The Temporary nature of our Suffering.

What holds most people in bondage while they are suffering is the lack of faith that their suffering will someday end. It is fear, and this is justifiable because when we lack clarity, we lack peace of mind. It is the fear of suffering and the fear some experience in suffering that fails to help us see the temporary nature of all suffering for those who have faith. Trying to understand why we suffer sometimes doesn't help, there is that saying that there is always light at the end of the tunnel, and that is why we can hope. In 1 Peter 5:10 it reads, "And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." Peter reminds the church that we are not in heaven yet, he tells the church to humble themselves and to cast their anxieties on Jesus. He knows that while we are still here we will suffer but promises them that God himself will strengthen them through their trials.

We can take the same comfort that the early church took, knowing that most suffering is temporary. If our suffering leads to death, one day we will be resurrected. If we have to endure trials, we don't endure them alone, God is with us! One day when the Lord redeems this world, which can be a cause of our suffering, we will be redeemed along with it if we are trusting Christ now for salvation. We might think that we are under a curse, but that is not what it says in Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”). The reason Christ died for us is so that we could be made right in God sight. We don't have to keep the law, Jesus' death redeemed us from the curse of the law, so that anyone who has faith in Jesus can be saved!

All the law does is show us that we are sinners, and we can't save ourselves. It is through the death of the Messiah that we can have our sins forgiven. He was perfect, and he kept the law for us perfectly,so we just need to believe, and we need to believe that some real day our suffering will end. How this will happen is a mystery to be embraced by faith, suffering is real, and yes there are ways we can avoid it. However when we can't avoid it, we can embrace it through faith. We can unite our sufferings with Jesus, and offer it up to God. In this way it can become redemptive, something God uses in our lives to bring us closer to the Lord. This is Mike.

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On Christian Marriage. (Short)

On Christian Marriage. (Short) The modern co-habitation crisis has produced a lot of single moms and dads, and has fractured "family units" allowing other family members and relatives to take a bigger role in these "Separated families." There isn't a "one cause" why families have separated or divorced, it is a complicated issue, sometimes resulting in very hard emotions for Society to process. Things like the "millennial sexual revolution" have contributed to the widespread "non-committal" attitude, which in turn has given the traditional marriage the "black eye" it currently has and has turned many Christian men away from seeking a life partner. The more society devalues "traditional marriage" the more co-habitation you will see in all the other generations as well as the Millennials. This is Mike.

Why Christians must show Mutual Concern for One another.

Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. Psalm 142:4. Christians in the church should have mutual concern for one another, this is what it means to be part of the body of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:25. It’s takes good pastoral leadership to foster this sense of concern, and where it is missing, individuals who are suffering in the church are overlooked and not supported. Every believer needs support and encouragement, but when this is missing, the church divides and loses it power and testimony. Christians live like the world, and become vulnerable to Satan’s attacks when nobody is supporting them outside the church. I used to belong to an evangelical church which had great leadership, and something called small groups. This church felt like a family and I had people who shared my Christian walk with me when I was not in the church building. I have been attending a different denomination that doesn’t hav...

The Biblical Meaning of “Life in the Spirit.”

“Life in the Spirit” is an example that the Apostle Paul gives in the book of Romans starting in chapter 5 and going through to chapter 8. He begins by telling us we are justified by faith (5:1), and have gained access by faith into the grace of God (5:2). We have been delivered from God’s wrath (5:9) and we have been reconciled to God through the death of His Son (5:10). He goes on to explain that through Adam all die (5:12), and that the free Gift of God brings justification and righteousness to the believing sinner (5:15-17). Through our conversion we are baptized into Christ and into his death, which frees us from the law and makes us dead to sin (6:2-4). He explains that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we are given new life in Christ (6:4). Our old unregenerate self was crucified with Christ so that our body of sin might be done away with (6:5-6). Because we have died to sin, we now submit ourselves to God being that we are now under grace, not the law (6:8-1...

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