I want to leave the Xanga community with something very special before we go into this special time of the year.  I want us to focus on the words of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and see it as a response we all should respond to when God calls us to do His will.  Read carefully and realize that this is a human speaking; a human who needed a Savior.  Let these words be a mirror of our response to God's will for our lives:

"And Mary said, 'My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has looked on the humble estate of His servant.  For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.  And His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation.  He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.  He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.'" (Luke 1:46-55 ESV)

Magnify the Lord and Rejoice in the fact that He has looked on us His humble servants to do His will.

HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

EMMANUEL, GOD IS WITH US!

Today, I want us to be blown away by the majesty of Christ.  I don't know if I have ever read any other human who could describe the majesty of Christ better than what Jonathan Edwards did in his sermon, "The Excellency of Christ."  I want us to let these words sink into our minds and worship our wonderful Savior who deserves our very lives.

"Christ was a person of infinite majesty.  It is He that is spoken of, Psalm 45:3, 'Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.'  It is He that is mighty, that rideth on the heavens, and His excellency on the sky.  It is He that is terrible out of His holy places; who is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea: before whom a fire goeth, and burneth up His enemies round about; at whose presence the earth quakes, and the hills melt; who sitteth on the circle of the earth, and all the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, who rebukes the sea, and maketh it dry and drieth up the rivers, whose eyes are as a flame of fire, from whose presence, and from the glory of whose power, the wicked shall be punished with everlasting destruction; who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who hath heaven for His throne, and the earth for His footstool, and is the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and of whose dominion there is no end." (Jonathan Edwards, Sermons of Jonathan Edwards, "The Excellency of Christ", p. 201)

Worship Christ for He truly is Majestic!!

Ezra 7:10 says, "For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it; and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel." (NASB)

I hope as believers that our lives mirror the intensity of Ezra.  Ezra, a priest and scribe, dedicated his life to study the word of God, and not only to study it but to do it and to teach it.  I think the hardest thing for me to do is to practice the law of the LORD; to obey His word even when it is uncomfortable or costly.  I pray that each one of us will try to improve upon obedience to the words of Christ.  Let us all re-dedicate our hearts to study the Word of God, to practice it, and to find veunes for teaching the truths that we learn each day.

Today, I would like to quote a part of Jonathan Edwards' sermon on the topic of God's mercy through Christ.  Jonathan Edwards' sermon "The Justice of God and the Damnation of Sinners" closes out with a tremendous force on the splendour of God mercy through His Son Jesus Christ.  I want to quote it today to put you in awe of God and know that it was nothing you did that brought God's mercy; it was only because of God.  Here's the qoute:

"I would conclude this discourse by putting the godly in mind of the freeness and wonderfulness of the grace of God towards them.  For such were the same of you.  The case was just so with you as you have heard; you had such a wicked heart, you lived such a wicked life, and it would have been most just with God forever to have cast you off:  but He has had mercy upon you; He hath made His glorious grace appear in your everlasting salvation.  You had no love to God; but ye He has exercised unspeakable love to you.  You have contemned (viewed with contempt) God, and set light by Him: but so great a value has God's grace set on you and your happiness, that you have been redeemed at the price of the blood of His own Son.  You chose to be with Satan in his service; but yet God hath made you a joint heir with Christ of His glory.  You was ungrateful for past mercies; yet God not only continued those mercies, but bestowed unspeakably greater mercies upon you.  You refused to here when God called; yet God heard you when you caled.  You abused the infiniteness of God's mercy to encourage yourself in sin against Him; yet God has manifested the infiniteness of that mercy, in the exercises of it towards you.  You have rejected Christ, and set Him at nought; and yet He is become your Savior.  You have neglected your own salvation; but God has not neglected it.  You have destroyed yourself; but yet in God has been your help.  God has magnified his free grace towards you, and not to others; because He has chosen you, and it hath pleased Him to set His love upon you."

"O! what cause is here for praise!  What obligation you are under to bless the Lord who hath dealt bountifully with you, and magnify His holy name!  What cause for you to praise God in humility, to walk humbly befor Him.  Ezekiel 16:63:  'That thou mayest remember and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God!'  You shall never open your mouth in boasting, or self-justification; but lie the lower before God for His mercy to you.  You have reason, the more abundantly, to open your mouth in God's praises, that they may be continually in your mouth, both here and to all eternity, for His rich, unspeakable, and sovereign mercy to you, whereby He, and He alone, hath made you to differ from others."  (Jonathan Edwards, "The Justice of God and the Damnation of Sinners", Sermons of Jonathan Edwards, pgs. 192-193)

HALLELUJAH, WHAT A GREAT GOD WE SERVE!  AMEN!

