Choose Life

One Perfect Life

“ONE PERFECT LIFE: The Complete Story of the Lord Jesus,” by John MacArthur compiles the entire life of Christ from His birth in Bethlehem to His ascension back to Heaven. Dr. MacArthur incorporates the Scriptures as presented in the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to meld together a complete biography as Jesus walked this earth healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, causing the lame to walk, and raising the dead back to life. Along the way the author provides the study notations from the MacArthur Study Bible to further enhance the experience of following the life of Christ as He walked with His disciples and showed them the way of salvation. Within the over 500 pages of Dr. MacArthur’s work one will come to fully appreciate the intricacies of Jesus’ life and message of salvation as He walked the dusty trails of the land of Israel during His thirty-three years of life, culminating in His death, burial, and resurrection for the sins of those who trust in Him.

The March for Life

The 46^th Annual March for Life takes place on the Washington Mall in Washington, D.C. on Friday, January 18, 2019. Since 1973 when Roe v. Wade was determined to be constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 7-2 vote, approximately 60 million babies have not been granted their God-given right to life. The video, “The Sound of Abortion,” depicts in audio format the amount of life lost to abortion compared to the loss of life in each of America’s foreign wars. The number of human lives destroyed through abortion in America alone is staggering. God speaks of His hatred of “hands that shed innocent blood,” so much so, that “whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” He continues in Matthew 18:7, “Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! (Proverbs 6:16-17; Matthew 18:5-7). May America repent of this horrible scourge on our nation and cry out to God for His forgiveness.

Finding New Life in Christ

It’s the New Year… out with the old; in with the new. Time to assess where one has been and where one wants to go. Resolutions are made, diets are changed, and serious attempts at exercise begin once again. As much as these desires may be well and good as long as they last, and prove beneficial to some, there is a decision each individual who has not done so should make in the New Year that will provide not just temporary benefits, but an eternal benefit that will change one’s life forever.

As life can seem to become mundane and at times even dreary when the resolutions wear off as each New Year progresses, most try to find new ways to liven up their daily existence and keep things exciting, only to find emptiness in all their efforts. Their man-made attempts fall short of what God has revealed in His Word is needed to become a new creation, with old things in man’s present fallen state passing away and all things becoming new. In fact, not only will the old things that hinder one’s life pass away, and all things become new, but the new life God offers every man, woman, and child is an abundant life.

During Jesus’ parable of the Good Shepherd, He spoke of a thief that comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but then said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” (John 10:10). The Apostle Paul, whose life was miraculously changed on the road to Damascus from a life pleasing unto Satan to a life blessed by God, wrote in Ephesians 3:20, “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” In Paul’s earlier letter to the church at Corinth he wrote, “But as it is written,” referring to Isaiah 64:4 in the Old Testament written some 600 years prior, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him,” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

It is in Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth, written some thirty years after his Damascus road experience, that he wrote concerning being able to shed the old things and all things becoming new. He wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “Therefore if any man be IN Christ, he is a new creature,” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Being “in Christ” is having admitted to God you are a sinner, acknowledging the death, burial and bodily resurrection of His Son, Jesus, paid for the sin of all who will call upon His Name, and surrendering one’s life to Him in obedience to His Word. Once one is “in Christ” the showers of His blessings will fall upon one’s life, along with God’s promise of eternal life with Him in Heaven, avoiding the wrath that is to come. (Romans 3:23; 5:8-9; 6:23; 10:9-13; Philippians 4:19)

The Fountain of LIFE

The search for a Fountain of Youth has been the subject of lore since as early as the 5th Century B.C. in the writings of the Greek historian Herodotus; during the time of Alexander the Great in the 3rd Century A.D; and even the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon in the 16th Century as he explored the New World and the coast of Florida. Although no such fountain has ever been found, Jesus did speak during His earthly ministry of a Fountain of Living Water “springing up into everlasting life,” (John 4:14).

As Jesus waited at Jacob’s well on His journey through Samaria while His disciples went into the city to buy food, Jesus spoke with a Samaritan woman who had come to draw water, asking her for a drink of the water. As their conversation progressed Jesus offered her “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” The woman, thinking Jesus was speaking of physical water, requested, “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw,” (John 4:5-15).

