Why did Jesus come to earth to accomplish and there many answers .

And in Matt 10:34 is just another reason why he came to earth .

In Matt 10:34 is another reason what Christ came and will accomplish and that will happen .

#1 Think //NOMIZ0 is an AORIST TENSE , ACTIVE VOICE , and in the Subjunctive Mood , and in the PLURAL

#2 NOT // is a DISJUNCATIVE PARTICLE NEGATIVE

#3 I AM COME //ERCH0MAI , in the AORIST TENSE , ACTIVE VOICE , INDICATIVE MOOD , means better believe it , in the SINGULAR .

#4 TO SEND // BALLO , in the ACTIVE VOICE , means Christ will be using man to carry it out .

# 5 PEACE // EIRENE is in the ACCUSATIVE CASE , in the SINGULAR

#6 ON EARTH // GE , is also in the ACCUSATIVE CASE and in the SINGULAR

# 7 I CAME // ERCHOMA , is in the Greek AORIST TENSE , ACTIVE VOICE , in the INDICAIVE MOOD in the SIINGULAR

#8 NOT // MU is Greek a DISJUNCATIVE NEGATIVE , and it means NOT ever to bring peace until earth is His Foot stool !!

# 9 PEACE // AIRENE is in the ACCUSATIVE CASE , in the SINGULAR .

#10 A SWORD // MACHAIRA , also in the ACCUATIVE CASE , in the SINGULAR


Luke 12:: 49 - 56 is what will be happening when that SWORD will be used .

dan p

The state of Ohio has taken the first step to overturn the Republican governor’s veto of a bill that protects children from permanently harmful transgender procedures and assures privacy and fairness for female athletes. Conservatives praised the action, while Democratic opponents accused its supermajority of promoting “a political, hateful agenda” due to “money given by radical Christian groups.” One Democrat screamed, “You are literally killing our children!”

On Wednesday afternoon, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted 65-27 to override Governor Mike DeWine’s veto of Substitute H.B. 68, more than the 60 votes required. The measure combines the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act — which shields children from transgender puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone injections, and surgeries — with the Save Women’s Sports Act, which prohibits men from competing in girls’ sports or sharing their locker rooms. It also prevents courts from denying or limiting custody to a parent who refuses to “affirm” their child’s transgender identity and safeguards state taxpayers from funding minors’ transgender procedures through Medicaid.

The bill earned four more votes on the override than it did when the House passed it on December 14.

Overwhelming Republican support came as no surprise to the bill’s sponsor. “Our momentum is very good,” said State Rep. Gary Click (R-88) on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” Tuesday. “My colleagues were clamoring to come back and vote on this. They’re very upset,” with some flying home from as far as Florida to protect children.

Transgender activists in the House gallery briefly screamed in protest and defeat after Wednesday’s results were announced. But Christian pro-family advocates praised the outcome.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) thanked the state house for opposing the “politicized and harmful practice of pushing minors towards irreversible drugs and surgeries in favor of compassionate mental health care that gives them time to grow into comfort with their bodies and true identities,” in the words of ADF Senior Counsel Matt Sharp. “No one has the right to harm children, and, thankfully, states have the power — and duty — to protect them.”

I'm starting a new virtual Church for all the lost, hidden, unaware, and failing Christians. And yes, I am included right alongside everybody else. Since God has prompted me in everything that has led me in this direction it's only fitting, I think, to start out with a big bang.

Recently, I had an interesting experience where I asked an Artificial Intelligence Bot some questions about my writing process that dealt with God's word, and its responses were eye-opening. I was amazed and think you will be too.

I am also introducing a new reformed Church to the world to see how God's plan unfolds. Please come and visit! Click on the links in the post "Two Sides And Two Faces Of The Argument."

Or if you prefer, use these two links: Page1 and Page 2

I just found this site after I did an online search for "free online b8ble study forums". I started a Chronological Bible study on 1/1/24, and just 3 days ago started a topic-based Bible study I found on Intentional By Grace.

I'm 60, separated, and living with my cousins who have been a true blessing to me after my Mom passed in October of 2022. The way they live their life and are totally accepting of me and my problems have spurred me on to live a more Christ-centered life. I won't go into details but they have helped my physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, and spiritually. I truly don't know where I would be without them and the rest of my family.

I hope to more who are either living a Christ-centered life or are trying to do so.

Cindi

There's really no other passage in the Bible that is used to teach that "Women must dress modestly"

But most people don't know some very interesting and important facts about the words used in the Greek for this passage... so here's some things that might surprise you!

