Love God? Really?

Why We Should Love God                        

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There are many reasons that we should love God.  

Here are but seven, and maybe this is enough.

1. God created us and, as a good parent, loves us in the same way that a parent loves a child. God loves us because He created us.  We love what we create, and do not like to see what we create get hurt, die, become messed up, destroyed, etc. God created in us that love we have for our creation and He did so out of His identical Love for His creation.  Because He created us and as He created a universe designed specifically for us, He showed purpose in creating us. He gives us the sun, gives us each and every breath we take, grows all the food we eat; He gives and gives and gives, and created this universe as it is, all just for us.  In His purposeful Creative nature, God shows He loves us.
   
   As scientists discover more about our universe, everything about creation points to the purpose of God in creating a universe just for mankind. Scientists have determined that the probability of the existence of another Earth-like environment in the universe is so close to zero that we cannot even comprehend the odds! The probability for the existence of mankind is even less.  But, we do exist!
   
   Since evolution is a myth, science leads us to the only explanation for creation; there is a super intelligent designer/creator whom we call God.  The Bible tells that He created us to love us and have a relationship with us; we, in turn, should love God and Seek that Relationship He has for us (*1).
   ...
2. God loves us so much (John 3:16),
        that
        He Sent Jesus
           to show us and teach us
               what is good for us (Matthew 4:17, 6:34),
               how to behave toward Him (love him, Matthew 22:27),
               how to behave toward each other (love them, Matthew 38-40),
               how to communicate with Him (prayer),
           and to demonstrate 
               the importance of obedience to Him through
                 Jesus’ horrible death as a criminal on a cross.
   ...
3. God puts Jesus and His promises, what we call faith, in our hearts.  Faith is a Gift of God’s Love for us that comes when we confess that Jesus is Lord and Savior of our lives (Romans 12:3).  Jesus was Verified, Sanctified, Glorified, and Made Holy by God in raising Him from the death of His crucifixion. Since God has done this for us, it becomes our job to Trust Him. (*3)
   ...
4. God Gives us the Holy Spirit to guide us in our everyday thinking and living.  Again, in accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, we are given the Holy Spirit.  In John’s Gospel, we see the disciples transformed from scared little boys in the upper room, afraid of every little sound outside the door, to courageous Disciples for Christ.  This happened because of the Holy Spirit.  As the Holy Spirit filled their lives, so too, in our relationship with God, the Holy Spirit will fill our lives. (Jesus Appears to His Disciples *4)
   ...
5. God is Patient with His Grace that He provides us.  We are unworthy of His Grace, but He never withdraws His grace from those who Believe in the Salvation of Jesus.  In providing His abundant grace, we learn that we can never earn it and that is the way He wants it. (*5 for more on grace.)
   ...
6. Because of all the above,
        God shows He desires a relationship with us!
   
   Just imagine, the God of all creation that could have anything He wants to have.  But, three activities of God show that He desires a relationship with us.  First, God created this world in a manner to cause us, to drive us, and to encourage us to study and learn from His creation.  Then, we learn from His creativity that He cares about us; in that caring, God wants us to know Him through Jesus Christ and as The Perfect Parent and to be in Relationship with Him.  Finally, He inspired many people, beginning with Abraham, to Trust Him and be an example to us that we can trust Him, too.
   ...
7. Therefore, we should love God
         for all He has done, is doing, and will do for us,
            all because He loves us.
   He has a track record of 13+ billion years of creating the perfect place for us to love Him,  Understand Him,
             Trust Him, and
          Have a Relationship With Him (*7).

In Summary, 

the supreme act of loving God is 

        Trusting Him in all we think, say, and do.

We Trust Him to supply our needs in His time
               while working and doing our part in our time
                         to achieve our needs,
we Trust the Unending Promises of Jesus
               as we seek to live obediently in God’s will as Jesus did,
we Trust in God’s Spirit, His Holy Spirit,
               as we submit to His guidance
                         in our daily thinking and living.
we Trust in His Grace, His unmerited merciful Grace,

               as we know we do not deserve it and

                         can do nothing to earn it.

If we truly Trust God, 

   and believe in The Promises of Jesus,

then we will desire to Know Him more

      in our Relationship with Him.