As Jesus continued on in His earthly ministry He shared with the Jewish people on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of Living Water,” (John 7:37-38). The Prophet Jeremiah had written  500 years earlier just before the Jewish people were taken captive to Babylon, “O LORD, the Hope of Israel, all that forsake Thee shall be ashamed… because they have forsaken The LORD, the Fountain of Living Waters,” (Jeremiah 17:13).

Just as the Samaritan woman looked for a fountain of water that would cause her not to have to make daily trips to Jacob’s well, before understanding Jesus was speaking of spiritual water that leads to eternal life, those who seek after a fountain of youth will only find fulfillment and Everlasting Life in CHRIST, the Fountain of Living Water.

Remembering Their Sacrifice – Memorial Day

The Cure for Depression

David’s life began as a young shepherd boy keeping watch over his father’s flock as they grazed along the hillsides of Judea. Being the youngest son of Jesse, he was the one chosen by God to be the next king of Israel. The current king, Saul, showed great jealousy over the selection of David before the end of his reign had taken place, attempting to pin David to the wall of his palace with a javelin not once, but twice on two different occasions  (1 Samuel 18-19).

The Psalms are the writings of David as he experienced life as a shepherd boy and also as a man on the run, for his life, from the king. Throughout the Psalms David’s emotions are on full display, from triumphant in victories over the lion and bear attacking the flock and the defeat of Goliath, to the despair he felt in the forced separation from his best friend Jonathan, King Saul’s son. There were those who hailed David as victor for his acts of valor, and those in confederate with King Saul who sought to fulfill the King’s wishes in seeing David’s demise.

Many of David’s Psalms begin with hopelessness and despair but find their way to praising God for His goodness, faithfulness, longsuffering, deliverance, and/or salvation before their conclusion. David’s answer in Psalm 42 to being cast down and disquieted was to “Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God”  (v.11).

Psalm 3   “LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me,” (v.1).   “Arise, O LORD, save me… Salvation belongeth unto the Lord,” (vs.7-8).

Psalm 12  “Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth,” (v.1).  “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth,” (v.6).

Psalm 35   “Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me,” (v.1).  “My soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in His salvation,” (v.9).

Psalm 56  “Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up,” (v.1).  “In God will I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me,” (v.11).

The Sound of Abortion

The act of abortion was legalized by the Supreme Court of the United States of America on January 22, 1973. Since that fateful day 45 years ago over 60 million U.S. citizens have been denied their Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Making a Name

When those living near Babylon wanted to make a name for themselves by building a tower that would reach unto heaven, their language was changed and the people were scattered (Genesis 11:1-9). When wicked Haman wanted to make a name for himself by killing all the Jews throughout the Persian Empire, he was hanged on the gallows he had prepared for another (Esther 3-7). When Judas desired to make a name for himself by selling Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, he went out and hanged himself (Matthew 26; 27:1-10).

 When God makes a name of someone, an Ark is built to save mankind and the animal kingdom, as with a man named Noah (Genesis 6-8). When God makes a name of someone, a nation is built that numbers the stars of heaven, as with Abraham (Genesis 15:1-6). When God makes a name of someone, a man and young woman become the earthly father and mother of Jesus, as were Joseph and Mary (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38). When God makes a name of someone, a man intent on destroying God’s people becomes the greatest missionary to spread the Gospel message of Jesus Christ and the writer of the majority of the New Testament, as did the Apostle Paul (Acts 9:1-18). When God makes a name of someone it is life-changing for the entire world.

 

The Atheist Delusion

For those who in their own mind try to deny the existence of God, Ray Comfort of Living Waters Publications speaks with several willing participants of the Truths of God’s Creation and His Word, showing them the fallacy of their thinking. Transformation takes place for some as they begin to clearly see the error of their way and consider what they had refused to understand before. A powerful presentation with breathtaking views of God’s Creation, “The Atheist Delusion” uncovers the root of atheistic belief.