O-Dark-Thirty

Predestination and Free Will Tough topics - and not for the faint of heart. I grabbed a post I did August 14,  2014 and I'll repost it now, but I will certainly need to delve into the subject again. Repeatedly, no doubt. That's probably predestined. August 14, 2014 Last Sunday, Pastor Dr. Denny Autrey (our interim Pastor at First Baptist Church Pearland ) preached a familiar sermon on Romans 8:28 and a bit more. It was almost familiar, but it got me thinking. You'll see what I mean. First of all, Romans 8:28 is a verse a lot of Christians hold on to during bad times, that God will knit all these bad times into something good. I have no doubt that God does this, but it is good according to His purpose, and sometimes I just don't see it. If you're like me, you know what I mean. You've known people who got hurt, died, suffered horribly in their lives and you have to wonder. Maybe you ARE that person. My heart goes out to you. Most of us have seasons ...

The Apostle's Creed sums up the Christian belief. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, * the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. *To avoid a sticky point on this, I believe “Catholic” refers to the Merriam-Websterdefinition meaning “of, relating to, or forming the church universal” instead of the Roman Catholic church. There's an even nicer song about Christian beliefs sung by Hillsong Worship . I think there is a life ...

I'd credit the artist if I knew them. Let's look at the Good Samaritan. Luke 10:30-37 NKJV Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to hi...

Today's sermon message was titled "Small Faith vs Big Doubt" and I can sum it up pretty quickly, so bear with me. In matters of Faith, it is okay to have doubts, but it is not okay to stay there. After all, even one of the apostles, men who walked and ate with Jesus, doubted His resurrection. So, of course, we should look at the Gospel account of "Doubting Thomas:" John 20:19-28 and I'll use the New King James Version (NKJV). Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. You can see why Jesus didn't knock on the door. The apostles would not have answered. They were in a closed room or house and afraid of the Jews. A knock on the door would have frighten...

I have a lot of discussions about religion with a lot of different people, some Christian (as I am) and some not. Both Catholic and Protestant Christian Bibles teach that Jesus Christ is the only path to God the Father. Though I believe that, I will never pressure someone to believe as I believe - belief is an intensely personal choice. The Bible also says that if you truly seek you will find, and I stand on that one. In recent posts I raise questions that seem to dismay people: Can Salvation, once accepted, be lost? (I don't know, and all arguments, for either side, seem circular to me.) Why would a benevolent God allow such suffering? (I don't know. I think this world is under the control of Satan, though, and that the non-suffering is God's grace to us.) Which do you believe: Pre-Trib, Mid-Trib or Post-Trib Rapture? (I don't know. I tend to lean toward No Rapture, but that is an upcoming book, so I'll leave it at that.) What is the natu...

At New Hope, Pastor Chris titled today's message "The Call to Bold Leadership." The principle point of the message was that God is calling us to bold leadership (see what I did there?) . The next natural question is "what defines bold leadership?" 1. Bold leaders are "idiots" that have been with Jesus. Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. The original Greek word for ordinary men is "idiotes" from which we get our English word for idiot. What a sad commentary on the evolution of language, but I digress from the point. The key point to note is that these ordinary men had been with Jesus . We've heard it dozens of times in hundreds of sermons: God doesn't call the prepared; He prepares the called. We've all been called. 2. Bold leaders stand up. Acts 1:15 And...

Our Father We get to call God "Father" for the first time in History Who art in Heaven Where He dwells, which defines Heaven, not places God Hallowed be Thy name Praise Him simply because He is worthy Thy Kingdom come We aren't asking for it, we're simply agreeing that it will happen Thy Will be done Again, we aren't making a suggestion, just acknowledging a fact On Earth as it is in Heaven and asserting that His will is as valid on Earth as in Heaven Give us this day NOW we petition Our daily bread for what we need, not want And forgive us our trespasses and we certainly need forgiveness, received from the outstretched arms on the cross As we forgive those who trespass against us a reminder that we need to dispense what we receive Lead us not into temptation God doesn't tempt, but we can ask Him to keep our feet from paths where there is temptation But deliver us from evil You better ask for thi...

What was Sunday's sermon at your church? Think fast… Yeah, most of us struggle with that one. The sermon engages us. We understand it. We perhaps even feel a small tug in our hearts. We walk out of church and by the time we're done with lunch we hardly remember the sermon. I had the same problems in my math classes in college. Well, that's why we should take notes, right? Of course, taking notes and never looking at them again is almost meaningless, but the act of writing down the sermon helps you to retain the message anyway. But if you know you have to share the sermon - well, that's a different story. There is a statement about learning that seems true, though I cannot find a definitive source (some reference the book Keys to Success , but there are a few books with that title): “We retain 10 percent of what we read, 20 percent of what we hear, 30 percent of what we see, 50 percent of what we hear and see, 70 percent of what we say, and 90 per...