There are many experiences which occur in the course of our years for which there is absolutely no obvious and immediate explanation. Who knows why our burden has to be so heavy? Who knows why we have to cry sometimes? Life is a mystery. There are riddles that remain unanswered, There are mysteries that remain unraveled. There are perplexities that remain perplexing. There are diseases for which there is no known cure. And what we don't understand about our trying experience now, we must believe that we'll understand it better by and by.
When we cannot see the way, we must trust the way. When we do not know the way, we must believe the way. When we do not know why, we must believe that God knows why. We must walk on by faith, and trust God to make the way, with unshakable certainty, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
From the sixth to the ninth hour, there was just darkness over all the land. It seems to be this dreadful feeling of abandonment that Jesus experienced for three somber hours while hanging from the cross. All his life, he had enjoyed the blissful blessedness of unbroken fellowship with his Father. But now here he is on the cross, suspended in space, hanging below the bosom of heaven, orbiting above the earth as though rejected by both and accepted by neither.
The man who had been the friend to so many, the man who healed the sick and raised the dead – this man now is suffering like no man ever suffered before. For three hours, beginning at the sixth hour until high noon when the sun was shining at its zenith, the light went out and heaven drew a curtain around Calvary. For three hours, some phenomenon occurred which made Jesus feel that God had deserted him and left him abandoned in the dark.
Hear the eeriness in the cry of Jesus: "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," that is, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
And life is sometimes just like that; you ought to be living in the sunshine, and yet circumstance has consigned you to the darkness. Abandoned is a strong word. And yet, the truth is that there are times in our lives when we feel abandoned by God and left trembling in the dark. Ask the young couple whose baby is dead on arrival; ask the person who loses his or her mate in the prime time of his or her life. Ask the families of those people whose lives were wiped out by an armed sniper's bullet. There have been times in your life when it felt like God had turned out the lights and left you wounded and hurting in the dark. It's high noon when the sun is glistening in its golden orbit. Everything ought to be light and bright, tight and right, but instead, it's dark. It's midnight at midday! Everything is all mixed up. It's night time in the day time. As children of God, all of us have had a night-timein-the-day-time experience. We looked to be blessed; instead we got trouble. We thought we would get a clean bill of health; instead we had to have surgery. We thought we were going to get that promotion; instead we got a pink slip. All of us have experienced the strange phenomenon of night time in the day time, but we are still standing.
There are two things about this night-time-in-theday-time experience emanating from the text that should keep us standing. First of all, there are some painful experiences that we have to go through. Pain is a fact of life. There is physical pain and there is spiritual and emotional pain—and Jesus was feeling all of it. Nails were in his hands and feet. His back was lacerated. And, as if this wasn't enough, he couldn't feel the nearness of God. They offered him pain killer, but he didn't take it. He endured the pain.
It may hurt, but endure it! It may make you feel like God has abandoned you, but endure it! Don't give in! Endure it! God won't stop the pain, but he'll hold you and help you go through. I am Still Standing!
The second lesson we can learn is that darkness doesn't come to stay. Matthew says that this darkness occurred from the sixth to the ninth hour. (Matthew 27:45) The darkness comes, but it goes. And as painful and as disturbing as it is, my brothers and sisters, the good news is that it doesn't last forever. Whether it's three hours, three days, three weeks, three months, or three years, the darkness doesn't last forever. If you continue to stand, having done all to stand; you will discover that Joy comes back! Peace comes back! Happiness comes back! In the language of the Psalmist, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." (Psalm 30:5) The darkness comes, but it doesn't come to stay. It's temporary. I think I hear somebody singing, "I'm so glad that trouble doesn't last always."
Dr. Eugene Lawton of the Newark Church of Christ
http://www.newarkchurchofchrist.org/
Monday, February 11, 2008
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Atheist and important story.
