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Tag: God

  • What is the Chief End of Man? – Our #1 question

    What is the Chief End of Man? – Our #1 question

    Perhaps you know this first QUESTION (What is the chief end of man?) of the Westminster Divines, actually a shortened version of the original.

    1. What is the chief and highest end of man?

    I could ask the first question of the Westminster Catechism (teaching) a different way.

    What is the Highest Goal of Mankind?

    Mankind, of course, includes womankind, just as Scripture frequently includes women while referring to or instructing men.

    What is YOUR big GOAL?

    OR may I ask the chief question of every man or woman:

    WHY am I here?

    (You do have a purpose to your mortal life, don’t you?)

    If you don't know the ANSWER or have never considered the #1 Question of life, NOW might be the best time to carefully create your own answer to man's compelling question of purpose.

    Who do you live your life for?

    IF our chief end in life relates to a person, then we must ask:

    WHO is this VIP for whom WE live our lives, the one who truly deserves to be the principle person receiving the chief end of our goals of this brief mortal life?

    • Our Husband or Wife?
    • Our Father or Mother?
    • A Son or a Daughter (perhaps all of our Children)?
    • A beloved Friend or possibly a Mentor and Teacher worthy of our highest regard?
    • Someone from the past or an idol of these present times?

    WHO is the MOST important Person worthy of the chief end of your time?

    Answer to question #1

    Before I reveal the answer (if you don’t already know it) let me ask you this:

    Are YOU the ONLY important person in your life OR is someone else the MOST important person in your life?

    Didn’t God create you to relate to someone other than yourself?

    So then shouldn’t your goals in life — especially your ‘chief end’ — relate to the PERSON of highest importance to the most important outcome or final end of your mortal life?

    Consider one additional Person, an overlooked highest One most deserving to become the chief end of our earthly attention, love, praise — and yes, even worship.

    It is written from the Gospel:

    Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

    Gospel of John 13:1 Legacy Standard Bible

    Almost everyone knows the gospel of the One worthy of the chief end of mankind’s earthly purpose?

    “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

    Gospel of John 3:16 Legacy Standard Bible

    Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’

    Gospel of John 8:54 LSB

    10:30 ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν

    “I and the Father are one.”

    Good News of John 10:30 – testimony of JESUS that he the Son is of one essence with the One God our Father

    Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.

    Gospel of John 14:6 LSB

    .. He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. – John 20:20b

    .. He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. – John 20:22b

    Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.

    Answer: Question #1 of The Westminster Shorter Catechism
    ANSWER to Westminster Catechism QUESTION #1Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
    Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.

    Does GOD deserve to be #1 on your VIP list?

    Whoever else you named as #1 on your personal VIP list, this most beloved person you view as your chief end of a purposeful life – they are NOT worthy of your worship.

    HOWEVER:

    IF you recognize the Eternal Person of God the Father —

    IF you recognize the Eternal Person of God the Son —

    IF you recognize the Eternal mysterious third Person of the TRINITY, God the Holy Spirit —

    THEN you have chosen the right PERSONS of GOD to glorify.

    Congratulations! You have won ETERNAL LIFE.

    Recognize that the Lord God is a PERSONAL God to those He has chosen.

    IF we will choose to place Him at the TOP of our VIP list, we secure His loving RELATIONSHIP for an ETERNAL LIFETIME!

    God is not a man like us, yet the Lord God IS One God of THREE PERSONS, a true teaching of the Bible called Trinity.

    I cannot address the deeper doctrine of the Trinity as part of this #1 answer to the teaching of a Biblical Christian Church, however you may read more about it here:

    What Is the Doctrine of the Trinity?

    .. only one God exists; there are three distinct Persons in the New Testament – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; each of these three distinct Persons is called God. Therefore the three distinct Persons must be the one God.

    Don Stewart :: What Is the Doctrine of the Trinity?

    What IF you have the wrong ANSWER to Question #1?

    This may be a time to rethink the #1 priorities and goals of your daily and mortal life.

    Maybe God has NOT chosen you for eternal life

    and regrettably you accept the END of your mortal life

    — you are dust and to dust you will return — .. AND then the judgment!

    This is all supported by God’s written word of the Bible; but in addition to Scripture you could RETHINK your chief end through further study in the link provided earlier or by reading more about the DOCTRINES of God.

