Blogging started for me here http://faith35.blogspot.com/ .

I was 35 years old just a bit over 2 years past the death of my Dad.   I was ready to allow God to lead me.   This is the first 2 paragraphs I typed.

Why do we believe a man who was a simple carpenter, can save our souls from eternal damnation? Why do we throw our faith blindly at a man whose only full historic record is in a book that has caused wars, political arguments, and religious strife for centuries? So what is it about faith in God that captivates some and turns away others? Why do some embrace Faith in God and some shun it?

These questions run deep but they are not the questions that most Christians ask themselves on a daily basis. Most questions have to do with everyday issues; from money to family, from alcohol to sex, from sin to forgiveness. And most of the time we turn to other Christian friends to talk about these issues and seek advice. Have you ever wondered how other Christians talk about these issues, and whether the advice you get or conclusions drawn are biblically sound?

God set me on a journey to learn more about him, draw closer to His Son and learn to filter my life through His Truth.   Little did I know where He was taking me and how these questions would com full circle.

This blog has now run it’s course.

This blog has allowed me to get to know some wonderful people.

This blog is now done.

This decision was not easy. But it is one that I have to make.

God has lead me to this point in time.  My journey to answer the questions above is not over.   My Faith continues into a new ministry.

Philter48 Ministries is just getting started and it is where I will be spending most of my time.   www.philter48.com  is under construction, and will need real people telling real stories to make it go.   You are invited.  Come with me as I continue on with this journey of faith to answer these questions.

I leave you with my favorite moment on this blog:

To be continued.

Drawing closer to my final blog post… I decided to bring to the top my favorite post from the past 2 years.  Hands down no question…..

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This has been a crazy week for me.  Every emotion has been felt.  Every emotion expressed.   God has been at work every step of the way, and God has been in control.

But for everything that has happened this week nothing, nothing compares to tonight.  Nothing compares to the Joy.

Tonight I got to do something that I have prayed for since I realized my duty as a Dad.  Since I realized I had a set little eyes and a pair of little ears,  watching and listening to me.   I had a child following me.

Tonight standing at the steps of the baptismal at church waiting to baptize my daughter, communion was being served in the church.   This is the song they played.

Righteous Life, flesh so torn
Wounded hand, brow with thorn
Broken heart enduring scorn
Is this the Sovereign Lord?
Borrowed tomb, empty space
Thief of sin, leaves His grace
Destined for the highest place
This is the Sovereign Lord!

Lord, Your greatness is unsearchable
And Your Kingdom lives forever
You are near and You are wonderful
You are My Sovereign Lord

Fallen heart, lifted eyes
Stumbling words, longing sighs
Trembling hands embrace the skies
You are my Sovereign Lord
Risen heart, joyful eyes
Praises soar, my soul flies
Song of life that never dies
You are my Sovereign Lord

I was singing to my Lord standing there.  My arm around Emilie, with my hand feeling her beating heart.  Her heart belongs to Jesus I thought to myself.  Tears of joy streaming down face.

What a joy filled  night.  My Emilie is a beautiful child of God.  I am just so thankful she saw just enough of Christ in me to follow me to Him.

I stood proud of her as she repeated:  “I believe Jesus is the Christ,   Son of the living God.  My Lord and my Savior. “  I was humbled to have the honor to baptize Emilie.  I lowered her into the water and raised her back out as a new creation.  She was washed clean as snow.  Tears of Joy could not be held back.

As we went to the back to change back into our clothes another man that was there to baptize a friend of his daughter said to me:  “You voice singing behind me waiting to go out, had me in tears.  I wanted you to stop so I could be composed, but I didn’t want you to stop because it was so beautiful with you and your daughter.”    A picture in my head I will never forget.

Then she took communion for the first time.  I asked her: “What is communion about? “    “Remembering Jesus died for us.”  She said.    Tears of Joy came again.

Father God you are so awesome.  Thank You.

Risen heart, joyful eyes
Praises soar, my soul flies
Song of life that never dies
You are my Sovereign Lord

As I draw closer to the close of this blog… So random thoughts that have been going through my head.

