Watch “Where does Morality Come from? – Nabeel Qureshi (1983-2017) & Q&A”

On September 16, 2017 Nabeel Qureshi passed from this life into the next. Nabeel fought long and hard with his stomach cancer. Now he has no more suffering, no more pain, only unimaginable joy in the presence of God.

• In this particular video you will see Nabeel express his confidence in life after death because of Jesus Christ and the love and merciful grace of God.
• We will miss you Nabeel.
• Thank you for leaving us with three books and dozens of videos to help us find the Truth about God, Jesus, eternity, Christianity in contrast to what is taught in Islam.

“Because I live, you will live also.”

Jesus Christ in The Gospel of John 14:19

Dear Readers, Do You Agree With Suzanne ? Should I Continue to Post Anonymously or not ?

The following comment is from a reader in Bavaria.

“I really saw that your site IS completely Christ-centered. Hats off! Such a thing is rarely to find.

“Every sermon should ultimately be about Jesus.” Tim Keller

This is absolutely true. I appreciate Tim Keller as well and I’d like to say that the Gospel Coalition “triumvirate” 😉 – often represented by Tim Keller, Don Carson, AND John Piper – consists of three Christ-centered preachers and teachers. They are all different, yet they complement each other perfectly.

Indeed, I loved reading this post. The only thing that makes me somehow sad is the fact that I do not know with whom I am talking here [OK OK, from your “About” I know that you are a man 🙂 ]. I abstained from saying, “Hello Christ Centered Teaching” since it sounds a bit strange in my ears. Do you not agree?
Just flipping through Scripture, reading for example the introduction of Romans, a man introduces himself by writing,

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” Rom 1:1)

You, too, are a faithful (!) servant of Him who has called you by your name, didn’t He? He chose you and you are precious in His eyes. God, your Father in Heaven, knew your name before you were born and He loves like His only son Jesus.
Just imagine all the prophets of the Old Testament had not been given any names or we could only read gospel 1, gospel 2, gospel 3, gospel 4, and anonymous letters.

“You, too, my dear brother, have a prophetic voice which must be heard!”

I assume you may wonder why I insist on it that much. Who am I to do so?
Honestly, the Lord urged me…
Also, it grieved me a lot to read about your painful loss when you were only eleven years old. In fact, it was the same for my hubby Paul who was born in Chicago/Illinois. When he was about 9 years old [“about” because he can’t remember it], he was forced to return to Germany with his mother and his younger brother because their father had died in the 1970’s. Just in case they would have stayed in the USA, their mother as a German – unlike their American sons – would have had difficulties with retaining custody.

Well, that’s it for now, my brother in Christ.

Every blessing to you,
your sister
Susanne from Bavaria 🙂”

I appreciate each and every comment I recieve.
But this comment really has me thinking.

Some of you already know that I occasionally post expanded views of the works of Tim Keller, Viktor Frankl,  and others.

Tim Keller did a sermon series titled,”Public Faith”, in which he states that we live in a culture that encourages us to be open about everything except our religious beliefs.
We are told that it is good to say what we believe about sexual preferences and everything else, but we are told to keep our views about religion, particularly Christian religious views, to ourselves.

And Viktor Frankl, the Austrian Phyciastrist who survived Auschwitz, who wrote one of the New York Times top ten most influential books of all time, “Man’s Search for Meaning”, would have published it anonymously if not for the urging of a close friend.

Frankl later realized that many more opportunities arose for him to help others because he published his book with his real name.

In contrast, I risk very little by being anonymous and my humility is not pumped up so much as to make me tempted to forget my first love, namely Jesus Christ.

I consider these men to be a few of my most admired and most Christ Centered Teachers.

So what do you think?

Would my name help the cause of Christ, or only serve to hurt it ?

Please prayerfully consider these things with me and share your thoughts in this forum with me.

Because He first loved us,
C.C.T.

Jesus Christ – His Divine Union of Contrasts – King of Kings – Yet He was the meekest and lowliest of all the sons of men

The Crucifixion (1622) by Simon Vouet; Church of Jesus, Genoa

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Look no further than the Gospels of Jesus Christ in the Bible for proof of His existence. Mankind could not have conceived the embodiment of such extremes in the leader of a man made religion.
Only Christianity has a founder who embodies the full spectrum of what it means to be human and does so in Holy perfection.

James Stewart said it well.

“He was the meekest and lowliest of all the sons of men, yet he spoke of coming on the clouds of heaven with the glory of God.