    • SELF is ALWAYS the wrong answer (as frequently WE see in others)
    • THINGS (like money or work or entertainment or vacations or clothes or cars or houses or politics or social clubs or sports or.. ANY other IDOL) will eventually prove to be WRONG ANSWERS.
    • Your mom or your dad (present in your life, but not far distant or long passed from this mortal life), MAY be your #1 living person worthy of #1 on your human list; BUT not in the place of God.
      • Most of us know the Biblical Commandment of God concerning the HONOR of Parents, yet honor of our father or mother is less than our chief end of giving glory to the God who created us all.
    • Your husband is not worthy of glory above God, though wives are commanded to RESPECT your husband.
      • And husbands, your wife is not worthy of glory above God since He commands you to LOVE her as Christ loves the Church.
      • These are God-ordained personal relationships between one man and one woman like no other, which God glorifies uniquely as ‘two become one,’ not unrelated to the Oneness of God and Christ with the Church.
    • Should ANY child, infant to adult, become the chief end of purpose in the life of a parent (especially a mom)?
      • ALL biological fathers and biological mothers ought to cherish the special bond of the conception and birth of their child which God has given into your care, nurture and instruction, but NO CHILD should receive your #1 glory above God. (There are no ‘single moms,’ or at least their wouldn’t be if in the lives of both lovers God we chief end of their relationship.)
      • Adopted children with parents having chosen them by a new relationship are also equal to our biological children in our love. Like the children of our birth parents, chosen children inherit God’s love through parents who have chosen them but not in the place of glorifying God first.
    • How about a FRIEND?
      • Do you value one friend above another? Are both of you not dependent on the God who knitted together the strong cord of all of your heart-held friendships? Glorify God with your friends and thank Him for each.
      • As for relationships of our past: have some become idols weighing our heart down to the darkness of the dust? You know God’s Commandment about idols, not all which are chiseled from wood or stone.

    Perhaps YOU CHOSE more than one of the PERSONS you glorify for the top of your list. (None deserve #1)

    ERASE your former WRONG answer[s] & REPENT.

    Glorify God

    Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever.

    Answer: Question #1 of The Westminster Larger Catechism

    Go ahead — repent and erase your former wrong answer.

    Glorify the Lord God – the only One who deserves our highest worship.

    The chief end of YOUR mortal life is to finish God’s work for His Glory.

    The chief end for those who love God, mere morals made in God’s image — men, women and children who’s chief relationship is the with Jesus Christ, Son of God — by His grace is eternal life.

    By the mercy of God the Father, foreordaining His Only Son to die for our sins — the end of a mortal Son of man, Jesus sacrificed for our sin on the Cross ERASES our mortal end.

    Christ’s resurrection of the body to eternal life assures us of God’s mercy, grace and love of those who love Him — those of us for whom He died.

    YOU and I have a #1 chief end:

    In heart and in deed WE must Glorify the One Person who has saved us to eternal life;

    consequently through Christ, our highest end will be with GOD to enjoy Him forever.

    Glorify the Lord God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.

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  • OMG! – What ‘god’ are they talking about?

    OMG! – What ‘god’ are they talking about?

    omg!

    What do you mean when you say God? Why do you say ‘oh my god?’ (OMG?)

    NOTE: OMG! This series has ended..

    BUT — YOU can ask ANY question in a COMMENT at the end of any post on Doctrine

    OR any other post on TalkofJESUS.com

    52 Topics for One-Sentence Questions"OMG" I don't know that answer.

    JANUARY 27, 2023 AD

    Today’s 1-Sentence

    QUESTION

    comes from Twitter

    My problem is, what is God? Define.

    posted Twitter: Jan 16 #questions

    Define God – that’s the challenge. 

    Make certain to CLICK LINK ABOVE for the ANSWER to Today's One-Sentence Question.

    Answer from Scriptures

    For they speak against thee wickedly,

    and thine enemies take thy name in vain.

    Psalm 139:20 KJV

    Hebrews 1, Genesis 1, Matthew 7

    Gospel of John

    Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.”

    “.. No one comes to the Father except through me.

    John 10:30, John 14:6b

    Answer [below] from Original talkofJESUS.com post

    Define God
    from September 22, 2014 – Topic: God or god?
    Summer Reruns! with picture of sun wearing sunglasses
    Summer 2021 AD {Scriptural} Reruns
    • CLICK “…Continue reading ” above,
    • THEN Ask a question or comment at the end of this post
    • OR email Roger@talkofJesus.com with your reaction, questions & comments.

    Stay tuned from more Summer of 2021 Reruns from talkofJESUS.com

    (ditto: Summer 2022 – more to come)

  • Truth for Gentiles who turn to God

    Truth for Gentiles who turn to God

    How will the Jerusalem Council judge Gentiles according to the Jewish Law of Moses?

    Acts 15

    6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.

    Simon Peter has testified.

    “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.

    Acts of the Apostles 15:7b ESV

    And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

    Acts of the Apostles 15:12 ESV

    Response of Jerusalem’s Pastor James

    13 After they finished speaking, James replied,

    “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 

    Leaders and Witnesses of the Jerusalem council

    Let’s be clear who is speaking and which leaders have witnessed the truth of events leading to a church meeting about the gentiles.

