JUST WHAT IS THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST?....."1 Corinthians 15: 1-8

         "For God So loved the World that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
    "For God sent not His son into the world to con-
demn the World, but that the World through Him
might be saved.   John 3: 16-17

   "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to 
those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk
according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
For the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me
free from the law of sin and death."   Romans 8:1

     Jesus Christ, God the Son, was prophesied in
Isaiah 53: 1-3.  "Who has believed our report?
and to whom is the arm of the Lord been revealed? 
For He shall grow up before him as a tender plant. And as a root out of dry ground.  He has 
no form or comliness that we should desire Him.  He is despised and rejected by men.  A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  And we hid, as it were our faces from Him."  Read the chapter. It's about our Lord, Jesus Christ, reiterated fully in the New Testament.  Christ died for our sin, 
He was buried, then rose on the third day.  
1 Corinthians 15: 3-4.
   He was seen of above five-hundred of the breth-
ren at one time.  1 Corinthians 15: 6, He was seen of 
Cephas, (Simon Peter) and all of  the Apostles.  
John 20: 24-31.  He  ascended to His Father, and 
is at the right hand of the Father, making interces-
sion for believers who remain. Romans 8: 34... He 
was last  seen of Paul, appearing to  him after His
Ascension to the Father. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8

   Because of this revelation, Paul was accepted 
by the eleven as  an Apostle.  (One requirement 
for an Apostle was to have seen the Lord Jesus Christ after his bodily resurrection. 

    
   Christ promised  power of His Holy Spirit to 
His followers, at his Ascension. Acts 1:8     
Our relationship with our Lord is based on 
Faith in God  and His Word.  The "Word" is 
also a name applied  to our Lord,  Jesus Christ.  (John 1:14, & Revelations 19: 11-16)
 



      "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the 
   Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that 
    God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt
   be saved.  For with the heart ma believeth unto
    righteousness, and with the mouth, confession 
  is made unto salvation."  
    For whosoever shall call upon the name of the 
  Lord shall be saved."   
                       Romans 19: 9-10,13

 "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have 
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
  By whom also we have access by faith into this 
    grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of 
  the glory of God."  Romans 5: 1-2

         "Now the just shall live by faith..." 
                  Hebrews 10: 38a

    "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, 
     the evidence of things not seen.  For by it the 
     elders obtained a good report."  Hebrews 11:1-2 

            donporter,sr  10.08.16, ed. 2.24.17...         
                                        

COVETOUS LIFESTYLE? EXODUS 20: 17........... Luke 12: 15-21

          "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors house,
         Thou  shalt not  covet thy neighbors wife,
         nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, 
         nor his ox. nor his ass, nor any thing that
         is thy neighbors.     Exodus 20: 17

      You will readily  recognize this passage as the
tenth and final commandment given Moses by the
Lord  God,  Yaweh,  on  Mount Sinai.  These laws, 
or principles are the basis for mankind to be in a 
right relationship with God or man.

     "And He  said unto them, (Jesus Christ) 'Take
heed, and  beware of  covetousness:  for a man's
life consisteth not in the abundance of the things
which he possesseth."
     This passage is  followed by Jesus' parable of
the rich fool, an illustration of the fleeting signi-
ficance of riches, and/or material possessions.

   This was brought home to me, forcefully, when
we  made a  move from one state to another, and
stored everything from my business, temporarily.
That turned out to be a risky venture,  for the fa-
cility  we used  turned out to be less than secure.
The  value of  that property was a large  part of
our net worth and the  loss seemed catastrophic.
 We cannot yet say it was a fortuitous event, but
the lessons we have learned from that ar invalu-
able.  One thing  we learned is to take personal
responsibility  for valued  possessions,  and not 
trust one of  whom we  know  nothing.  Another,
was; life goes on and does not seem to be dimi-
nished by the loss...    

       It is clear, now, that our Lord,  in Scripture is
showing we are more than material or flesh.  We
are  also learning to  be content in Christ.  When
one is free to worship according to conscience, is
in  reasonably good health,  having close  friends 
and family,  he is blessed, indeed.  Our needs are
met  by  the one  who loves us and is able to meet
every need and our desires. He is faithful in each
case and has provided for our lives here and now
and in the future.  Life without end, Amen!!