 

He was so austere that evil spirits and demons cried out in terror at his coming, yet he was so genial and winsome and approachable that the children loved to play with him, and the little ones nestled in his arms.

 

His presence at the innocent gaiety of a village wedding was like the presence of sunshine.

 

No one was half so compassionate to sinners, yet no one ever spoke such red hot scorching words about sin.

 

A bruised reed he would not break, his whole life was love, yet on one occasion he demanded of the Pharisees how they ever expected to escape the damnation of hell.

 

He was a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions, yet for sheer stark realism He has all of our stark realists soundly beaten.

 

He was a servant of all, washing the disciples feet, yet masterfully He strode into the temple, and the hucksters and moneychangers fell over one another to get away from the mad rush and the fire they saw blazing in His eyes.

 

He saved others, yet at the last Himself He did not save. There is nothing in history like the union of contrasts which confronts us in the gospels. The mystery of Jesus is the mystery of divine personality.”

 

– James Stewart, Scottish theologian

 

Inseparable, Unchangeable, Irrevocable – The Magnificent Love Jesus Christ Has for Us

Do you know Christ has always loved you?

His love is the most powerful force in the universe.

He loved us so much that He came to us to pay for our sins on the cross.

He loved us so much that He defeated death for us by dying and then coming back to life.

Now Christ gives life to all who choose to receive His love.

Simply ask Him.

He is listening now.

The following passage is from the Bible, God’s Holy Word.

“What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who can  be against us?

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,

how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long;

“We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers,

nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth,

nor any other created thing,

shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

(Rom 8:31-32 ) ( Rom 8:35-39 )

A Letter to My Brothers – Concerns about America

The EU has already given over a lot of land to Islam without a single shot being fired.
They occupy, use gangs to harass, put up signs declaring Sharia law, and then throw stones at first responders, so that even law enforcement agencies won’t go there.
Sweden just started allowing public prayers to go out morning,noon, and night.
Can’t happen here?
All they need is persistent patience and time.
And more presidents like O.
Did you know the head of our CIA is Muslim?
I’ve studied Islam. The Koran does not separate the powers of church and state. The Koran insists they be combined and that the supreme law be Sharia law, the law of Islam.

The idea of Islam being a peaceful religion should have been clearly disproven to everyone by know.

What can we do?

Laws may help, for sure, but what about the example I talked about above? Islam took over an entire district of the third largest city in Belgium. Could Dearborn be taken over the same way?

Here’s my answer. Know what you believe.

Muslims know what they believe and that they believe is that people must submit to Allah, it is forced religion enforced by Sharia law. In fact the word “Islam” means “Submit”.

Here’s what I believe.

Christianity today in America is confused and no longer provides a consensus of integrity whereby it can effectively influence a free society to be responsible with the very freedoms it once crafted and that we have long enjoyed.

The truth is that for decades now, Christianity has been a poor reflection of the love of God while also attempting to influence society to embrace it’s moral standard.

Someone said, “Rules without relationship breeds resentment.”

True Christianity isn’t a set of rules though Christianity has rules, the heart of being a Christian is being able to say, Jesus Christ died for me and I trust His sacrifice for my sin, He is my savior.

Then if its genuine, Christ puts His Spirit in us and begins to influence our hearts  only God can do from the inside out.

And He promises never to leave us or forsake us.

No other religion on earth has a relationship like this, where a God became man, lived humbly and sinless with us and then died for us to take away sin, then offers it as a gift of love by faith.

Islam offers no assurance of salvation besides dying for Allah.

Christianity does offer assurance of salvation, but God as Christ died for us.

Someone said that radical Islam is not the greatest threat in the world. Mediocre Christianity is the greatest threat in the world.

Last word.
If you don’t like what you see in Christians, look at Christ in the Bible. You’ll find nothing wrong with Him.
My motto is,Don’t follow Christians, follow Christ.

Your loving brother,

Come to Jesus and Obtain the Fullness of Love and of Grace

“The best way to come to Christ is to come meaning to get everything, and to obtain all the plenitude of grace, which he has laid up in store, and promised freely to give. Some poor souls who come to Jesus Christ seem as if they wanted a little relief from fear, a hope that they may just get saved, and a fair chance of going to heaven when they die. Pray do not come in that way, my dear friend. Come intending to obtain the fullness of love, the uttermost of grace.” C.H.Spurgeon

Ephesians 1:13,14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”

Jesus! The Savior Of My Soul!

Jesus!