Hebrews 3:1-6 says, "Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house.  For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.  (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)  Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son.  And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope." (ESV)

This passage is very important for us as believers.  The writer of Hebrews is telling us that we, who believe in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, are Christ's house.  Why is this significant for us?  It is significant because it is the purpose for why God has left us here on earth.  We are placed here on this earth to honor the builder of the house.  The house is us and the builder is Jesus Christ; so we are to honor Christ through the life we live.  Whatever place or situation I'm in, I am to declare to the world around me the workmanship and the skill of the builder of this house.  How are we to honor and declare the workmanship of Jesus Christ our builder?  We need to live life the way He wants us to; by obeying the truths we find in His Word and by fulfilling the will of God in our lives.  I pray that our goal, as Christians, is to be a house that is so well made that it truly magnifies the Lord Almighty to the world who don't know who God is.  I hope we realize that our house, or our lives, are not finished until the day of Jesus Christ; in Phillipians we find the Jesus is faithful to complete this project to the day of Jesus Christ.  He will complete what He has started; what He has started to build on in this house He will finish.  Our lives, or our house, will be a perfect representation of who God is and who the builder of this house is.  Live for the Master Builder!

Hebrews 1:10-12 says, "You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the works of Your hands; they will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe You will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed.  But You are the same, and Your years will have no end." (ESV)

Isn't it comforting to know that God is eternal?!!  We have a God we can trust that He will always be there for us when we go through trials and struggles.  He will help us through tough times; He will give us the strength to endure when we need to and find ways to escape when it is time.  Since He is eternal, we can rest easy in the fact that He is not going anywhere and He isn't changing anything in regards to who He is.  He is constant in His nature and character; we can trust in Him for anything.  Amazing!!

Isaiah 66:18-24 says, "For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory.  I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory And they will declare My glory among the nations.  Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the LORD, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem," says the LORD, "just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.  I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites," says the LORD.  "For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me," declares the LORD, "So your offspring and your name will endure.  And it shall be from new moon to new moon and from sabbath to sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me," says the LORD.  "Then they will go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me.  For their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched; and they will be an abhorrence to all mankind." (NASB)

I think this passage speaks for itself about the glory of God and the future of mankind.  For those who are of the nations that come to worship God and have a relationship with this glorious God, as the new heavens and new earth endures forever so will your name and offspring endure.  For those who continue in rebellion against God and transgress against His person, you will be an abhorrance to all mankind and you will be forever in the terrible wrath of God.  Everybody is held accountable for the decisions we make in life; everybody is going to bow before the Almighty God.  Nobody is going to be left out; everybody is going to be either in everlasting torment or everlasting enjoyment.  Think about your status in life; don't make a decision to follow God based on fear for your life.  Base that decision on how merciful and gracious God is; for He wants to bring endurance to your name and offspring.

YOU HAVE A DECISION; EITHER CONTINUE IN SIN OR CLING TO THE GRACE OF GOD THAT IS FOUND IN JESUS CHRIST AND IN HIS SACRIFICE ON THE CROSS!

GLORIFY GOD

SERVE HIM!

HOPE IN GOD!

I just have a question in trying to reconcile the following two passages.  The two passages are:

Isaiah 65:17-23 says, "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth (same base words as the phrase in Revelation 21:1); and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.  But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing and her people for gladness.  I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; and there will no longer be heard in her the voice of weeping and the sound of crying.  No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days; for the youth will die at the age of one hundred and the one who does not reach the age of one hundred will be thought accursed.  They will build houses and inhabit them; they will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit.  They will not build and another inhabit, they will not plant and another eat; for as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, and My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands.  They will not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD, and their descendants with them." (NASB)

Luke 20:34-38 says, "And Jesus said to them, 'The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.  But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.  Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him." (ESV)

Here is my question, how do we reconcile these two passages?  Now, this is not vital for all of us to know but does Isaiah tell us more about the next life then Jesus did in Luke.  If you look at Matthew and Mark, they tell the same thing at the same point of time in Luke.  Do people in the new heavens and the new earth have children without marriage?  Do people get married in the next life?  In the gospels, Jesus seems to say that there is no marriage for those who are worthy to attain the next age.  But Isaiah, he seems to say that in the age to come there will be children born; so is there marriage and children being born in the age to come.

