Christ Daily

Look at the young men in the image to the left.  Two guys.  Standing in the snow.  Taking a picture.  At first glance, they look like they’d be the typical youth of anywhere in the world.  Probably finishing up High School or starting college.  Maybe they have a girlfriend, and maybe they’re saving up to buy a car.  They are 18 years old at the time of this picture.

These two (along with a third friend, same age – not pictured) young men live in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine.  A year ago, they were arrested for the brutal, violent, bloody murders of over 21 individuals.  What did the victims do?  Absolutely nothing.  Each and every one of them were complete strangers to the boys.  They literally were killing for fun.  For entertainment.

Another thing about their killings: they filmed almost each one.  One even made it onto the internet.  I saw this video a while back, and I literally did not sleep that night.  It is such a sickening thing to see, hear, or witness.  Do not attempt to watch it. The worse thing throughout the video was the faces, reactions, and the things the boys were saying.  They were laughing.  Having fun.  Smiling.  Cracking jokes.  As they mangled a man with power tools, they were having fun.

They are currently behind bars, and are now 20 years old – no doubt ruined for life.

What’s the most amazing part of this story?  The fact that Jesus loves them.

Those three, awful, wretched, murderous, evil killers… are still loved by Jesus Christ as much as you or I.  ‘How,’ you may ask, ‘Could God do that!?  That’s insane!’ That’s what’s so incredible about the God we serve.

His Love for us is so deep, so profound, that he, Jesus, would give his LIFE to save those three Ukrainian killers.  Jesus loves people like Hitler so much he willingly went to be nailed and hung from an old beam of wood and suffer naked for hours.  Jesus loves people like Saddam Hussein so much he sacrificed his body, poured out his blood, and died an INNOCENT man.  THAT’S how much Jesus loves us.

But so often people don’t see it, and they abandon God, and in doing so, they abandon that sacrifice Jesus Christ made.  His love for us is so deep, he’d give his body to save every last one of us filthy, wretched sinners.  All we have to do is put our faith in him, and follow Jesus.  That’s it.  Such a glorious gift, at such an easy price.

Roman’s is one of my favorite books of the bible.  I leave you with this passage.

“There is no condemnation for those who belong to Jesus Christ. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.”  -Romans 8:1-2

written by Matt \\ tags: Murder, Romans, Sin, Ukraine Murders

Today I want to talk about Prayer and why it’s important to each and every one of us.

Prayer is the lifeline of our relationship with God; it is the direct link between us and Him. When we pray, we are talking to God – and what better way to keep up a relationship with someone?

Think about it – you have good friendships with your friends because most likely you talk and communicate with them. That’s just as important, if not more important, when it comes to our relationship with God. Ever here the phrase “livin’ on a prayer”?

⁸I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.

- 1 Timothy 2:8

Before they call I will answer;
       while they are still speaking I will hear.

- Isaiah 65:24

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

- Romans 12:12

Indeed, prayer is the lifeline of our relationships with God.

written by Josh \\ tags: 1 Timothy, God, Isaiah, prayer, Romans

Hallelujah.  There is a God.

Friends, we Americans have spoken up.  Those of us who still believe in the Constitution and those of us who still believe in the fundamentals this great nation was founded upon DO still have a voice, and we ARE still heard!  This was made abundantly clear by the resignation of Van Jones, our now unemployed Green Jobs Czar.

In fact, just a few days ago, I wrote an entire post on this man!  See?  When we speak up, and shout truth to the world, people, even our enemies can’t help but listen.

Glenn Beck, a popular Conservative Libertarian Radio and Television Commentator, had this to say about Jones’ resignation, after spending weeks trying to get the White House to answer questions about who allowed Jones in the White House in the first place:

The American people stood up and demanded answers. Instead of providing them, the Administration had Jones resign under cover of darkness. I continue to be amazed by the power of everyday Americans to initiate change in our government through honest questioning, and judging by the other radicals in the administration, I expect that questioning to continue for the foreseeable future.

It’s true; he’s resigned, hallelujah, but we still want answers.  Did Obama know all this about Jones, and STILL appoint him?  Or is the FBI such failures at their jobs that they didn’t do a bit of research about Van Jones before allowing him near the President?  My vote’s for the former, people.

Still, the American people have won a tremendous victory over the tyranny of Government, and the oppression of the Obama administration.  However, as you may know, tomorrow, the President is broadcasting a mandatory-to-watch 20-minute speech to be shown in all schools to 4-13-year-olds at noon.  This past week, the kids have been given worksheets saying things like ‘Why do you love our President?’ and ‘What can you do to SERVE our President?’  Yeah.  It’s insane.  I seem to remember Nazi Germany doing the same thing.

Why Obama, though?  Why is the name of Jesus shot down in a classroom, but the name Obama is praised?  EVEN if the schools did not recognize Jesus as the Son of God, there is absolutely no arguing that he is the most influential figure in human history.  He split the timeline, he turned the biggest Empire of the world on it’s head, and changed attitudes of billions of people forever… in yet.. .he’s not allowed to be mentioned in schools.  But the man who’s been public for only a year and is teaching our country to ‘hate those who have more then you,’ and teaching our citizens a feeling of entitlement, instead of honesty and hard-work, who’s also spent 9 Trillion dollars in a short seven months.  Someone to be looked up to for sure.