POST #1​

Here's the text in KJV:

Here's the text in NASB:

Here it is in Greek:

Notice anything interesting?

• Both KJV and NASB use a form of the word "Modest," but they literally translate different Greek words!

So... lots of smart people did these translations... why don't they agree on which word really means modest?

Which one of those words κοσμίῳ (kosmio) or αἰδοῦς (aidous) means "modest"? Which one speaks to how much of a woman's skin can be exposed? Do either of them carry that meaning?

What does this discrepancy between these two translations mean? I'm not sure, but surely it's worth thinking about!

I'm curious to see what everyone thinks. As atheism is on the rise, I decided to research more about what they believe. I came across many articles with conflicting points against Jesus and where we came from and things. I was wondering what other Christians think about this. I do not mean to offend anyone, I am just curious about another Christian's point of view on this.
(Article for reference: Let’s Get One Thing Clear: Atheists Do Not Believe Something Came From Nothing!)

The Supreme Court said Friday it would consider whether local laws prohibiting homeless people from sleeping on public property is cruel and unusual punishment barred by the Constitution.

The Oregon city of Grants Pass asked the high court to review a lower court’s decision to block it from enforcing its public camping ordinance, writing that the decision “cemented a conflict” with California courts that have upheld similar ordinances.

Grant Pass’s request for the Supreme Court to take up the case was backed by officials in San Francisco and Phoenix, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and 20 Republican state attorneys general.


Some interesting things to consider in this case.

On one hand, I can see the argument for it being somewhat "cruel & unusual", to fine a person who's broke, homeless, and has nowhere else to go.

On the other hand, without some sort of precedent for local autonomy, it allows for some localities (or the state government) to indirectly pawn off the bad end results of their own policies onto other localities, and those other localities having no recourse to deal with the problem or keep the problem out of their own neighborhoods that they didn't create.

In the case of Grants Pass, it sounds like it could be a combination of factors (some of which were out of their control, some of which was their own fault), so the latter doesn't completely apply.

For instance, there were a few Church-based orgs in that area that offered to step up and assist with their homeless population (which is estimated to be ~600-800 at any given time, in a city of under 40k people...that's a big number...to put it in perspective, Cleveland Ohio has around 1300 homeless in a city of 385k)

However, some people didn't like the stipulations they have in place (which were admittedly rigid and heavily religion-based.) and even started petitions targeting them, however, with regards to private charity, beggars can't be choosers as the saying goes, and if the city & state government aren't addressing the problem, and church-based organizations are willing to house ~200 (the church groups got together and purchased a few building that, combined, could sleep 200 people) of their 600 homeless, it's their prerogative if they want to have rules like "no alcohol or drug use, no sex out of wedlock, and no homosexual activity"
--obviously those aren't the kinds of stipulations I'd put on charity if it was my money, but it's their money, and if the city's not doing anything about it, unless someone else is willing to put their money where their mouth is, they can't really throw stones.

The Texas National Guard has seized control of a public park located near the southern border between the United States and Mexico, marking a new step in the state’s ongoing fight with the Biden administration over border policies.

According to Bill Melugin, a Fox News reporter, the Texas Military Department confirmed that the National Guard took control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas, this week and began restricting federal officials from accessing the park. The Texas Military Department claimed federal immigration authorities “perpetuate illegal crossings” at the southern border.
Melguin reported that Texas set up fences and razor wire at Shelby Park to “block the area off from the public and federal government.” The Texas National Guard’s move comes as the Biden administration has engaged in efforts to remove the state’s barbed wire in the area that was put up to reduce illegal border crossings.


Before responding to this thread, I ask that you all please read the entirety of the rest of this article. Thank you.

This website, fivethirtyeight.com uses an amalgamation of at least 8 different polling companies while also charting the results of these combined polls from January 23, 2021 through January 12, 2024.

