God Alone is Truly Good

Atheist don’t believe in God of course, however if you ask them if there was a Hell would they go to it after they die, it is very rare to hear them say, “yes”. Usually the answer is “no” and filled with many reasons as to why they wouldn’t and most importantly that they believe themselves to be a “good person”.

Well the truth is being a “good person” doesn’t make you good, we all allow others to suffer around us and we constantly do the wrong thing. We may all strive to be a good version of a person but we can’t say that we are overall “good”. That alone goes to God.

Only He is righteous and good.

We can only be righteous through Him.

We are all sinners.

*Psalm 53 1-3 says, “The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity;
There is none who does good.

² God looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
³ Every one of them has turned aside;
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one.”

Now this of course relates to David’s time and to Israel but we can also use this as guidance to the world we live in today. We all struggle to do the right thing and many times have our own motives. Can we truly say that we do “good” or at least as “good” as we should?

We as Christians know we are sinners and we must humble ourselves to the Lord. We recognize God is so merciful to us all despite the lack of mercy we on this earth show to each other. Religious or not we all can do better.

When we do make mistakes there is usually an earthly consequence, we could go to jail, ruin a relationship, lose a job or even smaller consequences like just make someone upset or lose out on something you wanted to enjoy. The type of consequence doesn’t matter, the main focus is that there is consequences.

But what about spiritual consequences? We know the wages of sin is death** but what about after death? How can you make up for all your collective sins, mistakes and bad things you have done?

Well God made a plan for us all to be redeemed, it was through the Son, Jesus Christ. He died so our sins could be forgiven and we could have eternal life with the Lord. But you have to accept Jesus’s sacrifice as your atonement for your own sins.

If you don’t than you will have to take on the spiritual consequences.

So to the Christians out there that is why we must spread the Gospel to the world and pray that people’s hearts our opened to God.

I know sometimes it can be hard to talk to others about faith especially when you are attacked or mocked or ridiculed. I saw a picture that really inspired me it stated, “Atheism is a temporary condition” then pointed out every knee shall bow. We know this from scripture.

In Philippians 2:10-11 it says, “10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” ***

So my Christian brothers and sisters have confidence in faith and be bold and spreading the Gospel because in the end God wins and we will spend eternity with Him. And since we all strive to be “good people” then we as Christians need to follow God’s will and be a part of His salvation plan by helping those around us learn about the Lord so hopefully they can be saved as well.

One more message for today.

Remember God is the Truth.

Satan is the liar.

So follow the Truth, the Way and the Life. ***

Have a Blessed Week,
Chris

Sources:
*https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+53&version=NKJV
**https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+6%3A23&version=NKJV
***https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2%3A10-11&version=NKJV
***https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Bible-Verses-About-Every-Knee-Shall-Bow/
****https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+14%3A6&version=NKJV

The Story of Passover and the Connection to Jesus

Passover ended last week but today I am going to post the story of Passover and a wonderful video from Amir Tsarfati about Jesus’ connection to the Passover.

Have a Blessed Week,
Chris

Exodus 12 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Passover Instituted

12 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ² “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. ³ Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. ⁴ And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb shall be without^[a] blemish, a male ^[b]of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶ Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. ⁷ And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. ⁸ Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹ Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. ¹⁰ You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. ¹¹ And thus you shall eat it: ^[c]with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.

¹² ‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. ¹³ Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ ‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. ¹⁵ Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that ^[d]person shall be ^[e]cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you. ¹⁷ So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your ^[f]armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. ¹⁸ In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. ¹⁹ For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. ²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”

²¹ Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. ²² And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. ²³ For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the ^[g]lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. ²⁴ And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. ²⁵ It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. ²⁶ And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ ²⁷ that you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” So the people bowed their heads and worshiped. ²⁸ Then the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

²⁹ And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was ^[h]in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. ³⁰ So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

The Exodus

³¹ Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said. ³² Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.”

³³ And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” ³⁴ So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. ³⁵ Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. ³⁶ And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. ³⁸ A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds—a great deal of livestock. ³⁹ And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰ Now the ^[i]sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in ^[j]Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. ⁴¹ And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴² It is a ^[k]night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

Passover Regulations

⁴³ And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it. ⁴⁴ But every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then he may eat it. ⁴⁵ A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it. ⁴⁶ In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones. ⁴⁷ All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. ⁴⁸ And when a stranger ^[l]dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it. ⁴⁹ One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.”

⁵⁰ Thus all the children of Israel did; as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. ⁵¹ And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+12&version=NKJV

Happy Easter 2020

He is Risen!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter. This week I am posting the Luke 24 Chapter and two videos, one from the Bible Project on Luke 24 and the service from Heritage Baptist Church. Note if you would like to see the entire Easter story I will post a link below from a great article I found that shows all of the story from the Bible in order.

