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Responsible
Relationship
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God had to punish the Israelites because as
a people who bore His name, they had misrepresented Him in
their pursuit of idolatry and perversion. "You only
have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I
will punish you for all your iniquities" (Amos 3:2).
With great privileges comes great responsibility; or as it
says in the Gospel of Luke, "For unto whomsoever much
is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men
have committed much, of him they will ask the more"
(Luke 12:48).
There are strings attached to our
relationship to God - He expects that we walk in His
ways. "The LORD shall establish thee an holy people
unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt
keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his
ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art
called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid
of thee" (Deut 28:9-10).
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Newsletter
Archives
WORLD EVANGELISM MINUTE
"electronic epistle"
May 2007
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Greetings,
If "God cannot lead you on the basis of facts
that you do not know" (David Bryant), find a way to keep
yourself and your church regularly plugged in to what's
going on around the world.
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Student Highlight
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Nick Hilliard
"Let me ask you something; how do you know that God exists?"
Spoken from the lips of Eddie Hill, a homeless man with a gift
for drawing. These were not the words of a cynic or scorner;
they were the words of a man who was genuinely searching for
God and seeking to understand Him.
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God's Glory - A Perfect Picture
" Whether therefore ye
eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of
God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).
What does it mean to glorify God? It means
to act in a way that truly reflects God's value and
worth. It carries the idea of representing Him with truth
and accuracy. Two biblical examples illustrate this
well.
In Leviticus chapter ten, Aaron's sons,
Nadab and Abihu, start "playing with fire." Their job as
priests was to come near the Lord in the way He had
commanded. These fellows got a little too familiar with
their responsibilities and presumed to offer "strange
fire" before the Lord. God killed them immediately for
their disobedience. God had said, "I will be sanctified
[treated as holy] in them that come nigh me, and before
all the people I will be glorified" (Leviticus 10:3). God
demanded that He be treated as holy by the priests so that
the people would see Him as He truly is - Holy (Revelation
15:4). Our own priestly role as New Testament saints is
the same (1 Peter 2:9). When we reflect who God actually
is to the watching world, they get the picture (a true
picture) of who He is and what He is like; and when this
happens, He is glorified.
No one has ever been more passionate about
glorifying God that the Lord Jesus. He was the fleshly
(human) manifestation of God's glory (John 1:14; 2
Corinthians 4:6). Jesus' prayers pointed to His purpose
to glorify the Father (John 12:28). Jesus' miracles
displayed God's power over sin, death, and the natural
laws; and therefore, glorified God (John 2:11; 11:4).
Jesus' death even glorified the Father by revealing God's
wrath against sin and God's love for man. Since Jesus
came to show us what God looks like, we align ourselves
with this same goal. Let's carefully and consciously give
the world a "perfect" picture of God.
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"If every Christian is already considered
a missionary, then all can stay put where they are, and
nobody needs to get up and go anywhere to preach the
gospel. But if our only concern is to witness where we are,
how will people in unevangelized areas ever hear the gospel?
The present uneven distribution of Christians and
opportunities to hear the gospel of Christ will continue on
unchanged."
- C. Gordon Olson
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