test

I need prayers please. to give some context, I am a married stay-at-home-mom of two precious little boys (ages 1 and 3 years). I am also working on my Master's program online and homeschool my 3 year old (my double-major bachelors is in Education and Child Development, so I like teaching). My husband works from home and we also have a dog. I am feeling so overwhelmed, stressed out, frustrated, and anxious most of the day. I feel like im turning into a grumpy negative person and I feel hopeless sometimes, although I do know that eventually life will get easier. jsut when things start to chill out, somethign happens that adds a new spin and more responsibilities when i felt like i literally could not take any more stress. my dog had some issues with infections and skin and the vet says i have to two give her two different pills, i have to spray her auxilary areas with some spray two times daily which comes with its own stressors..., plus give her a bath twice a week... so, JUST the dog adds a bunch of stress. all her stuff is about half way done. i got like another two weeks of all of it. so, there is hope with that. the other thing is just the normal basic stressors that come with taking care of a 18-month-old who is very needy, and a 3 year old who is very talkative, constantly needing an answer to all his questions about everything. I love my kids they really are the best, its just their developmental ages that are hard it themselves and along with how im feeling, its a lot more stressful than it would be if i werent going thru everything else. so, everything else is: my marriage... we love eachother, no infidelity, no violence, we love eachother a lot, but its very up and down. we both have a lot of trauma from our pasts that affect our relationship with eachother. I have a disorganized attachment from childhood where my emotion needs were not met and if i just sense that he doesnt like it me it makes me super needy and beg him to "just love me" but even when he tells me he loves me i think he doesnt... its a mess and im aware of it. it is just this push and pull thing that happens with disorganized attachemnt. our marriage problems are more like personal problems that dont go well together. we started marriage counseling about a month ago and its going great, so there is also light at the end of that tunnel, too. the stress of the kids puts a strain on both of us, so as they get older, life will get a little easier there too. the other stressor, my masters program. i wake up at 5 am every day to do my work and im supposed to get a break when my husband gets out of work at 4:30, but he rarely gets out at that time. i dont blame him, his job just keep him held there sometimes (he works in IT security). i used to get really mad at him and blame him for getting out late, but we found out he has ADHD and now he takes adderoll which helps a lot with him getting out sooner, but sometimes he just has to stay longer doing things. I dont blame hiim anymore for geting out late, i mean, at least on the surface i dont out-right blame him for getting out late. anyway, the problem is that when he gets out late, everything gets delayed and before i know it, the day is done and i never got a break. I do my son's homeschooling (which is about 45 mins-1 hr) right when my husband gets out of work because i cant do it while my 1 year old is awake or else there is constant interruption and we cant focus. so, after homeschooling, i make dinner at 5:30, kids eat at 6 and i can have my break from 6-7 and then my husband gets a break from 7-8pm, and then we do the kids' bath routine together and finally by 9-9:30ish the kids are both asleep. For my break, i really try to balance out my life like include exercise, and hobbies liek playing guitar, singing, (i write christian songs), or journaling, reading the bible.. i try not to hyperfocus on only my schoolwork or else it becomes an idol and im very mindful of that. so, you can see that when my husband gets out at 5:30 or 6pm, for example, the homeschooling is delayed, dinner is delayed, and both our breaks get cut into and we dont get breaks. our breaks are really important to us because that is our time to just be away from all the screaming and neediness of the kids and home responsibilities like cleaning, organizing, and to just like renew our minds, mediate, pray, deep breatheing, anything to just lower the stress and anxiety. so, i have been super stressed lately because idk whats going on with my husband's work, but hes been getting out late almost everyday and so i havent had a break or time for myself in like a week. i do have their nap time, which gives me about two hours of which i use to either do school work, study the bible, or do lesson planning for my son's homeschooling. SO, as. you can see, everythign is just jam packed. I am always working, cooking, cleaning, laundry, organizing... and there are so many annoying things like stepping on toys and hurting my feet, picking up spills, my baby throwing his food off the highschair, my kids playing too rough getting hurt and crying, not being able to go to the bathroom without hearing BOTH my kids screaming "MAMAAAA MAMAAAA MAMAAA..." sometimes its humerous, but when im feelings as stressed out as I am, even something like this little thing really makes me want to just break down and cry because I just need space and time alone and in quiet so bad. I also have pretty much no friends, except my one best friend but she lives in another state, i havent seen her in years and we talk about once a week thru text. all my other friendships are just mere aquantainses, people from church or neighbors and everything is so surface like "how are you?? ohhhh great!! have a GREAT day! " like everything just seems like I have to pretend everything is perfect all the time. its like when the cashier says "hi, how are you?" they are not literally asking for your feelings, they expect a "I'm well thank you how about yourself?" with a big smile. that is how all my acquaintances relationships are. I tried making friends, but I have a hard time because I get social anxiety and worry too much about what the person is thinking of me. this is just another part of my anxiety disorder i guess. i considered taking medication for the anxiety, but I am scared of taking medications. i deal with health anxiety, as known as hypochondria. its been under control cuz i got counseling for it which helped a lot but it still surfaces here and there and when i think of taking meds, it just scares me that i would have a bad allergic reaction to it or something. i know its irrational, but my mind just gets scared and I cant help it. anyways, i don't really want to take meds. i want to learn to cope. i honestly think that if i had time for regular exercise (which is a BIG need for me, because I love exercising like running, walking, jogging outside), time for journaling, meditating, a genuine friendship (where I can feel heard and understood and also be there for the other person and it can be a reciprocal meaningful and REAL), and time for hobbies, I think that I would be better able to handle the stressors of my life that are normal and manageable like the kids and home responsibilities. The problem is that i cant find the TIME for these things and its really affecting me. i have no answer right now and i've been praying a lot and beggin God to help me and He has been and is very good to me because i know things can be so much worse and one day i will be with him in heaven and all this pain will go away. but right now, im just hurting.. i feel irritable, angry, bitter, depressed, anxious, scared, and all these terrible feelings and no time to deal with them while the stress of the day piles on and piles on from morning to night and day after day. If you made it this far in reading this, may God BLESS you and i never say that without meaning it with all my heart. if you read all of this, I appreciate it more than you can imagine. being heard and understood goes so far with me and just feeling like im not alone in all this helps me a lot. knowing that others are in the same boat also helps, so if you can relate in any way, PLEASE share. Thank you so much, and please pray for my mental wellbeing and emotions and that my faith in the Lord can grow and I can be more like Jesus. Thank you all my brothers and sisters. Hope to hear from you! yes, you! (sorry for all the typos)

