THE BMIC BLAST NOVEMBER 2025
Showing posts with label the Christian life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the Christian life. Show all posts
Thursday, November 20, 2025
Friday, August 20, 2021
WHAT DOES ONE'S "CALLING MEAN"?
There is a general misunderstand of what our "vocation" or "calling" is in life. In the old days, pre- Reformation, a vocation was only a religious calling where someone would take a vow of some sort, go join and monastery and live a secluded life until his/her days were up.
The Reformation changed all of that and Martin Luther among others expounded on what the Christian life is and the many attributes of one's calling in life.
Text-(Matthew 25:14-30)
Parable of the Talents
14 “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. 16 The one who had received the five talents immediately went and did business with them, and earned five more talents. 17 In the same way the one who had received the two talents earned two more. 18 But he who received the one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground, and hid his Master’s money.
19 “Now after a long time the master of those slaves *came and *settled accounts with them. 20 The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have earned five more talents.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’
22 “Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have earned two more talents.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’
24 “Now the one who had received the one talent also came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed. 25 And I was afraid, so I went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you still have what is yours.’
26 “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You worthless, lazy slave! Did you know that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter seed? 27 Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. 28 Therefore: take the talent away from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’
29 “For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. 30 And throw the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved
Saturday, March 20, 2021
CONSIDER THIS: PRESENCE
"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore….Psalm 16:11
CONSIDER THIS: You know what blows a person away, the very first thing in the morning? It is waking up with the words “Coram Deo” in your mind and spirit after having a vivid dream about those two words several hours before! Coram Deo basically means to live your Christian life or walk IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD! AND you know what? In His Presence – He says in Psalm 16:11 “THERE IS FULLNESS OF JOY”! How do we LIVE in the very Presence of God, while on earth? We make sure we’re first saved. But more importantly, we love Him with every fiber of our being and SEEK HIM daily through prayer, conversation with Him, reading about Him, talking about Him.
ACTION: So today, make a conscious effort to see and lead others to experience His Presence by seasoning at least 30% of your day sharing about the Goodness of God. He loves you, or you would never be allowed in His Presence. So – talk about Him, shout His Name – from the rooftop if you have to! No matter how cold it is outside, if you’re driving to the store or anywhere, look around at the snow covered hills and frozen lakes and plains and marvel that you and I get to literally LIVE in His world and be a part of His Kingdom!! In other words, Love the Lord Your God -> 24/7.
Oh most Wonderful Father in Heaven, to You be all praise, glory, honor, wisdom, majesty and more. You are Sovereign and rule over all. You cause the winds to blow, the climate to change, the world to spin on its axis and the stars to shine by night. Where can I go and You are not there. Lord, on this day, a gift You, in Your loving grace and love for humanity, has given, I choose to love You with all my heart, mind, body and soul. Lord, above all, we who draw closer see things, know things and experience a new birth of freedom in Christ which we could have ever imagined possible, when we first started this journey. So Heavenly Father, thank You for allowing sinners such as I to live in Your Kingdom and delight in the Fullness of Your Presence, for the unspeakable joy that it brings us daily, and may it be so forever more, in Jesus’ Name amen.
Saturday, April 14, 2018
LUKE 3:16 - "EVANGELISM 101 BY JOHN THE BAPTIST"
Any believer in the one True God will know that He is not only His best Evangelist but also the very First One. He says in Exodus 9:16 “But for this purpose, I have raised you up. I show you My Power, so that My Name may be proclaimed in all the earth”. Jesus, the Son of God Himself, was clear in Mark 16:15 when He says “Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel”.
The great Scottish missionary Robert Moffat (1795-1883) said these immortal words, which inspired his son-in-law David Livingston “In the vast plains to the north, I have sometimes seen, in the morning sun, the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been”. These words had a profound impact on Dr. Livingston, who blazed a trail for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in darkest Africa.
These men – Moffat and Livingston – operated with the same urgency as Yochanan the Immerser (or John the Baptist), the final Old Testament prophet. The first half of the Gospel of Luke, chapter 3, contains a detailed and dedicated account of the greatest evangelist in the Bible, after the Lord Jesus. The methodology of this passionate man of God is a thing to behold, thereby becoming a blueprint for us to know the basics of evangelizing.
