Mary's Song...

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For He has looked with favor on the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me. Holy is His name. His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped His servant Israel, remembering to be merciful, as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.” ~ Luke 1:46-55.

Blessed Assurance...

A Living Hope ~ 1 Peter 1: 3-9

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, who through faith are protected by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials, so that the authenticity of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy, now that you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

The Return of the Lord ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
We do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.

By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.

Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Take time to be Holy...

Take time to be Holy. The word Holy does not mean 'goody-goody/nicey nice'; as in smiling to be affable, smiling to appear sincere, or kind to people 'clients' because its your job. For the Christian, it means set apart for sacred use by God. Not you 'creating' some work/help that you think will make you holy in God's eyes or look holy in front of others. It requires time set aside for communion with God. As you do, you become cleansed by His Holy Spirit who is thus able to do in and through you awesome and immeasurably more than you ask or imagine ~ Jesus is Calling: Sarah Young 2004.

Being holy means being in His Will. We are not to pick and choose our duty, but must aim at standing complete in all the will of God. And the nearer our lives and tempers are to the precepts of God's law, the happier shall we be, and the happier shall we make all around us, and the better shall we adorn the gospel...Matthew Henry 

Reading 1 Thessalonians 4: 1-12. ~ That is why we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, as you have received from us. This is how you already live, so you should do so all the more. For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 

For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality; each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God; and no one should ever exploit or take advantage of his brother in this regard, because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness. Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit. 

Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. And indeed, you are showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you. Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone. 

Yes, and always remember The disciples asked, Lord what must we do to perform the works of God, Jesus answered, "Believe in the One who Sent Me." In this way we are committed to taking time to be Holy, taking time to walk with God, to do His Will. We do not have to add anything to that which Jesus declared

God so Loved the World...let no one decieve you!

When it comes to social hierarchy in this fallen world, you bet God has given us the full and complete instructions for it - His Word, the Bible. We read in Scripture the numerous times He lays out that hierarchy for us and there is nothing made more clear than the roles of men and women, husbands/wives.

Does that mean women are saved differently from men. Yes and no. Firstly, women are equal in God's eyes in terms of being saved... period! He sent His Son to save us all, Amen! 

"God so loved the world, He sent His Son. Yes indeed, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" ~ John 3:16.

Women are saved as much as any man is. But, women are saved differently...  "And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression. Women, however, will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control ~ 1 Timothy 2:14-15.

You see, the Bible’s gendered language was no accident of history but tells us something eternal of His attitude towards His Bride, the church. Our lives as gendered beings are not coincidental either, but are designed to tell us something of the greatest love story in human history. God is the Father, Christ is the Groom, and the church is his beloved Bride, for whom He conquered death itself.

Yes, see to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces a of this world rather than on Christ ~ COL 2:8.

As we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let us not forget that He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. Speak these things as you encourage and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.…~ Titus 2:13-15.

Especially, brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

Alive in Christ...

Colossians 2:6-23 ~ Alive in Christ

Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form. And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 

In Him you were also circumcised in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ and not by human hands. And having been buried with Him in baptism, you were raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. 

When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses, having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross! And having disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. 

Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat (including meat) or drink, or with regard to a festival, a New Moon, or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a man is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind, and he loses connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow. 

If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations: “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”? These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.


*Taken from the Berean Study Bible

The Word of God is Sharper than a Two Edged Sword...

Reading Hebrews 4:11-12 ~ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

His peace is only found in His Word and make no mistake... it is HIS WORD! Not hers or theirs over there and or them too. It is HIS WORD that delivers us from sin and death and to eternal life... and His Word that brings peace to all this fallen world.

We must be/get ready, we must prepare so as Watchmen that is part of our job ... to ring the bell, light the candle and deliver the Word to those yet in darkness. 

Reading from Jude 1:17-23 ~ A Call to Persevere

But you, beloved, remember what was foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ when they said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow after their own ungodly desires.” These are the ones who cause divisions, who are worldly and devoid of the Spirit.

But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life.

And indeed, have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others, show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.

The Parable of the ten virgins is one example that we can use to show the absolute necessity of being prepared. We as watchmen must have mercy on those who doubt but make no mistake on the day of the Lord's Return when He closes the door that's it. 

Most of you know that parable and you know how those who were not prepared ran out of oil... they looked like they were prepared for they had the right vessels but they used up their oil, what was inside, they did not take care to use it carefully and or to refuel what was inside when they had time. It is like this with our spiritual well being. If we do not take care and keep it fueled up we will not be ready when the time comes. 

If we are too busy defending the ways of this world, trying to justify our wrong behavior begging to be accepted for it in the name of toleration we will be gravely disappointed. If we go about trying to amass good things in this fallen world (building up treasure in it) checking off those things what some like to call a 'bucket list'... then when the real saving grace is open to us, we won't be there to receive it or we will be too late.

Can we call God whatever we want?

God is big boy, he won't mind if we call him whatever we want.. even 'she'; after all, he made women too. As nice as that sounds, what supporters of this move don’t seem to realize is that this is a pretty big splinter. When we strip our descriptions of God of biblical gendered language, we are stripping the very terms He has used to describe Himself. We are substituting the image of God of our imaginations for the God of the Bible as He has chosen to reveal Himself to us.

Women, imagine what it’d be like for your husband to do this to you. You’d be upset, and, what’s more, you’d be right! When you’re described in ways other than who you truly are, then you are not being treated as an independent person but only as a convenient figment of someone else’s imagination. For you to demand to be seen and loved for who you are is not about you being petty; it’s about you being a person.

It is the same with God. He is a person. That’s why it matters. God isn’t a force with no opinion about how he’s addressed. He is a person with specific characteristics, not a nebulous blob in the heavens who can be molded into any form we wish. Yes, God is infinite, but He is not indefinite. God has revealed Himself as a God of justice, a God of holiness, a God of compassion, and a God of love. It is not for us to decide which parts of his self-revelation have become passé.

If God is the God of the Bible, then we call Him “Him” because He calls Himself “Him.” We can get into questions of why He is “Him” and not “Her” or “It,” but the key thing is that He calls Himself “Him.” If we are going to call ourselves Christians, then our perceptions of God must be driven by what God has revealed of Himself in the Bible.

You see, the Bible’s gendered language was no accident of history but tells us something eternal of His attitude towards His Bride, the church. Our lives as gendered beings are not coincidental either, but are designed to tell us something of the greatest love story in human history. God is the Father, Christ is the Groom, and the church is his beloved Bride, for whom He conquered death itself.

*Source "Breakpoint"
Read the entire article at ~  http://www.breakpoint.org/2018/02/he-is-god/?fbclid=IwAR0PSaXvCxQfDnW3g3aQXvMTvH1ij2tSKQOJUEiJSdsUxuYhCb91rhUirg0

Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in them... 1 John 4:7-21

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.