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THE BOTTOM LINE


TBL China – The Bottom Line, Ministries

Five Solas, One Faith

Don Green
| The Five Solas

Truth Community Church


Five Solas, One Faith

Sola Scriptura

Don Green
| The Five Solas

Truth Community Church

sermonaudio.com/sermon/1017181440291

Soli Deo Gloria

Don Green
| The Five Solas

Truth Community Church







WORSHIP

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THE LETTER M

THE LETTER M

PSALM 119

15 I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.

48 My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.

78
Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.

148
Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.

When we think of the word meditate or meditation, it has a picture of some eastern mystic babbling some crazy words, but this is not what true meditation is.

It means to mull over or think deeply about something, in Colossians chapter 3, we have these words:

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

To dwell with us, means it lives deeply within our hearts, it is a welcome guest in our lives and meditating on the word of God, allows us to have a spirit that is filled with wisdom and worship. Look at verse 16.

When we read our bibles, we are not to read it, just to turn the required number of pages on our bible reading scheme, we are to meditate on particular verses. Recently I took ten days to read John chapters 1-3, because it is so deep, you cannot go too fast.

Joshua was given sound advice by the Lord, as he entered the promised land.

Joshua 1:8
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Meditate on it day and night you say, we can't do that. Well what is the job of the holy spirit, he will bring you remembrance of these things, of what things, of the things of Christ.
Often he brings to my mind a verse of scripture, a promise, a challenge or a rebuke.
Paul is giving pastoral advice to his protege Timothy, in Chapter 4 of his first epistle, he says:
11 These things command and teach.
12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
Paul was telling Timothy to meditate on these things, especially to doctrine, we all want to be so practical, have you ever meditated on deep doctrines such as the Deity of Christ and the Trinity.
Again to meditate, we must take time to do this, put down your cell phone, turn off social media and do a bible study. Find a quiet place, get out your bible and drink deeply of the word od God.
One of my favourite things to do is to get my bible and notebook and say Lord, what do you have to say to me.
God's wants and is eager to speak, but we have to set aside time for him to do it, remember he spoke to Elijah in the still small voice,
Can you hear him?
Have you taken time to meditate on his word?
We need to stop rushing away from God's word, we treat it like a hot potato sometimes, as soon as we pick it up, we want to put it down.
By meditating on his precious, this is how we grow.
I challenge you.
Take 15 minutes each week to meditate on a bible verse or couple of verses.
Let these verse dwell or live in your heart.
Make them welcome.

God bless you

KK

FBI Quietly updates crime data to show big jump in violence under Biden-Harris admin

This is standard fare in American Presidential politics, the Party out of the White House tells us all “how bad things are because of the [other] Party!!!”
Sometimes the concerns comport better with reality than other times, and we’re in “other times”.
Agreed. When in reality, things are bad because of both parties, corporate greed, and the state of the fallen world.
  • Agree
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Israel at war in Gaza…. Biblical approach

Palestinians are an Arab ethnonational group. They’re mentioned many times in the Bible but not in a good light. Palestinians (philistine) call themselves Arabs but you have never been in the Middle East. The Philistines (or Palestinians as we call them today) were an aggressive, warmongering people who occupied territory including Gaza and often enemies of God’s people.

By the time of Samson’s judgeship, the Philistines were living in and controlling Gaza. (Judges 16:1) which I think we all remember what happened (Judges 16:23–30). The Philistines continued to control Gaza during the time of Samuel (see 1 Samuel 6:17). King Hezekiah won great victories over the Philistines, “but did not conquer Gaza itself (2 Kings 18:8). Gaza was a city associated with judgment. Jeremiah, Amos, Zephaniah, and Zechariah all prophesied judgment on Gaza because of the sin of the Philistines (Amos 1:6–7). Yet the city of Gaza remained a thorn in Israel’s side for centuries and to this very today (Judges 2:3).

Jesus himself said he was sent to the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24), the Bible is Jewish, the apostles were Jews, Christianity is a Jewish religion so if anyone doesn’t like Israel need to reevaluate themselves as salvation came through Israel (John 4:22 first promised in Gen 12:2-3). Jesus observed Passover (John 2:13), the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2, 10), and Hanukkah, (John 10:22). Jesus was called King of the Jews (Mark 15:2). People would call him a Zionist today and protest against him like they’re doing to Israel today.

According to scripture Jews would return back to Israel as we see today: Deut 30:3; Isaiah 43:6; Ezekiel 34:11-13; 36:24; 37:1-14. Romans 11 verse 3 we see that even with the Jews who turned their back on Christ, God never turned His back on Israel. Paul emphasizes the “irrevocable” nature of Israel’s calling as a nation (Romans 11:11-12).

