Justified by the Precious Blood
Oh, the precious blood
that flowed from Mercy’s side,
Washed away my sin,
When Christ my Savior died.
Oh the precious blood
of Christ the crucified,
speaks for me before your throne
where I stand justified.
It is interesting how we spend much time justifying sin. We like to think the little white lies we tell are okay because they are justifiable. We also may believe it okay to steal food when we are starving.
We know that lying and stealing are wrong. However, we want to be justified. If then we long for this justification, how is it obtained?
Do we bring out a scale and weigh the perceived good and bad, and then make a decision?
If so, and we proceed with “justified” sin, is it still not sin?
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that we all have to work for justification. However, we know that we need it. Romans 3:20 tells us that if we try to be good enough to always do the right thing, it will not be good enough!
As the lyric in the song above… if we have put our faith in Jesus, we ALREADY are justified! It is by Jesus’ blood alone. It testifies to God the Father as we stand before His throne.
Hey, don’t believe me! Read it here in Romans 5:9.
We cannot justify ourselves, yet it is there readily available for all! Abundant enough that all can, in Christ, stand before the throne of a holy God! (Romans 4:5)
Oh, it is precious blood indeed!
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| Tags: bible study, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, justification, salvation |
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Oval Office Extreme Makeover? – Political Punch
There are reports that the Oval Office had an extreme make-over this past weekend. I marvel at the timing, well… no I don’t!
But, if I were the betting type, I would wager the primary color used is red, or possibly green. But since I am not, it really doesn’t matter. What matters is was this really necessary?
Was the expenditure from the public treasury justifiable in our precarious economic times?
Or are those of the political elite that far disconnected from the average Joe?
We shall see, soon!
Read more at Political Punch: Oval Office Extreme Makeover?
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| Tags: america, arrogance, economy, government, obama |
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Jerry Springer: President Obama’s ‘excellent’
All I can offer is… REALLY?
Jerry Springer: President Obama’s ‘excellent’ – PATRICK GAVIN | POLITICO CLICK
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| Tags: obama, progressive, United States |
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The Mugging of Dearly Departed Grandma Betty @ Truth Observed
Here is a short one act, one minute script.
Read it, please. The inheritance tax is THEFT!
The Mugging of Dearly Departed Grandma Betty : Truth Observed
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| Tags: CULTure, government, progressive, tax, the lie, theft |
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You Thought I was One Like Yourself
Psalm 50:16-21 “But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, land you keep company with adulterers. “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.”
How careful are we in our perception of Who God is?
Do we make Him out to be like us, or do we conform ourselves to Who He is?
These are interesting questions. To some extent, we are all guilty of the charges in these verses. What I find haunting and curious is the penultimate sentence. God’s longsuffering is extended to those who do not repent.
Yet, He is not like us. He is holy, and as such He requires us to be holy and sinless. He knows that we cannot, however, the charge is still laid at our feet, and we must bear the consequences.
Unless, in His love for us, He has provided a way in which we can stand before Him blameless!
It is Jesus, His Son Who bore the consequences some 2,000 years ago. He was put to death, and rose again the third day in triumph over death. Those that put their faith in Him, like putting on a parachute… have His righteousness and holiness imputed to them, making them acceptable to stand before a Holy God.
Romans 3:23-25 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.”
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Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church – We Are One
Being an outsider who does not attend Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, I have watched with some interest the “new” Coral Ridge.
After the merger of New City Presbyterian and Coral Ridge Presbyterian, Tullian Tchividjian took the helm of the mighty church founded by D. James Kennedy. Last year, there was a small dust-up in the church over Pastor Tullian’s convictions on how to do “church.” I remember, during the conflict, one quote that stuck in my head and really bugged me! It went something like Tullian was trying to do away with the “dignity” of “high church worship.”
I had to ask what that was, and since I know the church I attend has a contemporary worship service that is quite unique. I wondered, since my “warehouse church” doesn’t have a pipe organ, and my pastor does not wear a robe. We do not use hymnals, either. Is our worship experience then “undignified” and not quite “high church?”
Having a Baptist background, I struggle with my preference of the deep, profound lyrics of hymns and the seeming shallow egocentric modern worship. It was further exacerbated by my dislike of the music pastor and his chosen style of worship at my church. This conflict led me to some profound truths that were fefreshed and reinforced by the events at Coral Ridge.
Rock music, in a Baptist world, was always called “sensual,” mostly because of the “hip grinding” and dancing that it causes. I know, it sounds funny. But it is not. This was also coupled loosely to modern worship music. Years of teaching are hard to overcome… but there is hope, by the grace of God.
You see, my old pastor, Richard Schermerhorn, taught an incredible lesson one morning in Sunday School some 20 years ago. It was on biblical authority. God caused me to remember that lesson, complete with the increasingly larger covering from the umbrella illustrations he used. He showed me the fact that my worship leader is considered an authority figure over me, serving at God’s will. He leads, I submit, as if it were to God Himself, as long as he does not cause me to sin. The authority serves me by willfully taking responsibility from me. I get freedom from that responsibility!