-Chi Chi

Trying to cut out the sweets from your diet? Experts say there's only really one effective way to go. Here's how it works ...

We all know it by now—sugar just isn’t good for our bodies. (Added sugar, that is; natural sugars like the ones that occur in fruits and vegetables are perfectly healthy.) And yet … plenty of Americans are dependent on excess amounts of sugar, consuming it every day, often compulsively.

One 2009 study estimated that the average American consumes about 22 teaspoons of added sugar each day. That’s well over the amount recommended by the American Heart Association, which specifies that women should consume no more than 100 calories or 6 teaspoons of sugar per day (for men, it’s 150 calories or 9 teaspoons). Sure, we know we probably shouldn’t eat that bowl of ice cream after dinner or hit up the vending machine for a pick-me-up between lunch and quitting time, but so many of us are, quite literally, addicted to sugar.

Continued below.

Hi all,

This post is directed at Orthodox believers. I am a newly baptized Eastern Orthodox Christian. I came into the church last Sunday on the feast of the Nativity (old cal). I was most recently RC for 2 years before becoming Orthodox, and Protestant (Reformed & Anglican) before that.

I am looking for recommendations for daily and "in-the-moment" practices for managing anxiety and depression. My spiritual father has given me some resources and I have a book on battling depression with quotes from the fathers. I am endeavoring to pray morning and evening prayers daily as well as pray the Jesus prayer when I have moments that don't require my full attention.

1. The situation that prompted my question was something I've experienced regularly for most of my life. I will be fine and then suddenly not. Nothing is wrong, I just feel what I would describe as melancholy. I will feel some kind of sad, down, etc. It doesn't last, but does stick around for some time. I do my best to get through it (distract myself, pray if I can, quote scripture, say the Jesus prayer, etc).

2. The other aspect I would appreciate advice for would be what I call collected anxiety. I'm somewhat introverted, but have a job where I need to service end users quite often. When I get to the end of the day, I'm pretty drained and need to be very careful when I get home to listen and be patient to my kiddos. I can usually pull it off, but it requires a lot of effort. Advice appreciated.

FYI I am prescribed a low dose SSRI, which does help. It helps the general anxiety.

Thanks for any advice and encouragement you can offer.

Regards,
Mark (Mark Eugenikos)

Daniel 11:36 - 45 talks about the end times king. Yet in verse 40 it says that the "king of the north" comes against him.

And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

So if the king of the north (and the king of the south) come against him, should we really be worried about a one world government with one man ruling over it as many believe? Seems to me that never comes to pass in the end times. Just want to hear how others see that?

If India "torpedoed" into the Asian continent at the rate of 2cm/year, forming the Himalayan Mountains, where out in the ocean was India's starting point, and how did scientists ascertain it?

Please note: I want an exact starting point in the ocean where India began its journey, as I'm using this challenge to point out that science chisels and force-fits their data to get the results they're looking for.

It may take several tries, a computer, and several moments of "back to the drawing board" to force their conclusions to agree with other scientific disciplines (such as astronomy), but with the aid of computers it can be done.

