But Calls You By

“The enemy knows your name, but calls you by your sin. God knows your sin, but calls you by your name.” Unknown

Suggested I Take a Different

I am grateful The Holy Spirit suggested I take a different route to go shopping and go to a different store. This other stores prices are so much lower. As well, it did not use as much energy on the battery

I am grateful that after having a fight about how mom gives money to the other family members who contribute nothing while giving me nothing and I do everything she put money in my account ( no where near what she owes me but be grateful for what you get right ).

I am grateful that I went to the store to order the new batteries for the scooter because they only come from the warehouse once a week so the batteries should be in in a few days.

I Cannot Imagine Life Without

I cannot imagine life without Christ at the center of it. Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah

Now You Know Why Daddy

One day a little boy, Zachary, 4, came screaming out of the bathroom to tell his mommy he dropped his toothbrush in the toilet.

So she fished it out and threw it in the garbage.

Zachary stood there thinking for a moment, then ran to my bathroom and came out with her toothbrush.

He held it up and said with a charming little smile, “We better throw this one out too, ’cause daddy threw it in the toilet a few days ago.”

And now you know why daddy calls mommy a potty mouth.

A Good Recipe

I am grateful for The Lord sense of humour. This morning I searched all over for my swimming goggles to no avail. When I cam home from swimming there they were, right in the middle of the bed, jumping out at me.

I am grateful for the email subscription for natural health for cats. They gave me a good recipe for home made cat food.

I am grateful for gentle rain this afternoon that lulled me to a good afternoons nappies ( us old folks need them ).

I am grateful for not talking with moms doctors today because she was an hour and a half late calling me. She was politely informed that I expect her to call at the appointed time. After all if we are late we are charged for it. So, should the same consideration not be given to us? She agreed to talk with me tomorrow at the appointed time.

When you are respectful towards others it is only right that the same be given back in return.

I am grateful for the abundant crops that are coming to fruition

If God Didn’t

If God didn’t discipline His children He would be a negligent father. He would be displaying cruel disinterest if He were indifferent to whether His children obeyed or not. Erwin Lutzer

Nothing in This World to Compare To

I look forward to going to Jehovahs Heavenly home because there is nothing in this world to compare to spending an eternity with Jesus Joseph- a son of Jehovah

The Church of Christ

All of us who are trusting in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior are members of the true church of Christ. We are members of His body. We have experienced the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace. “We are accepted in the Beloved,” and we are “redeemed through His blood.”

The moment we put our faith in Jesus Christ we are born again, and at the same time placed in the body of Christ in a vital union with Him. The essence of saving faith is to rest upon Christ alone for eternal salvation. We trust in the atonement and the righteousness of Jesus Christ to save us. Saving faith is to trust in Jesus Christ and what He has done for your salvation.

Our justification is an instantaneous act from the moment we believed on Christ as our Savior.  Justification is completed in one instant never to be repeated. It is complete the moment a sinner believes on the atoning death of Jesus Christ. In that moment is the remission of all our sins. In that moment we are made clean by the blood of Jesus.

What a gracious joy to know that in one single instant we are declared just, complete in Christ, without a sin, freed from all its condemning power, guilt and iniquity. In an instant a person is pardoned. Never again will the Christian ever be unjustified! “There is therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

From the Day of Pentecost on as each believer became saved he also became a member of the body of Christ. It is impossible to be saved and not be a member of the church, which is Christ’s own body, because a part of the divine work of salvation is the uniting of the individual to Christ by the baptism with the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13).

Every Christian is baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ at the moment he or she believes on Jesus Christ to be saved. We are by the Holy Spirit brought into the body of Christ. This baptism into the body of Christ is not limited to any particular group of believers. Every Christian, from the moment he believes in Christ and is saved is baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ and therefore the universal church of Christ. The church of all the people of God, all the redeemed, all believers is the real and only Church of Christ.

Are you a member of the true church of Christ? Are you a member of His body? Have you been saved by the grace of God alone through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ?

It is obviously true that an individual may be saved and not be a member of a local organized church. All born again believers should declare their identification with the death and resurrection of Jesus by believer’s baptism, and become a member in a Bible-believing congregation.

Moreover, water baptism and church membership are not required for salvation. The true church of Christ is composed of all people who have repented of their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and who are thus joined together in one living union by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Does an individual have to be baptized in order to be saved? Yes, if you are referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit when you believed on Christ as your Savior; however no, if you are referring to water baptism.

The New Testament refers to the “church” in two ways. The main emphasis is on the church as a living organism, a vital living union of all true believers in Jesus Christ.

The second category is the local church, which is composed of professing Christians in any local community (1 Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:1; Phil. 1:1).

The only candidates for membership in a visible local Bible-believing church are individuals who have put their faith in the work of salvation of Jesus Christ, and have given testimony of their salvation by water baptism.

Every person who is a candidate for baptism and church membership must give a clear testimony as to their salvation. Am I saved? Have I believed in Jesus Christ? Have I been born again? Church membership is simply the recognition of the profession of saving faith in Jesus Christ. It is to join the fellowship of other believers of kindred spirit.

You do not have to be a member of the local Church of Christ, or be baptized by one of their officials in order to be saved.