MISSION STATEMENT:
Luke 3:3 gives us John the Baptist’s mission statement “…and he came into all the district around Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”.
DIRECTIVE:
God Himself had prophesied through Isaiah that He was sending John to pave the way for the soon coming Messiah – John’s actual earthly cousin (in verse 4). Here is what the Lord called John, who is called “the voice of one crying in the wilderness”. His assignment came directly from heaven, which he declared with powerful proclamations. These are his orders from our Heavenly Father. God the Father gave these orders 700 years before, in Isaiah 40:3-5:
- Make ready the Way of the Lord
- Make His paths straight
- Humble the proud and exhort the humble (every ravine will be filled every mountain and hill will be brought low)
- Reveal the crooked and depravity of mankind that they may face up to their sins
- Explain the rough roads and narrow gates will lead to smoother, greener pastures
- Do all of this (repentance, faith, and baptism) that “all flesh will see the salvation of God”
METHODOLOGY:
John used varying degrees of heat to apply the board of divine education of their spiritual condition, to the seats of their knowledge. He was quick to call out those who claimed to represent God because of their position in the temples and synagogues of the Land
NARRATIVE:
John understood his role and mission here during his brief time on earth. He was almost the exact age of Jesus but full of the Spirit of God. His extremely humble lifestyle (clothed in rugged natural clothes), with a menu of locusts and honey, was indeed reflective of simple Savor Himself – the Lord Jesus! John’s lifestyle and integrity gave him immediate credibility when God unleashed his fiery ministry in the desert!
Consider this – the desert was quite some miles on foot, or donkey – from Jerusalem and its surrounding towns like Bethany and even Bethlehem. When this Duck Dynasty looking man, with the beard and “desert -styled” hair started preaching, many recognized that he was a significant prophet of God! The reason is that there had not been a prophet of the Holy One of Israel for over 400 years since God shut the windows of Heaven with the closure of Malachi’s ministry. Malachi was the final prophetic book of the Old Testament.
John completely sold out to his mission. He was fearless and let the Truth fly, as God revealed it to Him.
He let fly with what some may term the “Doctrines of Grace”, but with power, conviction and a knife straight to the heart of sin! Listen to some of the words he chose carefully:
- You brood of vipers (religious hypocrites and fake “believers”). (Why do you wish) to flee the coming Wrath of God (the coming Judgment of all people)
- Produce fruit in keeping with Repentance (stay humble, seek forgiveness from God)
- Don’t believe because you are children of Abraham, you are saved (God has NO grandchildren)
- The ax is at the root of (your) tree and one that doesn’t produce will become firewood! (This is the gist of Luke 3:7).
Note that in his modus operandi of in-your-face evangelism, he was very explicit about the sinful nature and total depravity of man. This really got their attention because they stayed and listened to him. First of all, they had to be more than interested in just who this eccentric prophet was. They walked miles through the desert to the various deep pools of water, where John was baptizing after the converts made declarations of Faith. (John kept moving to different rivers depending on where he could find good amounts of water).
Cut to the quick, some of the new converts, once getting on the same page as John, now sought to sincerely seek how to live and bear “fruit”. This is called Sanctification. This fruit of repentance of which the Baptist spoke is no different from what the Apostle Paul taught in Galatians 5:22-23. Paul had spent three years in the Arabian desert being taught directly by Jesus Christ after his dramatic conversion on the Road to Damascus. Therefore, he knew, with precision, what the fruits of the Spirit were.
The fruit of a forgiven and converted person are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are no different from what John the Baptist taught, as a voice, crying out to the lost in the Judean Desert. Basically, he was saying….and it is still true….that “they shall know you by your fruit”. In all of the above-mentioned, John the Baptist became the first New Testament Evangelist, in addition to the final Old Testament prophet! All of this occurred in his early 30’s.