Hope you had a good Labor Day, everyone,
=Matt

written by Matt \\ tags: 1st Amendment, America, Crazy, Freedom, government, Jesus, Obama, politics, Romans, socialism, White House, World

Here’s a quick post I’ve been thinking about doing for a while.  Not to take the place of the Predestination one and the Sheltered Kids one I mentioned, but something real quick to leave you with before the weekend.

Do you think you have what’s called ‘Forgivness Syndrome?’  That’s when you KNOW that your sins have been forgiven and paid for, so you think ‘Hey – I’m forgiven!  I can do whatever I want now!’

Even to a lesser extent, you think ‘I know this is wrong… but the temptation is too great… I’ll give in this one time.  I’m already forgiven, aren’t I?’

Today, in the bible, we’re going back to Romans.

¹ Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? ² Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

I know a lot of us, myself included begin to think ‘I know this is wrong, but I’m forgiven.’  This, according to the bible – to God – is wrong.  I think we get into the mindset that ‘Sin is something the God doesn’t want me to do’ rather then ‘Sin is evil by nature.’  Which it is; sin, in it’s very essence, is rebellion against God, who is the greatest good, and therefore, moving away from that is going towards evil.

It’s simply critical that we understand that Jesus DIED so you wouldn’t have to pay your debt; he did not die so you could continue to add to it.  It’s like someone paying your bail when you’re in jail, and you go right back out and commit more and more crimes.  That’s wrong, and some people are going to take advantage of God’s continuious forgivness, but we must not take it for granted.

Thanks for reading,
Lots of Love,
-Matt

written by Matt \\ tags: Christ, Forgiveness, Forgiveness Syndrome, Jesus, Questions, Romans, Sin, Struggle

1 Timothy 2:1-5

¹ I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. ² Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. ³ This is good and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. ⁵ For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.

This is certainly one of my absolute favorite passages of scripture.  It covers so many things, that I thought it’d be a good idea to do an entire post dedicated to it.  Let’s look at it verse-by-verse, shall we?

¹ I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.

This is straight-forward and a truly vital part of any Christian’s faith.  Pray for others – wish them well.  Not just your friends when they have a prayer request, but for your enemies; like Jesus said.  Love your enemies.  This is a very difficult concept for many people to grasp, because we all deal with hate, rage, and general dislike of many types of people.  However, we are to pray for them.  Ask God to bless them.  They may make out lives hell, but Jesus loves them, and if we are to be like Christ, we are to love them, too.

² Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

Whoo, boy.  This is a hard one.  If you frequent ChristDaily, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out we’re not the biggest fans of the current Presidential Administration.  Let’s face it.  It’s downright awful.  Our President has spent more money in his first few months in office then the previous 43 Presidents COMBINED, he’s forcing a Fascist Government on us all, and he’s apologized for our very Freedom in every international meeting  he’s had.  But this verse, 1 Tim 2:2 tells us to pray for our Kings and Leaders the same way we are to pray for our enemies, because nowadays, that’s pretty much what they are.  They have authority over us.  It may seem cool, romantic, and even the right thing to do to be a rebel or an ‘Anarchist,’ but we see that’s not what the bible says to do.  Romans 13:1 says:

¹Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

We seem to think more about the Government’s relationship with God, rather then God’s sovereignty when he picked that person for power.  Our Leaders might not always follow the plan God has laid out for them, but God is always in control.

³ This is good and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.

Take THAT, Predestinationists!  I’m definitely going to be writing a blog post eventually about the wrong and evil doctrine of Predestination, because frankly, it’s a very touchy subject that will take much writing, and I’ve already hit 600 words as of this point.  Some other time.

⁵ For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.

This is one of the core beliefs of any Christian.  There is one way to God, and that is through Jesus.  We see here that Jesus was not 50% God and 50% man, but 100% God, and 100% Man.  He was tempted by Satan like we all are, and he COULD have given up.  In fact, the urge was probably more then any of us could ever endure, but he did not – thus being a suitable sacrifice for our sins.  He did what we could not do.  He ‘put on a body like we sinners have’ (Romans 8:3) and saved us all.  The slaves of the old South used to sing a hymn talking about Jesus ‘Puttin’ of skin, and walkin’ ‘mong men.’  I love that.  That’s exactly what he did, so we wouldn’t have to pay our debt to him, so long as we accept his ‘transaction’ for us, if you will.

That’s all for 1 Timothy 2:1-5.  The bible is so fresh, so relevant if (1) You read it in context, and (2) you apply critical thinking when reading it.  Daily time in God’s word is ESSENTIAL to the life of a Christian.  How are you going to say you know God well enough to spread the gospel if the only part of the bible you know is John 3:16?  What church dares call itself part of the body of Christ if someone can go an entire church service without opening the bible once?  What Christian author or writer dare call himself a Christian if they can write an entire book or article about God without even taking the time to crack a bible?  Remember, the Bible is God’s WORD – it’s him SPEAKING to you each and every day.  Take the time to LISTEN.  LISTENING to God is not just sitting, and inhaling.  That’s meditation.  Listening to God involves reading what he’s saying.

Whoo.  Nearly 1000 words.  Sorry so long, but I think this is a very relevent subject that a lot of people need to hear.  Thanks for reading, friends.  Be sure to check out the FIRST official ChristDaily podcast up sometime this weekend.

Lots of Love,
-Matt

written by Matt \\ tags: America, Bible, Christ, church, Doctrine, government, Jesus, Obama, politics, prayer, Predestination, Romans, Timothy, World