Once and For All

Hebrews 10:17

This is a wonderful and inspiring passage of scripture. In it God shows us how before Jesus came, the priests offered sacrifices constantly for the forgiveness of sins......but "the blood of bulls and goats could never forgive sins". Moral of this story - The blood of an animal cursed by sin, would never be able to cause forgiveness of sins in a human cursed by sin. But Jesus, our high priest, offered himself once and for all, and then "Sat down at the right hand of God". It was completed. He doesn't ever have to die again, offer his blood again, or suffer again for us to be made holy. And when we are made holy, this passage quotes God as saying "Their sins and lawless acts, I will remember them no more".

God's power enables him to do what we only wish we could: to forgive AND to forget. He could remember them but he promises not to. Psalm 32 says "blessed is the man whose sins are not counted against him". Isn't it wonderful to know that when God took care of our sin, he did it permanently. We don't have to live under the burden of past guilt. We don't have to fear the loss of our salvation every time we mess up again. Verse 10 says "And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Our assurance in a nutshell. We don't need to ask forgiveness of sins every time we make a mistake. In God's eyes, there is no time. He forgives past, present and future sins at the same time. We need to repent, confess our sins to God, and thank him for his forgiveness. What a wonderful passage! Whether I feel saved or not, I am. Why? God promises that once I accept his forgiveness of my sins, I am his. He writes his laws on my heart and mind. I will make mistakes, but his salvation is still perfect in spite of my shortcomings. I need not say "forgive me father for I have sinned", but rather "thank you heavenly father for your forgiveness".

Runner's Log

Had a good one today. 10 min. warmup 2x's 3-3 10min. cool down. Drills. Weights this evening. Not quite the distance I would normally do on this type of run. But yesterday was a 7 miler at 6:20 pace with lots of hills at 6:30 pm. It was only 11 hours ago so I toned it down just a bit. Good running overall the past two days. Probably doing some L-S-D tomorrow to get in miles with no time. Ease the pace back to 6:40-6:50 and just relax.

Check out The Scripturist

These articles are taken from www.scripturist.com Great website, and well worth checking them out.
Let's Talk Science

If you believe the Bible is history, then you have to believe that the earth is under 10,000 years old. But doesn't science teach us that the earth is millions of years old? It was in my science text book at school. Well, text books are written by people with their own beliefs which influenced their opinions.

Go here to consider the scientific (not Biblical) evidence for a young earth.http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c012.html

Some say evolution is a scientific fact. For something to be scientific fact it has to be repeatably observed. Is that true of evolution? Go here to find out http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/508.asp

If you want to understand why evolution is only a scientific theory and not a law of science like gravity is, go here:
http://teacher.nsrl.rochester.edu/phy_labs/AppendixE/AppendixE.html
posted by The Evangelist @ 5:34AM Wednesday, May 11, 2005

The Riddle Of Epicurus

The Riddle Of Epicurus: "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" Riddle Me This

Riddle Me This…The very powerful Superman once loved a woman very much, but was not able to marry her, or make love to her. Why?Is Superman willing to have a relationship with the woman, but is not able? Then he is not very powerful.Is Superman able but not willing? Then he must not have loved her.Is he both able and willing? Then why are they not married?Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him Superman?What a quandary!

Oh wait, what if the woman didn't want to have a relationship with Superman? What if Superman had the power to force her to marry him, but he didn't use it because he loved her and wanted it to be her free-will choice? What if a relationship of love requires free-will choice on the part of both people? What if Superman is not a rapist?

What if God is not a rapist either? What if He has the will and the power to save us, but won't force himself upon us but only saves us if we agree to the relationship first willingly through faith? What if God has the will and power to have a relationship with us in life, but loves us enough to not force us into a relationship with him?

What if He allows sin and death to continue so we will look for a Savior and see He loved us enough to give us free-will and died to save us from our abuse of free-will? What if He suffered for us and died in our place so we don’t have to suffer eternal death? What if God found a way to give us the free will to choose evil and inevitably sin unto death and yet offer us a way of escape and find eternal life at the same time?