Atheism is not right....i dont care if you've been to school or u havnt or who you've talked to or where you got it from. It is philosophically impossible to be an atheist. In order to be an atheist, you have to have infinite knowledge. You have to know absolutely everything about everything to know that there is no God...and nobody knows everything about everything. The bible says, "The fool hath said in is heart, that there is no God..." Psalms 14-1. You think you're so smart, but the bible says that a fool has said that there is no God.
God has revealed himself through creation. Psalms 19-1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handywork." We have alot of smart ppl in the world. They've been to skool, have diplomas, have degrees, talked by reknown professors, and they were told that there is no God and if u are an intellegent person you cannot believe in God. You cant see Him, you cant analyse Him, you cant put Him in a test tube and analyse Him! How do you know that there is a God??? You cant see Him....dont believe in superstition....thats what they will say. Now for the story....:
A university student who majored in physics said to a preacher, who delivered a message on creation, "I cant believe in this God stuff....I dont understand that there is a God somewhere." The preacher took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, and showed him his wrist watch. The preacher said, "Do you see this watch here?" he said, "Yes" then the preacher said, "I went to the junkyard the other day and found sum rusted twisted pieces of metal...and threw them in a shoe box. I began to shake the shoe box. I shook it for 2 weeks,I shook it for 2 months,I shook it for 6 months,I shook it for 12 months. Then all of a sudden...BANG!!! And it began to tick. 60 seconds a minute. 60 minutes an hour, 24 hours a day. And you know wut, it tells the day it is. It tells the date of the day. ALL OF THIS IS BY CHANCE!!! Amazing...." The student laughed at him and said, "That's impossible." The preacher responded, "You mean to tell me, that this watch, being created by chance, is impossible!?!? And yet you tell me, my eyes, which see 3D in color, my brain which has 120 billion cells and 130 trillion electronic chemical connections, are these things JUST THE PRODUCT OF CHANCE!!!?!?!?!?" No man has ever built a computer like that.
I tell you now, it takes more faith to believe in an impersonal chance of evolution, than it does to believe in a divine designer. Atheism is a vain philosophy, it is intellectually bankrupt, and demonstrates a willful denial of God.
God is!!!Do you have a moment? Do you want me to tell you who God is??? Ur gunna have ta back up, I need space for that. If ur in a hurry i wont be able ta tell ya. God is too big to be put in a test tube. You know man can not know who God is or what God is like unless He chooses to reveal Himself unto us. -.-' Try to teach your young child who God is. It'll blow your mind. Trying to get that little child to understand what you are talking about. I dont care how much that child means to you, but why dont you try teaching him who God is "Momma have you ever seen him?" "Momma what does He look like?" Because a child can only speak in that which he has seen or heard. A child can not think in an abstract manner. (Hello?)
So God has chosen to reveal Himself to us in His inspired word, the bible. He revealed it through the incarnation, when Jesus Christ came into the flesh, broke into human history, and became a man. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." John4:24. You have to understand that. If you dont understand what spirit is, i can read it to you in Luke 24:39, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath NOT flesh and bones, as ye see me have." (Hello?) So i wouldnt ask a crazy question like have you seen God, because I know that He's a spirit. Have you ever seen Him? Well you dont see spirits, but that doesnt mean that He does not exist. So you cant put a spirit in a test tube or a scale. Jeremiah 10:10,12,13,14,15,16, This is one of the greatest chapters in the bible that tell of the nature of God. We learn that He is living, and is not an idol. He is not made of iron or clay, stone or cement. He is not made by the hands of man.