So please tell me:

Where exactly was India's starting point, according to current models?

The accelerated forgiveness drew fire from Republicans, who called it an attempt to win voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election. North Carolina Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx, chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said it will “dump even more kerosene on an already raging student debt fire.”

Sure enough, Joe has decided he knows what is best for the country (really best for Joe). He and his people will not let the Supreme Court get in their way.

Is it important to God that Christians keep the Law, as this is a question which many false ideas and beliefs have created confusion for many Christians. Now, if the works of the law cannot save a person, is it therefore necessary to keep the law? Paul hits on this in Romans 6..

Romans 6:1-2
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

In other words, does grace give us a license to disobey the law of God? And we see his answer, 'God forbid.' especially if we ' that are dead to sin'. And if we look we find many ways that Christians try to invent their own definitions which allow or condone lawbreaking. The Bible says sin is violating the Ten Commandments, the law which has been described as done away with or abolished or not applying to Christians. Is this true or are the moral precepts just as needed today as they were when God wrote them on the tables of stone. If you think about it, nothing has happened to make them less binding than they were when God gave them. In fact, scripture shows that Jesus came to magnify the law and to open up its spiritual meaning and application, making it more comprehensive than the legalistic Pharisees ever imagined. From Christ's perfect life of obedience, we can see the spiritual essence of keeping the law which many wouldn't recognize, nor made possible apart from Him.

Even though the law points out sin, it has no power to save from sin. There is no justifying, cleansing grace in it. All the works of all the laws would not be sufficient to save a single soul, for the simple reason that we are saved by grace through faith, as a free gift.

Romans 3:20
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

The law was not made for the purpose of saving or justifying. It was made to show us the 'knowledge of sin' and our need of cleansing and to point us to the great source of cleansing, Jesus Christ. And it also tells us...
James 1:23-25
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

I'm asking for prayer for Israel that no weapon form against Israel would prosper and every tongue that rises up against Israel in judgement be condemned. I'm asking for prayer that the Lord would stop Hamas and those that would want to see Israel destroyed from attacking them and He would bring peace in this situation and defend Israel from it's enemies. Thank you for all of your prayer.

That when a woman's water breaks before birth is the 1st baptism. This from a ministers serman on TBN. Any comments?

The Scriptures talk much on the subject of love for God and love for our fellow humans, so that is a subject that we will find repeated much throughout the Scriptures. Most references to “love” in the New Testament, I believe, are to agape love, which means to prefer what God prefers, such as preferring to live through Christ and to embrace God’s will, choosing his choices, and obeying them in his power, strength, and wisdom. It means we are actively doing what God prefers and not what our flesh dictates.

So when we love God and other humans with this kind of love we will not lie to, cheat on, trick, manipulate, and/or betray other humans. We will not be malicious and spiteful toward them. We will not do evil things against them for the sole purpose to do them harm. But we will be kind, thoughtful, considerate, and compassionate towards them. We will act towards them in ways which are holy, righteous, morally pure, honest, faithful and obedient to our Lord. And we will speak the truth in love to them, too, and not lies.


When we believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, we enter into a marriage covenant with him, but not on a physical level, like between humans, but on a spiritual level. Jesus Christ becomes our husband, and we who believe in him, both male and female, become his bride. But it is like the Jewish marriage of the Bible where the bride and groom signed a marriage covenant but did not consummate the marriage until after the groom prepared a place for his bride and he came and took her to himself.

So it is with our relationship with Jesus Christ. And while we wait for him to return and to take his faithful bride to be with him for eternity, his grace instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. For Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works, the works God prepared in advance that we should walk in them (Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:10).

But many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ here in America did not ever enter into that covenant relationship with Jesus Christ, for they never died with Christ to their sins so that they could live to him and to his righteousness, but they continued on living in sin and for self, not in walks of obedience to our Lord in surrender to his will. And some who were of genuine faith in Jesus Christ have since fallen away from their pure devotion to him and they have embraced again the ways of this sinful world.

So this is a strong encouragement here for any who are not walking in faithful obedience to the Lord, but who have gotten spiritually lazy or who have fallen back into sin or whose faith was never genuine faith in the first place, to wake up spiritually and to get passionate about serving the Lord Jesus and about holy living and moral purity and honesty and integrity and faithfulness, etc. For our salvation now is nearer to us who believe in Jesus Christ than when we first believed. So what does that mean?

