/jesusislord/ - A Christian Discussion Board

This board is for things related to Christianity, Jesus Christ, fellowship, devotionals, study & prayer requests etc…

Questions by non-believers are welcome & encouraged but obvious trolling is not welcome. Remember to share this board with others!

My motivation is best represented by the truth found in Acts 20:24, “Life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about God's mighty kindness and love.” This is because, as he says, “It is the Word of God and the work of God that changes people’s lives.”

Guidelines:

1. Christians who follow and believe Jesus Christ died, rose again and are saved by faith are welcome.

2. Non-believers who are interested in Christianity are welcome, but this isn't a Christian/Atheist/Islam debate club.

3. Try to be civil.

Rules:

1. SFW & PDF & MP4 files can be uploaded.

2. Obvious trolling is deleted and will result in a ban, but you are welcome to come back if you want to make constructive posts.

Links:

1. http://8ch.net/christ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

2. http://8ch.net/christian - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

I am personally a Baptist and Pentecostal/AOG and will defend my views as a poster, but dialogue and points made from other perspectives won't be deleted.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Please take a look at my new board:

http://8ch.net/bibles/

It contains bible collections from all regions and many countries of the world, all for free download. Please distribute these all over the world also via the internet, so that the peoples of the world may have access to the Word of God!

"Go into all the world, and preach the gospel, making disciples of all nations." -Jesus Christ

Mormonism: Yay or Nay?

On Patting Birds

Read | Hebrews 6:10

In a cartoon strip some years ago a little guy was taking heat from his sister and friends for a newly found "calling"—patting birds on the head. The distressed birds would approach, lower their little feathered pates to be patted, sigh deeply, and walk away satisfied. It brought him no end of fulfillment—in spite of the teasing he took from others. "What's wrong with patting birds on the head?" he wanted to know. "What's wrong with it?" his embarrassed friends replied, "No one else does it!"

If your niche is encouraging, please don't stop. If it is embracing, demonstrating warmth, compassion, and mercy to feathers that have been ruffled by offense and bruised by adversity, for goodness' sake, keep stroking. Don't quit, whatever you do.

I think many Christians are dying on the vine for lack of encouragement from other believers. Proverbs 15:23 says, "A man has joy in an apt answer, And how delightful is a timely word!" Isn't that true? It's a delightful thing to receive a good word just at your time of need. Encourage someone today.

If God made you a "patter," then keep on patting to the glory of God.

The Centrality of the Cross

Read | John 19:17-22

In Jesus’ day, crucifixion was used by the Roman government as a method of executing criminals. God transformed the cross into a symbol that unites Christians everywhere. It stands at the heart of what we believe and serves as a central focus of the gospel message. When we consider the cross, we will think about . . .

Jesus and His perfect life. Our Saviour left heaven to dwell on earth and become one of us. While here, He obediently accomplished the work His Father had given Him (John 5:19). Because of His perfect life, He alone was qualified to be our substitute and bear God’s judgement for our sins.

Crucifixion. Christ went to the cross in order to reconcile us to God. He suffered a painful death on our behalf, and through His sacrifice, our sin debt has been paid. God’s justice was fully satisfied at Calvary. Nothing else is required for our salvation.

Resurrection and ascension. Three days after Jesus was buried, God raised Him from the dead. The Saviour’s sacrifice on the cross was accepted as payment for our sins, and the way to heaven was opened for all who trust in Jesus. Our resurrected Lord, having appeared on earth to many people, ascended to live forever with His Father. Jesus conquered death and made it possible for us to dwell in heaven with Him someday.

Every Sunday I invite people to place their faith in Jesus Christ. Because of the cross and what happened there, such an invitation has great value to the hearer. In fact, the events of Calvary continue to be relevant to Christians of all ages. Take time today to thank the Lord for the cross.

Regards, Admin

Why did you start this board when there are already Christian boards? You must have your reasons, what are they?

