God Attribute, 63

~ God Is Love ~

 

This Series  ~  This series of posts looks at some of the many attributes of God.  Generally, we move in alphabetical order.

 

Introduction  ~  In this sin filled world the source of love is God Himself.

 

Scripture  ~  “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:7-9). 

 

“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16).

 

Comment  ~  If we are believers we are commanded to become increasingly Christ-like.  Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

 

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Bible Question, 106

~ Test Your Bible Knowledge ~

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

~~~~ bible question ~~~~ 

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question:  Who built the first altar in the Bible?

 

Please provide your answer in the comments below!

 

The answer will be provided in a future blog.

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

 

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Pre-Christian Question, 1

~ Who Is This? ~

 

Introduction  ~  This series is about questions that enquiring unbelievers often have about Jesus.  Some were asked by individuals involved with Jesus Christ while He walked on earth.  It is far from an exhaustive list. 

 

The Question  ~  “So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.  They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.  And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

 

"Hosanna to the Son of David!

'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'

Hosanna in the highest!"

 

And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, [Q] ‘Who is this?’  So the multitudes said, [A] ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee’” (Matthew 21:6-11).

 

Key Issue  ~  “If a man dies, shall he live again?” (Job 24:14a).

 

Comment  ~  Have you ever asked this question?  If not, why not?  If you have asked the question, what is your answer? What is your answer based upon?

 

the critical question: “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). This is the most important question you will ever answer. If you do not answer it, or answer it incorrectly, you have made the biggest mistake anyone can make!

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

 

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Resurrection Sunday

~ The Central Point ~

 

Easter is the central pivot of three historically great events!

 

Christmas (God with us) ~ “‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:23).

 

Easter (God for us) ~ Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

 

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God” (John 3:14-21).

 

Pentecost (God in us) ~ Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.  A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:15-19).

 

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.  And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:9-11).

 

Questions ~ Do you understand the extreme importance of these three events?  If so, what have you done about it?  Do you know without a doubt where you will spend eternity?

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

 

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Silent Saturday

~ God Is Always In Control ~

 

Scripture ~ “David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence’” (Acts 2:25-28).

 

Note ~ The time between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament is often referred to as the “400 Silent Years.” But God was still working!

 

Likewise, the time between the sealing of Christ’s tomb and His resurrection on the first Easter was a time of great significance. Grieving was intense, but God was still working!

 

And God is still in control and still at work today!

 

The Disciples ~ They must have had extremely mixed emotions.  On one hand they were experiencing great grief and on the other hand they must have thought about all that Christ had told them, the miracles they had witnessed first-hand, and been bewildered wondering how the things He assured them of and the events of the prior day fit together. 

 

He taught them of a revolutionary kind of love yet He died a violent death from those who hated Him.

 

What’s Next? ~ This silent excruciating Saturday will change to an exhilarating joyful Sunday. But they were unaware and temporarily defeated. 

 

Comment ~ In some parts of the world this day between the crucifixion and the resurrection is referred to as “Black Saturday.”

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

 

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Good Friday

~ Deep Despair ~

 

Consider The Realities…

 

1] It’s Friday.

 

2] Peter has been asleep.

 

3] Judas has betrayed Jesus Christ.

 

4] Mary is crying.

 

5} The disciples have lost hope.

 

6] Jesus Christ appears to have died just as all men do.

 

7] Satan is laughing. 

 

8] Jesus is buried. 

 

9] His tomb is sealed with a heavy stone.

 

9] Soldiers stand guard in front of the tomb. 

 

10] But they do not understand what will happen on Sunday!

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

 

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Maundy Thursday

  ~ Celebrate Thursday ~

 

Note ~ Some churches annually celebrate the Thursday before Easter. It was a busy day of service in the life of Christ.

 

1] It was the day of “The Last Supper.”

 

2] It was the day that Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. Sadly, He left without His feet being washed!

 

3] Jesus asked His disciples to regularly remember Him through the symbols of bread and wine representing His body and His blood which were about to be sacrificed for the sins of the world. Today, most local churches refer to this as communion. 

 

4] Jesus knew and openly predicted His soon betrayal and eminent voluntary death. 

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

 

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Ash Wednesday

~ 40 Days Before Easter ~

 

Important Notes 

 

1) For many “Ash Wednesday” marks the beginning of the Easter season.

 

2) Ash Wednesday occurs 40 days before Easter (not counting Sundays) which makes Ash Wednesday in 2023 to be this past February 22^nd. 

 

3) Some churches observe the season of Lent which begins on Ash Wednesday by fasting (giving up) something. For some it may be certain foods. For others it may be a variety of other things.

 

4) Some churches use the symbolism of marking the foreheads of those participating with ashes in the form of a cross. In the Old Testament ashes were sometimes used as a symbol of humility.

 

5) History. Many believe the tradition goes back to the eleventh century. Some believe the practice to go back to Pope Gregory I in the late 500s. In reality we find ashes being placed on foreheads in the Old Testament (for example 2 Samuel 13:19).

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

 

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Ability > Failure > Progress > Success

~ Four States of Mankind Regarding Sin ~

Innocent Man (before The Fall)  ~  “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.  And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’” (Genesis 2:15-17).  God gave man clear instructions of what to do and what not to do. 

Adam had the ability to sin, but more importantly the ability not to sin!

Natural Man (after The Fall)  ~  “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  The Apostle Paul explained it this way, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.  For what I am doing, I do not understand.  For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.  If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.  But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.  For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.  Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me” (Romans 7:14-20).  Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden we are not able to not sin!  Fortunately, the believer who is experiencing normal (not average) spiritual growth is sinning less and less as they are in the process of becoming transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ. 

Regenerated Man  ~  “Put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him” (Colossians 3:9b-10).  “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).  The Christian is a “new creation” in Christ – not a “makeover.”  As a believer with the indwelling Holy Spirit we are able to not sin!

Glorified Man  ~  “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!  Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.  Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:1-3).  Our final stage will be when we are transformed and no longer able to sin!

Comment  ~  These four categorizations are from Augustine of Hippo in “The Bondage of the Will.” 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

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