The Savior of my soul,
He is the promise of eternal tomorrows,
the fact that He resides in me,
and the thought that He will never leave me,

He lives in me as the promise of life unending,

A promise that God who cannot lie, has made!

He is the seal of an eternity of tomorrows!

His Spirit in me!
His Spirit teaches me,
His Spirit guides me,

His Spirit changes me,

His Spirit comforts me,
and gives me peace that passes understanding,…

theses are only a few reasons I worship my Jesus.

Final Events – The Signing of a Treaty With Israel Reveals The “Beast” and Day One of the Great Tribulation

 “because they did not receive the love of the truth”

 “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that  Day  will  not  come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

 “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.

And then the lawless one will be revealed,

whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.

The coming of the lawless  one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

(II Thessalonians 2:1-12)

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:” (John 1:12)

Related articles

• The Events Preceding the Day of the Lord 2Thessalonians 2:1-12 (loopyloo305.com)
• You Absolutely MUST Be Born Again If You Want To Go To Heaven After You Die! (Have YOU been Born Again?) (soulrefuge.org)
• The Apostle Paul (sharingodslove.wordpress.com)

Should I Not Love that Great City? -An Audio Sermon By Dr. Tim Keller – Redeemer Presbytarian Church Manhatten New York – 4 Weeks After 9-11-01

CNN breaking the news of a plane crash at the World Trade Center (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Redeemer’s Synopsis – “Many recoil at the thought of being called to reside in a large city. Jonah felt the same way when God asked him to go to Nineveh, and he made every attempt and excuse to avoid the great city. Like Jonah, we may see crime, pollution, greed, and moral decay as deterrents to living in a city; but in God’s eyes its peoples are precious, and his grace and mercy are available to all. Once we glimpse the heavenly eternal city, the city of God, we will share God’s view of the lost and will be able reach out in charity and love to a broken world.”

Preached just four weeks after the 9-11-2001 attack on the World Trade Center and our nation, Dr. Keller delivers this sermon to his congregation who are still reeling from the attack. At the time we were all waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak, and 11 years later we still are in a state of constant vigil.

Dr. Keller parallels the events recorded in the old testament book of the Bible, Jonah,and the city God sent the prophet to, as the platform from which he takes us through history in regards to Christian Citizenship and God’s love for people.

Keller takes us back to another global tragedy which shook the confidence of the entire civilized world, the Fall of Rome, and to the wisdom and truth conveyed by Saint Augustin in his book,The City of God”, written during that era.

Then Keller goes well beyond that.

This sermon was easy to listen to repeatedly because of the richness of content and I learned more from it with each review of it.

As citizens of Heaven, The Eternal City, we are to be the very best citizens of any city on Earth as we follow Christ’s example of love and selfless sacrifice for the sake of others.

Click on the link below for the audio sermon.

http://sermons2.redeemer.com/sermons/should-i-not-love-great-city

God is so good

This is a wonderful Song of Praise by fellow Christian Blogger David Bibee.

Powerful Praise indeed.

click on the highlighted link below.

God is so good.

Legalism, License, and The Love of God

Rembrandt’s “The Three Crosses” Courtesy of British Museum

Just as Christ was crucified between two thieves, Legalism and license oppose the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The two thieves rob power from the message of Christ’s complete and finished work on the cross.

I’m in awe with the thought that God himself came down to save us and gave Himself on the cross for you and I.

God Himself is the Gospel. Such an incredible thought!

And even more, I think this truth holds a key to something that is holding the church back from revival.

Here’s what I mean…

Legalism and license oppose the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Self righteousness, moralism, legalism, at various levels and degrees in the hearts of Christians robs the church of power and keeps those who would enter from doing so.

I know license is present in the world, but legalism is the Christian man’s primary problem.

Christianity ascribes all truth to the Bible and the keys to renewal are contained therein.

License is pleasure based and legalism is power based.

Both are self-centered.

Both devastate our world by misrepresenting the truth of the Good News of the Gospel.

We need to distinguish between license and legalism in order to recognize them.

License is based on the idea that God is only love, that Jesus died for us, and now we can take grace for granted and sin willfully by doing whatever we want.

License is also known as relativism because absolute truth is usually denied  in this belief.

Legalism takes undo pride in works of righteousness and in pride looks down on others, thinking that works merit favor with God.

 “The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 

    “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

   “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”(Luke 18:11-14)

Legalism is also known as moralism.

The best example from the Bible was written by the Apostle Paul .