If you are looking for a perfect church, you will not find one on this earth. If you did find one, they would not let you become a member because you are not perfect. However, do find a local group of believers in the area where you live who are saved by grace through faith, and who are nearest to the Scriptures in doctrine, the ordinances of the church and practice. Become a member of the local church regardless of what tag their wear.

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006 Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.

Born of God

How are individuals made alive spiritually?

Jesus said, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 NET).

The Bible teaches us that we become a child of God only through the new birth. Those who believe on Jesus Christ become God’s children. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe on His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).

By whose authority do we become the children of God? “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right . . .” It is the authority of Jesus Christ. Those who believe on Him have the right to become the children of God.

It is clearly not a physical birth, but a spiritual birth that is in mind, and it is something that is received by the person who believes in Him (1 Pet. 1:23). The initiative in the new birth is with God.

Without Christ we are spiritually dead in trespasses and sin (Eph. 2:1-3). Every individual must be born again because the natural man is altogether void of spiritual life. We need divine life, and that is what God provides through the new birth.

“He who believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36, 16). He has it right now (1 John 5:13). Clearly the individual who believes on Him receives God’s kind of life (6:40). It is the teaching throughout the New Testament (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 10:9-10).

The biblical doctrine of the new birth takes all the glory and initiative away from man and gives it all to God the Father. He alone is responsible for our salvation; therefore, He alone gets all the glory. He creates the new spiritual life within us and causes us to believe on Christ. God chooses to give us eternal life (1 Jn. 3:1; Eph. 1:5; Jas. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23).

We become a child of God when God gives us His life. It is an act of God. We receive that life the moment we believe on Christ. It comes from God and is received only on the basis of God’s grace. Those who believe become God’s children. Only by receiving Christ do we gain the right to become a child of God.

How do we not become a child of God? There is absolutely nothing that man can do to contribute to his spiritual birth. This is made very clear in John 1:13, “who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” No amount of human activity, religious cultivation, or moral teaching can change the essential nature of man. Therefore, it is imperative that man’s deepest need is to be born again.

In the Jewish mind “blood” is equivalent to human life. Spiritual birth cannot come about as a result of any human process or achievement. Man is not by nature a child of God. We are by nature sinners. No human agency can achieve the new birth. All human effort is powerless and superficial in regard to spiritual life. There is nothing in our human nature or character that can bring about a spiritual birth.

“Born of the water and the Spirit” does not refer to baptism regeneration (John 3:5). From the context “water” here is referring to the water bag broken at physical birth of a baby. Water here is symbolic of a spiritual birth. From other passages of Scripture we learn that baptism is in no wise essential to salvation. It does not form one of the conditions which God requires the sinner to meet. If baptism were necessary then man would be saved by his works.

The Bible teaches we are saved by grace through faith in Christ and not of works. It is the free gift of God. “What must I do to be saved?” The Bible says “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31).

The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to bring about regeneration (1 Pet. 1:23). No sinner is born spiritually apart from the Word. The “children” are those who believe on Christ. Men are God’s sons only as they respond to what He does for them in Christ. They are born into God’s family when they receive His Word.

The new birth is an absolute miracle. All human initiative and effort is ruled out. Men are “born of God.” There is no other way to become a child of God. It is the work of the Holy Spirit within the person. It is life in Christ and is divine in origin. The whole emphasis in this verse and in John chapter three is the activity of the Spirit of God, not human effort, works or merits by demanding the sinner to be “born again.” He excludes any possibility of human effort in salvation.

The word “believing” and “receiving” refer to the same operation of the Holy Spirit when a person ceases trusting in his own human merits and trust in Christ Jesus alone for salvation.

Are you enjoying the things of God, spiritual things, which are discerned and enjoyed by spiritual regeneration? Are you enjoying the privileges of being a child of God? In order to have spiritual discernment we must be born again (1 Cor. 2:10, 14).

The Holy Spirit gives us a new spiritual nature. When He gives us this new nature we are “born again” (2 Pet. 1:4). It is an act of God.

Because of this new birth the individual is a changed person who loves the things he once hated, and hates the things he once loved. A radical change takes place in the heart of the believer.  “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new thing have come” (2 Cor. 5:17). The NET Bible reads, “So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away–look, what is new has come!”

SELAH! Pause – reflect- just think of that!

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006

Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.

A Prayer for Caregivers

May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Romans 15:5 The Holy Bible, The New Living Translation

Prayer: My Beloved Jehovah Jireth (Genesis 22:14 The LORD Shall Provide) , I humbly beseech You to bless me this day with abundance provision of patience.

Every days calling upon my body, mind and spirit are great.

Patience is a virtue which only You can pour out upon me as rain is poured out upon the parched land.

No matter the difficult task nor the wearing of my patience by those in my care please bless me with Your Divine patience.

Every day the load placed upon the caretakers shoulder is heavy and demanding. It can only be accomplished by Your Divine patience, wisdom, peace and strength.

I believe You will bless me all that is required to excel at these demanding tasks this day, but especially with patience.

May I be as patient with those in my care this day as You are with me every day.

I humbly beseech You and thank You for granting my petition in the name of He who excelled in patience with His disciples Jesus Christ. Amen

This photo and article @ Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah 2022