God bless you; keep the faith and we will see you
"there."     donporter,sr 9.24.16

THE KINGDOM OF GOD, WEALTH, CHARITY, & PRAYER

  "THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND WEALTH"

    The sixth chapter of  Matthew contains  a signi-
ficant  portion of  the "Sermon on the Mount," by 
our Lord Jesus Christ.  This sermon  takes up the
fifth,  sixth and  seventh chapters of  this  Gospel
and is probably some of our Lord's most revered
and "difficult" standards.  The truth expressed in
these passages of  God's Word holds followers of
Jesus Christ to higher levels of commitment than
anything  previously  published in Scripture.  We
will consider one  principle addressed,  from Mt.
6: 19-24.

      "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon 
      earth,  where moth and  rust doth corrupt,
     and where thieves break through and steal.

     "But lay up for yourselves treasures in hea-
       ven, where neither moth nor rust doth cor-
       rupt, and where thieves do not break 
       through nor steal."  (Matthew 6: 19-20)

      "But they that will be rich  fall into temptation
      and  a snare, and into many foolish and hurt-
      ful lusts, which drown men in destruction and
     perdition.  For the love of money is the root of
     all evil: which while some  coveted  after, they
     have  pierced  themselves  through  with many
     sorrows."  1 Timothy 6: 9-10

     In Proverbs 28:11,  we find;  "The rich man is 
    wise in his own conceits, but the poor that hath
    understanding searcheth him out." 

      The Scripture, Old  and New Testaments has
    several  references to  the negative  effects of 
    riches on  persons  who  would  follow Christ.  
    The negatives concern the attitude one has as  
    he faces just what he will do for riches and if
    one is willing to sacrifice personal righteous-
    ness in that pursuit.  There are certain things
    one  is able to do,  good things,  with  wealth,
    but it seems a rare blessing, indeed, to find a
    person  willing to use his wealth in service to 
    people in need around him.  That is what our 
    Lord requires of the one He has blessed with 
    the riches of this world.  

       This, however;  does not let us off  the hook.
   Although  you or I  may  not  be so blessed,  is
   it  not still incumbent upon each of  us to have
   the same attitude?  Since every  blessing  from
   our  Lord  brings with it  a  responsibility, it is
   no  less a  charge  from our Lord,  to share in
   the poverty, loss or grief of anyone with whom 
  we come into contact.  Since we are so blessed, 
  we must comfort  those we know, who suffer or 
  or  are  disadvantaged.  We share  the blessing
  and comfort of the Lord on us, with them.  
    (2 Corinthians 1: 4) 

     "But thou, O man of God, flee these things; 
      and  follow after righteousness,  godliness,
      faith, love, patience, meekness...

  
        God  bless you and keep you in the faith of
    our Lord Jesus Christ; with no faith in  mate-
    rial things of this World System.
                                         donporter, sr 9.03.16 

"THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND CHARITY"

     In Matthew 6: 1 - 4, we discover how to perform
deeds of  charity to persons who  are in need of our
help. The Lord God has specific conditions we must
meet in verse 1, that determines whether we  will be
blessed in doing good deeds..(Matthew 6: 1-4) One
definition of "blessed," is knowing the good and the
doing of it."  A primary benefit of blessing is know-
ing  the  blessing  of  our Lord will accomplish that
or Lord  intends.  Work in  this vein will  be  multi-
plied in a way that  we may be aware the Lord God 
is the doer. 
           We are HIS instruments in  the doing.

     "Take heed that you do not do your charitable
      deeds before men, to be seen of them.  Other-
      wise you have no reward from your Father in
      Heaven.
     Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do
     not sound a trumpet  before you as  the hypo-
     crites do in the synagogues and in the streets.
     that they may be seen of men. Assuredly I say
     to you, they have their reward.
     But  when you do a charitable deed, do not let
     your left hand know what  your right  hand  is 
     doing that your charitable deed may be in sec- 
     ret:  and  your Father, who sees in secret, will
     Himself reward you openly."

    " THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND PRAYER"

     "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as 
      the hypocrites are, for they love to pray stan-
      ding in the synagogues and in the corners of
      the streets, that they may be seen of men. 
      Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.