    Simon Peter.

    In verse 14 the King James and English Standard versions translate Συμεών from the Greek as Simeon; however the NKJV, NIV and other versions use “Simon” while the NLT uses the most familiar identification of the Apostle, “Peter.”

    Barnabas and Paul

    Their mission journey has brought about this council and clearly both are leaders in their testimony of the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles and leadership of the church at Antioch Syria.

    James

    And let’s not miss who now speaks a the representative pastor and leader of the local church at Jerusalem where the council meets.

    It is none other than James brother of Jesus who was raised with the Lord, yet did not believe that his half-brother was the Christ, the prophesied Son of God until after Jesus’ resurrection at which time James became a faithful disciple called to lead the Jerusalem Church.

    Witness of the Prophets

    James refers to the Prophet Amos from ~760 BC and Samuel Prophet of David three hundred years before that.

    “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,

    16 “‘After this I will return,
    and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen;
    I will rebuild its ruins,
         and I will restore it,
    17 that the remnant[a] of mankind may seek the Lord,
        and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,
         says the Lord, who makes these things 18 known from of old.’

    In A.D. 49, James witnesses the promises of God to David a thousand years before. Now it seems that the kingdom promised to David is all but defeated.

    The Temple of Solomon was destroyed, the Jews were captured and taken to Babylon and Persia. The distant hope witnessed by Amos and the Prophets seems near to slipping away once more at the hand of Rome (which will again destroy Jerusalem and Herod’s temple in A.D. 70).

    Yet Scripture is true and God’s word comforting to those faithful few who wait for the Lord to save — for the Lord to redeem the captives who hold to His Name — saving them from God’s judgment of sin and eternal punishment and granting His true worshipers the glory of the kingdom of the root and the son of David. Yes, even the Nations of the world beyond the hills of Jerusalem.

    Amos 9:

    I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said:
    “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake,
    and shatter them on the heads of all the people;
    and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword;
    not one of them shall flee away;
    not one of them shall escape.

    8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom,
    and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground,
    except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”
    declares the LORD.

    “For behold, I will command,
    and shake the house of Israel among all the nations
    as one shakes with a sieve,
    but no pebble shall fall to the earth.

    All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,
    who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’

    This was just one judgment of Jerusalem!

    Amos had prophesied it.

    Twenty years earlier, the Sanhedrin of Herod which meets in this same Jerusalem as today’s council had crucified Jesus Christ, brother of James and Son of David. The leaders of a semi-captive Israel disregarded the revealed will and written word of the Lord God.

    The Jewish council of Herod’s Temple had also slain the Apostle James by the sword, another politically expedient death which it thought would prevent the sword of Rome from overtaking their city of sin.

    It didn’t. (For as most of us know Rome would destroy Jerusalem just twenty-one years from this time of the Christian Council in Jerusalem.)

    Amos 9:11-12 (to which James refers)

    “In that day I will raise up
    the booth of David that is fallen
    and repair its breaches,
    and raise up its ruins
    and rebuild it as in the days of old,

    that they may possess the remnant of Edom
    and all the nations who are called by my name,”
    declares the LORD who does this.

    kingdom Saul David Solomon & surrounding kingdoms of Ammon, Edom and other gentiles

    It is a remnant of Edom. Yes even a remnant of Judah and Israel after these many centuries — only a remnant who remember the Lord their God and look for the redemption paid on the Cross for “all the nations who are called by my name, says the LORD.”

    Judgment for the Gentiles

    You have probably never thought of James, brother of Jesus, pastor of the Jerusalem church and author of a New Testament letter to the church as a Judge.

    But this is his role here with the Council at Jerusalem.

    The accusations (concerning circumcision) have been presented. Several witnesses have presented evidence about the truth of events where gentiles have interacted with Jewish witnesses (including the Apostles).

    A defense of the truth by Barnabas and Paul recounts incidents for which some Jews have accused them of breaking the Law of Moses.

    Pastor James, head of this Christian Sanhedrin gathering of Apostles and other leaders has even preceded his decision as Judge with Scriptural prophesy of their very actions concerning the gentiles. So here is his verdict speaking on behalf of this council at Jerusalem as its leader:

    19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God

    Acts of the Apostles 15:19 ESV – Verdict of the Council of Jerusalem pronounced by James

    The verdict pronounced by James on behalf of the Council at Jerusalem, however, is conditional. Addressing the concerns of which Gentiles have turned to God by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, he continues with clarification of what the Council must do to go into the Gentile world with the Gospel.

    NEXT, God-willing, we will join James and the Council of Jerusalem as they take action by way of a letter and messengers sent on another mission trip to the Gentile Nations.