APPLIED:
Luke 3:16 fulfills the zenith of the John the Baptist’s main prophesy, and where the fullness of Jesus the Lord’s mission of earth comes completely into view:
- The One Who comes (and is now, here) is most Powerful
- This Powerful Supreme Being is overall, and even I, John the Prophet, am not even fit to be in the same room as Him or even tied His shoes. This Person is a King of which no word or action is comparable
- The King Who is coming is not here to baptize people with natural water. This is a topical testimonial of This is the job of mortal men. This King’s baptism is the Holy Spirit and "fire" (as Luke 3:16 indicates).
Knowing this, we have, who are called by His Name, have two choices. We can work for the King or sit back in the back row of the church of life, and do nothing. We can inspire our children, friends, family and the gas station clerk to be better and find peace, joy, and be healed with Jesus, or we can do nothing. We can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us, but if we do not recognize and grow in this strength and power, we are just barely going to squeak into heaven.
If your neighbor's house were on fire, you would warn him/her and call the Fire Department. Christians know instinctively there is pending doom. The Holy Spirit and the Fire of God are in sync with our spirit to place that fact of eternity in our hearts. We will be held to account by the Father if, when presented with an opportunity to help someone in distress find God, we pull a Jonah and bolt in the other direction. The difference between modern western Christians and Jonah is this - Jonah actually stayed around Nineveh (now called Mosul) after we read of him and his book cuts off in Jonah 4. He taught about Yahweh, lived in the area, died and was buried in Nineveh. We know this because when the Islamic State took over Mosul a few years ago, one of the first things they went after to destroy, was the tomb of - guess who - the Jewish prophet Jonah. Jonah complained, but he did the right thing. Today, church people complain...and the majority do nothing.
Let this not be said of us. In the same beautiful journal, of which we spoke in Matthew 3:16, we recommend the following:
- Go to Galatians 5:22-23.
- Write down one fruit of the Spirit per day. Then, take the first one - love - and do some soul-searching.
- With the first Fruit of the Spirit, Love, write down what your love for God means, in Jesus Christ. Be honest, and also write down where you think you need to do more work in loving God.
- Write down where you are at with your love for your family, and other people. How is your love for the lost and hurting? Write it down. Are you cold and need to show some TLC (tender loving care) in that area? Write that down....and so on.
- This first fruit (love) is probably the most important because how you view Love affects all the other fruits. If you and I love God and the Bible and Jesus and honor the Holy Ghost, we will be so much at peace that the joy will overflow and people will see it on our faces, all the time. Because of that peace, we are patient with others, because we LOVE (agape) them...and so on.
- Do the same exercise with EVERY single fruit of the Spirit in your journal. For instance, if you are troubled over something, journal it, with the question "why am I not at peace?" Then go to the concordance at the back of your good Study Bible or most any bible, and research the word "peace". Or simply, "google" the words "peace in my soul..." or something similar. Then find the associated bible verses and instead of just writing down the verse number, journal the ENTIRE verse....or verses...and then watch God begin to transform your cares into a state of rest in His Promises and care.
This is a major assignment and all flows from the Gift of our Salvation, from the One Whom John the Baptist said, will fill us with the Holy Spirit and fire. This One's Name is - Jesus, the Messiah.
- Make ready the Way of the Lord
- Make His paths straight
- Humble the proud and exhort the humble (every ravine will be filled every mountain and hill will be brought low)
- Reveal the crooked and depravity of mankind that they may face up to their sins
- Explain the rough roads and narrow gates will lead to smoother, greener pastures
- Do all of this (repentance, faith, and baptism) that “all flesh will see the salvation of God”
METHODOLOGY:
John used varying degrees of heat to apply the board of divine education of their spiritual condition, to the seats of their knowledge. He was quick to call out those who claimed to represent God because of their position in the temples and synagogues of the Land
NARRATIVE:
Consider this – the desert was quite some miles on foot, or donkey – from Jerusalem and its surrounding towns like Bethany and even Bethlehem. When this Duck Dynasty looking man, with the beard and “desert -styled” hair started preaching, many recognized that he was a significant prophet of God! The reason is that there had not been a prophet of the Holy One of Israel for over 400 years since God shut the windows of Heaven with the closure of Malachi’s ministry. Malachi was the final prophetic book of the Old Testament.