So, I submitted it to God, and my music pastor. About a year later, God, as He is prone to do, refreshed my memory. Our music pastor was out-of-town on an extended absence. God actually impressed upon my heart how much I missed Pastor Clay! And then the lesson was written upon my heart! God had changed my perspective, and in my submission, I was given freedom. In addition, my submission became a blessing to me!
I was able to watch the things happen at Coral Ridge from a distance. I also know New City’s music director personally, and have had some discussions with him on this issue. It intrigued me, and I did continue to pay attention, at a distance. Surprisingly, this week it may have ended!
After seeing this blog post by Pastor Tullian, and his convictions on unity, I can only think I wholeheartedly agree! This is Divine wisdom, and brings together two separate cultures inside one! It is a perfect lesson on submission, temperance and forbearance!
It leads me to ask how can two walk together, except they agree? I know at our church, we have several campuses, the styles of worship are different at each campus. But through the marvels of technology, the message is the same! However, we are not segregated by worship under the same roof, we are one!
I know that this is placing some difficulty on those who have attended Coral Ridge for a long time. But I challenge you to submit to those whom God has placed in authority!
There is freedom AND BLESSING in that! But above all, God gets the glory!
Check out the post from Tullian Tchividjian here: We Are One
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| Tags: Christianity, CULTure, God, submission, worship |
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Our Next Greatest Generation – Don’t Give Up Hope
The Battle Hymn of the Republic
I think this is my all time favorite patriotic song, and as a hymn, it ranks almost at the top of the list. There is maybe on or two that can supersede it… but this is amazing!
Watch the video, read the blog post, but please keep this in mind…
What is striking to me is that there is not a single person involved in the production–the choir, the band–who is more than 18 years old, except for the directors, and some of them are 10 or 11. The moral of which is: if they haven’t given up, why should you?
From the Power Line, read it here: Don’t Give Up Hope
God save the United States, God save the president, God save its citizens!
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White House says Obama is Christian, prays daily
I have to offer the one question that is just begging to be asked.
Why does any president of the United States have the need to issue an official press release declaring his faith?
It is plainly evident… Would it not be obvious?
James 2:18 says “But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
But the more discerning words come from Jesus Himself in Matthew 7:15-20 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”
Lets check out some of that very low-hanging fruit:
- Has repeatedly stated “we (America) are no longer a Christian nation” – In a speech in 2007, in an e-mail in 2008 and in a 2009 press conference in Turkey
- He derides the “Christian Right,” whatever that is
- Covered over the name of Jesus at a speech given to Georgetown University
- Does not understand where the form of the U. S. government derives
Do I need to mention names like Jeremiah Wright or Michael Pfleger?
Here is one that may be obscure, Jim Wallis… the president’s top spiritual advisor. He is one of the progressive, evangelical left, better known as thinly-veiled communism, which is not supported biblically. Who is Jim Wallis and Sojourners, really?
Hey, you decide… if he really is a Christian. I know I am told not to believe what they say, but to examine the fruit. Furthermore please keep in mind what Luke 9:26 says “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
Perhaps that is why they needed to make a press release. God is omniscient, and I am sure He doesn’t need to read press releases.
Read the article here at the Las Vegas Sun
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| Tags: apostasy, arrogance, communism, corruption, Democrats, God, government, obama, politics |
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The Inerrancy of Scripture
Albert Mohler sums writes on his now 60 year stance on the inerrancy of scripture. He says…
“[W]hen you encounter a present-day view of Holy Scripture, you encounter more than a view of Scripture. What you meet is a total view of God and the world, that is, a total theology, which is both an ontology, declaring what there is, and an epistemology, stating how we know what there is. This is necessarily so, for a theology is a seamless robe, a circle within which everything links up with everything else through its common grounding in God.”
You see, it is this “grounding” in God that sticks everything. If your morality is not grounded, it becomes subject to relativity. God is unchangeable. He is the uncaused. He is eternal, holy, good, just and righteous… just to start.
The bible, to me is an amazing document. It has withstood almost 2,000 years of naysayers… yet eventually, disproves them all.
So, when you compare yourself to the standard declared in just the ten commandments, how do you stack up?
I know I don’t! BUT… I thank God for a Savior Who could AND DID, thereby covering me and anyone else who places their faith in that fact!
Check out what Albert Mohler has to say about the inerrancy of scripture.
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| Tags: arrogance, CULTure, End Times, God, progressive, prophecy, the lie |
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The Prophecy of Ishmael and the Ground Zero Islamic Center at Bible Prophecy Today
Take a moment to ponder this thought…
“Every place where you see human suffering either socialism or Islam is involved. This president touts both.”
I could almost think that truer words were never spoken!
Bill Wilson nails it, read the entire article here at Bible Prophecy Today.
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| Tags: CULTure, freedom of religion, God, islam, religion, Religion and Spirituality, the lie, United States |
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