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Ether you do your you don’t. You will or you won’t.  Believe.

You ether let him or don’t.  Change You.

There is nothing you do that will.  It is His Will that does.  Lord

We let him or we don’t.  Grace and Mercy

Believe,  Lord
Faith, Forgiveness, Truth, Love

Believe or don’t.

There is nothing you can do that will change you to allow you to meet him.

Do not change Him and think you know Him.

Do not pick the truth, and claim it His Truth.

Turn to the light or live in the darkness.  One brings pleasure the other pain.

Follow His way, or you live for today.

Eternity rests in his Hands and His Feet.

He is Lord of all or he is not Lord at all.

We bicker and fight about whose wrong and whose right, whose knowledge is great and whose in not.  We lose site of what we do is not right.  Many questions we have, ones the world will never solve. Love is the way, in His nail scared hands and feet are our answer.

Love God and Others is the greatest command given by God face to face to his disciples.  Given while he walked this earth.  Not through a prophet or a scribe.  By God himself.  Seems we should do our best to listen and follow.

God will use and test me as he sees fit.  Who am I to argue?    Job tried,  and was brought to his knees….

Drawing closer to the end of this chapter of Faith… Looking forward to continuing my growth in Faith and eternity spent serving my God.

10 wonderful  people: Darla, Scott, Joe, Annie, Dale, Nor, Michelle,  Nate and Deborah.

21 weeks

160+ posts…

The Blogged Bible Study has been more than I prayed for.

Each person has and does hold a place in my heart.  I have learned to love people that I only know through their fingers typing on a keyboard.  I have not heard any of their voices (Except Nor and Michelle via video), but I know all of them.

Much like we the only written knowledge we have have of Christ is written in the bible.  None of us have heard His voice,  we all love Him, he is Lord of hearts,  and we will know His voice when he calls us.

There are things we don’t know though that were never recorded, or meant to be revealed to us by God.

How many more people did he heal?

How many more lepers did he touch?

How many lessons did he teach that were not recorded?

How many people saw his face?

How many times did he laugh and cry?

How many times did he find a need a fill it?

John 21:25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Pure speculation here:  I just wonder if John wrote this as a way of telling us Jesus’ work was not done among his children, those he was given.

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To see the rest of the post for John 21 go here.

And a little girl being goofy.

So here we are John 20.   The most glorious part of the bible documented by John.    Who does John choose to document the resurrection with (Besides himself)

1.  Peter who  had just three days ago denied he knew Jesus.

2.  John the beloved disciple who sprints to the tomb, and calmly enters the tomb.

They He saw and believed that Jesus’ body was not there,

8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.

but….

9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10Then the disciples went back to their homes,

(Emphasis added, after pointed out in comments my mistake.)

3.  Mary Magdalene, the woman who sat at Jesus’s feet and learned from him… She in her grief does not recognize Jesus’ voice at first but when she turns to him… “Rabboni !!!”   Only to run, and tell others the news.

16Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”

The announcement of the resurrection of Jesus by a woman to the disciples is Historically significant.  The testimony of a woman at the time was considered worthless.  Most at the time would call John foolish for taking the word of a woman, he could have lost all credibility.  For John to include Mary in his writing in this way was very risky,   So risky that it had to be true.

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To see the other entries for John Chapter 20 click here.

Every Friday Saturday I am going to go back to my weekly reading and post the verses that stood out to me.   The kicker is I will offer no explanation as to why they stood out, I will just post the verses.  They will speak for themselves.

(If I can get it together, come back  next Friday for a special addition of Friday verses.)

This week Jerimiah 31

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18 “I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning:
‘You disciplined me like an unruly calf,
and I have been disciplined.
Restore me, and I will return,
because you are the LORD my God.

19 After I strayed,
I repented;
after I came to understand,
I beat my breast.
I was ashamed and humiliated
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

20 Is not Ephraim my dear son,
the child in whom I delight?
Though I often speak against him,
I still remember him.
Therefore my heart yearns for him;
I have great compassion for him,”
declares the LORD.

