Works do matter!!

I thought i'd post this... it's not mine, but i wanted to post it.
Revelation says, 'we will be rewarded according to our deeds'.
Just because we're not saved by works doesn't mean we're not rewarded because of them.

anyway...here's the post:



Devotions for 08-26

August 26
Evening


1 Corinthians 3:14-16 (NIV) 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. 16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?



The Corinthian church had divided into factions over who was the best instructor. Paul is telling them that the value of a person’s life will be revealed on the Day of Judgment. On that day, everyone’s work will be tested by fire. We think someone has done so many things for God, but when the fire hits, what will be left? The fire tests the motive and therefore the ultimate lasting value of the work done. Fire reveals the source of the work. That which was initiated by the Spirit and done in the power of the Spirit will be lasting.

Paul compared the church to a building and a field. We all labor in it in one way or another. The point he is making is that not all labor is lasting. Some of us will arrive in heaven with nothing to show for our life on earth. We have been saved by the blood of the Lamb, but we did absolutely nothing of lasting value about it. All the work we did was out of our own nature and for impure motive of pride. We scratched around in the field and banged on the building, but we never really invested in eternity.

Jesus warned us to lay up treasures for ourselves in heaven. Those who do so will find the reward was well worth the investment we made. God’s interest rates are fantastic. We have something of value to gratefully lay at the wounded feet of our Savior. He will return those treasures to us, for He said, “Lay up for yourselves…”

We are the temple of God. We are His building. Are you letting Him direct your activity? Are you a house of worship? How we listen to and obey the Spirit within us is directly proportional to our treasure in heaven. These thoughts in the verses above are together for a reason. Don’t neglect to listen to the Spirit. Quench not the Spirit. Don’t let His abiding presence be in vain.



Remember: He came in to save your soul, but also to save your daily life.

Megalomaniacs

***found this interesting*** Are you a megolomaniac?


(MacArthur, John, jr., The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Romans 1-8, pp. 41-42)



Paul sought the advancement of God's kingdom and glory through God's own will, not his own.

Self-styled messiahs are always megalomaniacs. They have grandiose schemes for winning the world for Christ. They always think big, and their plans seldom show evidence of being limited by God's plans, which, from a human perspective, sometimes seem small and insignificant. Jesus' ministry did not focus on converting the great leaders of his day or evangelizing the great cities. He chose twelve ordinary men to train as His apostles, and most of his teaching took place in insignificant, often isolated, parts of Palestine. He did not raise large sums of money or attempt to use the influence of great men to his advantage. His sole purpose was to do his Father's will in his FAther's way and in his Father's time. That is the highest goal for us as well.

The Multitudes in Hell

Multitudes in Hell (#20050624)
by Henry Morris, Ph.D.
"The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword" (Ezekiel 32:21).
The subject of hell is largely ignored today, even by evangelical teachers and pastors. This is a tragic mistake because multitudes are there already, and multitudes living today will soon be there. It is good to preach the love of God, but God also commands us: "Others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire" (Jude 23).

The Lord, through Ezekiel, has given us a graphic picture of those in earlier ages who are now in Hades, awaiting the final judgment. The great Pharaoh of Egypt, along with his countrymen, had practiced the Egyptian religion with all its complex concepts and rituals, but religion, in itself, will not keep one from hell. When Pharaoh died and had "gone down" to "hell" (actually, this word in the Old Testament is sheol, equivalent to the Greek, Hades, a great pit deep in the core of the earth), he found many there already from the centuries before him. Some specifically named (Ezekiel 32:22-30) are Asshur, Elam, Meshech, Tubal, and Zidon, each with their multitudes. Esau, Jacob's brother, was also there (same as Edom). These, significantly, come from all three original branches of Noah's family. All had come from a godly ancestor, but that did not save them. "When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but . . . worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator" (Romans 1:21,25).

All of these individuals whose final end is explained in Scripture verifies the warning of Christ: "Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat" (Matthew 7:13). Only those who worship the true Creator, receiving Christ as personal Savior from sin, will be saved. HMM

Big Bang Misleading

The image of the big bang as a cosmic explosion ejecting the material contents of the universe like shrapnel from an exploding bomb is a useful one to bear in mind, but it is a little misleading. When a bomb explodes, it does so at a particular location in space and at a particular moment in time. Its contents are ejected into the surrounding space. In the big bang, there is no surrounding space. As we devolve the universe backward toward the beginning, the squeezing together of all material content occurs because all of space is shrinking. The orange-size, the pea-size, the grain of sand-size devolution describes the whole of the universe-not something within the universe. Carrying on to the beginning, there is simploy no space outside the primordial pinpoint grenade. Instead, the big bang is the eruption of compressed space whose unfurling, like a tidal wave, carries along matter and energy even to this day. (Greene, Brian, "The Elegant Universe," New York, p. 83)

Greetings and Welcome to abadrap!!

Greetings,

Welcome to my new blogsite: "abadrap.blogspot.com"

This blog is dedicated to three general areas: Religion, Astronomy, and Presidential

I originally created an astronomy blogsite only, so first i'm going to give you it's original first post: here it is:

Greetings, and welcome to my Amatuer Astronomy and physics blog!!

First, let me say, i'm really much of an amatuer astronomer right now. Now, i used to be. I had the right equipment and everything at one time and was invested in the hobby. However, i sold most of my equipment on a bad dream. Now, i own an astroscan newtonian reflector telescope, 4 and one eighth inch mirror. Not much really, but actually, it's good for finding comets i hear. I've seen several through it, including halley's comet, actually that was a different astroscan.

Anyway, i purchase books every now and then that deal with astronomy, theoretical physics, authors such as Stephen Hawking, and Brian Greene.
I'm intrigued with such things as string theory, and our multiverse. I believe that there is a unified field theory that will desribe the universe as we know it, it's beginnings i mean. String theory in my opinion is a major breakthrough. I believe we are also in an inflationary multiverse...that there are multiple universes that have been in creation ever since the beginning. I sort of hold that our universe is on the verge of collapse, but that others stemming from ours won't.

Anyway, this is my amatuer astronomy blog site. I probably will include more astronomy articles, info, rather than physics.

Hope you enjoy!!!

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Now to tell you a little about my plans for religious posts and the presidential part:

I have another blogsite: calltodiscipleship.blogspot.com.
I plan to post here any religious articles from now on
Mainly i am doing away with the other site because i get very little response to it.
I don't know, maybe i'm not respected enough in the area of religion, or maybe no one else has anything to say. However, i plan to continue to blog religous posts because religion plays a role in who i am. Jesus does too, but i think i've been affected by religion about as much as Jesus!! Hopefully, i can sort out the two.

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Next, is my presidential blogs:

When i was younger, from ages 4 on, my parents and i traveled to many locations in the U.S. We visited a lot of presidents homes, lyndon Johnson's, Abraham Lincoln's, Thomas jefferson's to name 3. I became interested at age 7 in learning all the presidents names...well, i still haven't managed to memorize them all. Anyway, i like presidential history. I would like to be president one day!! That's a big goal, but it's good to set one's aim high!! Maybe, i'll get lucky and end up the mayor one day! Anyway, on this blogsite, along with religion and astronomy, i may have presidential facts from time to time or maybe i'll include the political circus!


Anyway, this is my first blog for : abadrap.blogspot.com

The name is sort of synonymoous with me also.... for i've been given a bad rap since 1992... I encountered some bad luck in 1992 that has sort of stayed with me... only time and truth will reveal the hidden!