The Jews that are there today do have genetic markers showing they belong to this land (source down below). When Jesus was talking to the Samaritan woman he said “salvation is from the Jews” as he was born from the house of Israel to die for our sins foretold in Isaiah 53:3-5. It was also to fulfill the promise in Genesis 12:2-3 “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Which in John 4:22 we see this. This all happened through the literal place of Israel. Then in Romans 11:1-3 we see Paul talking about literal Jewish people of Israel not a spiritual people.

In the Bible God is faithful and continuously through scripture works through Israel. As Christian’s we must stand united for Israel. Pray for the families of the fallen soldiers who died recently (news article below) and the soldiers still in danger.


What is more important? Genetic markers or the condition of one's heart towards Jesus Christ of Nazareth the Messiah of the world? Think about it.
Blessings.
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All in God's Hands

So life has its troubles and worries
Its snowballs and storms with their flurries
The change in the weather with high temps and low
Makes life with its bumps not so certain free flow

The colors of things always changing
For life has a way rearranging
What’s certain is not, rearranged on the spot,
What’s hoped for is shot, and so faith is forgot

But that’s not a righteous perspective
For that leaves out God’s right objective
For He has a plan and a purpose for all
When He permits trials on us to befall

For our trials do not just take place
They are part of God’s plan that we race
For all in God’s hands, as He rightly did plan
So we’d follow His ways, and not ways of man

An Original Work / November 14, 2022

When You Pass Through the Waters

“But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.’” (Isaiah 43:1-2 ESV)

Under the Old Covenant God had with his people Israel, his people were those of Jewish descent, who were physical descendants of Abraham and Sarah. But under the New Covenant God now has with his people Israel, his people are both Jew and Gentile by physical birth who believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives. All Jews who did not believe in Jesus were cut out of Israel, and all Gentiles who believed in Jesus Christ were grafted into Israel and became one with Israel under the One True God.

We who now believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, both Jew and Gentile by physical birth, are one people under God. We are collectively Israel, God’s holy nation, his holy people, a people belonging to God. And we are the body of Christ, his church. And the church did not replace Israel, for true biblical Israel has not been replaced. Gentiles are now included by faith in Jesus Christ along with all Jews who also believe in Jesus Christ. And all Jews who have been cut out can be grafted back in by faith in Jesus Christ.

[Genesis 17:7-9; Genesis 18:19; Romans 2:28-29; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 9:4-8,25-28; Romans 11:1-36; Galatians 3:16,26-29; Galatians 4:22-31; Ephesians 2:11-22; Ephesians 3:6; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:22; John 8:18-19,38-47; Jude 1:5; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-16; Hebrews 8:6-13; Revelation 2:9; Revelation 3:9]

Those who are included in Israel today are all who have been redeemed of God by genuine faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And that means that Jesus Christ, via his death on that cross, bought us back for God (redeemed us) out of our lives of slavery to sin so that we will now serve him with our lives in walks of surrender to him and in obedience to his New Covenant Commandments. Through God-gifted faith in Christ we are delivered from our old lives of sin so we now can live holy lives to God.

Therefore, all of us who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and who have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness, are the redeemed of God, who were redeemed for a purpose. And that purpose is that we serve the Lord Jesus with our lives, living holy lives pleasing to him, in walks of obedience to his commands, and that daily, by the Spirit, we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh and we are putting on God’s armor.

So, we now belong to God, and he is our Owner-master, and we are his possession, and now our lives are to be given over to him to do what his will commands. And he promises to be with us and to not leave us nor forsake us through all of the trials and tribulations that we will go through in this life. And no matter how bad things may get, and they will get much worse (the Bible says so), we have to keep trusting the Lord with our lives to carry us through every difficult circumstance, which many in the world are facing.

[This was written on October 8, 2024, but it is being published on October 20th, so this was nearly two weeks ago. But this is an ongoing situation as many people lost homes, family members.]

Present Day Trials

I live in the USA. Right now some of the people of this nation are going through many hardships and trials and tribulations. Within the past two weeks we had a major hurricane (severe storm) which swept through half a dozen of our states and caused enormous damage and loss of life, homes, properties, and the basic essentials of life for many people. And now another hurricane is expected to hit the state of Florida by sometime tomorrow, and it is being reported as something that could do serious damage.

Now, this promise to the people of Israel at that time in history is not necessarily to be taken literally by Christians today, for the New Testament Scriptures definitely warn us of all kinds of trials and tribulations and destruction of properties and the taking of human lives which will occur in our lifetime, and which only are going to get much worse as we get closer to the return of Christ. And we are only promised that our Lord will carry us through these storms, but not necessarily that we will escape them.