The Lord GOD is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds' feet, and makes me walk on my high places. - Habakkuk 3:19

A rookie cowboy was assigned to take cattle to high pasture. “You can’t go up there,” said an old cowpoke, pointing to a high ridge. “I can ride as well as anybody,” said the novice. “But the problem is your horse.” The experienced cowhand explained that to ride the ridge, a horse had to track, like deer. Rather than flaying out, the back feet had to fall in the exact tracks as the front feet. When our feet track with God’s, when we walk where He walks, we find strength.

Read | Revelation 3:14-22

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

Thoughts on today's verse

It has always fascinated me that this verse has often been cited by those calling others to conversion when clearly in its context it's written to lukewarm Christians needing to rekindle their love relationship to the Lord. As believers, we need to ask the Lord Jesus into our hearts, our home, and lives. It's not that he's not there, it's just that he awaits our invitation – he will not barge in. He only inhabits hearts into which he has been invited!

Prayer:

Holy Lord and Savior, I know you long to share your presence and fellowship with me. I know you are nearby as I draw each breath. But I confess that I am often unaware, and even sometimes unappreciative of your presence. I ask you this day to come into my heart and fill my life with your presence and comfort and power. I want my life to be lived for you and with you. Amen.

Daily Message:

The Fruit of the Believer

Growth is a normal part of life. If growth doesn't happen, we know something is wrong. For instance, if a twenty-five-year-old came home and went, "Dada!" like a little baby, you'd be appalled. You don't expect children to stay children—you expect them to grow up.

As we grow older, we mature, and in our spiritual lives, we should become spiritually mature. The Bible calls it being fruitful. Spiritual fruit is the indication that we're truly connected to Christ. In John chapter 15, Jesus used the metaphor of fruit growing on a grapevine to describe Christian growth. "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser…. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:1, 4-5). Spiritual fruit has three characteristics: it's noticeable, natural, and nourishing.

First of all, fruit is noticeable. If you walk by a plant, you can tell it's a grapevine if it has a bunch of what? Grapes. You don't need an advanced degree in botany to determine that. And so it is spiritually. You don't have to guess if a person is a believer or not. Though the output of fruit will vary from person to person (see Matthew 13:8), there has to be something at some point that identifies a person as a believer.

What is the fruit Jesus was talking about? "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23). These things should mark your life as a follower of Christ. There are other things the Bible calls fruit: people you win to Christ (see Romans 1:13), holy living (see Romans 6:22), giving (see Romans 15:26-28), and praise (see Hebrews 13:15). All of these things are the visible manifestation and demonstration that spiritual growth is taking place.

Second, fruit is natural. A fruit tree doesn't have to work hard to produce fruit; it's just a natural unfoPost too long. Click here to view the full text.

Scott, you're the cool charasmatic/pentacostal/non-denominational-wants-to-become-mainline-protestant dude from the main board, right?

Just wondering, because if so, you're cool in my book.

I'm new here and would like to know more about this board and its users.

Would you mind presenting yourselves and how you got here? I'm very curious. Names are of course not required, unless you're a trip, but denominations and personal path would be appreciated.

Thanks!

In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands (Psalm 102:25).

The great truth that we are taught here is that God is unchangeable.

This means that He is ever reliable. He is the Rock, the One on whom we can always depend.

One of the problems with human beings is that sometimes we can change for the worse. Sometimes even the most reliable people can let you down—they can fail to fulfill what they've promised. There can be many reasons for this, but basically it's because they've changed. As we get older our memories begin to fail and sometimes people forget about their promises. Sometimes we get sick and are unable to fulfill our word. Sometimes they die and thus they're totally unable to fulfill what they promised. Sometimes a person's attitude toward you will change and they fail to carry out their word. Change affects every one of us.

But we should understand that our God is not like that. He is unchangeable. It is very important that we properly understand this attribute of God because this knowledge can be a great source of strength to us in times of trouble.

Light

Jesus said that people prefer darkness rather than light because people don’t want their sinful deeds exposed (Jn.3:19-20). Of course this is an analogy. Your willingness to sit in the sun or your desire to dim the lights in the family room has nothing to do with your sin or righteousness. Christ meant that one’s readiness to embrace him and his message constituted a willingness to step into the exposure of the “light” of God’s truth.