He wrote the letter to the Galatians addressing Christians to defend them and the Gospel from legalism, the idea that we attach our own works to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

Legalistic religious leaders were the primary enemies of Christ and orchestrated the crucifixion as prophesied in the old testament of the Bible.

Legalistic religious leaders also tormented Paul his entire ministry.

I believe legalism is still the primary threat to the purity of the Gospel today.

Pastor Tim Keller seems to believe this as well.

Keller thinks that a moralistic view of the Gospel is the norm today.

What do you think?

Do you agree that a moralistic view of Christianity is the norm today?

Far too often we Christians try to honor God by emphasizing His Holiness or His Sovereignty or His Justice, as if to cull favor with God by associating with these attributes of God, while ignoring His love, His mercy and Jesus Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us on the cross.

The writers of the new testament centered their claims on Christ,relating their claims back to Christ 27% or more of the total words they wrote on average.

Almost one-third of everything in the New Testament is specifically about Jesus or centers on His personage. The point is it is all about Jesus. If you have the Son you have the Father, if you don’t have the Son then you don’t have the Father.

Do we even come close to giving Christ preeminence today?

I fear not.

God’s great love is the only one of God’s attributes that makes us worthy subjects to honor all His other attributes. His love is His Grace by which we are saved.

Only His great love which He personally expressed on our behalf on the Cross of Christ can save us.

We Christians make the mistake of thinking the primary reason God sent Jesus to die for our sins was because He is Holy and Righteous and His justice had to satisfied.

God is all those things but that is not why Jesus came to save us.

God’s word tells us why.

It says God so loved! (John 3:16)

GOD SO LOVED!

God so loved that He became man.

God so loved that He paid for our sins, the just for the unjust.

His motive was to save you because He loved you.

I have found that most people and perhaps most Christians too, do not have a heart that is awakened to the love of God and its full meaning to them.

Fellow Christians often take issue with those of us who emphasize God’s love as, “The Greatest of These.”

Time and time again I have heard angry responses such as, “God is not just love, He is Righteous and Holy too!”

That was when I finally understood why one of the greatest sermons ever was titled.”Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God.”

(This sermon was preached by Jonathan Edwards.)

In that sermon, the hand of God is the only thing keeping us from falling into eternal fire.

I personally know God is love, because it is written and portrayed throughout the Holy Bible.

If all God wanted was to satisfy His Holiness, Righteousness and His Justice; then God would just send everyone to Hell.

The verdict was already given and only death prevents that sentence from being carried out on all who have not received Christ as Savior.

The only thing that can prevent what had already been determined to happen was provided to us because God so loved.

Legalism, license and the Love of God.

We need to know the difference because only one of them can save us and the others are apostasy,( they deny the fullness of faith in Christ alone to save).

Only the true Gospel that starts and ends with, “God so loved”, will save.

Any other gospel is not the one true, pure work, because they deny Christ’s finished work by adding to it or by watering it down.

Both views of the Gospel, moralistic legalism and relativistic license, rob the true meaning of Christ’s sacrifice and make it null and void to save and change us.

 “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:10)

We have nothing else like God’s gift of love and must create a new category in our hearts and minds where Christ’s gospel resides uniquely.

If you need to settle that in your own heart, just tell God you believe Christ died for your sin.

Ask Him to save you, and He will. Because He loves you so.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Related articles –

Barna Research – Majority of People who call themselves Christian are more like Pharisees than Christ like.

http://www.barna.org/faith-spirituality/619-are-christians-more-like-jesus-or-more-like-the-pharisees

St. Francis Of Assisi’s Radical Love For Jesus – The Huffington Post ?

Image via Wikipedia

I am commending The Huffington Post on a great article about the radical reformer St.Francis of Assisi.

(who says miracles never happen?)

St. Francis engaged his culture in a way that we could all learn from.

He reflected the love of God in order to,”overcome evil with good.” ( Romans 12:21)

It worked back then and it still works today.

God’s love is supreme in power and influence to change our hearts.

Click on the link below.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/jamie-arpinricci/st-francis-of-assisi-religious-radical_b_1332912.html

Enjoy!

About The Author of Christ Centered Teaching – www.godcamedown.com

About The Author of Christ Centered Teaching – www.godcamedown.com.  A little about me and a lot about God’s love!

Dare to Contemplate the Universal Sense of Meaning in A Flower – Nature Communicating that God is Love

Gardenia jasminoides (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 “nature is red in tooth and claw,”

Charles Darwin

Many today deny that nature reflects the Loving Creator written about in the Bible.

