Why do Christians struggle with Jesus being the embodiment of truth and love?

chab123

When I read the Gospels, I see Jesus as the embodiment of truth and love. In other words, to attempt to divorce the two is to make Jesus into what we want him to be. Obviously, when we read John’s Gospel, Jesus, as the Word become flesh, is full of grace and truth (1:14), and is the source of grace and truth (1:17). In contrast to the woman at the well, who felt geographic location of worship was important, Jesus states that the issue is not whether one should worship God in Moriah or Gerizim, but rather one should worship in spirit and in truth. For John, truth is ultimately identified with, and is personified in the person of, Jesus. The ministry of John the Baptist is to bear witness to the truth (5:33).

Did Jesus try to show people thy’re wrong? 

To finish: https://chab123.wordpress.com/2021/07/30/why-do-christians-struggle-with-jesus-being-the-embodiment-of-truth-and-love-2/

10 Times When Prayer is Not Enough

By Chuck Lawless on Jul 27, 2021 01:00 am

First, a caveat. If you read this blog regularly, you know my commitment to prayer. So, I am in no way arguing that prayer is somehow ineffective or unnecessary. I simply want us to think about times when we need to do more than pray:

1. When we’re praying for someone to get saved, but we’ve made no attempt to share the gospel with that person. God is surely sovereign over salvation, but He uses us to tell the story.
2. When we’re praying for God to bring a wayward believer to return to God, but we’re not willing to confront that believer. Again, God calls us to help restore fallen brothers and sisters (Gal 6:1).
3. When we pray for God to provide financially for our church, but we’ve offered no stewardship training for our members. Why should God provide when we haven’t discipled?
4. When we’re asking God to free us from a controlling sin, but we keep putting ourselves in the same wrong place . . . with the same wrong people . . . at the same wrong time. Praying for freedom without also choosing wisely is lacking something. 
5. When we’re pleading with God to give us clarity about an issue, but we haven’t opened His Word on a regular basis in a long time. We shouldn’t expect God to answer this request when we ignore His primary means of speaking to us. 
6. When we’re asking God to show us His will, but we already know what we’re going to do regardless. This prayer is a bit superfluous when we’ve already decided what “will” we will follow. 

Read the rest: http://chucklawless.com/2021/07/10-times-when-prayer-is-not-enough/

Don’t Worship Wrongly!

David Jeremiah Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels. Colossians 2:18 What would you do if you encountered an angel from heaven? One would not be blamed for falling down, prostrate, before such a magnificent being. If one fell down out of fear, that would be understandable. But if one fell down in worship, that would not be appropriate. The apostle John discovered that when he bowed down to worship an angel in heaven and was reprimanded—twice.

John had seen a lot of “falling down” in heaven, specifically the four living creatures and the 24 elders worshiping before the throne of God. So when John himself encountered a mighty angel, he fell down at the angel’s feet to worship (Revelation 19:10; 22:8-9). But in both cases, the angel told John to stand up because “I am your fellow servant….Worship God.” This testimony could not be clearer: Angels are worshipers, like us. Multitudes of them circle around the throne of God and worship Him (Revelation 5:11-12). Angels are not to be worshiped. All of creation—in heaven and on earth—bows a knee before Jesus Christ and Him alone (Philippians 2:10). What or whom we worship determines our behavior. John Murray

Attitude Check Trinity!

Philippians 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

This is one of my favorite passages. I have a number of them for sure. Years ago I took this verse and created a favorite saying. Many of our readers have heard this saying numerous times and could quote it with me. It goes like this – Christianity Boils Down to Attitude. Years after coming up with this saying – I added the following – Christianity boils down to attitude – the condition and position of one’s heart. Now – I know full well that Christianity is all about God’s grace – that it is all about Christ’s life – death and resurrection. But – as we mentioned many times in teachings and in sermons – Christian maturity is all about the condition and position of the heart. Christian maturity is about doing – about walking out our faith – and this takes an attitude likened to the attitude of Jesus.

Read more: https://raymcdonald.wordpress.com/2021/07/29/attitude-check-trinity/

Glorying in God

A Broadcast with H.B. Charles Jr.

The study of doctrine should always produce doxology. The more we know of God, the more readily we should sing His praise. Today, H.B. Charles Jr. points our attention to a passage in Scripture that celebrates the wonder of God’s greatness.

