Determination by Gary Rose

 

Over the past few months, my wife and I have found ourselves watching “Heartland” almost daily. Much to my surprise, I have begun to genuinely appreciate the relationship between a human and a horse. Heartland often shows how horses gradually develop the ability to jump a hurtle and I wondered if the same process would apply to dogs.

When I saw this picture, I realized that the answer was a resounding “YES”. How, I wonder is this achieved? The answer is love, discipleship and repetition coupled with determination.

The achievement I just mentioned, also applies to humans who wish to excel at something as well. Well, how about Christians?

Consider the following passage from the book of Hebrews…

Hebrews 6 ( World English Bible )

¹ Therefore leaving the teaching of the first principles of Christ, let us press on to perfection—not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, of faith toward God,

² of the teaching of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

³ This will we do, if God permits.

⁴ For concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,

⁵ and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come,

⁶ and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and put him to open shame.

⁷ For the land which has drunk the rain that comes often on it, and brings forth a crop suitable for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receives blessing from God;

⁸ but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

⁹ But, beloved, we are persuaded of better things for you, and things that accompany salvation, even though we speak like this.

To my fellow Christians I say: NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER! Love Christ and your brethren, make every effort to develop your discipleship in all aspects and be a determined Christian. If you do these things you will overcome any and all obstacles that Satan may throw your way ( with help from God Almighty, of course ). In short, you will be a winner ( just like that dog ).

Perspective adjustment by Gary Rose

 

Recently, I found this picture of a rainbow. Its uniqueness is found in the description- a rainbow is actually a circle, not just the arc that we see from the ground. Over my lifespan, I have seen literally thousands of rainbows, some in the skies, but even more in pictures from the internet. Today, I find that my perception of them is far too small, for I have thought of them just from a ground perspective. This revelation brought forth another thought in the form of a question: I wonder, has my conception of Christianity, the Godhead and the Gospel suffered from a lack of perspective as well?

The Bible says...

Ephesians 1 ( World English Bible )

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus:

² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ;

⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without blemish before him in love;

⁵ having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,

⁶ to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely bestowed favor on us in the Beloved,

⁷ in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

⁸ which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,

⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him

¹⁰ to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, in him;

¹¹ in whom also we were assigned an inheritance, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his will;

¹² to the end that we should be to the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ:

¹³ in whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation—in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

¹⁴ who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.

After a bit of reflection, I realize that I need to adjust my perspective in a number of areas, namely; time, space, power, blessing and the sheer scope of existence ( both now and eternal ).

In short, my perspective is way too small. God’s Gospel, power, blessings and will are of an eternal nature, with unlimited understanding, power and precision. This makes my understanding of reality far too small to understand the totality of God Almighty. God views reality from a spiritual perspective, which results in a physical reality. I can only see the physical existence and partially understand the spiritual.

Frankly, I think the world is headed towards global thermonuclear war. If this should happen, then what? Well, my thoughts turn to something that was said in Kevin Heaton’s adult bible class yesterday morning. If it wasn’t for Moses interceding with God, then The Almighty would have just wiped Israel off the face of the map and started all over again. Could not God, with his unlimited power do the same for all of humanity? I believe God could do this and far more.

With power that is beyond my humble understanding, there is nothing that any Christian should really worry about for God really does have everything under control, whether or not I can understand it. About this moment, I recalled the words of the prophet Habakkuk…

Habakkuk 3 ( WEB )

¹⁶ I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us.

¹⁷ For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls:

¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

¹⁹ Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.

And then this passage from the book of Revelation…

Revelation 21 ( WEB )

¹ I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more.

² I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

³ I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

⁴ He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.”

⁵ He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He said, “Write, for these words of God are faithful and true.”

⁶ He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.

⁷ He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.

⁸ But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

To those who really love God, I say… OVERCOME! God will work everything out, BECAUSE HE IS THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE GOD!

Now that is one huge perspective adjustment!

One Beautiful Rose by Gary Rose

Recently, the world situation has become increasingly more dangerous. It seems like a large part of the world is gearing up towards thermonuclear war. In the U.S.A. the nation is becoming more radicalized towards the left, with sins that were considered abominable fifty years ago, now considered “normal”. Have things gone crazy? Yesterday, I saw this picture on the internet and frankly thought it was the most beautiful rose I have ever seen. I hope you do as well!

