“This salutation by my own hand—Paul. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen.” – Col. 4:18
Remember my chains. Paul, one of the mightiest men ever used by God, rotting away in prison.
Flies in the face of prosperity, good health, and free will.
“and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” – Col. 2:10
You are complete in Him. You are full in Him. You are perfect in Him
The opposite is also true:
You are incomplete outside of Him. You are empty without Him. You are imperfect apart from Him.
Strongs says complete is equivalent to “to flood.”
You are so full as to be flooded in Him. Conversely, without Him, you are as dry as the desert.
Crown Him Lord of all!
“This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” – Peter (Acts 2:23)
Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross was never a reaction to Man. It was never a second thought. It was never God’s Plan B.
Christ’s Atonement was God’s definite plan. The Greek word for definite is horizio, where we get horizon. The cross was always on the horizon for Jesus.
“Although evil men were responsible for their sinful actions in crucifying the Son of God, they were carrying out the eternal purpose of God.” – Steve Lawson, Foundations of Grace, 2006, p. 285.
Foreknowledge is more than knowing beforehand. It is better understood as for-LOVED.
Jesus’s foreordained death was designed by God in eternity past with the express intent of manifesting His LOVE and glorifying His Name.
“I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” – Jesus (Matt. 16:18b)
Not: You will build My church.
Not: I will build your church.
Jesus said: I will build My church.
Christ is the Architect. He is the Master Builder. He is the Corner Stone.
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” – Gen. 1:27
“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.” – Psa. 127:3
“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.” – Psa. 139:13-16
“The Father has life in Himself.” – John 5:26
“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” – John 1:4
God is life, God creates life. He is for life. Scripture affirms the value of every human life.
We are strongly Pro-Life.
We believe the right of the unborn to live supersedes the right of the woman to choose.
Abortion is murder. There is nothing more anti-God than killing a baby inside the womb.
Planned “parenthood” is an evil, satanic mass-murdering business that sells infanticide.
“Reproductive rights” is a gross redefinition of convenience abortion on demand
“‘He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” – John 12:48
There will be no one in Heaven that boasts that they had anything to do with why they are there.
There will be no one in Hell that blames God that He had anything to do with why they are there.
The same word the unbeliever rejects will be his judge.
“This man does not need to attack Jesus or rage against His sayings; simply not to receive them is fatal and insures his judgment.” – R.C.H. Lenski, Commentary on John, 1963, p. 896.
“And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” – Deut. 30:6
Who does this work? Is it Man? Is it his descendants? Or is this the action of the LORD your God, alone?
God circumcises the sin-hardened heart.
He woo’s and pursues producing the love necessary for believers to live.