What if he satisfies justice by dying on the cross in our place and paying our debt while also exemplifying mercy but dying for us and offering us a way out?What if God is so powerful he can beat any paradox?What if there are reasons even bigger than these that I have listed that our finite minds can’t comprehend? What if He is all powerful and all knowing and we are but created beings with only a fraction of His ability to understand the big picture?
posted by The Evangelist @ 5:34AM

He's Still Lord

Jesus, the Faithful Witness
REVELATION 1:4-8
John wrote the book of Revelation—as he received it from God—to encourage Christians who were being heavily persecuted by the Roman emperor Domitian. Approximately 25 years earlier, Rome had destroyed Jerusalem and taken away whatever rights the Christians actually had at that time. Many believers felt like slaves and were beginning to question, "Where is Jesus? Is He still the Lord?" So the main purpose of this letter was to remind them that Jesus Christ was indeed alive and that, although He was allowing them to undergo these trials, He still remained the same loving, all-powerful Lord.
We can likewise be encouraged simply by remembering who Jesus is. When we realize He is perfectly trustworthy and praiseworthy, we will be able to persevere through difficulties with confidence and joy. Revelation 1:5 reminds us that Jesus is the faithful witness. We can rely on every single thing He says—not only are His words true; He Himself is the truth. (John 14:6) If He says that He will do something, we can trust it will happen. The early church desperately needed to know that Jesus' promise to return meant He would indeed come back.
Similarly, we can trust His statement that life on earth isn't all there is, and that He will be with us forever. (1 Thessalonians 4:17) Jesus proved His words by conquering death through the Cross and His resurrection—He became "the firstborn of the dead" (Revelation 1:5) and prepared the way for all who trust in Him. He is our hope and the guarantee of our own resurrection. - Charles Stanley

Back to the Devotions:

Three posts in one day....I think this is a record. I couldn't help but think of how God has worked in my life. Today's devotion I posted up really struck home. When I look back and see where God has done the most in my life, I notice that I've always dropped what I'm doing and said "ok" and followed immediately.
My parents always tried to teach me that sometimes the choice is not between two or more bad things and one good thing (don't I wish all choices were that simple), but between two or more good things instead. When God calls, I'm usually doing something I enjoy, and I often have to pass up something that I would also enjoy......but His way is best. Living this way is what I call a rocket ride (that's a sacred term to Athos, normally reserved for one heck of a fast race course....it's a running thing, if you don't run, you wouldn't understand). It's incredible, hard to keep up with, and often all I can do is look back and go "Whoa, did that really just happen?", but I wouldn't trade it for a thousand other good things. I met my wife this way (GREATEST BLESSING OF MY LIFE), I ended up in Seminary this way, I ended up in Texas this way, as a youth pastor this way, married this way, etc.
All that is not to say that life has been easy during these times, but this is the way of life I believe that God has designed for me, a life of not getting in my own way because I had too much time on my hands to find something else to do or to second-guess my Lord. May I always remember that when God calls, it is not up to me to prepare the road ahead of me. That has already been accomplished. My job is to follow Isaiah 26:8 and say "Yes, Lord".

Runner's Log

Today was a great run! This is good considering my last one. I was dehydrated, it was hot and humid (welcome to Texas Athos), and I'm allergic to some tree pollen here and it was rated at high that day (from what I'm hearing, this too is a "welcome to Texas Athos" thing). All in all the time was good. Averaged 6:35/mile for 7 miles. But I felt like crud. Today was much better. Extremely hydrated, running in the cool of the morning (It's good to know 5am exists again) and the pollen and humidity were low. Put in 7 miles at 6:30/mile and felt great the whole time. Could have gone much faster, I've been training at 6:08 pace for the past month, and it's very comfortable now. I'm increasing mileage steadily however and don't wish to hurt the knee again so I'm tempering myself right now. 19 weeks and counting to St. George. Great start to the day. Off now to devotions.

Hinder Me Not

Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way.Genesis 24:56

Abraham’s servant needed plenty of guidance. A man looking for a wife for himself needs all the illumination he can get, but this servant was looking for a wife for somebody else! Being in the way, as he put it, the Lord led him and he found the right girl. Now the subtle temptation to tarry awhile arises. It looks innocent enough, but he is on his guard. It is dangerous to linger. He will be on his journey. “Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way.”We are often faced with the tempter’s suggestion to tarry, linger awhile, take it easy. But if the Lord has prospered our way we had better be going.
Layovers at Satan’s suggestion become layoffs, and we fail of our mission. The diligent servant who is about his master’s business will take no holiday when he should be up and about and on his way home.It would have been pleasant to enjoy the hospitality of Rebekah’s kinfolk and they meant well, no doubt. But the most innocent and well-intentioned can spell havoc with God’s timetable.“Rise, let us be going.” - Vance Havner