April 2014 – Passage to Higher Ground

THE BEST NEWS Is Bad News and Good News In Thirteen Words

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Bad News: All have sinned.

PLUS Good News: Jesus died for our sins and rose from the grave.

EQUALS A New Life to all who believe and act upon it.

1 Corinthians 15:3-6
“3 For I passed on to you first of all what I also had received,
that Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)
died for our sins in accordance with [what] the Scriptures [foretold],
4 That He was buried, that He arose on the third day as the Scriptures foretold…”

Larry Moyer spoke in our church last Sunday.
He summarized the Good NEWS in I Corinthians 15:3-4 as above.
One must, however, know the bad news before he will act on the good news.
This morning at the Easter sunrise service,
our assistant pastor read and summarized all of ! Corinthians 15
and explained the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ to Christians.
Our life in this world and in the eternal heaven depends on Jesus,
who made those thirteen words true.

I heard and read that passage many times in the last week.
I know of no better news for a world of sinners lost in bad news.
There is nothing more valuable
to me or anyone else than believing and sharing

All have sinned.
Jesus died for our sins and rose from the grave.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

He is risen in deed, in body, and in Spirit
and He lives in me through the Holy Spirit.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Amen.

(Above Scriptures are from the Amplified Bible, copied and posted through BibleGateway.com.
Amplified Bible(AMP), Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation)

http://casadeblundell.com/fred/?p=367 Amplified Bible (AMP)

Am I Like Saul or Like David?

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Am I like Saul or Like David? That is my meditation as I compare Saul’s action, Michal and David’s reaction, David’s prayer at the time, David’s praise, and Solomon’s admonition. My final question is, “Am I letting Christ live in and through me in the power of the Holy Spirit?”

Saul, Michal, and David
1 Samuel 19:11
11 Saul sent messengers that night to David’s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.

David’s Prayer (at that time as indicated by this note in the Amplified Bible):
“Psalm 59 To the Chief Musician; [set to the tune of] “Do Not Destroy.” Of David, a record of memorable thoughts when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him.”
Psalm 59:1-3
1 Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; defend and protect me from those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from and lift me above those who work evil and save me from bloodthirsty men.
3 For, behold, they lie in wait for my life; fierce and mighty men are banding together against me, not for my transgression nor for any sin of mine, O Lord.

David’s Praise
Psalm 63:3-4
3 Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.
4 So will I bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

Solomon’s Admonition
Proverbs 13:13
Amplified Bible (AMP)
13 Whoever despises the word and counsel [of God] brings destruction upon himself, but he who [reverently] fears and respects the commandment [of God] is rewarded.

(Above Scriptures are from the Amplified Bible, copied and posted through BibleGateway.com.
Amplified Bible(AMP), Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation)
Amplified Bible (AMP)

Was Versus Is

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“What was right in his own eyes” was and always is wrong unless it lines up with God’s love, commandments, and plans for our lives.
When I contrast Israel’s depravity in the last chapters of Judges to David’s desire to please God in Psalm 27:4 I see a modern parallel.
Bluntly, the world in which we live is like the description I heard as a child, “going to hell in a handbasket.” Many sinners who are or claim to be saved by grace, never mind those who are sinners outside of God’s grace and lost without Christ, in our own country have been doing “what was right in their own eyes.”

“Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man]—blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he” (Proverbs 29:18, AMP).

Hope for America does not come in getting everyone to obey God. That would be forced obedience. Hope for America or any other nation comes in the condition given in the promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14,(AMP) “If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” Hope for America, indeed, even for my family, comes through God’s grace which is realized fully when I, as called by His name, humble myself, pray to God and turn from my wicked ways.

Father, it is easier to read, study, and even share Your Word than to live it. I have not been loving You as I should or living as I should, “So help me God,” “in the power of the Holy Spirit,” I separate myself to You to live in the world, but in Your ways, separate from my own ways. Amen.

(There is an excellent footnote on Judges 21:25 (AMP) at BibleGateway.com.)

Judges 21:25
In those days [a]there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

Psalm 27:4
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple.

Proverbs 6:16-19
16 These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him:
17 A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in running to evil,
19 A false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren.

1 John 3:16
By this we come to know (progressively to recognize, to perceive, to understand) the [essential] love: that He laid down His [own] life for us; and we ought to lay [our] lives down for [those who are our] brothers [[a]in Him].

Amplified Bible (AMP)

The Sinner’s Victory

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God answered Samson’s last recorded prayer
and enabled him to cause the death of more Philistines
in his death than he had in all of his life,
in spite of his failure with Delilah.

In spite of my own sins, I praise God for His mercy and victory over sin. I joyfully sing the words of the hymn which James M Gray, president of Moody Bible Institute from 1925 – 1934, wrote, “I’m only a sinner, saved by grace.” (http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/n/onlyasnr.htm)

Judges 16:28
28 Then Samson called to the Lord and said, O Lord God, [earnestly] remember me, I pray You, and strengthen me, I pray You, only this once, O God, and let me have one vengeance upon the Philistines for both my eyes.

Psalm 22:24
24 For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has He hidden His face from him, but when he cried to Him, He heard.

Proverbs 5:8-10
8 Let your way in life be far from her, and come not near the door of her house [avoid the very scenes of temptation],
9 Lest you give your honor to others and your years to those without mercy,
10 Lest strangers [and false teachings] take their fill of your strength and wealth and your labors go to the house of an alien [from God]—