And what I know of what the New Testament Scriptures teach on this subject, not only will God be with us and that he will not leave us, but that these trials and tribulations are for our good, to make us strong spiritually, to humble us, to purify us, to make us holy, to make us more determined to follow our Lord in obedience, and to teach us to rely on God and not on ourselves. And I know personally that the trials I have gone through in my life have drawn me closer to Christ and much determined to follow him.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-39; Matt 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-19; John 15:1-21; John 16:33; John 17:14; Acts 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Eph 6:10-20; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

My Jesus, My Savior

By Michael W. Smith

My Jesus, My Saviour,
Lord, there is none like you,
All of my days, I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love.

My comfort, my shelter,
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You.

Shout to the Lord, all the earth let us sing,
Power and majesty, praise to the King!
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar,
At the sound of your name!
I sing for joy at the work of your hands,
Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have in You.

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Build a Boat by Colton Dixon

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I've been wandering through the desert
Ain't seen a cloud in forever over me
But I believe Your rain is coming, mm
Yeah, I've been hanging onto high hopes
'Cause You're the one who's making dry bones come to life
You're the light I put my trust in
Every word You say is gonna come true
You will lead me to the promised land
Everything You say is gonna happen
Even though I haven't seen it yet
I will build a boat in the sand where they say it never rains
I will stand up in faith, I'll do anything it takes
With Your wind in my sails, Your love never fails or fades
I'll build a boat in the desert place
And when the flood and the water starts to rise, yeah
I'll ride the storm 'cause I got You by my side
With Your wind in my sails, Your love never fails or fades
I'll build a boat, so let it rain
You're the map, You're my compass
You help me navigate the currents underneath
Take the lead, I surrender
Every word You say is gonna come true
You will lead me to the promised land
Everything You say is gonna happen
Even though I haven't seen it yet
I will build a boat in the sand where they say it never rains
I will stand up in faith, I'll do anything it takes
With Your wind in my sails, Your love never fails or fades
I'll build a boat in the desert place
And when the flood and the water starts to rise, yeah
I'll ride the storm 'cause I got You by my side
With Your wind in my sails, Your love never fails or fades
I'll build a boat, so let it rain
I'll build a boat, so let it rain
I will build a boat in the sand where they say it never rains
I will stand up in faith, I'll do anything it takes
With Your wind in my sails, Your love never fails or fades
I'll build a boat in the desert place
And when the flood and the water starts to rise, yeah
I'll ride the storm 'cause I got You by my side
With Your wind in my sails, Your love never fails or fades
I'll build a boat, so let it rain
I like this one. It is getting late now, but this song is very Christian. Thank you for sharing it. The lyrics remind me of Noah's Ark, and also how God guided His people to Israel, just as He guides us to Heaven through Jesus.

The lyrics also remind me of this verse from the Gospel of Mark, where we ride the heavy storms in life by having faith in Jesus:

Mark 4:35-41 (NIV): "That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’ Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’ He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!”’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’ They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’"

Withstanding Discouragement Devotional:
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Why does God delay?

And we have Isaiah 55:11 >

"'So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
. .It shall not return to Me void,
. .But it shall accomplish what I please,
. .And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.'"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Isaiah 55:11)

Yes, what God will do later shall come to pass, and all things now are in timing for what is yet to come. Basically, God plans to conform His children to the image of Jesus > Romans 8:29 < this is a basic priority always affecting what God does and when.

But, also, God's word is ***now*** doing all He pleases. So, in case some thing does not happen, there is all the good which God's word is doing, right now. So, we do well to be submissive to God so He is bringing us to whatsoever good He is doing and wants to share with us; this includes how He makes us able to sense and detect what the good things are, at any moment, even . . . **no matter how evil makes things look**.
That's right. God doesn't waste a single day of our lives.
  • Optimistic
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Homeless Sex Drive -- What Do I Do???

Every night I just fight my sexual desires knowing I'll have to go through the same thing the night after that and the night after that and the night after that, etc.
You need a positive confession of faith. I can do all things thought Christ who strengthens me.
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Why did Jesus weep when he was going to raise Lazarus up anyway?

You are so right, in fact, even in this very respectful forum. How do I deal with them?:

Do you value my points 1 and 2? This is the last time I have asked :)

I think we can both agree with @KevinT! Even though I've been in my share of online debates, it's a waste of our time to go back and forth like this. Admittingly, I grew interested in entertaining it, which is why I continued to engage.

But to answer you question, what I value is being able to strengthen and encourage other's faith so that we can become more like Jesus. I'm not stringent on holding myself to silly referencing standards because I find them to be troublesome and widely unnecessary. If people choose not to find value in my work simply because of a technicality such as not using a high-school referencing standard, that's on them. They're limiting their scope of knowledge and missing out on new insight. And there's nothing I can do about that.
Upvote 0

Is Walz a threat that the USA Founders envisioned?