Just as with our good parents:

  To know Him provides us the desire

     To grow in Relationship with Him.

This then, 
 our growing, Trusting Relationship with Him,

    is the very reason, the absolute reason, 

         that we should love Him.

Thanks be to God

© Lonnie 

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REFERENCES
-------------------

(*1)  Click "In the Beginning God..." for more on the this:

The Earth, our Solar System, the Universe did not just happen by chance.  Scientist estimate the probability of an Earth like structure in the universe is somewhere between one chance in 10**100 (10 to the one-hundreth power) and 10 **200 (**).  One way to look at these numbers is the number of molecules in the universe is estimated to be 10**97. 

These are the same probabilities of another biological-Earth some place in the galaxy and that probability for all purposes is ZERO!  This means that we should not be here... but we are and it is not a streatch of the imagination that we are here by accident.  There is purpose by the 'Creative Designer' whom we call God in bringing this rock called Earth into being!

In the last 50 years, scientist have discovered elements of His creation that points to the fact that there is no other earth like our earth in the universe.
We are the unique (only) planet found in the universe
....A- with an environment that supports biological life,
....B- supported by a moon that stabalizes our planet,
....C- with a sun at just the right distance (not too hot or cold)
....D- with just the right balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide,
....E- with supporting planets that sucks up cosmic deibre  such that it does not hit us (example- In 1994, three comets were pulled in by the massive attraction force of Jupiter that could have hit earth),

....F-  the earth has tutonic plates that have helped create mountains, earthquakes, and trenches in the oceans, if not for these plates we would be a planet covered entirely with water,
....and a several hundred other factors that allow the biology of mankind to exist. 

From Lee Stroble, "The Case for Creator", Chapter 7, 2004, Zondervan

**

10**2=100
10**3=1000
10**100 is the number 10 with 100 zeroes after it or:
about a trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion
This is about the same probability of  you flipping a coin 333 times and it coming up heads each time.

Concerning evolution:  There is absolutely no evidence to evolution.

(*3)   A Thought on the Resurrection Of Jesus Christ

(*4)  Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews,
               Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.21Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."

22And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

<< John 20:18John 20:19-23John 20:24 >>

Read John 20View in parallelCompare Translations

(*5)   Click for>>   Grace at 168 Miles Per Hour

(*7)  On Having a Personal Relationship with God, It is not about Religion.

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The Bad News Sandwich

The Bad News Sandwich-
A Jesus Thing to Do
The Leadership Skill of Counseling

                                           

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In my three careers, first in the Air Force- 6 years, a computer consultant-27 years, and finally as a teacher for 10 years, I had 47 supervisors.  I made a hobby of watching successful and dreadful leadership skills in the people I worked for.

One element of that hobby that developed was my clear vision of good leadership skills.  Truly Jesus was the greatest leader that has ever walked the earth.

As a scoutmaster and then as a teacher, I often had to give a scout or a student bad news, most likely when they had broken a rule.  The manner I gave the bad news greatly contributed or detracted from the teacher-student relationship I had with that student.  Students learned best from teachers they respected and appreciated so it was to my advantage to counsel in an effective manner.  Giving bad news to someone is best done in a caring way, even when it is not deserved.

Being the great and perfect leader, the perfect counselor, and teacher, Jesus teaches us a great method of counseling someone that has to receive bad news.  I call it the Bad News Sandwich.  It is very simple but makes a great difference in the lives of people around you.

When giving bad news to someone,
Part   --- ingredient
1-   first tell them something good about themselves,     (bread)
2-        then give them the bad news,                       (sandwich meat)
3-    finally give them
           something good and hopeful for them.             (bread)

In all of the letters Jesus sends to the seven churches in seven cities of Asia Minor He uses this leadership technique on some bad behaviors of some of the people in the cities and their churches.

As presented here, the focus is not on the understanding of the symbolism contained in part of the letter, but rather the form and structure of the letter containing the 'bad news sandwich'.

