Psalm 143:2

Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.

In the Overview, Bryan referred to this as “The Sinful Condition of Man after the Fall into Sin”. The Doctrines of Grace refer to this as Total Depravity, where depravity is defined as Moral Perversion, an Impairment of Virtue or Moral Principles. Some synonyms for Total might be:

• Comprehensive
• Thorough
• Utter
• Exhaustive
• Pervasive

I state, “You are Utterly Sinful, your Moral Perversion is comprehensive, you suffer a thorough impairment of virtue, and a pervasive impairment of moral principles!”

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FLOYD DOUD SHAFER Christianity Today, March 27, 1961

There was a time, about three generations ago, when the minister was known as the parson. Parson, in those days, was not a nickname, but an honorific title, and it meant The Person. More often than not the parson was the best educated man in the community and he ranked with the physician and the pedagogue, and the lawyer in eminence. But our time has seen a complete switch in this situation. The minister is no longer a parson. The advent of a highly educated public has put the minister close to the bottom of the listings in educated persons. Our reaction to this turn of events should have been a determined and disciplined effort to regain and maintain superior excellence in the things which pertain to God. Instead, the clergy retreated in mad scramble behind the breastworks of administrative detail, ecclesiastical trivia, and community vagrancy. Whenever our conscience bothered us, we simply ran off to another meeting to make arrangements for succeeding meetings to flee to. We are no longer parsons, now we are “good Joes” and in place of providing the Church with her needed “Scholar teachers” who are equipped to bring God and man together in reasoned relation, we no find ourselves among those who need to be reached by the “Scholar Teacher” and wise men of God. What is the resolution of this ridiculous farce? (more…)

• As I walked into the room I overhead Jacob tell Samantha, “Please! No more sugar! I can’t handle it.” Hmmmmmm #
• I regret telling Tommy to hold on to the Scotch Ball’s till Christmas last night, I want some now. #
• Blog Post: http://blog.hines57.com/2008/12/22/gingerbread/ #
• Humility is so shy. If you begin talking about it, it leaves. #
• Gonna Make Cheese Cake today #
• I think I woke Richard up this morning when I called him to come over for Cheese Cake making! #
• BLOG: http://tinyurl.com/7xpg2e #
• 1/3 Cheesecakes in the oven now! #
• Blog: Profile Updated – http://blog.hines57.com/rob-bubba-hines/ #
• Wow – Tussionex Pennjunetuc Suspension makes my head spin! #
• Merry Christmas! It’s time! It’s times! Let’s open all the presents! #
• The Amarr Empire must be crushed! #
• Hey – I have 21-day Trials for Eve-online that I can send to friends. Whoot! Let me know if ya want to try the game for 21 days! #
• Rockband 2 – and now, everything but the microphone is wireless at the Hines house. Whoot! #
• Woke up to a belly ache – and it was my own belly that was aching. I just wanna go back to bed, why is that so hard to do? #
• Eve-Online Bookmarks Updated: http://delicious.com/robhines/eve-online #
• EvE Personality Test – http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/testgen/6199/ #

The way we live our lives demonstrate more clearly what we believe about the Bible and God than anything we say. Many call themselves Christians, 3/5 of Americans claim to be personally committed to Christ. Matthew 7:21-23 is a clear example of why we need to believe what the Bible teaches and live it, rather than claim we believe what the Bible teaches yet continue to live in opposition to those teachings.

• Does your life reflect what you claim to believe?
• Do you keep Christ’s commandments and abide in His love?
• Are there any areas of your life that are in opposition to Scripture and Christ’s commandments?

Bible Reading: John 15:1-17

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(Mathew 5:13-16) To paraphrase Matthew Henry,

˜Mankind, wallowing in wickedness, is piled up as an enormous heap, prepared to putrefy. However, Christ has sent us that by our lives mankind may be seasoned with grace and love. If an individual can take up the profession of Christ, and yet remain loveless, no other doctrine, no other means, can make that individual profitable. Our light must shine, by doing such good works as others may see. What is between God and our souls, must be kept to ourselves; but that which is of itself open to the sight of men, we must study to make suitable to our profession [Christianity], and praiseworthy."

Matthew Henry is right on the mark because he knows that a sound biblical doctrine without a sound biblical love is impotent. The Apostle Paul makes it clear in the corrective of 1 Corinthians 13 that even if I express prophetic powers, knowledge, faith, generosity and unswerving conviction, but have not love I am nothing and gain nothing. Our faith and theology must translate into the content of our lives. Love is the litmus test of true Christianity and it is integral to our witness for Christ.

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So Rob made soup from the ham bone, beans, carrots, leaks, celery, oyster crackers and yummm yummm good.  Good soup!  Come on over and have some.

Well, today for Christmas Rob got me a laptop. Merry Christmas to me.  The kids had a good day too!

Compassion – Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it.)

Witness – a. One who can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced. b. One who furnishes evidence.)

Our God is a God of compassion; He has a deep awareness of our suffering coupled with the desire to relieve it. He sent His Son in order to provide the relief for our suffering! As Christians, we who have experienced this relief are capable of giving a firsthand account of what we have seen, heard, and experienced through Christ. We have even established that Christ has commanded each of us to do precisely this. (See Commanded to Witness)

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Jacob came over yesterday and we cooked three cheesecakes for Christmas.

We used the Cheesecake Factory Recipe (below) and I worked with Jacob to make the first cheesecake, then left him and Samantha to make the other two.

We invited Tommy and Jodi to join us for dinner at Hillbilly’s Steak & BBQ, after which we returned to the house to enjoy said Cheesecake, with some home made blueberry topping!

It was a very satisfying experience – cooking, eating, eating too much – this is what holiday’s are made for, right?

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Christ provides us with a number of universal commands (worship\serve God, pray at all times, teach\disciple others, good works, etc.), these are commands that are common to all disciples of Christ and are not in any way restricted to some Christians. Our Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) and Christ’s last recorded words before ascension, "you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8b) are excellent examples of this command.

In Matthew 28 Christ was speaking directly to the eleven Disciples and in Acts 1 to the Apostles whom He had chosen. So how do these commands from Christ to His immediate Disciples and Apostles get transferred down through the ages to you? Are you really commanded to witness to others about the Gospel of Christ? Are you really commanded to go make disciples of all the nations, baptize them, and teach them all of Christ’s commands? Or is it more comfortable to believe that these commands are only relevant to ordained ministers, or those that have specific Gifts of the Spirit in the areas of preaching, teaching, evangelism, etc.

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