John completely sold out to his mission. He was fearless and let the Truth fly, as God revealed it to Him.
He let fly with what some may term the “Doctrines of Grace”, but with power, conviction and a knife straight to the heart of sin! Listen to some of the words he chose carefully:
- You brood of vipers (religious hypocrites and fake “believers”). (Why do you wish) to flee the coming Wrath of God (the coming Judgment of all people)
- Produce fruit in keeping with Repentance (stay humble, seek forgiveness from God)
- Don’t believe because you are children of Abraham, you are saved (God has NO grandchildren)
- The ax is at the root of (your) tree and one that doesn’t produce will become firewood! (This is the gist of Luke 3:7).
Cut to the quick, some of the new converts, once getting on the same page as John, now sought to sincerely seek how to live and bear “fruit”. This is called Sanctification. This fruit of repentance of which the Baptist spoke is no different from what the Apostle Paul taught in Galatians 5:22-23. Paul had spent three years in the Arabian desert being taught directly by Jesus Christ after his dramatic conversion on the Road to Damascus. Therefore, he knew, with precision, what the fruits of the Spirit were.
The fruit of a forgiven and converted person are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are no different from what John the Baptist taught, as a voice, crying out to the lost in the Judean Desert. Basically, he was saying….and it is still true….that “they shall know you by your fruit”. In all of the above-mentioned, John the Baptist became the first New Testament Evangelist, in addition to the final Old Testament prophet! All of this occurred in his early 30’s.
APPLIED:
Luke 3:16 fulfills the zenith of the John the Baptist’s main prophesy, and where the fullness of Jesus the Lord’s mission of earth comes completely into view:
- The One Who comes (and is now, here) is most Powerful
- This Powerful Supreme Being is overall, and even I, John the Prophet, am not even fit to be in the same room as Him or even tied His shoes. This Person is a King of which no word or action is comparable
- The King Who is coming is not here to baptize people with natural water. This is a topical testimonial of This is the job of mortal men. This King’s baptism is the Holy Spirit and "fire" (as Luke 3:16 indicates).
Knowing this, we have, who are called by His Name, have two choices. We can work for the King or sit back in the back row of the church of life, and do nothing. We can inspire our children, friends, family and the gas station clerk to be better and find peace, joy, and be healed with Jesus, or we can do nothing. We can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us, but if we do not recognize and grow in this strength and power, we are just barely going to squeak into heaven.
If your neighbor's house were on fire, you would warn him/her and call the Fire Department. Christians know instinctively there is pending doom. The Holy Spirit and the Fire of God are in sync with our spirit to place that fact of eternity in our hearts. We will be held to account by the Father if, when presented with an opportunity to help someone in distress find God, we pull a Jonah and bolt in the other direction. The difference between modern western Christians and Jonah is this - Jonah actually stayed around Nineveh (now called Mosul) after we read of him and his book cuts off in Jonah 4. He taught about Yahweh, lived in the area, died and was buried in Nineveh. We know this because when the Islamic State took over Mosul a few years ago, one of the first things they went after to destroy, was the tomb of - guess who - the Jewish prophet Jonah. Jonah complained, but he did the right thing. Today, church people complain...and the majority do nothing.
Let this not be said of us. In the same beautiful journal, of which we spoke in Matthew 3:16, we recommend the following:
- Go to Galatians 5:22-23.
- Write down one fruit of the Spirit per day. Then, take the first one - love - and do some soul-searching.
- With the first Fruit of the Spirit, Love, write down what your love for God means, in Jesus Christ. Be honest, and also write down where you think you need to do more work in loving God.
- Write down where you are at with your love for your family, and other people. How is your love for the lost and hurting? Write it down. Are you cold and need to show some TLC (tender loving care) in that area? Write that down....and so on.
- This first fruit (love) is probably the most important because how you view Love affects all the other fruits. If you and I love God and the Bible and Jesus and honor the Holy Ghost, we will be so much at peace that the joy will overflow and people will see it on our faces, all the time. Because of that peace, we are patient with others, because we LOVE (agape) them...and so on.