     But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy clo-
     set, and  when thou has shut thy door,  pray to
     thy  Father  which is in secret,  and thy Father 
     which seeth in secret, will reward thee openly."
                                          Matthew 6: 5-6

       The way prayer is practiced, in public, today, 
gives one  pause as  we  read  this one verse from 
Matthew.  Praying in  public  seems to  be,  to say 
the least, risky.  While the teaching of Jesus might
be  interpreted  as an outright prohibition against
praying  publicly,  it  seems the church,  as a rule,
does not follow  that line.  When you parse words
here we see Jewish leaders actually prayed aloud
in  order to be heard/seen of men and the content
of prayers was largely dictated by the hearers.  It
is certainly possible prayer today is influenced of
such factors. 

 What then, do we learn from Matthew.  Since our
Lord,  in  his Word condemns public displays of a
kind that might be construed to promote the appa-
rent "Holiness" of the individual, on display... We
must be careful to abide by the letter of the advice
as well as the spirit of the information.  Chapter 6
of Matthew condemns Pharisees for such.  Are we
not held to a  higher standard than they?  Let's be
circumspect in our worship and keep our focus on
the one whom we worship and away  from the one
who worships.            

 donporter,sr 9.05.16  edited 9.06.16
     


    

LIGHT, LOVE AND LIFE from GENESIS, I JOHN, & GOSPEL of JOHN

            Light, Life, and Love...7.13.16
               (Old Testament)

LIGHT:  Genesis 1: 1-5, "Let there be light..."
Genesis 1: 14-19, "Let  there be lights in the heavens
                            to divide the day from the night..."

LIFE:  Genesis 1: 26, And God said, Let us make 
                           man in our image, after our like-
                           ness; And let them have dominion..
        Genesis 1: 27, "So God created man in his own 
                          image, in the image of God created
                          He him; male and female created 
                          He them. 
                                                 
LOVE:  Genesis 2: 18-25, "And the Lord God said,
                        It is not good for man to live alone;
                        I will make an help meet for him. 
            Genesis 29:18-20, "And Jacob loved Rachel"
                    
      LIGHT, LIFE AND LOVE  
            (New Testament)
                   
LIGHT:  I John 1: 5-7, "This then is the message 
                        which we have heard of him, and
                      declare unto you, that God is light 
                      and in him is no darkness at all."
                          
LIFE: 1 John 1: 6,  "For the life was manifested,  
                       and we have seen it and bear wit-
                      ness, and shew unto you that eter- 
                     nal life which was with the Father."

                                            
                          
    John 1: 1,4,5, "In the beginning was the Word,  
                         and the Word was with God and
                         the  Word  was  God. 
                         The same was in the beginning
                         with God.  In Him was life and 
                         the life was the light of men.
                        And the light shineth in darkness; 
                        and the darkness comprehended 
                        it not."  
                       (Did not understand/overcome it.)
                        
        Love: John 3:16, For God so loved the world   
                        that He gave his only begotten Son,
                        that whosoever  believeh in him,  
                        might not perish, but have everlas-
                        ting life." 
                       17, "For God sent not his Son into
                       the world to condemn the world,
                       but that the world through Him
                       might be saved."

            1 John 2: 9-10  "He that saith that he is in
                    the light and  hateth  his brother is in 
                    darkness until now. He that loveth his
                    brother abideth in the light and  there 
                    is no  occasion of stumbling  in him."                                                   
                                            donporter, sr 7.13.16                   

PAINKILLERS AND EMPATHY (Acetaminophen)

          Is this popular painkiller destroying 

                  your sense of empathy?   
Do  you take  popular  painkillers  like Tylenol or 
Excedrin?  Then  you’re  putting  acetaminophen 
in your body.  This might help relieve  your head
body aches or even fevers. But it might also have 
an unintended side effect.

That’s because acetaminophen, the most-popular 
drug ingredient  in America, was shown in a new 
study to decrease a person’s sense of empathy.

Empathy  is our  ability  to step  into the shoes of 
another  person.  It  can help us understand  their 
feelings and perspectives … and to use this under 
understanding to guide our own actions.

Being able to  empathize is  a core  characteristic 
that defines us as human.  It allows us to live in a 
culture where  the betterment of  the whole com-
munity reigns paramount.

However,  researchers at The Ohio State Univer-
sity saw a unique reaction when participants who 
took  acetaminophen  learned  about  the  misfor-
tunes of  others.  They observed that these indivi-
duals experienced  less pain  and suffering, when 
compared to those who took no painkiller.