On the other hand, one’s avoidance of him and his message was depicted as a selfishly motivated retreat into the “shadows” of one’s own opinion. On the surface, it is easy to read Christ’s words about sinners loving darkness with feelings of immunity. After all, every reasonable person loves the “light”. Right? Not actually.

Consider some of the avenues through which the “light” of Christ’s truth shines today. The Bible is the brightest record of that light. A biblical sermon aimed at life-change can feel like a laser of concentrated truth. Christian friends who are quick to speak of Christ’s commands can be bright reflectors of God’s light. But how do most people respond to those conduits of God’s light? Most avoid their Bibles for days on end. Many look for excuses to miss church and those “convicting” messages. And who hasn’t heard the “Bible-thumping” Christians dismissed as “holier than thou”? We must see that simply imagining that “Christ would agree with me” while avoiding the avenues of Christ’s light, constitutes nothing less than hiding in the darkness of one’s own opinions. Jesus said “whoever lives by the truth comes into the light” (Jn.3:21).

So then, it behooves us to give attention to how we are interfacing with accurate conduits of Christ’s light. Avoiding them is never a good sign. Eagerly and regularly diving into them is indicative of those who are actually living by the truth.

The Grace to Overcome

Read | 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

The Lord declares that His grace is sufficient for every painful situation we will ever encounter. Because of His abundant goodness, kindness, and love for us, we do not have to succumb to discouragement, give up hope, or walk away from His plan. We will know God’s grace is working in us when . . .

We have the strength to persevere. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, God releases His supernatural power into our life so we might endure (Acts 1:8).

A spirit of confidence in Him is ignited within our hearts and minds. Grace helps us believe that God will bring good from our troubles (Rom. 8:28).

We sense His presence with us. When grace is at work, we will be conscious of the Spirit’s abiding support.

Our focus shifts from our trials to the Lord. Grace helps us shift attention from our situation and emotions to God’s sufficiency.

We trust that God will bring us through this — and not just barely through, but with deeper intimacy and greater faith at the end.

We are assured of God’s sovereignty. The Lord knows our frailties. So He has promised to limit our trials to what our weaknesses, strengthened by His power, can bear (1 Cor. 10:13).

The apostle Paul had been through shipwrecks, imprisonment, and beatings—difficulties far worse than what most of us face. Yet he didn't quit, because he drew on God’s grace and found it sufficient for every circumstance. Where do you need an infusion of grace in order not to give up and walk away?

Regards, Admin

How would your life change if you committed to meeting with God everyday?

The writer of Hebrews tells us the Word of God “is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

God’s Word is power. God watches over His Word to perform it (Jeremiah 1:12). His Word is His plan, and His plan is something He makes happen. And so He promises, “So will My Word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). God’s Word never fails! The writer of Hebrews says the Word is “active” (energēs: energy, power, Hebrews 4:12).

According to 2 Timothy 3:16, God’s words are “God breathed” — not in-spired, meaning some kind of vague power or ghost breathed into man’s preexisting words, but literally breathed or spirited out of the mouth of God. So these words did not originate in the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21).

God’s Word is precious, valuable, a treasure. Psalm 138:2 says, “Thou hast magnified thy Word above [KJV; modern translations read the Hebrew al and Septuagint Greek epi as “according to,” but both roots mean “upon” or “above”] all thy name.” That means God ranks His revelation of Himself above His name. (It’s interesting that Jehovah’s Witnesses reverse this order with their low view of the Word as “a god” [John 1:1] and their high view of the name “Jehovah.”)

A clear, uncompromised, persuasive proclamation of the Word is the essential ingredient in effective evangelism. Think of how this was demonstrated time and time again in Billy Graham crusades. So it has been demonstrated, too, in Jesus’ life and in the early Church. God regenerates by His Word of truth!

The Word sanctifies (purifies, cleanses) — “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipPost too long. Click here to view the full text.