the sermon on the Mount (kind of shocking). This poll also said 60 % of the country was in church last Easter yet this is the scary part 1 of 4 did not know what Easter celebrated. The questions in ultimately do we have ears to hear, do we have faith to believe it, do we believe and trust and boldly and proudly declare that Christ is our King and Saviour.

 

Another questions is do we understand it. This is so significant because this helps to distinguish greatly the Difference between the Kingdom of God and any traditional kingdom. Pilate and Jesus dialogue sum up this difference...Pilate ask Christ are you the king of the Jews. He asks am I a Jew. And Pilate continues to press and Jesus says that his Kingdom is not of this world. Jesus said if my kingdom was from here my followers would have fought for my life. Pilate replies Snap! you are a king then. Jesus says basically you say I am a King and I have come into this world also to testify the Truth!

 

Everyone on the side of Truth listens to me. How do explain this amazing spiritual Kingdom to anyone who is absorb and lives in such a material world. My Kingdom is not of this world. We as followers of Jesus must remember that our Kingdom is not of this world. Jesus is not a king of a particular people or of a parcel of land but of All and ultimately of divine Truth. This truth is not simply a proposition to which one can ascend, but the very Gospel that Jesus life bears witness to. A truth to which people belong. I want to share a story that relates to this situations. God calls us to be servant on our turf, to be a witness and a light to a dark world were for every 60 people that attend an Easter service, 15 don't know what they are celebrating. Perhaps your turf is the baseball diamond, recording studio, an office, the architectural firm, car dealership, guitar shop, exc.

 

God is present in all things and places in life and he should be in all things we do. Winning or losing, in triumphs and in tragedy. Where's your turf and does God rule you their, is he at the center of your life and in all things you do. Not just when your winning, but also when you are losing. Not just during the triumphs but also in the tragedies of your life. Does God rule them? We are called to testify to the truth, of the Good News of Jesus Christ and the coming of his kingdom. When truth wakes us up, it also requires action.

 

In order to proclaim and testify truth we must live in it Truth doesn't obey our plans and our desires, it transforms us and our plans. When we open our hearts and minds to God, we grasp the power of truth. What does this mean? At times the truth can be tough to follow but this helps us to analyze why we believe what we believe, why we have faith in Christ our Saviour, why we see things unseen, why we are children of the Most high God. It often informs us that we are to be transformed by internal conflict, we must wrestle with scripture, we must ask to the tough questions for without this we will not grow in Christ. If you want answers take it up in prayer to God, for surely he will answer you. Remember when you are struggling that it is never the last word, the last word Belongs to God who will not abandon you. Freedom from fear: freedom from the fear of want and need, free from the fear of death, absolute freedom.

 

Resolve to testify to the hope that is within you (biblical reference). A truth that sets you free and perhaps even those around you. And remember whoever you are and wherever you are on your walk with Christ speak truth to power, speak truth in love, and most importantly speak truth even when your voice quivers (spelling) because that is how the Lord of all, Lord of Lords and King of Kings wants us to live. I will end with this John 4:24 (NLT) For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. God Bless and Amen.

Showing the Love of God

We are called to show our love to God to others and we know this by John 13:35 NLT Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. Jesus us to whole, Jesus calls you to be loving, Jesus calls us to be inclusive and invite all to the table. We experience all that God is in Jesus in his life, ministry, and every day lessons.Truely Jesus is the messiah, our saviour, the Son of God. The mark of Jesus's disciple is to be loving.

         

        Their was a time in my life when I wanted to be a med. doctor however I wasnt able to get into the shop in high school, but someone noticing I was down decided to talk spend the time talking to me making my day better. The little connections we make later can be part of how we witness to others and also shows others God's love. Kind acts of love are something people never forget, that they take with them their whole life.

       

         Sometimes we are called on to show God's love to and respond to those very diffrent from us and it cant strech us like never before. We must love and recieve people as they are such as a leper with an ear falling off and a caved in nose. Remember Jesus was always loving and kind to those who where outcasted by society at large- We must stand by and love those who have been seen as unclean for whatever reason as unclean or in some cases even beyond the Love of God. The thing is nothing is beyond God's love for people and expects us to try and do the same. We must welcome all to God's table and leave some of it up to God to change that person. What we must do is let them know we are their with them on their walk with Christ. We must address who God brings to us.

 

       Jesus didnt want the leper to simply be clean, but also to feel clean as well. Jesus was unafraid to touch and he wanted him to go back and be judged clean so once again he could be apart of his community and to feel loved once again. Jesus desired for the man to be comfortable in his own skin, be able to percieve himself as whole, as a child of the most high and wonderful God. When we touch peoples deepest need and help them it touches their body, mind, soul, and strength. Our witness is that everyone is presish in God's eyes, he wishes none to pairsh (though ultimately some will), and no one and I mean no one is ouside God's loving touch. 

      

      Jesus wants us to have life and have it abudantly. It is a call to life, it is a call to love, it is call to be all you can be made in the image of God. We must spread this abudant life through our love and through the Good News. When we finally learn this is a big portion of the message again, when we realise this once again, the world will begin once again to look at the body of Christ and see and find life, love, and wholeness. For that Folks is what God is all about, and that is what we as disciples of Jesus must also be all about. God Bless.