- Do the same exercise with EVERY single fruit of the Spirit in your journal. For instance, if you are troubled over something, journal it, with the question "why am I not at peace?" Then go to the concordance at the back of your good Study Bible or most any bible, and research the word "peace". Or simply, "google" the words "peace in my soul..." or something similar. Then find the associated bible verses and instead of just writing down the verse number, journal the ENTIRE verse....or verses...and then watch God begin to transform your cares into a state of rest in His Promises and care.
This is a major assignment and all flows from the Gift of our Salvation, from the One Whom John the Baptist said, will fill us with the Holy Spirit and fire. This One's Name is - Jesus, the Messiah.
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
THE PRAYER OF MOSES - PART 10
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; and confirm for us the work of our hands; yes, confirm the work of our hands. (Psalm 90:16-17)
We have come to the end of this amazing prayer from Moses, the
humble man of God, the content which should lead us to dive headfirst into the Book of Ecclesiastes, to get the "rest of the story".
With stress, distress and lack of redress increasingly
unavailable even in western so-called civilized countries, what can the
Righteous (born-again Christians) to do? Sure the Righteous (or the Elect
or authentic Christians, if you wish, can pray. However with the virtual
non-existence of prayer meetings and even less prayer warriors in our churches,
how does the good Christian life even look?
The Foundations are being destroyed on purpose by leaders in
politics, the media, academia amidst passivity from the Church of Jesus Christ.
None of this should be a surprise to anyone who reads the Bible. The spirit of
Antichrist was in this world from the moment Christ won the Victory on the
Cross of Calvary. Daily, we see the evidence of the destruction caused by the
evil one – the prince and power of the Air. While he is literally on a short
leash, the destruction his demonic forces have caused to mankind is causing
great distress in the Body of Christ.
Oddly enough, this stress is heavier on Christians who live
safe, productive and wealthy (by comparison) lives in the west, where the kind
of persecution against Christians is not as vile, violent and intense. In
the persecuted lands, all our brothers and sisters in Christ have is complete
Faith. Their Faith and Trust in the Lord Jesus as Master and Savior is what
fuels them. Their very existence and eternity is fully dependent, moment by
moment on this earth on Him.
Still, the human condition is universal, even in degree. Christians in the post-Christian west need the same or even greater measure of the Power and Presence of the Lord to live daily. Verse 16 cries out for the Lord to give some kind of indication that He is with His people who are under duress, and that some sort of sign. We have to be careful here. Jesus criticized a “faithless generation, who only wanted signs and wonders”. There are certainly those. However, coming from such a hero of the Faith like Moses, who requested to see the Lord’s Glory and God let Moses see His back as He went by, this is a valid request.
The Lord Jesus WILL reveal Himself to those to whom He will
reveal Himself! All you have to do is remain committed and sold out and
surrendered to selflessly work in the piece of the Wall, which He placed before
us. I know that and several other ordinary people over time have had
these experiences.
Verse 17 wraps up this amazing prayer from the heart, which every Christian should pray. Moses seeks the approval of the Lord which will power him to succeed in his life’s work. Each woman of God should seek this. Each man or young person should do likewise. God says in return “show yourself approved (2 Timothy 2:15)” or “I (God) have qualified you, now stay the course of Faith and remain committed to My Word and Me. He is also saying, “do not seek the approval of men and their systems but cut a straight path to the Gospel of Truth and Love and I will give you rest, success and all My Best.
Verse 17 wraps up this amazing prayer from the heart, which every Christian should pray. Moses seeks the approval of the Lord which will power him to succeed in his life’s work. Each woman of God should seek this. Each man or young person should do likewise. God says in return “show yourself approved (2 Timothy 2:15)” or “I (God) have qualified you, now stay the course of Faith and remain committed to My Word and Me. He is also saying, “do not seek the approval of men and their systems but cut a straight path to the Gospel of Truth and Love and I will give you rest, success and all My Best.
What a way to end up this amazing prayer. The Blessings and Best of God are not dependent on the proportion of our work and faith to God as to whether are successful in this life or not. What remains constant and true over the millennia since this written is this: “God is no respecter of persons….and the rain falls evenly on the righteous and the unrighteous.” However remember, what He promises in Jeremiah 29:11-13: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart".
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