Started a new book last week, Knowing the Doctrines...

I am nearly finished with John Bevere's "Driven By Eternity" book, but in the meantime I started a book written by Myer Pearlman called "Knowing the Doctrines of the Bible."

It is a way expanded version of the little fundamentals of truth, those one sentence statements of faith, that churches and ministries publish in their brochures and web pages. I guess that by knowing these statement of faiths, we are supposed to know if their beliefs are aligned with ours, or at least Christian anyway. But that isn't what I was going to write about.

The last few days, I have been reading his section on what the Bible tells us about man. Yes, you, me, and the person sitting next to you.

This author contends that we are triune in nature rather than two-part. Which based on all the reading I have done in the Bible, is my view. He does make the distinction that we are two-part in that we are composed of a material substance and an immaterial substance (body and soul). However, he goes on to say that the Bible then introduces a second immaterial substance (in the New Testament) being the spirit part of man.

However he goes on to say that both views are actually correct since soul and spirit are inseparable. He describes this as "They permeate and interpenetrate each other." Evidently even though the words "soul" and "spirit" are used interchangeably in the Bible translations because they are so connected, there are certain places where they distinctly say something very different. It is when we look at those instances that we discern that that man is comprised of three parts: body, soul, spirit.

What are the words of eternal life?

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

John 6: 68-69, ESV

Christian.TV Launches Facebook competitor aimed at the Christian Marketplace.
Tulsa, Ok (Feb 9, 2009) - FaithOut.com, a brand new Faith Based Social Network intended to be a Christian Facebook Alternative launches this week with much excitement. Soft launch began at the beginning of October 2008 and already more than 5000 have flocked to the new website. FaithOut is a faith based social utility that connects people around their church, ministry, region, school or workplace. Users can upload all their favorite photos, tag their friends and family, share videos and music and find others around similar spiritual interests.

"There is enormous potential for FaithOut to bridge the gap not only between people’s online ‘social’ activities (blogging, photo sharing, messaging), but between individuals, churches, groups and ministries that all connect in one way or another offline." says Robbie Davidson, FaithOut Technology Architect.

In the final stages of development is FaithOut Ministry Suite. This one of a kind social tool will provide a white-label solution for churches, ministries and various organizations to build their own social networks to integrate into their websites or as a stand-alone feature. Many churches are petitioning to be part of the beta program for this all-in-one social solution for their congregations online.

"Social networking is where the church must go. Those organizations who embrace technology and go beyond simple internet marketing will build true community. Social Community (not Social Networking) is the missing link in a comprehensive internet strategy for the ministry of the modern era.” says Kally Hristov, President of Christian.TV

RE: Eternity & where will You spend it

K-Fish, I agree that a person who just repeats the sinner's prayer and then goes back to the same life style with no change of heart or living is in danger of being rejected by God in that He will say " I never knew ye". When we pray the prayer for forgiveness, there has to be a change in our hearts and a change in our everyday life and style of living, also, a change in the way we treat our fellow man. Without these
changes and without the act of witnessing to our fellow men, what are we accomplishing? It is our christian duty to confess Christ openly and be a witness in
the way we live each day.
Just food for thought.

A King's Son

Where will you spend Eternity and how will YOU get there?

Interestingly enough to me, tonight in the book I am currently reading by John Bevere, "Driven By Eternity", in the chapter 'Judgement of Deceived', John states the following:

"The gospel we've preached has been lopsided with emphasis on accepting Jesus by praying a sinner's prayer. We confess Him as "Lord," and once done we are saved eternally. Yet this is not what Jesus teaches. He says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 7:21, NIV)"

He goes on to say that converts gained in this manner...

"...go back to their seats "just as they were." Except now they are deceived. Nothing has been said concerning repentance from disobedient lifestyles, denying their own desires... ...losing their lives for the cause of Christ. They've confessed Jesus as their "Lord," but there's been no heart change."

Hmmmm...... interesting... I want to say I agree with him a 100%.

"Driven By Eternity" and John Bevere

I started a new book. Not writing one, but reading one. Ha!

The book is titled "Driven By Eternity - Making Your Life Count Today and Forever". I am on page 52 of 260. Interestingly enough, John has used the parable method of telling a story so far.

It's a two-fer. A two-for-one deal. Let me explain.

The book starts out talking about eternity and what our concept, or lack of concept, regarding eternity is. Then suddenly, the discussion is abandoned and he switches to telling a fictional story to illustrate how life choices thrust us into very different eternal results. I haven't gotten past the fictional part of the book which is illustrating Bible truths so well, so I assume I haven't seen any of the meat of the book yet, but so far, I have looked forward to picking it up each evening to digest a bit more...

Speaking of which I probably should go read some more of it!

Jacob Marley's Business

"But you were always a good man of business, Jacob," faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.

"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing his hands again. "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

He held his chain at arms-length, as if that were the cause of all his unavailing grief, and flung it heavily upon the ground again.

"At this time of the rolling year," the specter said, "I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me?"

...The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every one of them wore chains like Marley's Ghost; some few (they might be guilty of governments) were linked together; none were free. Many had been personally known to Scrooge in their lives. He had been quite familiar with one old ghost, in a white waistcoat, with a monstrous iron safe attached to his ankle, who cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom he saw below, upon a door-step. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power forever.

(Charles Dickens)

Then the King will say to those at His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father [you favored of God and appointed to eternal salvation], inherit (receive as your own) the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you brought Me together with yourselves and welcomed and entertained and lodged Me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me with help and ministering care, I was in prison and you came to see Me. Then the just and upright will answer Him, Lord, when did we see You hungry and gave You food, or thirsty and gave You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger and welcomed and entertained You, or naked and clothed You? And when did we see You sick or in prison and came to visit You? And the King will reply to them, Truly I tell you, in so far as you did it for one of the least [in the estimation of men] of these My brethren, you did it for Me.

(Jesus)

Inductive Studies

Our Sunday School class has been doing inductive studies, where we read a verse(s) in the bible and then answer questions about what it said, what it means, and why it might be important in our lives. We completed one class on "Faith" where we studied the Hebrews 11 chapter. However, when it was all said and done, we studied the first two books of the Old Testament more than we studied Hebrews 11. But if you have read Hebrews 11 recently you will understand how that may have happened. Fantastic "stories" are told in the first two OT books. I love reading them over and over. I never get tired of them. I get excited about them! Can you tell? :-)

Well, we are now doing one on "Practical Spiritual Warfare". Starts out in Psalm 91. This is a Psalm that every believer should have hanging on their bathroom mirror. God tells us all the things he will do for us because of something we have done. Go read it, get it into your heart, and stand your ground as you fight the good fight of faith!

Ben Hur

Oooppps...

It has been awhile again. Uh oh.

Well, I finished Gansky's 40 Days book several weeks ago. I enjoyed reading it. Even though I have read the New Testament many times, Gansky has a way of pulling things together and helping you so see more than you were seeing when you are reading book to book, chapter to chapter. I liked the book. It encouraged me and it taught me. I would recommend it. Be forwarned however. When Gansky summarizes what the resurrection has done for us and its applications, he talks about several things, but does not address the infilling of the Holy Spirit in today's believer, which many Christians accept in addition to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit upon being born-again.

Ben Hur - A tale of the Christ.

Immediately after finishing Gansky's book, I started an abridged version of Ben Hur. I don't recall reading this book in high school or at the university. Maybe I am the last person in the world to read this book? I have a vague recollection of maybe seeing the movie when I was a youngster? But then maybe not. At any rate I finished reading the book this past Saturday evening. I found it to be difficult reading. The usage of so many commas in every sentence kind of threw me. Also, the writing was strange to me in its structure. I had to reread many of the sentences and paragraphs to fully comprehend what the words were telling me. I did like the story. It was engaging. I liked reading about characters who were seeking a Messiah, someone to deliver them from the political rule of the time who would establish an earthly kingdom, but in the end coming to the realization that the Messiah did not come at that time to establish an earthly kingdom, but a kingdom in the hearts of men, thus the Messiah was also the Savior, saving men from their sinfulness with the Savior's (Christ's) sacrifice. Did you notice all the commas I used in that sentence? Well today, I went shopping out of town with my wife. While at a store, I found a used DVD of the 1959 Best Picture award Ben Hur movie directed by William Wyler. I had told the people at work that I was reading Ben Hur, and they asked why I just didn't watch the movie. Well, now I will!

"I am the resurrection and the life;

he who believes in Me will live even

if he dies, and everyone who lives and

believes in Me will never die.

Do you believe this?"

-Jesus Christ

New Book I am reading, 40 Days.

A favorite author of mine that I like to read, Alton Gansky, who writes both nonfiction and fiction, just recently wrote a new book called 40 Days - Encountering Jesus Between the Resurrection and Ascension published in 2007 by B&H Publishing Group, Nashville TN.

Besides having read several of Gansky's excellent fiction books, earlier this year I read his work Uncovering the Bible's Greatest Mysteries and was immediately caught up with it. I liked this book so well, that I purchased the book he had written previously titled Uncovering God's Mysterious Ways. While I enjoyed Uncovering the Bible's Greatest Mysteries more, they both were good reads. So when I found that he had written another nonfiction book, 40 Days, I couldn't resist ordering it.

Well it showed up in the mail today. Yippee!

Hey, did you hear the good news? When the disciples showed up to check out the tomb, guess what? They didn't find Jesus' dead body lying there! When Jesus' body found them, it wasn't dead anymore! Their Jesus was alive again! Hallelujah!

I might be a little excited about getting to read this book!

Another Quote from a book I am reading.

"Man was created originally to have fellowship with God. This fellowship is so vital that without it man is like a jet aircraft flying in a dense fog and suddenly losing all its instruments."

-Hal Lindsey, The Greatest Works of Hal Lindsey - The Late Great Planet Earth, chapter 12, Inspirational Press: New York, NY, 1994.

Translation:

Man is utterly lost and blind without God, living each moment of life on the brink of eternal disaster.

Yes we are still here.

Greetings!

This space has not had much going on for awhile. I have plenty of material to post, but have had little time with the work schedule and its demands to spend the time posting. However, I allotted a little web time this afternoon, so here's a short post so you, and you know who you are, know we still exist.

Fellow blogger, An Elder For JC, is having a tough time right now. Remember him in prayer. His wife has not been doing very well for the last several weeks. Reports of her condition are very discouraging to hear. Apparantly she is very sick.

Father, God in Heaven we remember this dear lady in our prayers, we pray for healing, we pray for mercy in her situation, we pray for your intervention in her situation, we pray for our Elder brother, we pray for him as he deals with the situation, we pray that he will be strengthened and touched by You as he deals with the realities of the situations facing him, in Jesus name we ask and pray these things. We know that as we stand by them, You also are right there, helping and making a difference that only You can make, a difference that we believe and depend on You to make, that we are unable in and of ourselves to make. Amen.

John MacArthur offers no hope to Christians?

John MacArthur, well respected for his expository works regarding scripture, seemingly offers no hope to Christians regarding the power of Christ to operate in their lives through the ministry of saved mankind operating in the gifts of the Spirit on their behalf.

He writes that there is little hope that Christians of our age will actually be saved when they die (he uses 213 pages to explain this in his book "Hard to Believe" which does contain valid concerns in regards to man and their salvation) and to not expect anyone (aside from God I hope) to help you supernaturally with your sickness, demon possession, or premature death. This last part for me is literally, hard to believe.

Having said that, here is my thoughts regarding a quote from MacArthur's book "Hard to Believe". It is not my intent to discredit, throw mud at, or ruin MacArthur's reputation here, but to simply disagree with his belief regarding the apostolic age compared to our church age. I had posted this as a comment on another blog, but put it here as well.

I have been reading John MacArthur's "Hard to Believe" book. I bought the book several years ago but am just now reading it finally. Yes, I am sure everyone who blogs has already blogged this book, and I am way behind.

The book jacket caught my attention because of what it said on the back "This book is John MacArthur's unflinching, unapologetic treatise on the modern tendency to alter the true message of Christianity in order to meet the whims and desires of a culture hoping for nonconfrontational messages, easy answers, and superficial committments." This got me curious and I asked myself, 'What does he think is wrong with the churches today?'. So I bought the book.

My list of what I think is wrong with churches and 'Christians' today is rather lengthy but I was surprised at how strongly and unreservedly he attacked 'evangelicals', 'charismatics', 'preachers trying to get people power' and televangelists (and that's not even mentioning the attack on the 'seeker friendly' church). At any rate, I have plodded on through the book and still have two chapters left.

I do recall previously seeing unsympathetic blogs regarding John and his attack on the 'church'. But I was still unprepared for what I read. Evangelicals, charismatics, pentecostals, faith- healers, televangelists, and seeker-friendly churches are apparently single handedly thwarting the advance of the Kingdom of God being established in the hearts of men and women around the world -according to John.

Well okay, yes I agree, saying a 'sinner's prayer' or giving money to the televangelist is not going to guarantee entry into heaven. And I would agree that churches where the preaching never brings conviction of sin or never exposes the sinfulness of man to man, where the work of the Holy Spirit in convicting men's hearts is not welcome -well I would agree that church is not fulfilling its intended mission. We would be well to avoid these churches for our feedings.

Here's where I take exception to John MacArthur's writings. In chapter 10, 'Traitor's to the Faith' of "Hard to Believe" page 171, he writes: "No one on earth can have the power of Jesus Christ to do what he did, and anybody who promises otherwise is lying. God granted the power of Jesus Christ only to the apostles and those who followed in the apostolic age to establish His messiahship. You will never have the power to heal the sick or raise the dead, walk on water, or cast out demons." (The bold emphasis is mine.)

Are we just supposed to take whatever Satan and his demonic reign over this world throw our way and never stand up to it in the name of Jesus? I don't think so! We in and of ourselves are powerless against the enemy(ies) of God (meaning Satan and his strategies to take men to hell with him). Because of this, I do not believe for one fraction of a second that Jesus would leave us in this age without the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to combat Satan and his works in our lives. We in and of ourselves in the natural may not have the power to do what Jesus did, but Jesus already overcame Satan, and Jesus avails us the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to enforce that victory. I believe this means that we not only have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit when we are born-again (become the sons of God through regeneration by putting our faith in what Jesus and only Jesus has done for us to gain eternal life), but that we can also experience the infilling of the Holy Spirit to be given power in our lives to do what God has called us to do and to stand in the face of evil: laying hands on the sick and expecting them to recover, seeing the dead rise from their lifelessness, casting demons out, and preaching that cuts to the heart of men and brings conviction of sin leading to true salvation.

If saved men didn't have the power of Jesus to do the things Jesus did, anytime any attack that could be traced back to Satan came against them and those around them, wouldn't we be just standing around wringing our hands with our tails tucked between our legs watching Satan destroy everything around us? I have heard too many testimonies from this church age, of healings and demons departing their host, where saved men were participants in the event to accept that the power of Christ is not alive and well in men to heal the sick, cast out demons, and raise the dead.

I really believed that when I read in the Bible that Jesus healed the incurable disease in His day, that I could be healed today of today's incurable diseases whether Jesus healed me or whether Jesus healed me through the ministry of man operating in the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Despite MacArthur's claims (he probably has a book filled with scripture that 'proves' this claim?) that no one on earth has the power to heal the sick and cast out demons, I will continue to believe otherwise. I refuse to put God in a box that does not allow these things to occur in my world.

As a side note, based on the criteria for books that could be placed in our church library, the above statement by MacArthur would eliminate "Hard to Believe" from being in our library. It is contrary to the teachings and beliefs of our pastor and the 'denomination' we are associated with.

K-Fish

A Life Changed

A quote from a book I am reading:

"Salvation is not an addition; it's a transformation that leads to willing submission to His Word. The whole message of 1 John is that if you are truly redeemed, it will manifest itself in a transformed life in which you confess sin, characteristically obey the Lord, and manifest love for the Lord and others. The divine miracle of a changed life reveals true salvation, resulting in a heart that desires to obey the Lord. As Jesus said, "If you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed" (John 8:31)."

from chapter 5 of "Hard to Believe" by John MacArthur

Working in a Jacuzzi

Recently, I received the email content, featured below, from a close friend who is struggling with liking their job. I thought it was funny, but doubted it was true because of a 'wet-suit' being used with a brass helmet rather than a dry-suit. And a garden hose? That being said, here is the story:

Having a bad day at work????

If laughter is the best medicine, this is sureto help your work attitude.

I LOVE MY JOB . . . . . .

This is even funnier when you realize it's real! Next time you have a bad day at work think of this guy.Rob is a commercial saturation diver for Global Divers in Louisiana. He performs underwater repairs on offshore drilling rigs. Below is an E-mail he sent to his sister. She then sent it to radio station 103.2 on FM dial in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, who was sponsoring a worst job experience contest. Needless to say, she won.

"Hi Sue,

Just another note from your bottom-dwelling brother. Last week I had a bad day at the office. I know you've been feeling down lately at work, so I thought I would share my dilemma with you to make you realize it's not so bad after all. Before I can tell you what happened to me, I first must bore you with a few technicalities of my job. As you know, my office lies at the bottom of the sea. I wear a suit to the office. It's a wet suit. This time of year the water is quite cool. So what we do to keep warm is this: We have a diesel powered industrial water heater. This $20,000 piece of equipment sucks the water out of the sea. It heats it to a delightful temperature. It then pumps it down to the diver through a garden hose, which is taped to the air hose. Now this sounds like a good plan, and I've used it several times with no complaints. What I do, when I get to the bottom and start working, is take the hose and stuff it down the back of my wet suit. This floods my whole suit with warm water. It's like working in a Jacuzzi. Everything was going well until all of a sudden, my bottom started to itch. So, of course, I scratched it. This only made things worse. Within a few seconds my bottom started to burn. I pulled the hose out from my back, but the damage was done. In agony I realized what had happened. The hot water machine had sucked up a jellyfish and pumped it into my suit. Now, since I don't have any hair on my back, the jellyfish couldn't stick to it. However, the crack of my bottom was not as fortunate. When I scratched what I thought was an itch, I was actually grinding the jellyfish into the crack of my bottom. I informed the dive supervisor of my dilemma over the communicator. His instructions were unclear due to the fact that he, along with five other divers, were all laughing hysterically. Needless to say I aborted the dive. I was instructed to make three agonizing in-water decompression stops totaling thirty-five minutes before I could reach the surface to begin my chamber dry decompression. When I arrived at the surface, I was wearing nothing but my brass helmet. As I climbed out of the water, the medic, with tears of laughter running down his face, handed me a tube of cream and told me to rub it on my bottom as soon as I got in the chamber. The cream put the fire out, but I couldn't go to the bathroom for two days because my bottem was swollen shut."

So, next time you're having a bad day at work, think about how much worse it would be if you had a jellyfish shoved up your bottom. Now repeat to yourself, "I love my job, I love my job, I love my job. Now whenever you have a bad day, ask yourself, is this a jellyfish bad day? May you NEVER have a jellyfish bad day!!!!!

I checked this story out on http://www.snopes.com/humor/letters/diver.htm and found that versions of this story have been circulating since 1998. Also, it turns out that the trueness of the story is questionable because of the wet-suit aspect.

Happy Easter

I bought my wife a chocolate easter bunny a month ago, and she ate it already. Wonder what it was thinking as she nibbled off each piece. You do believe chocolate easter bunnies have feelings don't you?

The Beautiful Beatitudes -the magna charta

I am reading a book called "The Life Of Christ" by Ralph M. Riggs. Here's an excerpt from it:

'First came the beautiful beatitudes which are considered the magna charta of the kingdom of God. These foundational utterances of the New Testament doctrine correspond to the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament. How different, however, from the "Thou shalt" and "Thou shalt not" of the former convenant. Here are the keys into the blessed realm where men reach the ultimate in righteousness and heart satisfaction and arrive at the place where God's blessing rests upon them. The qualities cited here are the very antithesis of what are generally considered desirable and legitimate pursuits in life. As Jesus declared later, "that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15). Fundamentally also, "a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth" (Luke 12:15). Humility, meekness, mercifulness, purity of heart, loving and making peace, and being willing to be persecuted for righteousness' sake--these are listed by Christ as the highest objectives for human living.'

And there has not been a better example of these characteristics being lived out in human life than what we observe having been lived out in Christ's life!

Chevron profited $4.35 Billion in quarter.

I hardly ever follow financial news, so these numbers shock me. Chevron profited $4.35 billion in second quarter earnings, as reported on USAToday.com, which it turns out was actually a let down on Wall Street.

"Chevron (CVX) said Friday its second-quarter earnings soared to a new high, but that wasn't enough to satisfy investors whose expectations have been raised by the oil industry's recent run of eye-popping profit. The company's shares tumbled 3.5%. "

"The company said it earned $4.35 billion, or $1.97 a share, for the three months ended in June. That compared with net income of $3.68 billion, or $1.76 a share, at the same time last year. "

"It marks the company's largest three-month profit in its 127-year history, eclipsing earnings of $4.14 billion registered in last year's final quarter after energy prices spiked in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. "

I guess I just don't see it. That seems like an absurd amount of money to stick in the coffers at the expense of consumers. Good for the investors maybe, but I still just don't see it. We are talking BILLIONS not MILLIONS. The goal is to make money, but my goodness, this seems like an unreasonable amount to make in three months. I still think consumers are being raped at the gas pump, and I have hard time seeing it any other way.

Are we being raped?

USAToday Financial News Headline 28th July 2006:

ExxonMobil quarterly profit at $10.4B

Yesterday I traveled from the St. Louis area to Chicago's O'Hare Airport area. I haven't complained a whole lot about the rising cost of fuel, but I have joked a bit about thinking we were being raped at the pumps. But after seeing the today's headline in USAToday, I have this to say: America, we are being raped at the fuel pumps!

"Surging oil prices may be emptying the wallets of drivers topping off their gas tanks, but they're filling the coffers at ExxonMobil, which Thursday reported the second largest quarterly profit for a U.S. company."

$10.4 billion in profit???

That is a tremendous amount of money to make at the expense of America, who has been found guilty of hiring arsonists to burn their fuel consuming SUV's, so they could buy other fuel conserving vehicles.

I still hear the laughter that continues to echo off the hills in America as they made the trip from the pumps to the bank to deposit the money. Don't you hear it too? Wait what's that other sound? Might it be the outcry of America being raped at the pump?

Reading in Habbakkuk (How do you say that?!)

Last Sunday in Sunday School class we studied humility. One approach to studying humility was to examine its antonym, or the opposite of humility. In this case, pride would be the subject matter considered. Pride of life, or human pride, is anything that exalts itself above God and what He has done for us. It is self-exaltation. It portrays "Look what I have done." And we all know stories in the Bible where pride was the undoing of many a person -even death.

Well, this past week, I became aware of a scripture in Habbakkuk chapter two that I thought was interesting. In The Amplified Bible, verse four, we read:

"Look at the proud; his soul is not straight or right within him, but the [rigidly] just and the [uncompromisingly] righteous man shall live by his faith and in his faithfulness."

The King James version reads this way:

"Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith."

So we aren't guilty of taking things out of context we will acknowledge that the prophet was refering to those who were not heeding the warning of impending disaster at the hand of Israel's enemies, the Chaldeans. Instead they thought they could save themselves by their own methods -apart from God and His deliverance. It is a sickly soul, a soul without a right spirit, not fully submitted to God, an unrenewed mind, that thinks man can save himself. Hence, pride.

So leaving the context of the scripture we examined:

Apart from Christ, man cannot save themselves. Salvation and reconciliation only comes through one, and that is Jesus Christ. Christ is Salvation. Man can never be saved by being good enough, by being religious enough, or by knowing it all. It is a proud man that thinks anything other than his faith in Christ will get him anywhere in any area of his life. It is a proud man who does not acknowledge God in every aspect of his life. We are, we do, we have -because Christ has enabled us to.

It is a humble man who acknowledges God's hand in every aspect of his life. It is humble man who gives thanks and praise to God in everything. It is a humble man who doesn't do anything apart from God's direction, strength, wisdom, and power. It is a humble man who knows it is by faith in Jesus Christ through grace we are saved. It is a humble man who is faithful in all things to God. A humble man will have an upright soul in him. The psalmist said in Psalms chapter fifty-one verse ten (KJV), "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." A spirit free from the pride of life.