I'm looking for answers, which means it might be "I don't know".  That's okay because we can't know everything because God is infinite and we are finite.  I just want to hear what everybody thinks about this topic and these two passages.  Thanks for all the comments that you can leave me with.

Ephesians 5:3-14 says, "But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.  Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.  For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.  Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.  Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.   Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.  For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.  But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, 'Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.'" (ESV)

I was reading this passage this morning and it was so convicting that I needed to share it with the Xanga community.  This passage from the apostle Paul is describing for us how the sons of disobedience live and how the children of Light live.  Now, I hope that everyone of us who are children of Light want to walk and live like the children of Light.  We all want to live like Christ lived here on earth.

First, Paul describes the deeds of the children of disobedience.  They live lives that are filled with sexual immorality, coveteousness, and coarse talking.  Paul wants to remind the children of disobedience and those who "claim" Christ that those who practice these things on a regular basis will have no part in the inheritance, the kingdom of God.  Those who have lifestyles that mirror these qualities will be spending an eternity separated from God their Creator; the worst punishment ever to be inflicted upon a human being.

Second,  Paul describes the deeds of the children of Light.  He, Paul, says that the fruit of the Light are all found in what is good, right, and true.  We can look at the book of Galatians for a more specific list of the fruit of Light; they are the fruit of the Spirit.  Love, joy, peace, mercy, patience, and purity are all examples of the fruit of Light.  Paul says that the children of Light need to discern what is pleasing to the Lord or what is most honorable to Him.  This should be the goal of children of Light; we should all want to honor our Lord Jesus Christ with everything that we say, think, and do.

I pray that as children of Light that we will not dabble in the activities of the sons of disobedience; the sinful activities.  This does not exclude us from reaching out to them; we should want to expose their deeds in Light for when they are exposed it seems than they become a part of the light because Paul at the end of this passage talks about how the deeds that are exposed becomes visible and all that is visible is Light.  So, I think that when we expose them to the gospel and that the Spirit of God convicts them of their need of Jesus than their deeds are no longer hidden and secret but they are exposed and become children of Light.  I pray also that we will take hold of the last portion of this passage; I believe this quotation is a song that was sung in the early church.  May this quote be ever in our minds because it is the story of our lives.  We are awakened by the Spirit from the dead; then we are to arise out of death.  We are to be separated and different from this world of dead-ness.  When we arise out of the dead-ness of this world than Christ will shine upon us.  What an amazing thing to think about!  Let us strive to live as children of Light.  Let us separate ourselves from the deeds of the sons of disobedience.  We need to be different so that the sons of disobedience may come to know and realize the beautiful, brilliance of Christ.

Isaiah 63:12-14 says, "Who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name, who led them through the depths?  Like the horse in the wilderness, they do not stumble; as the cattle which go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest.  So You led Your people, to make for Yourself a glorious name." (NASB)

Did you know that God uses us to make for Himself a glorious name?  Isaiah, here in this passage, makes it very clear that God's main goal is to bring glory to Himself and that He uses His people Israel and His people the Church to make Himself known to those who are in darkness.  We are the ones that God will use to make His name known.  What an amazing thing to think about!  Why would God use wretched sinners like His people Israel and His people the Church to bring Him glory?  I sure wouldn't if I was God; but thank goodness that I am not.  God loves us so much that He brought us, the Church, from darkness and into His marvelous light so that we may continue to live for Him.  I hope that we can take hope in this reality because God truly wants us to represent Him in this world.  I pray that we will live consistent lives; God doesn't expect perfection but He does want lives that brings glory to His name.  God is a jealous God and will not allow anything else receive the glory over Him; so live life for the glory of your wonderful Savior.  One day, we will see God in His full glory in Heaven and what a day that will be!  God's glory blows us away now but how much more will it awe us when we get to Heaven.  Think about that when you get down and it will lift your spirits.  I urge you to look ahead in life and live life to the glory of God.  This should be our main purpose in life.