31 “The time is coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.

32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to ^[d] them, ^[e] “
declares the LORD.

33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the LORD.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”

35 This is what the LORD says,
he who appoints the sun
to shine by day,
who decrees the moon and stars
to shine by night,
who stirs up the sea
so that its waves roar—
the LORD Almighty is his name:

36 “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,”
declares the LORD,
“will the descendants of Israel ever cease
to be a nation before me.”

37 This is what the LORD says:
“Only if the heavens above can be measured
and the foundations of the earth below be searched out
will I reject all the descendants of Israel
because of all they have done,”
declares the LORD.

The questions in this post came to me as I ministered a co-worker the other day.

The basic premise is:   WHAT IF?

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There is a line often used by a believer in Christ, when in a debate with an unbeliever.

If you are wrong and I am right, you lose everything.  I if I am wrong and you are right I lose nothing.

What if though that person, the unbeliever, has lived a morally outstanding life? Yeah they have hit bumps along the way. but largely they are successful. House, Nice cars, big tv, extra money to spend when they want something new.  Maybe they have a strong loving marriage and Family: Loves their spouse deeply. Never thought of cheating on their spouse. They have enough money they that they are  very generous with. Kids well behaved.  Lots of friends,  and all in all friends would say just a great person. Now that person dies…  What do they lose?

What if that person just can’t catch a break?  Born to a decent family.  Mom and Dad not the best but do what they can.  Tries to work through everything, just to get ahead.  Always has a plan for the future, moves where the plan seems best.  Always wishes for the better car, and wonders why they can’t get the toys.  Married maybe. Has the same problems in marriage their parents did.  The lure of the other person is tough to ignore.  Would give if they could.  Friends are few but never close to know the true hurts.  Now that person dies… What do they lose?

What if that person has had a rough life?  Born into a broken family.  Maybe they don’t even know there Mom or Dad.  They do what it takes to get buy, lie steal, cheat.   Wandering from place to place without a real home.  Watch the cars drive by.  Reach through holes in their pockets to find no money for a cup of coffee.  Lonely for most of their life.  Relationships come and go.  The only friend may be a bottle at the end of the night.  Now that person dies… What do they lose?

Have you meet one of these people?  They could be a mixture of the descriptions or completely different.   Can you picture them in your head?  Maybe you see them at work everyday, at the grocery on a regular visit, on the street corner…….  What do they lose when they die?

Have you talked to them in the break room, said excuse me in the grocery, passed them buy on the corner?  Have you shown them Jesus?  …….What do they lose when they die?

Have you been quick to share the sports score with them, but not the victory of Christ?  Have you cut them off in the parking lot, with your ichthus (fish) on the back of your suv?  Have you passed them buy with an unopened bottle of water in your hand? ……… What do they lose when they die?

What if? You said hey it was a great game or good tv show, but can I tell you about my savior and His victory?   What if you stopped them at the grocery ask if they were ok, and introduced them to the one who could right the wrongs?  What if you stopped the car handed out the water, and showed the love we are commanded?

What if they all believe because you introduced, because you asked, because you loved?   What if then they died? …. What do they lose?

John 14:5-6 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”  6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Math 16:15-16 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Acts 8: 34-38 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

36As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

If that person is you? Please know that you do not have to lose anything when you die.  If you just believe in him, He will forgive you of your sins, and you gain everything He promises.  What do you have to lose?

Romans 5:6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 6:8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

John3:16 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.

Philter48 Ministries is on the Move…

Staytuned…

http://www.philter48.com/home.html

I just can’t get past one word.

John 19

15But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.
“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

16Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

This is what our sin did.  This is what our flesh is capable of.   When we sin we are the ones yelling “Crucify! Crucify!”

stauroo -

1. to stake, drive down stakes
2. to fortify with driven stakes, to palisade
3. to crucify
   1. to crucify one
   2. metaph. to crucify the flesh, destroy its power utterly (the nature of the figure implying that the destruction is attended with intense pain)

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To see the rest of the posts for John 19 click here.