So what? Doesn't the US also have a social safety net? SNAP and Social Security take care of millions. Are we Communist? Start over
Bradskii corrected my thinking on Walz's statement about equality namely because things have changed so much in China on equality since Walz said that decades ago. Yes, all nations do have mixed economies. The Chinese have every right to govern as they like, though one would hope they offer decent human rights protections for all people groups and religions.
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Greed

Hi, I'm greedy. I eat too much food and food that I know isn't good for my blood pressure.
Try eating less salt for your blood pressure. Losing weight is good too, but less salt might produce better results.

What is a Christian approach to this issue?

I would try to fast. It too something that Jesus said we should do after the bridegroom has left (matt 9:15). Fasting can break the cycle, allow you to have more control over the flesh as well. Find some teaching in this area from Christians who really fast a lot. As your faith grows you will be able to do this more and more.

Overeating is gluttony, and many do this, some more often than others. You will not lose your salvation over this. There are so many additives to food and things that physiologically, and psychologically effect you that it can be hard to overcome. Watch what you eat, try more natural stuff. Avoid diet drinks or anything with fake sugar as it has been shown to stimulate an appetite. I suppose you could try new weight loss drugs but I think most can overcome with better habits. Exercise, bible reading, prayer, praise and going to church regularly are good habits that would help as well. The point is to take your focus off food and onto God more.

Ask for God's wisdom and His power to have you overcome this. That you recognize the issue and are trying is fantastic. Don't condemn yourself though. Figure out too if there are unresolved issues in your past that might be leading you to find comfort in foods. God bless.
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Has AI generated an accurate image of the man on the Shroud?

Very skeptical of anything AI—the hype is hollow and the cost is immense. This particular finishing reminds me of the pictures I've seen that are taken from the Shroud, though.

I still don't know what to make of it. It feels like for everything I read in favor of it, I read something else against it. To be honest, I don't think about it much.
I agree.

Still interesting though.
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Should she be a Saint?

Some churches have made Martin Luther King a saint.

He's in the Episcopal Church's calendar. However, like Nightingale, he wasn't Catholic, so I wouldn't expect him to be added to the Catholic Church's calendar. (We aren't as picky about denomination as they are. :) )
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David was ANGRY because the LORD had broken out against Uzzah

David tried to bring the ark of God from Baale-judah to Jerusalem in 2 Samuel 6:

5 David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.
Everyone was in a happy mood.

6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. 8 And David was angry because the LORD had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzahd to this day.
Was David angry with God?

Ellicott did not think so:

(8) Was displeased.—More exactly, was angry. The cause of his vexation was the Divine judgment upon Uzzah; yet it does not follow that he was angry with God, but rather was simply vexed and disturbed at this most untoward interruption of his plans.
Similarly Barnes:

Displeased - Grief allied to anger seems to be intended. Compare 1 Samuel 15:11 note.
Benson also:

2 Samuel 6:8. David was displeased — Or rather, grieved, both for the sin, and for God’s heavy judgment; whereby their hopes were dashed, and their joys interrupted.
Keil and Delitzsch:

The burning of David's anger was not directed against God, but referred to the calamity which had befallen Uzzah, or speaking more correctly, to the cause of this calamity, which David attributed to himself or to his undertaking. As he had not only resolved upon the removal of the ark, but had also planned the way in which it should be taken to Jerusalem, he could not trace the occasion of Uzzah's death to any other cause than his own plans. He was therefore angry that such misfortune had attended his undertaking.
I don't know of any commentaries saying David was angry at God.

9 And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the LORD come to me?”
David was frustrated by what happened to Uzzah and his plan to bring the ark to Jerusalem.

Trump charged in D.C. for Jan 6th Efforts to Overturn the 2020 Election

The judge overseeing President Donald Trump's 2020 election interference case released more evidence collected by special counsel Jack Smith on Friday, unveiling an enormous batch of heavily redacted records.

The 1,889 pages of material, which Trump's legal team had sought to keep under wraps, constitute four volumes of an appendix that Smith's prosecutors filed alongside a motion over presidential immunity that was unveiled earlier this month. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, ordered the unsealing of the redacted appendix last week, but delayed the release to give Trump time to contest her decision.
There is a lot of reading to do!

If 8 years of overwhelming evidence about a candidate who, by all physical signs, is in rapid mental decline, hasn't convinced his supporters yet, another 1800 pages won't.
There are people here who have outright admitted they had no intention of looking at/listening to any evidence. Their resentment is palpable.
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