After looking at that rose for awhile, I thought of the Apostle Paul’s comments to the Christians at Philippi…

Philippians 4 ( World English Bible )

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, “Rejoice!”

⁵ Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

⁶ In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.

⁸ Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things.

If all the world should in fact go crazy and if the entire planet is destroyed by their stupidity, we can rejoice in the fact that all who have CHRIST as their SAVIOR will live eternally! 

 

Today, think about the above passage and take solace in the fact that WE HAVE HOPE.

Am I resolved to... by Gary Rose

I saw this enclosed within a sign outside a church building. I could not adjust the rest of the picture to something that I could use, so I just deleted it and used this small portion and put in within a frame. Anyway, even though it is not the beginning of the year, we should do what it says; follow the Bible and yes, go to church. Straightforward, simple instructions, easy to understand, yet few will do these things.

Why? There are many possibilities, but I think most of the time it boils down that they simply do not want to obey Jesus. Consider the following passages…

1 Corinthians 15 ( World  English  Bible )

1 Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand,
2 by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.
7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
8 and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was bestowed on me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
11 Whether then it is I or they, so we preach, and so you believed. 

 Romans 6 ( WEB )

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?
3 Or don’t you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism to death, that just like Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection;
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him;
9 knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no more has dominion over him!
10 For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God.
11 Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

One last passage from the Bible; Jesus said…

Matthew 28 ( WEB )

¹⁸ Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

¹⁹ Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Jesus is not just a king, HE is king of kings and Lord of Lords. 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14 and 19:16. His will for you is to do what he told you to do. Paul knew this, the other apostles knew it and anyone who comes to The Scriptures with an open mind can easily know what to do in order to be saved from the consequences of their sins. Start today, reality is that it does not have to be the beginning of the new year to resolve to obey the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Why not now?

There IS something in a NAME by Gary Rose

 

 

This flower is called a “Flame Lilly”. Good name, because if you look at it very quickly, it appears to be on fire. Now, I know that its not on fire, it just looks like it, but for a brief (and I do mean brief) moment, I thought… is it on fire? We all have situations like this; we look at something or experience something and ask ourselves… is it real?

Consider this passage from the book of Exodus…

Exodus 3 ( World English Bible )

¹ Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb.

² The angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

³ Moses said, “I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.”

⁴ When Yahweh saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!” He said, “Here I am.”

⁵ He said, “Don’t come close. Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.”

⁶ Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God.

⁷ Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.

⁸ I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

⁹ Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

¹⁰ Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

¹¹ Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

¹² He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

¹³ Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you;’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?”

¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

AND

John 8 ( WEB )

¹² Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

¹³ The Pharisees therefore said to him, “You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”

¹⁴ Jesus answered them, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going.

¹⁵ You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one.

¹⁶ Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me.

¹⁷ It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid.

¹⁸ I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

¹⁹ They said therefore to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me, nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

²⁰ Jesus spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

²¹ Jesus said therefore again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.”

²² The Jews therefore said, “Will he kill himself, that he says, ‘Where I am going, you can’t come?’”

²³ He said to them, “You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.

²⁴ I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

²⁵ They said therefore to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.

²⁶ I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. However he who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world.”

²⁷ They didn’t understand that he spoke to them about the Father.

²⁸ Jesus therefore said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things. …...

⁵² Then the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and you say, ‘If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’

⁵³ Are you greater than our father, Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?”

⁵⁴ Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is our God.

⁵⁵ You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be like you, a liar. But I know him, and keep his word.

⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it, and was glad.”

⁵⁷ The Jews therefore said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”

⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.”

⁵⁹ Therefore they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus was hidden, and went out of the temple, having gone through their midst, and so passed by.

Moses saw a burning bush that was not consumed and soon learned that GOD was revealing HIMSELF as “I AM”. In the New Testament, God sent Jesus who referred to himself as “I AM” on multiple occasions. Coincidence? I think not. In John chapter eight, the Jews understood who Jesus claimed to be; The God who spoke to Moses at the “burning bush” and they wanted to stone him for it. The truth is that some will accept Jesus for who he really is and become his followers and others will not. I believe what Jesus said is THE TRUTH, do you?