Seek to understand the sandwich in the following letter:

Revelations 2: 12-17a

Jesus is Speaking, the Apostle John is being a scribe for a letter to Pergamum

To the Church in Pergamum

12"To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.
    First comes the Good news, the top bread of the letter/sandwich13  I know where you live--where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city--where Satan lives.
            Now comes the bad news, the meat of the letter14  Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.15 Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
     Finally comes bottom bread, with more Good News and Hope for a bright future:16  Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
       Then one more thought and direction to understand the meaning of the sandwich:17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
The ways of Jesus and His leadership skills are presented here is what we should do in our every day lives as leaders both in secular society but especially in our church Christian fellowship.  We should see this as a method and directive of Jesus since we should imitate His behavior!
One of the worst behaviors we ever do is any bahavior that kills motivation.  Far too often, especially in our churches people tell other people how wrong they are when discussing a topic.  Behavior as that is hurtful, un-Christian, and leads to barriers between people in a group to the detriment of the group and the church.
I encourage you to learn from Jesus how we should behave with each other.  After all, IT IS the Christian thing to do.
Thanks be to God

addendum:

A classroom example on the Bad New Sandwich below.

lonnie

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An Additional Thought:

The Bad News Sandwich in my Classroom:

In the classroom, I often used this Bad New sandwich technique when a student gave me a bad answer to a question during a lesson I was teaching.   I may ask a question, and I would see shy sweet little Susie raise her hand in great expection of having the correct answer.  I call on her and then, too bad, she give me the wrong answer.  Telling her she gave me the wrong answer would greatly hurt her feelings and dampen her enthusiam for the class.  So I would give her a Bad New Sandwich.

First, I would tell her, "That is a very good answer Susie!  That shows some real thinking.  But, you are an answer ahead of my questions in this discussion.  That is the answer to one of my next questions so you hold on to that idea, and you will be right the next time!

You see, the answer would be close and on topic, but just plain wrong.  Now, I might not have had any intention of asking the question I mentioned to her where she had the right answer, but it basically telling her she had the wrong answer, I gave her positive feelings about the answer she gave.  

Then I would insure I discussed her answer before the class was over or at the beginning of her next class with me.  It never failed to take some of the pain away from the timing and incorrectness of her comment.

"Do no Harm" does not mean we have to agree with everything someones says, it is how we disagree that is most important.  The danger in trying to "do no harm" with one person is you are very likely going to harm the thoughts and feelings of another person.  It is all about charity in being in disagreement.  Jesus called out people in his letters to the churches of western Asia Minor as we find in Revelations, but in the manner He did it, He teaches us a great leadership lesson.

Thanks Be to God for our Glorious Leader, Jesus Christ
lonnie

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A Thought on the Resurrection of Jesus

A Thought on the Resurrection of Jesus

                                       

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• Matthew 28:6 NIV

  He is not here; he has risen, just as He said. 
  Come and see the place where he lay.
  Read Matthew 28 | View in parallel | Compare Translations

It is sad that people, even Christians, do not totally absorb the enormity of Jesus' Resurrection. 

In an instant, in raising Jesus from the dead, God approved, Verified, Sanctified, and Glorified making Holy all things Jesus ever said, did, and thought. Beyond that, there is not one iota written, not one scrap of evidence the enemies of Jesus tried in any way to truly convince people to the contrary.  The Sanhedrin, the Temple Leaders that had Jesus put to death KNEW of the Truth about Jesus,  

 He was Killed, but now He is alive!

In and by their silence 

Jesus' enemies, powerful enemies,

 tells us the Truth of the Resurrection. 

In our our belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior, 

    in the faith put in us by God (Romans 12:3),
        in the Guidance of the Holy Spirit,
            in our Trusting God, 

                we know and feel the Truth of the Resurrection.

To know God, know Jesus;  To know Jesus, Believe and Pray; 
     Pray, Study the Bible, and Trust God  (John 8:19, et.al.).

Then, more than anything, 
   Seek the Kingdom for your life,
       Listen for Him to Speak to you, and
          Seek to feel the Guidance of the Holy Spirit.

For as much as a good parent desires to perfectly guide their child,
   God most assuredly loves you, 
        He surely will Speak to you
              and
                    The Holy Spirit will fill you and guide you.

Just Listen and you will know you will feel

the Truth of Jesus,
 the Truth of the Resurrection,
the Truth of God's Love for us.