The Exodus-God is Liberating his People, what is their responce

The Exodus of all of God's chosen people is a liberation, commemorating the
unprecedented and dramatic redemption from slavery of the Israelite nation.
The Torah or our Old Testament depicts this liberation as one of the world’s
greatest moments in all of history: we see this people, six hundred thousand
strong, bearing all their possessions in bundles on their backs, standing on the
banks of the Red Sea. However before them the raging waters; behind, fierce
Egyptian army lead by the Pharaoh. For may this historic moment is known, even
to those who never had read the Holy Scriptures, the word of our Lord. We all
know this story. We’re used to regarding it as a tale of historical and
political liberation, which it certainly is, but for the first time I understood
this on a deeper level as well, to the point where yesterday I was brought to my
knees in humbleness and awe of our Lord God. This is also a story of a spiritual
liberation, about growth in God for Moses. This comes as a guy who was high up
in Egyptian society that ignores his Jewish roots, abandons the God of his
fathers to worship the Egyptian lifeless gods and goddess's, and murders an
Egyptian who was working the Hebrews too hard. Then one of the sheep (I’m
skipping around a little assuming that you guys know some of these details, if a
bit fuzzy please go back to Exodus the second book in the bible to fill in the
blanks) leads him down into what I can only think of as a cave like structure.
What Happens next is truly amazing!!!


Please Read Exodus 3: 2-22 in you favorite Bible translation and continue on:

Truly this is amazing, God liberating his people. Many people do not understand the Old Testament, but it is a story (a true and historical story mind you) that God liberate those who love him and picks up the low in society, gives justice, loves the humble, and raises the lowest in
society. Even when the Son of God came to us in his riches and permanently too
place in our humanity, sunk really low, relied on people early in his life, was
a carpenter, corrected what went wrong which was no fault of his own, suffered
crucifixion, rose again, permanently bears the marks of your sins, and loves us
unconditionally anyways. This is truly amazing. God is the GREATEST!!! However
here in America we still have slaves, usually young human trafficking slaves,
and across the world there are more slaves than ever which means we are not
doing our part as God's people, as disciples of Jesus. If we look at Exodus from
the narrator (Moses) and what he is trying to convey through the Holy Spirit is
that the People (God's Children) being liberated by God from the hands of the
ruthless Egyptian pharaoh and his people. As followers of Christ we tend to
identify with Moses the narrator but perhaps we should take a closer look For
those in the west we should realize wait a minute, we are not the Israel but we
are the Egyptians but in fact living in the so called first world and we are
very much so more like the Egyptians which is not a good thing. I think the west
has always struggled with these issues throughout history! We need to remember
God loves all and deposes the proud and the unjust.

God's liberation of his people via the exodus out of Egypt was the primary celebration is the Jewish Passover and Jesus is the modern Passover. Just as the blood of the Lamb in Exodus allows for death to pass over his People, we are marked by the Sinless lamb Jesus Christ by which we are saved from sin and the second death. God Bless.

Forgiveness

Their are places were Christians are more concerned with weather or not people know how to use all the hymnals, BCP (or other books depending on denominations), or know all the responses during worship service. Though we ultimately must remember this is about salvation and we must be more caring to those outside of the church, as the church is meant to draw others in, be a benefit to the world, and to do its best in following God and his will. Of course at times that the truth of the Good News will conflict with worldly understanding but that doesn't mean we shouldn't invite people were they are as Christ can and will change them if it is his will. Yes the church isn't just their to reflect the trends of society either- we are also here to challenge the worst that their is and support what is good and constructive. The church should not be a place where you must know completely how to dress and act, as Jesus loves all and meets us where we are. We must not just invite people to have a saving relationship with Christ but also welcome them to the community, to the body of Christ. I think some Christians and I myself at times can be very judgmental and we mustn't be. We like to judge other peoples sins which isn't right- We go She (or he) must be a worse sinner than I, thank God. This is a parallel to the women who walks into Simmons house with her head uncovered. Oh man, how scandalous ---she is a obviously a women of the street. Also she is embarrassing to them, as she is crying and particularly on our saviours feet and cleaning them with her hair. Oh gosh, I cant believe this, why Lord-this is crazy now she is covering him in perfume, We Cant Have This In A Proper House! What will people think? This just wont do at all, how could he let this happen (referring to Jesus). I guess we know what kind of person he is, as a man of God he should know better than to hang out with sinners. Despite what they think it is this women's love and humbleness before Jesus that brings her to be forgiven before the Lord, the Son of God. She doesn't even have to ask, Jesus knew in her heart she wanted to start over, to know God, to be forgiven, and for her heart to be changed and it was. Their is another aspect to Jesus' example that no matter your past God can forgive and loves you. Also it is an example that we shouldn't be always hanging around other followers of Christ, otherwise their is no one to witness to...It isn't going to do any good to always be bunched together, we need to go out into the world and proclaim the Good News and share God's love with all. Finally the last aspect is that we must realize we are still sinners too, we were once in that position and are sins are no less. We have been forgiven by Christs sacrifice and we are to forgive others as God forgives us (Jesus told Peter 70 x 7)...God Bless