Grace is its own reason for doing good to those deserving the opposite.
We did not and cannot earn favor with Holy God.
God’s very nature, which is love and righteousness, satisfied our sin natured disconnect with Him by personally bridging the gap between us.
The only reason for this given in the Bible is ,”God so loved the world.” (John 3:16)
The sacrifice of God’s Son on the cross 2,000 years ago for the sin debt of all mankind was purely motivated by a God whose nature is love.
God’s righteousness stood in stark contrast and condemnation to the imperfection of mankind.
The love of God satisfied what was lacking for each of us to know God by the gracious gift of Christ’s imputed righteous nature in all who believe in Christ as Savior.
This year, in a world that is growing increasingly dark, let God’s Gift of love through Christ shine in you and through you in the same way God’s love came to us,.. even though we were undeserving and in desperate need, He came to save us.
“Freely you have received, freely give.” ~Jesus Christ~ (Matthew 10:8)
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
The Gospel story begins with the fall of mankind into sin and death and being cast from God’s presence, and God personally coming down to us to rescue us.
The whole idea of God becoming a man in order ,”to seek and to save that which was lost,” has long been a main sticking point for many.
But the story of a parent of a child who was,”lost”, into the sex trade in Argentina gives validation to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The love this parent shows is not unlike the love that God our father has for all of us.
Her name is Susana Trimarco.
Her daughter was taken from her.
She so loved her daughter, Marita, that she would do anything to rescue her. She disguised herself as one of them and went where they are. She rescued many, sadly her daughter is not among the hundreds she has rescued. She has started a campaign that has changed the face of Argentina and sex trafficking in the world, an army of people rising up to set the captives free.
Today, thousands have been set free.Still her daughter is not among them.
In her quest to find her daughter I am reminded of a loving God who became one of us in order to save us.
“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” —which means, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)
Sex trafficking is a worldwide problem.
(It is likely that there is no country on Earth that has felt impact this crime.)
So it is with our relationship to God. We are all born lost. We are all in need of saving.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but everlasting life.” John 3:16
Madam, I pray to God in the name of Jesus Christ his Son, that your love is rewarded by the rescue of your daughter who you so love,…in Jesus name. Amen
BUENOS AIRES, Dec 12 2012 (IPS) – The courtroom broke out in angry shouts and cries when judges in Argentina unexpectedly acquitted 13 defendants accused of kidnapping a young woman and forcing her into prostitution in 2002.
The high-profile trial for the kidnapping of María de los Ángeles “Marita” Verón, who is still missing, ended late Tuesday after a four-hour delay by the three-judge panel in the courtroom in the northwest province of Tucumán.
The judges said there was no evidence that the seven men and six women kidnapped Verón.
Susana Trimarco, Verón’s mother, said she would try to get the three judges impeached, and accused them of receiving bribes. “We aren’t going to stop until these crooks are dismissed from their posts,” she said after the verdict was read out.
Trimarco later told a local TV station about a conversation she had after the trial with President Cristina Fernández, who gave her a human rights award on Sunday Nov. 9. “Cristina was shouting; she couldn’t believe it,” the activist said.
“The scenario is all too common, Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Shea Rhodes told the City Council on Tuesday in describing how “modern-day slavery” ensnares women and children into forced labor and commercial sex.”
“The sex-trafficking of U.S. children is America’s dirty, little secret.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, human trafficking is the second fastest growing criminal industry — just behind drug trafficking.Approximately half of all victims are children.
The National Human Trafficking Resource Center estimates it’s a $32 billion industry, with about 50% of this revenue coming from industrialized countries. This surpasses the sale of illegal arms.”
Map showing the relative proportion of Christianity (red) and Islam (green) in each country. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The essence of any religion is the fundamental truths it is founded upon.
That would comprise a religion’s Fundamentalism.
A “Fundamentalist”,is one who attempts to strictly adhere to a religion’s fundamentals.
The word fundamental can mean something good or bad, depending on a religion’s core truths.
The Supreme Doctrines of Christianity and Islam are polar opposites.
“Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:34-40)
“Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21
God wants us to love Him, and has provided the ultimate reason to desire to love Him by loving and giving His one and only Son, Jesus Christ as a sacrifice, the just for the unjust, on the cross. God WINS our love and trust.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”(John 3:16)
In contrast to that, Islam means,”Submit to Allah”, and force is the means Allah’s word, the Koran, imposes.
Free will is forcefully denied by this fundamental belief of Islam.
(Read the following quotes from the Koran)
Qur’an:8:39 “Fight them [who do not believe] until all opposition ends and all submit to Allah.”
Ishaq:324“He said, ‘Fight them so that there is no more rebellion, and religion, all of it, is for Allah only. Allah must have no rivals.'”
Qur’an:8:65 “O Prophet, urge the faithful to fight. If there are twenty among you with determination they will vanquish two hundred; if there are a hundred then they will slaughter a thousand unbelievers, for the infidels are a people devoid of understanding.”
Qur’an:9:5 “Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war.”
Qur’an:9:29 “Fight those who do not believe until they all surrender, paying the protective tax in submission.”
Qur’an:47:4 “When you clash with the unbelieving Infidels in
battle (fighting Jihad in Allah’s Cause), smite their necks until you overpower them, killing and wounding many of them. At length, when you have thoroughly subdued them, bind them firmly, making (them)captives. Thereafter either generosity or ransom (them based upon what benefits Islam) until the war lays down its burdens. Thus are you commanded by Allah to continue carrying out Jihad against the unbelieving infidels until they submit to Islam.”
Free World listen!! It is clear! Democracy was born out of Christinity’s “Unalienable rights” and the belief that “all men are CREATED equal”.
Allah demands we all SUBMIT to him. Or die.
Islam is fundamentally tyrannical.
God’s desire is for us is to LOVE Him, and He personally came down to us to die for our sins and defeat death for us.
What more could He do ?
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
God did this to set is free from sin and death. Christianity is fundamentally liberaiting.
“If the Son of Man sets you free you shall be Free indeed.”
Different core beliefs, different fundamentals, different fundamentalists. Basically good vs. evil.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. Revelation 1:5,6
Do Everything in love.
We love because he first loved us.
1Corinthians 16:14 , 1John 4:19
December 29, 2012
Christ Centered Teaching
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Christ Centered Teaching 