Understanding and the filters people use by Gary Rose

Today, I saw a picture of an owl (the one on the extreme left above) that was quite interesting to me. Interesting, because this little guy had turned his head to an extreme angle, which seemed to say that he was making quite an effort to understand me. Now, I am fairly sure that he is able to do this because the anatomy of his neck differs from yours and mine, but irregardless of how he does it- HE CAN DO IT!

Anyway, as you can see from the photo labels, I tried adjusting the original picture in the following ways: Black and White, Edge detection, Emboss and Outline. I did this to reciprocate his action- namely, it appears that he is trying to understand me, so I should do the same in return.

How do I understand HIM?

1. The original picture: as presented in normal understanding.

2. A very literal understanding (black and white) that is superficial.

3. A colored view (Edge detection) with my ideas colored by my own preconceived ideas.

4. A superficial view of his main ideas only (Embossed).

5. A selective view that (Outlines) only the ideas that I like and ignores the rest.

Then, I thought of the following passage from the Bible; it says…

Matthew 16 ( World English Bible )

¹³ Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”

¹⁴ They said, “Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”

¹⁵ He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Who is the Son of Man? People have differing opinions, which, like the picture at the top are mostly are the result of trying to understand him through something other than a straightforward method. Face it, people understand life as they wish to understand it! People use whatever filter they can to achieve the result they want, period. Only Simon Peter gave the correct answer. He just accepted Jesus based on the facts as he knew them. OK, its many, many, many years later, so what kind of conclusion do we arrive at? I don’t know what you will say, but I think that in spite of all the time that has passed, there is one thing that PROVES the identity of Jesus- HIS RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD! No one has ever produced his corpse, and for me, that is enough.

How about you?

Color Me Believing by Gary Rose

At first, I thought this picture was a phony; some manipulated effort to deceive. I did a little research on the internet and found many references to the Peruvian colored mountains, including the following picture…

 

 

Well, color me BELIEVING!

The above led me to think of a passage from the Gospel according to John…

The Bible Says...

John 20 (World English Bible)

¹⁹ When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”

²⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord.

²¹ Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”

²² When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!

²³ If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”

²⁴ But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came.

²⁵ The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶ After eight days again his disciples were inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace be to you.”

²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”

²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.”

³⁰ Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book;

³¹ but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

What does it take to truly believe in God, and in JESUS? First, it takes a rational mind. Why? Because Jesus of Nazareth is probably the most documented person in history; investigate this for yourself and believe truth of it. Secondly, The Bible is founded upon thousands upon thousands of ancient manuscripts in Greek (the predominate language at the time of Jesus), which testify to the truth about this man. Third, from the first century to this very day, millions upon millions of people have died rather than deny him. Fourth, either what Jesus said was true or he was a mad-man. Just read the Gospel account of the Sermon on the mount (Matthew, Chapters 5-7) and you will quickly realize that no mad-man ever spoke like this!

I do not know who you are or what you believe, but believe me when I say that Jesus was exactly who he said was. No, Jesus is not physically here now, so that those who disbelieve can not use their hands to touch him like Thomas, but eventually he will return (and that will be too late for those who disbelieve).

I urge you to both believe in Jesus and obey his Gospel; your very life depends upon it! Consider Jesus’ last message as found in the Gospel of Matthew…

Matthew 28 (WEB)

¹⁶ But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them.

¹⁷ When they saw him, they bowed down to him, but some doubted.

¹⁸ Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

¹⁹ Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Become a disciple by believing in Jesus, repenting of sin and being baptized for the remission of all your sins (see the book of Acts, the second chapter, for the first Gospel Sermon) and obeying his commandments for the rest of your life! Eventually, the age will change and Jesus will return and take his own to heaven.

Start with belief and go from there, it is entirely possible that Jesus will return in our lifetime! Believe these things, for they are absolutely true.

Will you Color yourself as Believing?

Bible Reading for April 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Enjoy your reading for this month. May God Bless You Greatly!

Gary