LISTEN NOW

When We’re Tempted to Quit

James 1:2-12 ² My Christian brothers, you should be happy when you have all kinds of tests. ³ You know these prove your faith. It helps you not to give up. ⁴ Learn well how to wait so you will be strong and complete and in need of nothing.

⁵ If you do not have wisdom, ask God for it. He is always ready to give it to you and will never say you are wrong for asking. ⁶ You must have faith as you ask Him. You must not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like a wave which is pushed around by the sea. ⁷ Such a man will get nothing from the Lord. ⁸ The man who has two ways of thinking changes in everything he does.

⁹ A Christian brother who has few riches of this world should be happy for what he has. He is great in the eyes of God. ¹⁰ But a rich man should be happy even if he loses everything. He is like a flower that will die. ¹¹ The sun comes up with burning heat. The grass dries up and the flower falls off. It is no longer beautiful. The rich man will die also and all his riches will be gone. ¹² The man who does not give up when tests come is happy. After the test is over, he will receive the crown of life. God has promised this to those who love Him.

Have you ever thought, I can’t take this anymore or I give up? These phrases have the power to change the direction of our life. Let’s look at three things that could cause these sentiments.

1. Satan and his angels. Through their involvement, we can be tempted to stop waiting on God for solutions and instead seek our own way out. Or the enemy may try to redirect our focus away from Jesus and onto our negative emotions. If he can make us feel helpless and hopeless, then he is successfully distracting us from God.
2. The world. Ungodly people are always ready to give believers advice. We need God’s wisdom to set ourselves apart from their thinking and yet stay connected enough to share God’s message of hope with them.
3. Our own flesh. We have a tendency to do what feels good and benefits us, but God’s way is always best and the most fulfilling.

If you have ever wanted to give up, you’ve probably been influenced by one or more of these factors. But God has good purpose for the trials He allows in our life: They produce perseverance that helps to mature us as Christians. When we look at things from that perspective, we can actually “consider it all joy” to have struggles (James 1:2-4).

A Fresh Look at the Identity and Deity of Jesus

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKG5zqgSkUE&t=310s

Got a High Priest? (A Look at Hebrews 4:14-16) Part 2 29 JUL

https://larrydixon.wordpress.com/2021/07/29/got-a-high-priest-%E2%80%A8a-look-at-hebrews-414-16-part-2/

A Supernatural Birth

A Broadcast with Steven Lawson

Being born again does not mean turning over a new leaf; it is the gift of new life. Today, Steven Lawson explains how Scripture presents a Christian’s regeneration as a supernatural event wrought by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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The Corrupting Influence of Sin

Galatians 6:7-10 ⁷ Do not be fooled. You cannot fool God. A man will get back whatever he plants! ⁸ If a man does things to please his sinful old self, his soul will be lost. If a man does things to please the Holy Spirit, he will have life that lasts forever. ⁹ Do not let yourselves get tired of doing good. If we do not give up, we will get what is coming to us at the right time. ¹⁰ Because of this, we should do good to everyone. For sure, we should do good to those who belong to Christ.

It can be sobering to think about life as a field of our own planting, and what’s in our field is determined by the type of seed we have chosen to sow. What if we selected the wrong “seed” but don’t realize it until years later, when we’re standing in a field filled with mature “plants” that are causing us pain and difficulty?

In this agricultural analogy of sowing and reaping, there are only two types of seeds—those that originate from our sinful desires and those that originate from the Spirit. The first kind of seed produces sin and corrupts our character, but the second kind produces Christlike qualities associated with eternal life.

Sowing and reaping is a principle we cannot change; it’s a reality of how our world works. The attitudes and actions we sow now will produce more of the same later, so what will we choose to plant? If we let sinful qualities take root, they will in time characterize our whole life (¹⁹ The things your sinful old self wants to do are: sex sins, sinful desires, wild living, ²⁰ worshiping false gods, witchcraft, hating, fighting, being jealous, being angry, arguing, dividing into little groups and thinking the other groups are wrong, false teaching, ²¹ wanting something someone else has, killing other people, using strong drink, wild parties, and all things like these. I told you before and I am telling you again that those who do these things will have no place in the holy nation of God. Gal. 5:19-21). The good news is that we can always change seeds. If we want a life that others see as a godly harvest, then we must plant the Spirit’s seeds and lean on Him to cultivate His fruit (²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Gal. 5:22-23).