Some say God is silent and does not speak to us at all.

Why then do we give flowers to communicate romantic love?

And as a comfort, we give bouquets of flowers to show love to those who have suffered the loss of a loved one.

In times of grief when mere words are insufficient, flowers are given by those who wish to express their love and to comfort and console others.

Virtually every culture and nation interprets the message of flowers with the same meaning.

If we contemplate natural beauty long enough, we can hear it calling to a deep longing within our souls.

It is God saying,”I love you.”

The following story is told by Victor Frankl, a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps of WWII.

“Some details of a particular man’s inner greatness may have come to one’s mind, like the story of the young woman whose death I witnessed in a concentration camp. It is a simple story. There is little to tell and it may sound as if I had invented it; but to me it seems like a poem.”

“This young woman knew that she would die in the next few days. But when I talked to her she was cheerful in spite of this knowledge. “I am grateful that fate has hit me so hard,” she told me. “In my former life I was spoiled and did not take spiritual accomplishments seriously.” Pointing through the window of the hut, she said, “This tree here is the only friend I have in my loneliness.” Through that window she could see just one branch of a chestnut tree, and on the branch were two blossoms. “I often talk to this tree,” she said to me. I was startled and didn’t quite know how to take her words. Was she delirious? Did she have occasional hallucinations? Anxiously I asked her if the tree replied. “Yes.” What did it say to her? She answered, “It said to me, ‘I am here — I am here — I am life, eternal life.'” …  Victor Frankl

It is God, creator of all that is, calling us back to Him through His attributes that are reflected in His creation.

So when you look at a flower, try to take it all in.

Try to let all its meaning fill your soul.

Consider the fact that God made it for a reason, and that you see something in each flower that resonates meaning to you.

Such beauty defies our ability to describe it fully.

Add to that the cent of the Rose,  Gardenia, or that of many kinds of flowers, and we are well beyond a logical description of the purpose and reason for the existence of flowers.

The purpose for the beauty and fragrant cent of the Rose is for you to know that our creator is calling each of us to Himself.

God is love,  and flowers are a universal way for mankind to communicate our love to others with flowers.

We have already made the connection.

We already know the message and meaning for why flowers exist.

God made them as a means to communicate a message to each of us.

The message flowers convey to us is, God is Love, and He longs for you to know and Love Him as He loves you. 

As the flowers pedals beckon, so God’s arms are open wide and He beckons us to Him.

He has shown the full measure of how much He loves us in the Cross of Christ.

    “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

The link below is a perfect example of the natural message communicated to us through creation.

Go ahead, Dare to Contemplate the Universal Sense of Meaning in A Flower.

Watch the remarkable the Video below,..and here God saying,”I love you.”

<p style=”text-align:center;”

>href=”//vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>”>

 

Infinite Love – Christ’s Sacrifice To Save Us Was The Ultimate Expression Of Love To An Infinite Degree

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. “ (Ephesians 3:14-19)

“to know this love that surpasses knowledge”.

That seems like an impossible  statement because it is.

The love of God is infinite and our minds are finite.

Faith becomes logical when we consider that God is limitless in all virtue and strength and that we, His creation ,are limited in our capacity to grasp ,”this love that surpasses knowledge”.

But we are curious by nature and intrigued by the unknown.

Yet our text says we can by God’s indwelling Spirit grasp this love that passes knowledge.

His love is infinite love.

Love for God – The All Consuming Fire the Burns Away All Other Passions

 “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony;

they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.

Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!

But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!

He is filled with fury,because he knows that his time is short.”(Rev12.11.NIV84 )

Courage.

Can there possibly be a more masculine word? (Ladies, I’m speaking primarily to the guys in our culture who seem to have a problem with the word love. Just to avoid any possible misunderstanding).

How about Love? Could love be more masculine than courage?

Consider what the Bible says about believers who are tested by fiery trials.

“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” Rev. 12:11

The believers in this text obviously loved Christ more than their own lives.

They loved God with all their heart and all their soul, and all their mind.

This text reveals the root and heart of courage.

Courage is when we love someone or some higher purpose more than we love our own lives or circumstances.

Such was the courageous love of Christ sacrifice for us on the cross.

God’s love through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was not weakness.

When God came down to save us in the personage of Jesus Christ and gave himself as the only perfect and worthy sacrifice that could pay for our sins, He did not display weakness as it may appear.

The All Powerfull Creator and One God of All that is and all that live could have sent ,“ten legions of angels”, yet for His great love for us He suffered and died, the just for the unjust.

