From the Heart by B.Demaere

        1) Jesus, the only One alive today Of all the prophets and teachers that lived Jesus is the only one who rose from the dead and is still alive today.   Just think of this for a moment if a religious leader is dead why do we worship him as being alive.   Jesus Christ is the only one who is alive, and we worship him as such. In Matthew 28, we see the grave is empty because Jesus rose from the dead and the angels proclaim it. 22)       The Life that Qualifies us He is alive so he could live but why would Jesus live?   Because all along God planned to reach the world so he could save the world starting with the Jews all the way to the last of human being.   He does not want anyone to miss this good news.   The purpose of Jesus being alive is to forgive humans their sins and give them eternal life in quantity and quality.   Eternal life is the life Jesus is made of.   His teachings and lifest...

  What is Most Important Thing? Here, is the Apostle Paul who did not consider anything about himself as important.  According to Philippians 3:5-11, he does not even consider his past accomplishments or religion as important.  All his moral qualities and advantages, even past failures as he had persecuted the Church.  Everything about him he considers lost for the cause of knowing Christ. “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (v.8) If you read about him in the Book of Acts 9 and through his letters, he will tell you that he was a know-it-all kind of person.   Very proud of who he was and what he did.   It took a vision of Christ on the road to Damascus to convert him to Christ.   He had previously been a Pharisee of Pharisees and knew the Law of Moses inside and out.   What could have changed him so drastically, but Christ.   For delivering him from that bondage to the Law an...

  Priorities of Eternal Purpose (John 6:25-30) At the beginning of this chapter, Jesus had miraculously fed 6000 people with 2 fishes and 5 loaves of bread.   Do you think that this would have been enough of a miracle for them to believe? Not really.   They wanted more.   More of what? Of Jesus or the miracles? Apparently, more miracles.   They wanted to believe in Jesus, but he did not do enough for them to believe in him. (John 6:30) He gently corrects them by telling them in the rest of the chapter that the bread he has which is his body is more than enough for them to believe because it is eternal in purpose.   Miracles Are only temporary and once you see one you must have another one.   The food they need must be eternal. It must be eternal if it is going to bring them spiritual satisfaction. As their human nature must have been fixated on the work of miracles that they would have to do Jesus points them out to God’s right expectation for ...

  Christ also suffered when he died for our sins once for all time.  He never sinned, but he died for sinners that he might bring us safely home to God.  He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.  So he went and preached to the spirits in prison---those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat.  Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood.  And this is a picture of baptism which now saves you by the power of Jesus Christ's resurrection.  Baptism is not the removal of dirt from your body; it is an appeal to God from a clean conscience. Now Christ has gone to heaven.  He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers are bowing before him. If you guessed that the solution to the quiz was Psalm 112, you are absolutely right.  I made it more difficult by not including the 3 first words: "Praise the Lord" which ...

 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and Pharisees brought a woman they had caught in the the act of adultery.  They put her in front of the crowd.                                                 "Teacher," they said to Jesus, 'this woman was caught in the very act of adultery.  The law of Moses says to stone her.  What do you say?'                                                                                      They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.'                  ...

As you read what I have written, you will understand what I know about this plan regarding Christ.  God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now he has revealed it by the Holy Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets. And this is the secret plan: the Gentiles have an equal share with the Jews in all the riches inherited by God's children.   Both groups have believed the Good News, and both  are part of the same body and enjoy together the promise of blessings through Christ Jesus.  By God's special favor and mighty power, I have been given the wonderful privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News. Just think! Though I did nothing to deserve it, and though I am the least deserving Christian there is, I was chosen for this special joy of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.  I was chosen to explain to everyone this plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning. God's purpos...