Author: imikemedia

IN A TIME of crumbling traditions and values, in a day of dangerous streets and collapsing homes, people long for stability and hope.

They need to catch a glimpse of the powerful High Kings who loves them.  And the King wants His knight-companions at His side.

In the movie Glory, one scene portrays a Union regiment of freed slaves, the 54th Massachusetts, sitting around a campfire on the night before the big battle.

The fire crackles, the cicadas chirp, and several of the men hum a spiritual in union as they clean their rifles.  They know that on the morrow their lives will be on the line, and they must seize the day.

One soldier looks up from the fire at his fellows, willing them to give him eye contact.

He says, “We men, ain’t we?”

That says it all, doesn’t it?

We’re men.

Men.

We’ll face the danger.

We’ll take the risks.

We’ll absorb the pain.

We’ll square our shoulders and–for the sake of heaven–we’ll look death and hell square in the eyes.

And it will be this generation that gets it done.

You and me.

To paraphrase Churchill, when masculinity has endured a thousand more years, may they say that this day was among its finest hours.

Listen to the apostle’s battle cry: “The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand.  Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12).

Stu Weber, All The King’s Men, “Rusty Knights in a Hostile Land,” 52

THINK CAREFULLY ABOUT the following question please.

Is there ever a time—in all of the Bible—when God confined salvation—to just ONE location?

Let’s explore this together with an open mind and open Bible (cf. Acts 17:11).

Please read the following chapter and then answer the questions listed below—Exodus 12:

• WHAT was God going to do to the land of Egypt? v. 12

• WHERE exactly were the children of Israel to be on the night of the first Passover? v. 22

• HOW were the children of Israel to prepare for the Passover? vv. 3-11

• WHERE exactly was salvation found on this first Passover? vv. 22-23

• WHAT would happen to anyone who left their house on the night of the first Passover? vv. 22

• WHO died/perished on the night of the first Passover? vv. 29-30

• WHAT did God do when He saw the lamb’s blood on the door posts and lintel of each house? vv. 11, 13, 23

• WHAT IF an Egyptian had watched Moses and the Israelites as they placed lamb’s blood on their door posts and lintels and this individual asked, “Moses, do you think you and the rest of the Israelites are the only ones who are going to be saved (or spared) in Egypt tonight?” WHAT would/could Moses have said?

• WOULD it have been arrogant for Moses to tell the Egyptian that salvation was confined to just one place (i.e., inside the house)? Would it have been wrong or unloving for Moses to tell the Egyptian that “God told me that salvation was found only in the house?”  (Explain your answer).

• If it was neither arrogant, wrong, nor unloving, for Moses to tell an Egyptian that salvation was confined to just one place (i.e., the house) back at the first Passover, would it be arrogant, wrong, or unloving for a Christian to say that “God tells us through His Word that salvation is found only in one place (i.e., the church) today? 1 Tim. 3:15; Mat. 16:13-18; Acts 2:47; 20:28; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4; Col. 1:18

^{17 “}For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, ¹⁸ while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”  2 Cor. 4:17-18

ASK THE QUESTION, What is the essence of sin?

At the very heart of sin is self.

Sin is “me” versus “you”  or “you” versus “me” or “we” versus “them,” and so forth.

David had sinned against Bathsheba, her husband, his family, and the nation, but above all others he had sinned against God.

But perhaps you are saying to yourself, “I was under the impression that unbelief was the essence of sin.”

What is unbelief but self versus God?

God speaks, and in unbelief you do not obey.

God ordains, and in unbelief you protest.

God loves, and in unbelief you insist that no one loves you.

Self is more important to the unbeliever than God.

The unbeliever would sooner trust himself than the God who created him.

All sin is against somebody.

Sins are often against more than one but never less than one.

Without any exception, all sin is against God, and in most instances of sin there is at least one person who is sinned against.

Perhaps you wish to dispute this point.

You acknowledge that there are sins which are obviously against others, like David’s sins of adultery and murder.

But you can think of sins which are purely private and personal, sins like secret thoughts of greed, lust, and hostility.

Maybe you argue, “No one is hurt by my private thoughts.

I admit that I have these secret thoughts and perhaps they are sinful, but thy don’t affect anyone else.

Nobody knows about them.”

But I ask, “Are you a wife and a mother?”

“Well, yes, I am both.”

“Don’t try to convince me that those secret sins are against nobody.  They are against your husband and your children.”

You say, “No, no, no, they are not the type where I do something; it is just that I think things that are wrong.”

Oh yes, but in thinking things that are wrong, you rob yourself of being the person that God has called you to be, and therefore you rob your children of a godly mother and your husband of a godly wife.

So you have sinned against your husband and against your children even in your secret imagination.

Are you a husband, a father, a brother, a sister, a son, a daughter, an uncle, an aunt?

Whatever your relationship with others, it is damaged by your secret sins.

If you will get down on your knees before God and pray this through, you will see that it is nonsense to think of sin as purely personal.  Guest Editorialist:  Richard Owen Roberts, Repentance – The First Word of the Gospel, 128-129

“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

“God loves you and I love you and that’s the way it’s gonna be!”–Mike