NCarolinian

1 John 2:15 "Do not love the world or the things of the world, if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him".  The Apostle John states clearly who his audience is in verses 20-22 - But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. So, he is writing to those who  "know the truth"  - believers in Christ. To the believers in  1 John 2:15  John writes instruction with a warning. Let us begin with the warning first -  if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  Notice the verse does not say that the Father does not love him/her.  The verse says  "the love of the Father" is not found in the person. The "love of the Father" can be viewed as God's mind, heart, or will and the extension thereof through the believer to the rest of the world. In the or...

I have an answer to - "Is the glass half empty or half full?" It is half empty .  The answer has nothing to do with me being a negative person or how I see the world or any of that nonsense.  The truth of the matter is that someone poured the glass full at one point, Not Half Full (why would anyone fill a glass half full).  THEN the glass was emptied to the point of half. So, the owner of the glass at this point can either exhaust or empty the remaining contents OR request a refill of what he/she is missing, but either way the owner is lacking the first half - half empty is the answer.

In conjunction with his message on Sunday, Pastor Dial read out-loud one of his favorite verses in a certain way that made my light bulb go on in my head and burn brightly! He quoted,  Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. - Proverbs 3:5-6 However, when he said this verse, Pastor Dial paused right after the word "him" and right before the phrase "and he will make your paths straight" and that's all it took.  The light bulb came on.  I was especially locked onto every word he was saying after that and Got It! It is a Spiritual Law.   Proverbs 3:5-6 is a Holy Equation that cannot be falsified.  It is an IF...THEN statement without the "If" and "Then".   (1) Trust in the LORD with all your heart (+2) lean not on your own understanding (+3) in all your ways acknowledge HIM (=) and He will make your paths straight."...

I heard a teaching one time that was entitled "God Still Uses Cracked Pots".  The message referred to all the different lives in Scripture that had been challenged, weathered, and broken but still usable to the glory of God.  Lives with spotty track records, but a humble and trusting heart, which God redeemed for His glory and the redemption of other souls in the same or similar situation. Lives like David, Peter, and Paul are examples of these "Cracked Pots".  David killed the husband of Bathsheba to marry her, but ended up being called a man after God's own heart. Peter a rough, prideful fisherman said he would never leave Jesus, but disowned Christ three times, yet the Holy Spirit was instrumental in his life in miracles, teachings, and the winning of souls. Paul, once known as Saul, hunted Christians to kill them, but later had an encounter with Christ so powerful it called for a name change.  These are just a few, but I never would have thought of Joseph...

There is so much truth within the phrase - stop and smell the roses .  Even in the natural the phrase has profound effect, if you allow it. The attraction of a rose is purely visual at first impression and usually from the bottom of the pedals up. Who wants to gaze longingly at the thorns on the stalk that makes up the majority of the plant.  Then there is the matter of their scent. You probably can remember to a good degree of accuracy what a rose smells like. Even now, as you read these words, the sweet aroma that only a rose can produce is being recalled in your memory-senses.  They say that the sense of smell is the sense most closely associated with memory.  Want to remember where you have been, what happened at that event, and so forth?  Try to remember the scents in a given memory. So, scent is powerful.  Especially right near the rose.  The question then becomes - are you going to stop?Stopping or even pausing now-a-days means your priori...