God is spirit, and God is self existent. Think about it. Did you get here by yourself?? You're so smart? Everybody has a mother and a father. You may not like what you are, but theres nothing that you can do about it, b/c of your mother and your father. You're not self existent, nobody is, there is a law of procreation. But God didnt come from anybody, He did not start to exist. He's self existent. He has always been and will always be. The bible says He's from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. You cant define Him, the way you define a man. He's eternal and unique for man. He's far bigger than our finite minds and finite 3 dimension, He may be 4 dimension or 8 or 100 or infinitum dimension. We have no idea how complex God is, but glory be to God. He's the giver of life of all things. You may act like a monkey but you didnt come from a monkey. -.-
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Matthew24:35
"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 2nd Timothy4:2-4
God has revealed himself through creation. Psalms 19-1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handywork." We have alot of smart ppl in the world. They've been to skool, have diplomas, have degrees, talked by reknown professors, and they were told that there is no God and if u are an intellegent person you cannot believe in God. You cant see Him, you cant analyse Him, you cant put Him in a test tube and analyse Him! How do you know that there is a God??? You cant see Him....dont believe in superstition....thats what they will say. Now for the story....:
A university student who majored in physics said to a preacher, who delivered a message on creation, "I cant believe in this God stuff....I dont understand that there is a God somewhere." The preacher took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, and showed him his wrist watch. The preacher said, "Do you see this watch here?" he said, "Yes" then the preacher said, "I went to the junkyard the other day and found sum rusted twisted pieces of metal...and threw them in a shoe box. I began to shake the shoe box. I shook it for 2 weeks,I shook it for 2 months,I shook it for 6 months,I shook it for 12 months. Then all of a sudden...BANG!!! And it began to tick. 60 seconds a minute. 60 minutes an hour, 24 hours a day. And you know wut, it tells the day it is. It tells the date of the day. ALL OF THIS IS BY CHANCE!!! Amazing...." The student laughed at him and said, "That's impossible." The preacher responded, "You mean to tell me, that this watch, being created by chance, is impossible!?!? And yet you tell me, my eyes, which see 3D in color, my brain which has 120 billion cells and 130 trillion electronic chemical connections, are these things JUST THE PRODUCT OF CHANCE!!!?!?!?!?" No man has ever built a computer like that.
I tell you now, it takes more faith to believe in an impersonal chance of evolution, than it does to believe in a divine designer. Atheism is a vain philosophy, it is intellectually bankrupt, and demonstrates a willful denial of God.
God is!!!Do you have a moment? Do you want me to tell you who God is??? Ur gunna have ta back up, I need space for that. If ur in a hurry i wont be able ta tell ya. God is too big to be put in a test tube. You know man can not know who God is or what God is like unless He chooses to reveal Himself unto us. -.-' Try to teach your young child who God is. It'll blow your mind. Trying to get that little child to understand what you are talking about. I dont care how much that child means to you, but why dont you try teaching him who God is "Momma have you ever seen him?" "Momma what does He look like?" Because a child can only speak in that which he has seen or heard. A child can not think in an abstract manner. (Hello?)
So God has chosen to reveal Himself to us in His inspired word, the bible. He revealed it through the incarnation, when Jesus Christ came into the flesh, broke into human history, and became a man. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." John4:24. You have to understand that. If you dont understand what spirit is, i can read it to you in Luke 24:39, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath NOT flesh and bones, as ye see me have." (Hello?) So i wouldnt ask a crazy question like have you seen God, because I know that He's a spirit. Have you ever seen Him? Well you dont see spirits, but that doesnt mean that He does not exist. So you cant put a spirit in a test tube or a scale. Jeremiah 10:10,12,13,14,15,16, This is one of the greatest chapters in the bible that tell of the nature of God. We learn that He is living, and is not an idol. He is not made of iron or clay, stone or cement. He is not made by the hands of man.
God is spirit, and God is self existent. Think about it. Did you get here by yourself?? You're so smart? Everybody has a mother and a father. You may not like what you are, but theres nothing that you can do about it, b/c of your mother and your father. You're not self existent, nobody is, there is a law of procreation. But God didnt come from anybody, He did not start to exist. He's self existent. He has always been and will always be. The bible says He's from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. You cant define Him, the way you define a man. He's eternal and unique for man. He's far bigger than our finite minds and finite 3 dimension, He may be 4 dimension or 8 or 100 or infinitum dimension. We have no idea how complex God is, but glory be to God. He's the giver of life of all things. You may act like a monkey but you didnt come from a monkey. -.-
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Matthew24:35
"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 2nd Timothy4:2-4
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