NCarolinian

In John 5:44-47 , Jesus said to the Jewish religious leaders of the day -  "How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?" Between the time that The Law and all the prophecies about The Messiah were written and the time Jesus arrived, many individuals in history claimed to be The Anointed One of God; The Messiah; The Savior. Every one of these claims failed to be supported. However, Jesus Christ of Nazareth not only backed up His own words as He spoke them, but fulfilled His prophetic Word spoken years earlier through the prophets by fulfilling everything written about The Christ. Here in this confrontation with the Pharisees, Jesus att...

I am guilty at times of perceiving Miracles as instant acts of God. Survey says, (buzzer sound) wrong! Not that God does not work instant miracles, but some miracles are processes. In this sin stricken, death and decay ravaged world, our faith must be lived out through our trials. The first miracle Jesus ministered, the water turned into wine, was a process. Let us look at the Scripture. "Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, 'Fill the jars with water' ; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, 'Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.'" (John 2:6-8) So, we have six stone water jars, vats or containers. The stone vats were empty otherwise Jesus would not have instructed for the servants to fill them -  'Fill the jars with water' . The reasonable assumption here is that  the servants went...

If Jesus has come to you and you have decided to follow Jesus, then let us both introduce Jesus to others. The Samaritan woman at the well reminds me of the kind of heightened joy and excitement I experienced when I accepted Christ as my Savior. Let us recall what happened when she spread that joy, excitement and her testimony. "Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, 'He told me everything I ever did.'   So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers.  They said to the woman, 'We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.'" (John 4:39-42) Wow! Cultural barriers were broken between Samaritans and Jews this day! Plus, the woman's witness was so powerful that many from the town believed in Christ ...

When I think of the word Power , my mind goes to concepts such as might and creative resources . God has unlimited supply of each. He is The Source of all Power and should be recognized as such. The selfish "I will" command of Lucifer in the beginning (Isaiah 14:13-14) and continued attempt by Satan to mold humanity into this type of self-reliant creature is what takes Power out of our lives. People who claim to be self-made in anything are deluding themselves. Anyone who is a do-it-yourself type individual is relying on the knowledge of somebody else. They may do the research to propel themselves forward on their own, but they are still using others and their wisdom as stepping stones to their goal.  I believe it is important to recognize The Source of one's Power. Rarely do we think about the plug in the wall that provides power or electricity for whatever device, yet the plug is not The Source. Even less seldom do we think of switch boxes, the electric...

Remember the game - "King of the Mountain"? In this self-explanatory game, the one standing on top of whatever is deemed "the mountain" tries to stay there while others who want that position attempt to knock him/her off, claim The King's spot and then defend their newly acquired role as King from "dethronage". If you can stay King through all the attacks, you have won. There are many who still seek to "play" this "game" in adulthood. The exception is The Mountain is now an organization, a council, a board position, a family or a nation. All who seek to "play" are seeking to rule their prospective mountain. However, sometimes that which they rule is truly a mountain and sometimes that which they rule is just a molehill. Funny thing about molehills or smaller mountains is that you have to determine - are they on the rise to great, high peaks of splendorous vistas or on the decline to gently, rolling hills of pea...

For someone who is known as Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and The End, from Everlasting to Everlasting, Faithful, True, The Good Shepherd, The Good Teacher, The Way, The Truth and The Life - for somebody who is known now by Christians and later by all as King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16) - how do you serve THE KING who has it all? The whole unfolding of The Great Story, for the lack of a better title, is a mystery. If one goes all the way back to when God created everything, the book of Job states that the angels were around to see the material universe formed by God (Job 38:6-7) . So, with this in mind, God must have created that which we know as spiritual, first.  In my book, "Angels: More Than Messengers", I mention this as the origin of angels. In addition, I document that all angels were originally created in a holy state of being. For it was sometime later that God said about Lucifer, " You were blameless in your ways from the day y...

Christians are God's kids that develop on this sandbox or playground we call Earth. We are created and known in God's mind long before we are born. However, when we are born and eventually come to know Christ as our Savior, we still have to deal with the Bully on the Playground, the devil.  I have got wonderful news, God Almighty, sent His only Son to redeem, restore and reconcile The Playground and our relationship with God, but He also dealt with The Bully. All these goals were accomplished because Satan was defeated through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus. 1 John 3:8 states, "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work." I believe Christ's words of "It is finished." sums it up nicely, but the empty tomb and The Risen Christ Jesus puts a nice exclamation point on it! For if Christ simply lived a perfect life then died for humanity - we would only have a martyr with no hope of resurrection and no ...