He suffered for our benefit and withheld retribution though it was justified because of His limitless divine love.

God showed more than courage, God is love!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

God’s love is the flame that feeds the fire of courageous believers,…

because He first loved us.

I say this because Christianity is suffering from a serious disconnect in a loving delivery of our message.

I think men typically think of love as a liberal, mushy, soft,sentimental feeling without any rational basis or theological application.

God’s love is the strongest force there is.

Related articles

• Legalism,License, and The Love of God (christcenteredteaching.wordpress.com)

The Love of God – The Supreme Apologetic – The Context of The Gospel

“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,” Ephesians 1:18

What is the love of God and why is it important?

Where do the doctrines of God’s love and God’s Holiness rank in importance in Christian theology ?

The love of God is the heart of the gospel and represents the linkage between all of God’s attributes as they relate to mankind .

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

(John 3:16)

 The love of God is the supreme apologetic of all our theology.

So why is it that Christianity has always been in peril from legalism?

The book of Galatians is a wonderful rendition of God’s grace, but it was written to Christians who had wandered from the pure truth of the gospel.

Moral-ism, the idea that we earn favor with God by our good works, had taken hold of the Galatians church.

In a world that seems to be growing darker by the day, we need to shine as beacons of light like never before.

We need to embrace and then reflect God’s love to the world as revealed in Christ.

Our message must be the fullness of all the purity and brilliance found in Christ’s expression of love to us on the cross.

Our self centeredness desires moral-ism, pride, legalism and self-righteous exaltation.

The tendency toward Legalism among Christians is , as one brave pastor has put it, “not only prevalent, but it is the norm.” ( Dr. Tim Keller)

We need to revisit the gospel continually in order to be reminded of the cost, so we will remember what we owed, in order to love Him as He deserves, …

with our all.

Not because our salvation can be lost, but because we can loose sight of the fullness of what Christ did for us.

MAY GOD GRANT US A REVIVAL OF THE AWARENESS OF HIS GREAT LOVE.

MAY WE REFLECT GOD’S GREAT LOVE TO A WORLD THAT IS LITERALLY DIEING FOR LACK OF AWARENESS OF HIS LOVE.

We are told we need the GOSPELIZATION of all our theology.

That everything needs to point to Christ and His Supremacy.

Supremacy is a matter of emphasis, supreme emphasis in this case.

The following is an outline of  Christian theology as represented with Biblical Emphasis as the context.

Biblical Emphasis is what God has revealed in the Bible as a whole to be of greatest importance.

First and of foremost importance is the fact that God is love.

The second is like the first in that it is how God showed His love for us when He sent His one and only Son. (John 3:16)

Christian Theology in the Context of Biblical Emphasis – Gospelization

God Is Love.  – 1 John 4:8 , 1John 4:16

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

God Created Us To Have A Relationship With Him. – Genesis 1:27

“So God created man in his own image,
   in the image of God he created him;
   male and female he created them”

Sin Separated Us From Our Perfect And Holy Creator.  – Isaiah 53:5,6

“But he was pierced for our transgressions,
   he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
   and by his wounds we are healed.
 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
   each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
   the iniquity of us all.”

God Loved Us And Came To Save Us In The Personage Of Jesus Christ. – 1 John 4:10

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

Christ Died For Us And Then Conquered Death For Us Before We Knew Him. – Romans 5:8

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God Offers Salvation As A Gift To All Who Receive It By Faith In Christ As Lord And Savior. – Ephesians 2:8,9

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

God’s Salvation For Us Takes Place In Our Hearts. – Romans 10:9,10

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”

God Comes Into The Heart Of The Believer To Seal Us As His Own Forever. – Ephesians 1:13,14 – Ephesians 4:30 – II Corinthians 1:21,22 – 2 John 1:2

“Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, ²² set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

God’s Spirit In Us Is Love. – John 7:38

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”

God’s Spirit Works In Our Hearts To Change Our Desires And The Result Is Growth In Love For Him.  – Philippians 2:13

“for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

We Love And Serve God Because He First Loved Us. – 1 John 4:19

“We love because he first loved us.”

Genuine Love For God Results In Motives That Please God.- 1 Corinthians 4:5 and 16:14

“Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.”

“Do everything in love.”

Motives That Please God Result In Works That Honor God. – 1 John 5:2-5

“This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,  for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

Related articles

• Legalism,License, and The Love of God (christcenteredteaching.wordpress.com)