It means that our salvation is not this one-time decision we make in our lives to believe in Jesus and then we are good to go to heaven regardless of how we live. For the Scriptures teach our salvation as progressive. We are saved (past), we are being saved (present active), and we will be saved (future) when Jesus Christ returns for his faithful bride and he takes us to be with him for eternity, which is when our salvation will be complete, but provided that we continue in that walk of faith and obedience to the end.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Therefore, all who are participating in any way with the fruitless deeds of darkness are to cast them off. And even those who are not are to be dying daily to sin, by the Spirit. So it should be our daily practice to cast away from ourselves all that is of the flesh and that is immoral and sinful and disobedient to our Lord. We must daily reject the temptation to engage in any of these sins mentioned here, and others, too. And we need to put on the armor of God to fight off Satan’s evil schemes against us.

And daily we are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and to make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. And this takes commitment to the Lord and a desire to want to obey him and his commands, and it requires that we submit to the Lordship of Christ and that we surrender to his will and that we walk in obedience to his commands, in his power. And it necessitates us being students of the Scriptures so that we know what they teach so that we will do what they teach as our daily practice.

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

Login to view embedded media
Caution: This link may contain ads

Do you think a church / ministry / pastoral leadership that focuses more on the 99 instead of the 1
are doing it somewhat wrong or misguided?

Scriptures teaches us that Jesus (Shepherd) will go out for the 1 and leave the 99 and that shepherd
will be happier about the 1 than the 99 that didn't wander off.

If there is 1 person who is lost or troubled and the church / leadership doesn't leave the 99 (the church members)
to go out and seek for that 1 and bring him/her back, aren't they missing something? Seems like they
are not following the correct path/procedure of how to do ministry and be a "Shepherd" for your sheep.

These days I feel that churches are too focused on themselves and who is sitting in the pews. If they only focus
inwards and themselves, they do not reach out for those that have strayed or are lost, then what good are churches
for anyway? It's just about maintenance, taking care of your own yard, and not caring about what's going on
beyond your well-kept yard. Isn't church supposed to be the opposite? You would leave the 99 to go and seek
for the 1 and when the 1 is found and returns, you'll be much happier about that 1 than the 99 who stayed in the pews.

I am sure that there is a deeper theological sense to this question posed by an artist.

Login to view embedded media

Does the Bible actually speak against Racism ?

"No great nation has an uncontrolled border" Joe Biden 2007
I guess he doesn't want America Great... ever

Some people believe in literal tithing which is to give 10% of your income to God.
Some people believe it's not meant to be literally 10% but meaning simply to give to
God your best and be generous (give with a cheerful heart rather than giving disgruntled).

Then we have to define what does it mean to give to God? How do you give tithing to
God exactly? The church? Missions? Other charitable projects or recipients?

So here is a question I have specifically about giving "tithing" to your church.
Is there anything wrong with giving to your church in the form of "good works/generosity"
and not financially? So for example, let's say I don't want to give the church $200 a month
but I'd prefer to give them $80 a month and the other $120 I'll give to the church in the form
of paying it forward like taking people out for lunches/dinners, treating them with food,
snacks, gifts, and driving people to and from places so spending gas money and time etc.

Would you say this is acceptable form of tithing or do you think tithing should be specifically
monetary and then doing charitable acts is just bonus and out of your own good heart?

Also, I believe the leaders of the church who may be privy to members tithing stats, might
start to judge or develop a reputation around a person who is not tithing and even start
to condemn or resent them. I can sort of understand on the one hand, if you are a member
of a church and use their services such as sunday worship, snack/food time, events, programs
and you don't even give the church offering, you'd be like dead weight or "lazy welfare"
people who just eat up the systems resources without contributing or giving anything back.
In that sense, I can understand why some elders, leaders, (whoever is running the church) might
start to feel a little resentment towards you but may not say it directly because they are "christian"
and don't want to come off as being coercive and bullying.

At the same time, I think it's also a negative sign of a church that treats its members differently
based on how much they tithe or don't tithe. So you know that Johnny here is giving 100% of tithing
each week/month/year but Sally here is being cheap considering she makes good money.

Regardless of how much or how little you tithe, shouldn't a church not judge and treat you differently
because of it? Otherwise it seems like the church is just a business and cares more about your money
than they actually care about your soul.

If I don't trust or agree with the church's way of doing things but still want to be part of the church, isn't
fine for me to limit my monetary tithing and decide instead I'm going to give by doing things personally
for others in the church (lunch, dinner, drives, volunteering, etc.)?

What do you think?