Thanks Be to God

© lonnie coggins

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lonnie

Publication  0162


intro

IMAGINE THE TEMPLE LEADERS ON RESURRECTION MORNING when they heard of Jesus' Resurrection.  They must have really freaked out when the guards reported THAT JESUS WAS ALIVE!.  As odd as it was for the Roman guards to go to the Temple leaders, the guards were quite convincing as the Temple leaders gave them money to be quiet, Matthew 28:11-15.    Please share the message on your Fb page as you like, and if you like, click the FB 'Follow' button to have notifications of these publications.  For other messages like this, visit my FB page, or on FB visit-"A Daily Thought Group".

http://lonnieadailythought.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-thought-on-resurrection-of-jesus.html







It is sad that people, even Christians, do not totally absorb the enormity of Jesus' Resurrection. In an instant, in raising Jesus from the dead, God approved, Sanctified, and Made Holy everything Jesus ever said, did, and thought. Beyond that, there is not one iota, not one scrap of evidence the enemies of Jesus tried in any way to convience people to the contrary. In their silence His enemies tells us the Truth of the Resurrection. In our Trusting God, we know and feel the Truth of the Resurrection.

In the Beginning God...

In the Beginning God...
                                       

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Genesis 1:1

The Beginning

1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Since my time in college, when thinking about Genesis 1:1 and the first time I learned that the universe was seemingly expanding from one point in space, the Big Bang idea made sense.

Over the years, from those college years and beyond, with my understanding of physics, chemistry, astronomy, and other physical sciences, with maturity in the Gospel, reverent belief in the Bible as the word of God, I truly came to believe that the universe started from one point and with the ideas presented by learned scientist, I truly embraced the idea of the "Big Bang": God said it- and Bang! it happened!  

From that the thought it came to mind, if God did it, He is in control of it. 

For a long time, my idea of the Big Bang was the end of the discussion, as it was based on belief in God, that He was in control, and in that belief, He made a universe for us to discover.  But- no longer do I have to go strictly on belief!  The evidence for the beginning of space, time, all matter- electrons, protons, and neutrons, all starting from one initial, precisely controlled, and hightly directed explosion is confirmed and well documented by astronomy.  And the modern day definition of the "Big Bang" is, for the most part, without argument in many elements of the scientific community and for many hightly trained and learned scientists is within the generalized expressions of Biblical Scripture!  The idea of "In the Beginning God..." supports the evidence of the scientifically documented Big Bang and it gets better.

According to famed astronomer and Christian believer Dr. Hugh Ross the evidence of the Big Bang absolutely provides unwavering support that there is "a preponderance of physical evidence pointing to humanity as the central theme of the cosmos (universe)" (*1). 

Under a concept called "the finely-tuned universe", in the last fifty years many different scientific discoveries in physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, and other fields have discovered there are highly precise and finely-tuned "constants" required that make human physical life possible on this rock we call Earth.  Some of these constants exist in the universe, others are unique to the Earth.

By 1961, astronomers had discovered only two of these constants that pointed to a universe "finely tuned".  It seems where ever you go in the universe there is the same constant for "gravitation" force based on mass, and a constant for "electromagnetic" force and for a given spot (planet or star) in the universe, when you divide the gravitation force by the electromagnetic force, you ALWAYS get the same number!  In addition, scientist know that if you varied that number by just one part in ten thousand trillion trillion trillion life on this earth would be impossible! (*1)

Today, as expressed in a video documented below there are over 230 constants found in the universe that if anyone of them varied even slightly, then life on earth would never have happened and in a very quick time life would cease to exist.  But, even more extraordinary is the belief by most scientist involved in researching the universe is that life on this planet we call Earth, may very well be the only place in the universe for living biological cells. (*2)

God has allowed us to discover over 230 constants that He put in place to make this Earth inhabitable.  For over 13 billion years the earth developed precisely according to these constants to be at just the right place in the universe to allow for life on our planet.

The probability they just accidently happened is so very  remote, perhaps only one chance in a trillion trillion trillion...17 times... trillion.  This is the same probability as there being another Earth similar to ours in the universe (*4).

