Created for Fellowship

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Sometimes it is hard to understand and remember that God created us for His pleasure and for fellowship with Him, but it is true. The fact that God put Adam and Eve in charge and walked and talked with them in a close and personal relationship and that He was very pleased with them should give us all cause to believe that God wants the pleasure of fellowship with us.

Because God is a Holy and Righteous God, He took no pleasure in Adam and Eve’s disobedience and could no longer fellowship or dwell with Evil. Paradise was lost, and Adam and Eve were banished as were all who would come after them. God wanted the pleasure of our company so badly that He came to earth as a man, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross so that our fellowship with Him might be restored.

Through faith in Jesus Christ the barrier of sin has been removed and we are once again the “apple of God’s eye” and a source of pleasure to Him.

God desires the pleasure of the company of all who will freely and willingly receive the gift of eternal life by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is an invitation we dare not refuse. The grace that saves is also the grace that empowers us to be a source of pleasure to God as we live our lives walking and talking in close fellowship with Him.

The pleasure of God’s company is manifested by the power of His presence in every area of life for those who truly believe.

For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He crowns the humble with salvation. “Psalm 149:4

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Christmas Music

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I was at Subway yesterday, and they had Christmas music playing over the radio. I tuned my car radio to 103.7 (in Dallas) and, sure enough, Mariah Carey was belting out a holiday diddy.

While I’m not ready for Christmas, or Advent for that matter, you have to check out Andrew Peterson’s “Behold the Lamb of God.” It is phenomenal. I think one of the best Christmas/Advent albums of all times. This is no Bing Crosby or Beach Boys Christmas album. You won’t know most of the songs, at first. But the selections leave you wanting listen to the songs about 5000 times. You can listen to the entire album on his web site, as well as view the lyrics (the audio quality isn’t near CD levels). But I’d encourage you to buy it (christianbook.com, andrew-peterson.com). He’s doing a concert in Richardson on Nov. 30.

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Caveat Emptor, um, MovieGoer

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I’ve received several emails about the movie “The Golden Compass,” based on a series of popular children’s books by Philip Pullman.  I’m sure you have, too. I’ve done quite a bit of research on the books and the movie, and most of the information circulating is true, hyped up, but mostly true.

For more info, check out Ben Witherington’s blog from Tues.

Peter Hitchens, a British commentator, (no relation to the atheist of the same name) calls Pullman the most dangerous author in Britain. Whether dangerous or not, he is certainly popular, and his novels have won various awards. The first in the trilogy we are concerned with, called ‘Northern Lights’ has now been made into a movie entitled ‘Golden Compass’ and released just in time for the Christmas rush season. Hollywood can of course do what it wants, but Christians have no obligation to support films with an atheistic, or better said strongly anti-theist point of view.

What do you think? Do you plan to see the film? What should be a “Christian response?”

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Costly Grace

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“Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is…the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciples leaves his nets and follows him.Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.”

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “The Cost of Disciplship” p. 45

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Your Priceless Past

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While your formal education is valuable, your experience continues to be the real teacher! What you really are today, and what you will have to offer tomorrow, is a product of your experiences in the past.

What are your best assets when you review your background? How are you a better person today as a result of where you’ve been and what you’ve done? Often people don’t perceive and value their past experiences until later in life. Old men rock their chairs and reminisce.

Part of your challenge is to realize the credentials and values that your past brings to today’s table. Never let your formal education dictate and restrict your future. The “because I have studied medicine, I have to be a doctor” mindset would have placed me on death row spiritually. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with the medical profession. I have been privileged to pastor a number of excellent physicians. However, His plan was to use me in healing the sick in somewhat of a different way…the sin-sick.

Nobody will ever have the mix of experience that you have. The lessons of life are uniquely yours. You are the only expert in the areas touched by your life. Utilize the “school of hard knocks” to the fullest! You can contribute significant things that no one else can.

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