2 Peter, 2023, Gospel of Matthew, Guests

With a Capital A

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GOD is love.
We hear it and hear it.

It’s about all we do hear about GOD.

And yet hearing only GOD is love, instead of drawing people to Him, I believe, has emboldened people to sin without remorse and indeed not repentance.
No, remorse and repentance are not synonymous.

The preaching of GOD is love alone has given the world a license to sin, not only a license to sin but to applaud and flaunt their sins and the sins of their peers.
There is no fear of GOD preached and most people in and out of professing Christianity are not afraid to practice sin.

I can tell you, I did not come to GOD for salvation because I heard GOD is love.
I came because I didn’t want to go to hell and I heard He would save me from it – if I turned from my sin TO HIM.
And, of course, that meant He loved me — why else would He save me, other than loving me?

What am I saying?
That we must preach the truth  — He is love but He is Angry with a capital A.
Yes, angry.
There was a sermon preached on July 8, 1741, by Johnathan Edwards.
Ever heard of it?

Allow me to offer you (in part) a modern-day opinion of this sermon written by Josh Moody:

“On this day in history, Jonathan Edwards started a sermon that he did not finish. Such was the impact of his preaching that the people listening shrieked and cried out, and the crying and weeping became so loud that Edwards was forced to discontinue the sermon. Instead, the pastors went down among the people and prayed with them in groups. Many came to a saving knowledge of Christ that day.

What can we learn from Edwards’s preaching of “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God?”

We Should Not Be Afraid to Preach Hell

Edwards is unfairly tarnished as only a hell-fire preacher. Read Charity and Its Fruits. Read many of his other sermons that discourse upon the beauty of Christ. Preaching on hell was not unusual in 18th-century New England. What made Edwards’s sermon impactful was not that he preached on hell, but how he preached on hell. By contrast, we rarely (if ever) even mention hell from our pulpits today. Surely in the future, the church will look back on our age and recount it as the strangest fashion that we preached on God’s love without preaching God’s justice or wrath. There is little biblical balance in our preaching today.”     Josh Moody. (2018)

https://www.crossway.org/articles/this-day-in-history-jonathan-edwards-preaches-sinners-in-the-hands-of-an-angry-god/

Now, if you want to read the preserved sermon, here are two links:

https://enfieldhistoricalsociety.org/old-town-hall/jonathan-edwards-and-sinners-in-the-hands-of-an-angry-god/

https://www.blueletterbible.org/study/he_is_risen/jonathan_edwards/sinners.cfm

Yes, GOD is love.
Not that He loves but He Himself IS love.

Because He is love, He has no alternative but to be Angry, at all that falls short of LOVE.

Click HERE for some verses about this Wrath of GOD. 

What does that mean?
It means we must be perfect like GOD is perfect. Matthew 5:48

Are you saying, You can’t do it?
Neither can I.

BUT JESUS DID!

Yes. Love and anger go hand in hand.

08ab3b9e01210f8ab815e1ac8329c080GOD is indeed love but do not be deceived, He is also perfectly and justly angry.

How fortunate for us that He is slow to pour out his anger and is patient and is not willing that anyone perish. 


But obviously, people do perish EVERY DAY so . . . 

We got to preach this! 

Love, Kathie

2023, Daniel, Questions

A Fine Privilege

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Would you classify yourself as an avid reader?70ea7e3860ac448144cfac9e721a03ce--reading-posters-reading-books

I have more books on my list to read than I will get read in 2 years, much less this year of 2023.

How many minutes a day do you allot for reading? Or do you not have a daily allotment dedicated to exploring books?

Do you prefer paper and ink in hand or is digital reading your preference?
Of course, I do the on-screen reading every day but I prefer a paper and ink book in my hand.

What was the best book you read last year? 
Do you read a variety of genres of books or have you pretty much found your reading niche?

I didn’t read as much in 2022 as I should have and I plan, LORD willing, to read much more this year. reading1
Do you have reading recommendations for me?  I have received 2 title suggestions so far and have both of them on order — they should arrive soon.

What’s my point with this unusual type of post for me?
Just a little conversation.  Just an effort to hear from you from the other side of this screen.

Please consider with me how highly favored we are to be able to read. There are yet people in this world who do not have this fine privilege.
And consider with me that GOD has enabled us to be well-read.
Let us not waste it.

Daniel 1: 17 To these four boys God had given knowledge and skill in every aspect of learning and wisdom; moreover, Dani’el could understand all kinds of visions and dreams.  source 

Perhaps you will read Daniel 1 and discover the place and time of these young men who were indeed well-read.

Introduce your children to reading early — preferably while they are still in the womb. reading

Love, Kathie

2023, Christian Living, Gospel of Matthew

Best Ride Ever!

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It’s approaching Noon in Lower Alabama as I sit to write this morning.
It’s been quietly occupied here so far today.

So, how’s your year so far?
We are what? Four days into it already!
I’m working on my calendar, and slowly getting it set up. Also, concentrating on a Word for the year.
Do you have a Word for the year that you are trusting came from HOLY SPIRIT for you to seek Him about each time it comes up in the course of the year? I can already attest it is a helpful concept.

Allow me to share a passage of Scripture and a thought with you today.
If you prefer to read a translation other than the CJB, click the word source below and you will find two other translations ready for your reading.

A little further help as you read the CJB is this: talmidim is translated in English as disciples
Ruach HaKodesh reads in English HOLY SPIRIT.

16 So the eleven talmidim went to the hill in the Galil where Yeshua had told them to go.
17 When they saw him, they prostrated themselves before him; but some hesitated.
18 Yeshua came and talked with them. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore, go and make people from all nations into talmidim, immersing them into the reality of the Father, the Son and the Ruach HaKodesh,
20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember! I will be with you always, yes, even until the end of the age.”    source 

ALL
THEREFORE
GO
REMEMBER
I WILL

Do you need to read those verses again?
Did you notice specifically the words: ALL, THEREFORE, GO, REMEMBER and I WILL?

He has ALL authority and since He does — what do we truly have to worry about?
And because of that, THEREFORE, we must GO. Go out in our little corner of the world and do what?
Make Disciples.
How do we make Disciples?
First, we must encourage people to repent, believe, and accept the sinless birth, the sinless life, the Atoning Sacrifice, the Resurrection, and the Coming Again of JESUS the CHRIST.
Following their conversion from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of GOD then we do what?
Yes, baptism is important.
But our duty and our mission do not end there. Then we are to teach those new converts to obey everything JESUS has commanded us.
And as we do, it is a must and tremendous help to us to REMEMBER this: HE is with us always, to the very end of this age; this way of living here; HE is with us!
We must remember this because this mission HE has given us, ain’t easy!
Through HIM, it is possible and rewarding and exciting, and the 587fb708ef875432d64a01dd9fa303c0--best-bike-bike-ridesBEST RIDE EVER, but not easy.

Are you in?

Love, Kathie

We are glad you are here; stay a while, look around, and be encouraged. We estimate there to be over 3,000 posts here at The White Stone Blog. Please know my hope is ALWAYS to help and NEVER harm. I have voiced many opinions and thoughts here since 2007 and by now I MAY NOT EVEN AGREE with all of them and some of my grammar and punctuation likely needs editing. But this is changeless: JESUS is our ONLY Savior and Hope. Do you KNOW Him?