These constants are clearly an indication that God truly is in Control.  Why would God go to all this trouble to very likely and precisely create life in only this very small place in the universe if He did not love us and have a plan for us.  With changing just one of those constants a most tiny bit, we would be gone, dead, kaput.  Each day we live in Trust that He will not do that.  We get up from our sleep, go to work, create our families, and a thousand other things trusting we can do it again tomorrow.

Out of this evidence, we know of other evidence that God loves us. He sent us His Son to teach us how to live.  In the words and behavior of Jesus we are told many Truths on how to live our lives and we can trust what Jesus told us because of one reason.  God raised Jesus from the dead.  In that, He verified, sanctified, and Made True for our belief the Life and Teachings of Jesus.  Based on just that evidence alone we must Trust God.  

And the evidence of a fine-tuned universe- it is just gravy to satisfy our curiosity God put in us to begin with.

Thanks be to God!

lonnie

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Additional evidence of the finely tuned universe:

Another of those constants is presented in the book, "The Case for a Creator" by Lee Stroble. In Chapter 6, in a discussion with Dr. Robin Collins, Dr. Collins mentions two simple constants that you may be familiar with.  One is has to do with the center of every atom... in the universe.  If the mass of neutrons changed in stars by just 1/700th of its current mass, activity in our sun would stop and the sun would die.   Dr. Collins also mentions a constant in the universe called the "Phase-space volume" constant.  I have no idea what that is but understanding these constants exist and life will cease if they change is all we need to know.  This "phase-space volume" constant is so precise in insuring life that if it changed by one part in 10 billion billion billion...123 billion times the universe would not exist! (*3)

Another piece of evidence:  close to home:

Our solar system is unique.  All the planets in our solar system are on the same plane as we have seen so much in our science books and as the picture herein.  What scientist have discovered- no other solar system has ever been discovered where all the planets are on the same plane as ours.  This configuration contributes to our existence and without it the way it is, we would not exist.  The four outer massive planets, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus act as a giant vacuum cleaner sucking up debris such as comets and the like, keeping the debris from hitting and destroying the earth!  Those planets also help the Earth stay exactly in the orbit around the sun as it has to be.  Not too close and not too far away from the sun, but just the right distance for us to survive.  All this, unlike any other place in the universe.

Over and over in "The Case for a Creator", the case for and "intelligent designer" aka-God as the creator for the universe, the case is sufficiently made for the universe to come into being pretty much as described in Genesis 1.  However, we cannot allow our concept of a 'day' to be confused with that of God.

In chapter 5 of Strobel's book, Dr. William Lane Craig, PHD, THD, made a moving comment:

In referring to the scientist and people in our current times:

"It is the atheist who has to maintain, by faith, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that the universe did not have a beginning a finite time ago but is in some inexplicable way external after all.  So, the shoe is on the other foot.  The Christian can stand confidently within Biblical truth knowing it's in line with mainstream astrophysics and cosmology.  It's the atheist who feels very uncomfortable and marginalized today."

(*1) "The Anthropic Principle: A precise Plan for Humanity", Dr. Hugh Ross, 1-1-2001, 
http://www.reasons.org/articles/anthropic-principle-a-precise-plan-for-humanity

(*2)  "The Big Bang", The John Ankerberg Show, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ5BzpBdyN4

(*3)  Lee Strobel, "The Case for a Creator", Zondervan, 2004, see mentioned chapters

(*4)  This probability of another Earth in the universe is very arguable and very much up to debate. 
The probabilites vary with various authors and range from one chance in
10 to the 100th power to one chance in 10 to the 200th power.

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© Lonnie Coggins
ldcoggins@gmail.

If you desire to use any of these messages in a For-Profit manner you must contact me (email) for permission.  Typically, I will most likely give permission.

lonnie


Introduction:
"In the Beginning God created the heavens and the earth....." The Big Bang- God said it, and Bang IT happened. In seems in the last 50 years scientist have learned much about how God, The 'Intelligent Designer', created this universe in a very precise manner just so we can truly understand just how awesome our God truly is. In discovering and continue to do so, the precision of how our universe came into being, more and more atheist scientist turn to belief in God and then turn to Jesus Christ. Click below for the first of several writings, perhaps many on: