Friday Night Light - 5/30/13

Gen. 1:6 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all [1] the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
Gen 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it
Gen 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
Gen 3:17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, "You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 

The creation and fall of man in four verses...

We are created in the image of God with the inherent capacity to do much good. We were created for fellowship with God. God seeks our company. When man sinned, that fellowship was broken and a gulf was placed between man and God.

You see in 3:17 that God actually cursed the earth because of our sin. 

Some will try to placate the earth itself instead of turning to the creator. They think we evolved or were created by the spirits of the earth or some other such belief...they love the earth thinking that by loving it they are coming closer to their creator. 

 James 4:4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 

Do not confuse world and earth as being the same...I merely point out this verse to show that if we do not follow His way, we will be considered enemies of God.

When Jesus said "blessed are the peacemakers" he was telling us that the peacemakers are the ones who show others how to reconcile with the Father. And how do you do that?

By realizing there is no way you can earn a place in heaven. Yes we were created in God's image but the gulf of sin separates us. To bridge that gulf God sent Christ to die as a sacrifice for everything we have ever done and will do wrong.

Man cannot reach God, but God can reach man through Christ Jesus.

Still clinging to my God and my guns,
Randy

Friday Night Light 5/24/13

Proverbs 27:5-6
5)Open rebuke is better Than love carefully concealed.6) Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. 

No one can deny the importance of friends in our walk with Christ. They pick us up when we are down and cheer us on when we are up.  As much as I would like to be otherwise, no man is an island.

Solomon gave  us so much wisdom for living our lives. Here he tells us that even when a friend seems to be tearing us down it may not be the case.

Christ told us in Luke 17:3  "Be on your guard! If  your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. " In this case "brother" is friend or fellow believer. It is our duty to watch out for one another.

If someone is always nice to you and agrees with everything you say, that doesn't make you friends...real friends will tell you when they think you are wrong...even if it means wounding you.

Still clinging to my God and my guns,
Randy