We Love God!

God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

The dead body of Jesus could not be found. There are four possible ways to account for this. 1. His foes stole the body. If they did (and they never claimed to have done so), they surely would have produced the body to stop the successful spread of the Christian faith in the very city where the crucifixion occurred. But they could not produce it. 2. His friends stole the body. This was an early rumor (Matthew 28:11-15). Is it probable? Could they have overcome the guards at the tomb? More important, would they have begun to preach with such authority that Jesus was raised, knowing that he was not? Would they have risked their lives and accepted beatings for something they knew was a fraud? 3. Jesus was not dead, but only unconscious when they laid him in the tomb. He awoke, removed the stone, overcame the soldiers, and vanished from history after a few meetings with his disciples in which he convinced them he was risen from the dead. Even the foes of Jesus did not try this line. He was obviously dead. The Romans saw to that. The stone could not be moved by one man from within who had just been stabbed in the side by a spear and spent six hours nailed to a cross. 4. God raised Jesus from the dead. This is what He said would happen. It is what the disciples said did happen. But as long as there is a remote possibility of explaining the resurrection naturalistically, modern people say we should not jump to a supernatural explanation. Is this reasonable? I don’t think so. Of course, we don’t want to be gullible. But neither do we want to reject the truth just because it’s strange.

John Piper

How would you answer a person who says, “You can’t take the Bible literally because it promotes killing homosexuals” (Lev 20:13)? 1. This particular law was only given to ancient Israel under the terms of the Old Covenant. But God is not relating to anyone under the terms of this covenant today. Rather, God is now relating to all men under the terms of the New Covenant (Hebrews 8). Hence, this is not a law which should be implemented today. 2. This passage does not promote killing homosexuals. This is simply false – and it is important to say so. This particular law requires that those who engage in homosexual activity be put to death. Even under the Old Covenant, a person with homosexual inclinations or attractions, who refused to act on them, would NOT be put to death. What is at issue here is homosexual activity – not homosexual attraction. 3. God takes sin very seriously and His holiness and moral perfection require that He deal with it as it deserves. Under the terms of the Old Covenant, homosexual behavior was not unique in meriting the sentence of death. Adultery (Lev. 20:10), blasphemy (Lev. 24:16), murder (Exod. 21:12), striking one’s father or mother (Exod. 21:15), kidnapping (Exod. 21:16), cursing one’s father or mother (Exod. 21:17), and other acts as well, all merited the death sentence under the Old Covenant. Even Sabbath violations received the death sentence (Exod. 31:14). 4. God disapproves of all sexual sin – not just homosexual activity. God disapproves of adultery, fornication, rape, incest, bestiality, as well as homosexual sin. Again, homosexual sin is not unique in being prohibited by God. All sexual sin is prohibited. The Bible allows for sexual activity only within the confines of one man/one woman heterosexual marriage. Any kind of sexual activity outside of this is sin (Michael Gleghorn).

Other Authors

We Love God!

God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

Greek-style Meat Sauce

January 28, 2023

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
Meats	Greek	Crockpot, Meats	1	Servings

INGREDIENTS

4	lb	Ground beef chuck
2	T	Olive oil
4		Onions, med finely chopped
4		Tomato paste, 6 oz ea
4		Garlic cloves, minced
1	t	Mixed pickling spice
1	c	Dry white wine
1	T	Salt
		Freshly ground pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Using a large frying pan, brown meat in 1 tablespoon olive oil until
it loses its pink color.  Transfer to crockery pot. Add remaining
olive oil to pan.  Saute` onions until glazed. Transfer to crockery
pot. Add tomato paste, garlic, pickling spice, (put in a tea ball or
tie in a cheesecloth bag), wine, salt, and pepper. Cover. Cook on LOW
8 hours. Stir once or twice.  Cool slightly.  Ladle into freezer
containers, or serve hot. Makes about 3 quarts. NOTE:  This meat  sauce
is great for various dishes: spaghetti, moussaka, and the Greek
mararoni dish, Pastitsio. It is also good spooned over tacos or  ladled
inside avocado half shells. This recipe makes a large quantity  and
freezes well. SOURCE: Extra Special Crockery Pot Recipes POSTED  BY:
DEE PENROD Posted to MM-Recipes Digest V3 #319  Date: Wed, 20 Nov 1996
17:54:29 -0500  From: BobbieB1@aol.com

A Message from our Provider:

“Our hopelessness and our helplessness are no barrier to (God’s) work. Indeed our utter incapacity is often the prop He delights to use for His next act… We are facing one of the principles of Yahweh’s modus operandi. When His people are without strength, without resources, without hope, without human gimmicks – then He loves to stretch forth His hand from heaven. Once we see where God often begins we will understand how we may be encouraged. #Ralph Davis”