The Sabbath

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Ex 20:8-11 (NKJV)

According to the Bible, keeping the Sabbath is a very serious command. It was important enough that God made it one of the Ten Commandments.

2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Gen 2:2-3 (NKJV)

God set the example for us by resting after working for six days. He did this because he knew that it was good for man to rest.

27 And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.

Mark 2:26-27 (NKJV)

If we follow God's command of the Bible, then we observe the Sabbath on the 7th day of the week which is Saturday. During this time, we do not do any work but instead spend our time resting and perhaps studying God's word.

So this is my question for you. Do you observe the Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday and why? What do you do to observe the Sabbath. Do you literally rest from all work?

In His Service,

Angela

Steps to Socialism

As I sit here and listen, yet again, to President Obama's views on abortion, I see a greater agenda. He says that he is pro-choice because women struggle with the issue of abortion every day and they are better equipped to make this decision than the legislators. He also states that he wants to reduce the need to have an abortion by providing women with the resources needed to take care of these children.

Does anyone else hear BIG GOVERNMENT or SOCIALISM in these statements? This is just another well thought out way of increasing people's reliance on the government.

We, as the church, must step up and help these women. It is our responsibility to take care of the needy, not the government's. By allowing the government to take on this role of benevolent caregiver, we are allowing them to usurp our role.

But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.
Luke 14:13-14 (NIV)


If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. 8 Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs.
Deut 15:7-8 (NIV)

It is time for the church as a whole, to act on the word of God.


In His Service,

Angela

The Danger of Thinking Like the World

People have a right to do what they want.

You are incomplete unless you have a successful career.

Christianity should be kept out of schools and government.

A woman's right to choose should be protected.

People should have the right to marry whoever they want even if they are the same gender.

I just told a little white lie. It doesn't hurt anyone.

I should live with my boyfriend before we get married to make sure he is the right person for me.

It's my body. If I want to drink, smoke or do drugs, it's nobody's business.

What is true for you, may not be true for me.

How many of these things do we hear on a daily basis? How many of these thing do we hear professing Christians say?

In order to live by God's standards, which are clearly laid out in the Bible, we must know what those standards are. The Bible is full of absolute truths.


3 "You shall have no other gods before me. 4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

13 "You shall not murder. 14 "You shall not commit adultery. 15 "You shall not steal. 16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

Ex 20:3-17 (NIV)

The majority of the statements above are in direct conflict with one of these ten commandments. And these are just the beginning of God's directions for how to live our lives.

When we are not in the Word of God frequently, if we do not know what it says, then we are in real danger of thinking and living like the rest of the world. We are not to conform to the world's standards but raise ourself above it to live according to God's plan for us.


1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)


So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness
Eph 4:17-24 (NIV)

We are clearly to act differently than the rest of the world. If non-believers see no difference in us, then we have no witness.

1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
1 John 3:1 (NIV)

We are children of God. What a beautiful statement. Isn't it time we began thinking like it?

In His Service,

Angela

Tolerance

Tolerance means to put up with. Plain and simple right?

Not in today's society. Tolerance has come to mean something completely different. It is no less than complete acceptance of other's lifestyles, actions, thoughts, etc... It is used to further the agenda of those who want to push sinful behaviors such as homosexuality, abortion, humanism among others.

Unfortunately, this attitude has begun to pervade the church.

There is absolutely no place in scripture that says Christians are to be tolerant. We are commanded to love others but never are we told to be tolerant of sin. In fact, we are told exactly the opposite.

11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."
1 Cor 5:11-13 (NIV)

Many claim Christ but continue to live in sinful lifestyles. We are all sinners. I am talking about sin that a person has not turned away from and is practicing on a daily basis.

We are told that if these do not repent, we are to expel them from the church? Is this harsh? Sin corrupts. If a believer is refusing to turn away from a sin, we must expel them from the church (until repentance takes place) in order to protect the rest of the body from this corruption.

It is our job as believers to lovingly warn our brothers and sisters in Christ and to encourage them in repentance.

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.
2 Tim 4:2 (NIV)

What is the next step? Do we tolerate the murder of the handicapped? Theft? Polygamy? Why stop there?

The only way to be truly "tolerant" of others is to not be "tolerant" of those who disagree, which by the new definition, is not tolerance at all.


In His Service,

Angela