Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"
But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
A week latr his disciples wer in th house again, and Thomas was with them. though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:24-31
If Jesus is not God, why did Thomas call him God?
April 21, 2010
God is so much bigger than we think He is. I have seen people change in ways that would have never happened if they had never come to know Christ Jesus. I have seen myself change because of having a relationship with Jesus.
There are people in this world who call themselves christian, but deny who Jesus really is. These people say Jesus is not God. They are truly mistaken and will suffer God's wrath. Jesus is God, no doubt about it. The Jews would not have picked up stones to stone Jesus to death if He had not made the claim to be God. How could an "angel" save us from our sins as according to Jehovah's Witnesses? It couldn't, because that is not what God made angels for. It makes more sense that God himself came to this earth, born of a virgin and lived a perfect life making Him a perfect sacrificial lamb. We humans were unable to fulfill the law and since God is able to do so, He became the solution to the problem. Jesus is the answer to our question and is fully man and fully God.
i've tried more of me
and i've come up dry
trading You for things
things that go away
my happiness is found in less
of me and more of You
my happiness is found in less
of me and more of You
i have found the answer is
to love You and be loved by You alone
alright! alright! alright!
You crucify me and the world to me
and i will only boast in You
alright! alright! alright!
i'm so satisfied
at the thought of You
growing up in me
covering everything
my happiness is found in less
of me and more of You
my happiness is found in less
of me and more of You
You are, You are (loved by me)
You are, You are (You're loved by me)
You are, You are (You're loved by me)
You are, You are, You are
While I was falling asleep last night, I got to thinking about how amazing living organisms are. I took cell biology last quarter and learned a lot about how individual cells work and make up living organisms. God is truly creative and exact in His work. And to think that people believe that there is no creator and that this world and everything on it are here by mere chance. Things are too complicated to not be created by a supreme being who wants a relationship with each one of us. For me, knowing how our bodies work strengthens my faith and concretes the idea of a personal God even more.
Human cells are comprised of a membrane, cytoplasm, organelles and DNA. The membrane is made up of phospholipids or fat, proteins and carbohydrates. The phospholipid part allows certain things through it both in and out of the cell. What the phospholipid part cannot let through, the protein channels pull through.
Someone had posted a link to this guys blog. I totally relate to this.
A Prayer About Being Completely Saved
Scotty SmithMarch 21, 2010 5:08 am CT
Because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Hebrews 7:24-25
Dear Lord Jesus, driving into my home state recently, I came upon a billboard that pushed some buttons before it raised my palms. Just through the mountains of North Carolina, there is was, bold and in big red letters, Are You Saved? I’ll be honest, my first response was, “What an un-cool, cost-ineffective, out-of-date, impersonal way to do evangelism.” Then I ruminated, “People that put up highway signs like that are clueless about the gospel. They’re usually legalists and moralists, and have no idea about a theology of imputed righteousness. They’re culturally out-of-touch and don’t realize what a turn-off that kind of signage is.”
But after my momentary-arrogance and billboard-pontification, your Spirit gently disrupted my “cool” with this thought, “You completely avoided the question, Are You Saved?”
I continued driving,butthat’s when one palm went up anyway, for indeed, I am saved, Jesus, unabashedly and unashamedly so. And there’s only one reason and there’s only one basis… I have come to God through you. You are the permanent priest who offered the perfect sacrifice for me, once and for all. You completed your work on the cross and you will complete your work in me. You live forever and you forever live to thoroughly save me, and your whole pan-national trans-generational Bride. You were my substitute by your life and your death, and now you’re my righteousness and intercessor before the Father. Am I saved? Most definitely and most delightfully!
I don’t have to like highway billboards, but may I never ever tire of responding to the question, Are You Saved?, for there’s no question more humbling to me and honoring of you. So very Amen, I pray, Jesus, in your merciful and mighty-to-save name.
One of the pastors at my home church posted a link to this blog. I really agree with this and I thought it would be a good idea to post this.
Counterfeit Gospels by Tullian Tchividjian
http://www.crpc.org/blog/?p=803
In light of Paul Tripp coming to Coral Ridge this weekend, I’ve gone back through a lot of my Paul Tripp books–he’s such a huge gift to the church!