"These findings suggest other people’s pain does
not  seem as  big of  a  deal to  you when you’ve 
taken acetaminophen," said Dominik Mischkow-
ski,  co-author of  the  study and  a former Ph.D. 
student  at Ohio State, now at  the National Insti-
tutes of Health.

"Acetaminophen can reduce  empathy as well as 
serve as a painkiller."

So not only does this drug reduce  your sense of
physical  pain, but  also your  ability to share the 
pain of others.  
                     Article copied from, 
          "UNCOMMON WISDOM DAILY"

  (Does this also affect ones ability to think with 
   the mind of Christ?)

This last question added by Don Porter, Sr., 
Does  the same  problem exist with respect  to other
pain killers and is it possible pain medication desen-
sitizes us  to others  issues whether  acetomenophen 
is in the medication or not?  Is it any wonder we see
an increase in violent crime in our culture;  since the
abuse of  drugs,  legal and illegal,  is so  prevalent in  
the U.S. of A.  How could we expect anything less.

donporter,sr                     

THE BLESSED HOPE (It Is Finished)

 "The Blessed Hope"                                  5.18.16

   
  As followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, redeemed from
the penalty of our sins  by his blood, we  have a  hope,  
secure in him. 
    This hope is not based on our works, but is reckoned 
to us as the result of his finished work on the cross. We
access this redemption through faith in Him; His work.  
  
   His work on the cross was finished when He rose from 
the dead on the third day, followed  by his  Ascension to,  
and  his  Intercession with  the Father on our behalf. 
  The work of  our Lord  may  be finished,  but He is still 
active on our behalf, interceding  for us at the right hand 
of the Father.  

   HOPE: Confident expectation of future good.

13.  “But I would not  have you to be ignorant, brethren, 

         concerning them which are  asleep, that  ye sorrow 

         not even as others which have no hope.

14.   For if  we  believe  that  Jesus died and  rose again, 

        even  so them  also  which sleep in Jesus,  will God 

        bring with him.

15.   For this we say unto you, by the Word of the Lord, 

        that we which are alive and remain unto the 
        coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which  

        are asleep.

16.   For the Lord, himself, shall descend  from heaven 

        with a shout, of the archangel, and with the trump 

        of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

17.  Then we which are alive and remain will be caught 

       up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air:  

       and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

18.  Wherefore, comfort one another with these words."

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   * 
donporter,sr    

MATTHEW 5: 3-12 "THE BEATTITUDES"

     
         As a rule,  when a teacher addresses the “Sermon on the 

Mount” by our lord, there is  failure to  take some instruction of

Christ, literally.  For our purposes,  we will consider the mean-

ing as literally as possible. There is always the danger of rob-

bing the Scripture of meaning when we fail take the Lord God
at His "Word..."

    

     We will begin in chapter  5.  His words  begin in  verse 3 of

this passage, our Lord refers to "poor in spirit."  When we take

this literally, we  find our lord commending one  for a blessing

who is not proud or confident in self, relying upon one of grea-

ter power, our lord, himself. The blessing is eternal in nature.

       In the next verse,  He promises to comfort the one who sees

the  conditions of  this world and is broken/sorrowful.  In verse 5,

unlike popular belief, the meek are assigned an earthly heritage

and  in verse 6, those  who seek  righteousness  from God shall

have that  righteousness. (This is an important concept, relating

to other Scriptural promises accompanying righteousness; con-
demning  self   righteousness.)   We  know  from  Scripture;  our

God is  a God of  mercy.  In verse  7, He expects His  children to

be  merciful and promises  the blessing of  mercy on  those who

obey. 

   This is certainly a brief consideration of a portion of the finest 
sermon  known.  Taken as  a whole,  the ministry of  our  Savior
Jesus Christ, God the Son, teaches me the following:

          In order for one to be a follower of Christ, he/she must 
          be self-efacing, genuinely humble  in spirit, preferring
          others before  self,  with  confidence  in God  the Son, 
          His Word, and no confidence in self or the flesh.  

         "The  Word  became  Flesh  and dwelt among us, and
          we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
          of the Father, full of grace and truth."         John 1: 14
                                                                       

donporter,sr       edited: 10.09.16