Thursday 4:00 pm.. Global Bean
“I have finally found a way to live just like I never could before.
I have finally found a place to live in the presence of the Lord.”- Eric Clapton
The presence of God is all round us. When we enter our homes His presence is there, when we enter our car His presence is there. When I cuss someone out for cutting me off in traffic, His presence is there. He is always watching us. Finding a way to live in the presence of the Lord is hard but it is better than living in the darkness. I rather suffer in God's presence than go back into the dark. The darkness is a dungeon of the soul.
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”- 1 John 1:5-7
The presence of the Lord is light. Light is holy, true, and love. Darkness is evil, it is false, full of wickedness. Therefore, if there is a problem with our fellowship with God, it is our fault. It is not God's because He is perfect. John speaks of a walk in darkness, this is a pattern of living, it does not speak of an occasional bump in the road but a lifestyle of darkness. We all run into bumps on the road I have ran into many, I spent 300 dollars at a strip club in Vegas and touched cocaine and been a bilgerent drunk but God reached his hand down and picked me out of the gutter and gave me another chance to do good. To walk in the light is to live a obedient life without trying to commit sin. The Christian life is described as walking, which implies action. Walking implies progress. Since God is active and walking, if we have fellowship with Him we will also be active and walking. When both us walk in the Light we have fellowship. Two Christians who are in right relationship with God will also naturally be in right relationship with each other. We can be cleansed, by the blood of Jesus, from all sin. The sin we got from Adam, the sin we committed as kids. Sins against our father, against our mother, against our brother and sister. Sins against our husbands or wives, against our children. Sins against our employers, sins against our friends and our enemies. Lying, stealing, cheating, adultery, cussing like a sailor, drugs, booze, murder. Sins that haunt me every day, sins I didn’t even know I did... all sin can be cleansed by the blood of Jesus!
Shalom,
Hutch
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
I'm Free
Global Bean, June 5 2009
I bought a cat the other day. Why? I don't know. I wanted a pet but was looking for a fish or a rabbit. Then I saw this cat alone in it's cage with a price tag for 25 bucks! The lady told me it is a good house cat. So I bought it, the sales lady didn't have a box for me for she gave me a leash and I walked it out of there like a dog. Maybe I bought the cat because I felt sorry for it, just sitting there locked in a cage longing to be free. I was locked up in a cage once, all of us were one time locked up in a cage of sin looking for someone to set us free... to save us. I freed my cat and Jesus freed us. We are no longer in bondage.
“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”- Galatians 5:1
We don't free ourselves. Freedom is a gift given by Jesus and received by faith. When we try to do our own thing trying to free ourselves we just become our own salves again to bondage. To stand firm means that it takes effort to stay away from being locked up again, because we can be decieved.
Paul makes his point in verse 13 about freedom and gives a warning.
“For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”- Galatians 5:13
The idea here is we will just go out and sin as we please and then say to God “forgive me” and go out and do it again. This attitude is wrong!! We can take the freedom that Jesus gave us and use it for our selfish needs to please ourselves at the expensive of others! But when we love one another we can conquer the flesh by getting out and serving.
We are warned against taking this freedom that we have in Jesus as an excuse for sin. We use our freedom to show the kind of love and respect that Peter says.
“Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God”-1 Peter 2:16
I don't have the right to go out and rob a bank and say “God wills it” to get money for preaching school. We are free but still have to submit to authority of man. As long submission does not conflict with God's law. Freedom isn't a license to do as we please. We aren't slaves to the world, that we have to go along with what they are doing. We can still honor someone we disagree with. We can honor them, but we don't have to go along with any of their evil acts. And remember our first allegiance is to God. Now time to see what my bi-polar cat is doing.
Shalom
Hutch
I bought a cat the other day. Why? I don't know. I wanted a pet but was looking for a fish or a rabbit. Then I saw this cat alone in it's cage with a price tag for 25 bucks! The lady told me it is a good house cat. So I bought it, the sales lady didn't have a box for me for she gave me a leash and I walked it out of there like a dog. Maybe I bought the cat because I felt sorry for it, just sitting there locked in a cage longing to be free. I was locked up in a cage once, all of us were one time locked up in a cage of sin looking for someone to set us free... to save us. I freed my cat and Jesus freed us. We are no longer in bondage.
“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”- Galatians 5:1
We don't free ourselves. Freedom is a gift given by Jesus and received by faith. When we try to do our own thing trying to free ourselves we just become our own salves again to bondage. To stand firm means that it takes effort to stay away from being locked up again, because we can be decieved.
Paul makes his point in verse 13 about freedom and gives a warning.
“For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”- Galatians 5:13
The idea here is we will just go out and sin as we please and then say to God “forgive me” and go out and do it again. This attitude is wrong!! We can take the freedom that Jesus gave us and use it for our selfish needs to please ourselves at the expensive of others! But when we love one another we can conquer the flesh by getting out and serving.
We are warned against taking this freedom that we have in Jesus as an excuse for sin. We use our freedom to show the kind of love and respect that Peter says.
“Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God”-1 Peter 2:16
I don't have the right to go out and rob a bank and say “God wills it” to get money for preaching school. We are free but still have to submit to authority of man. As long submission does not conflict with God's law. Freedom isn't a license to do as we please. We aren't slaves to the world, that we have to go along with what they are doing. We can still honor someone we disagree with. We can honor them, but we don't have to go along with any of their evil acts. And remember our first allegiance is to God. Now time to see what my bi-polar cat is doing.
Shalom
Hutch
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