In one of his books (co-authored with Tim Lane), How People Change, he identifies seven counterfeit gospels—-”religious” ways we try and “justify” or “save” ourselves apart from the gospel of grace. I found these unbelievably helpful. Which one (or two, or three) of these do you tend to gravitate towards?
Formalism. “I participate in the regular meetings and ministries of the church, so I feel like my life is under control. I’m always in church, but it really has little impact on my heart or on how I live. I may become judgmental and impatient with those who do not have the same commitment as I do.”
Legalism. “I live by the rules—rules I create for myself and rules I create for others. I feel good if I can keep my own rules, and I become arrogant and full of contempt when others don’t meet the standards I set for them. There is no joy in my life because there is no grace to be celebrated.”
Mysticism. “I am engaged in the incessant pursuit of an emotional experience with God. I live for the moments when I feel close to him, and I often struggle with discouragement when I don’t feel that way. I may change churches often, too, looking for one that will give me what I’m looking for.”
Activism. “I recognize the missional nature of Christianity and am passionately involved in fixing this broken world. But at the end of the day, my life is more of a defense of what’s right than a joyful pursuit of Christ.”
Biblicism. “I know my Bible inside and out, but I do not let it master me. I have reduced the gospel to a mastery of biblical content and theology, so I am intolerant and critical of those with lesser knowledge.”
Therapism. “I talk a lot about the hurting people in our congregation, and how Christ is the only answer for their hurt. Yet even without realizing it, I have made Christ more Therapist than Savior. I view hurt as a greater problem than sin—and I subtly shift my greatest need from my moral failure to my unmet needs.”
Social-ism. “The deep fellowship and friendships I find at church have become their own idol. The body of Christ has replaced Christ himself, and the gospel is reduced to a network of fulfilling Christian relationships.”
As I said two weeks ago in my sermon, there are outside-the-church idols and there are inside-the-church idols. It’s the idols inside the church that ought to concern Christians most. It’s easier for Christians to identify worldly idols such as money, power, selfish ambition, sex, and so on. It’s the idols inside the church that we have a harder time identifying.
For instance, we know it’s wrong to bow to the god of power—but it’s also wrong to bow to the god of preferences. We know it’s wrong to worship immorality—but it’s also wrong to worship morality. We know it’s wrong to seek freedom by breaking the rules—but it’s also wrong to seek freedom by keeping them. We know God hates unrighteousness—but he also hates self-righteousness. We know crime is a sin—but so is control. If people outside the church try to save themselves by being bad; people inside the church try to save themselves by being good.
The good news of the gospel is that both inside and outside the church, there is only One Savior and Lord, namely Jesus. And he came, not to angrily strip away our freedom, but to affectionately strip away our slavery to lesser things so that we might become truly free!
There once was a little monkey that lived in Wat Phnom, along with all the other monkeys who played there.
This little monkey was a special monkey, because while all the other monkeys looked for food in the trees and the trash, he liked to go right up to the people! The little monkey eventually was brave enough to take food from the people's hands, and even sit on their lap!
The other monkeys were too afraid to do what the little monkey was doing, but they admired his little monkey bravery. "How i wish i could go and touch a human being" the other monkeys would say, "this little monkey gets much more food than we do because he is so brave!"
Then, one day, the people stopped coming to Wat Phnom, and the little monkey got lonely. He had no more people to touch, and he had no more food. The little monkey had spent so much time being given food, he never learned how to look for it himself, in fact he couldn't even really climb a tree!
All the people were gone, and the other monkeys were up in the trees gathering food, and the little monkey was hungry and alone. Since he was too old by that time for the other monkeys to teach him the skills he needed to survive, he died a slow and painful death of starvation and loneliness.
The next moment is as much beyond our grasp, and as much in God's care, as that a hundred years away. Care for the next minute is as foolish as care for a day in the next thousand years. In neither can we do anything, in both God is doing everything.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day had enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:33-34 NIV
I cannot imagine how the clockwork of the universe can exist without a clockmaker.
I don't understand how people don't/won't believe in God. How can this world work correctly if there isn't someone making sure that it is? It's like saying a car will run smoothly if we never take it to a mechanic; the car wouldn't even exist in the first place if someone didn't make it. Just like everything else, someone had to make this world. Something isn't made out of nothing.