Have a Blessed Week,
Chris

Luke 24 New King James Version (NKJV)
He Is Risen
24 Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, [a]and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it happened, as they were [b]greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ”

8 And they remembered His words. 9 Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. 11 And their words seemed to them like [c]idle tales, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths [d]lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.

The Road to Emmaus
13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was [e]seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.

17 And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you [f]walk and are sad?”

18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”

19 And He said to them, “What things?”

So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. 22 Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. 23 When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24 And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”

25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He [g]expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

The Disciples’ Eyes Opened
28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He [h]indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.

30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was [i]known to them in the breaking of bread.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples
36 Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” 37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

40 [j]When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish [k]and some honeycomb. 43 And He took it and ate in their presence.

The Scriptures Opened
44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, [l]and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And you are witnesses of these things. 49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city [m]of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

The Ascension
50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple [n]praising and blessing God. [o]Amen.

Bible Project

 

Heritage Baptist Church 

Sources:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+24&version=NIV

https://bibleproject.com/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVfwlh9XpX2Y_tQfjeln9QA

https://www.heritageloves.com/

ENTIRE EASTER STORY…
https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-stories/the-easter-bible-story.html

 

The Truth About Easter Christian Traditions

Many of you may have heard that Easter Eggs and the Easter Bunny are stolen Pagan traditions. This is an outright lie.

This is all based on speculation from a man named Jacob Grimm, “Influential 19th century folklorist and philologist Jacob Grimm speculates, in the second volume of his Deutsche Mythologie, that the folk custom of Easter eggs among the continental Germanic peoples may have stemmed from springtime festivities of a Germanic goddess known in Old English as Ēostre (namesake of modern English Easter) and possibly known in Old High German as Ostara (and thus namesake of Modern German Ostern ‘Easter’). However, despite Grimm’s speculation, there is no evidence to connect eggs with Ostara.[11]”*

While painting eggs occurs throughout history from many cultures to say Christians stole the idea from a Pagan holiday is baseless.

When it comes to the Easter Bunny being from Pagan Tradition we see once again Jacob Grimm make a guess that has turned into a truth for some, “In his 1835 Deutsche Mythologie, Jacob Grimm states “The Easter Hare is unintelligible to me, but probably the hare was the sacred animal of Ostara”. This proposed association was repeated by other authors including Charles Isaac Elton[16][page needed] and Charles J. Billson.[17] In 1961 Christina Hole wrote, “The hare was the sacred beast of Eastre (or Ēostre), a Saxon goddess of Spring and of the dawn.”[18][page needed] The belief that Ēostre had a hare companion who became the Easter Bunny was popularized when it was presented as fact in the BBC documentary Shadow of the Hare (1993).[19]

The Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore however states “… there is no shred of evidence” that hares were sacred to Ēostre, noting that Bede does not associate her with any animal.[20][page needed]”

Once again we see that “there is no shred of evidence” for these claims.

Very irresponsible of some scholars to once again use a baseless rumor to prove their points with their own agenda.

As a matter of fact the Easter Bunny has been used in art form to represent the Virgin Mary and in the case of three hares in the picture they represent the Holy Trinity**

Sadly there are some Christians who believe these myths and tell others to stop celebrating Easter because of this. This is why we Christians must do research, be vigilant and use discernment so we can inform others the truth and not just speak out of speculation.

Truth is Easter is the Christian version of Passover. Easter is believed by some to be taken from the name of a goddess but we Christians use that word as the English version of the word, “Pascha”***

“The English word “Easter” is not a biblical word. It is thought to be a translation of the name of the Anglo-Saxon spring goddess, “Eostre”. In any case, it is an English word which is used today to translate the Greek term ‘Pascha’, which translates the Hebrew term for ‘Passover’. The Christian Church transformed the Jewish Passover, which commemorated the freeing of the Hebrew people from Egyptian bondage into a feast which commemorated the death and resurrection of Christ which freed humanity from the bondage of death, sin and evil.

We do not have a command from Jesus to celebrate the Paschal Feast. But the Bible clearly indicates the New Testament belief that Christ is the New Pascha for believers in Him, and that this is to be celebrated by Christians:

“For Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival …” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

Thus the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection became the first Christian Feast – the Christian Pascha.”-Orthodox Christian Info.***

So enjoy your Easter traditions just make sure to remember what Jesus did for us first in your celebrating.

Have a Blessed Week and Happy Easter,
Chris

PS-If you liked to read about all the traditions involving Easter Eggs and the Easter Bunny click the links below under sources.

Sources:
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg
**https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Bunny
***http://www.orthodoxchristian.info/pages/Pascha_word.html