Happy Veteran’s Day - Honoring All Who Served - Purity
573
Purity 573 11/11/2021 Purity 573 Podcast
Good morning
Today’s photo of the leave covered Old Champlain Canal Tow Path running
next to a pond known as the Schuylerville Basin behind the post office in
Schuylerville NY comes to us from yours truly as we had stopped there to mail a
package to a young woman who is currently “becoming a Marine” at boot camp on
Paris Island SC.
If I had the time to walk the Tow Path, I would have discovered that the
trail would have led me over “Fish Creek” to General Philip Schuyler House and
eventually to State Route 4.
Philip Schuyler was an American General in the Revolutionary War and a
United States Senator. Schuyler fought in the French and Indian War. He won
election to the New York General Assembly in 1768 and to the Continental
Congress in 1775. He planned the Continental Army's 1775 Invasion of Quebec,
but poor health forced him to delegate command of the invasion to Richard
Montgomery. He prepared the Continental Army's defense of the 1777 Saratoga campaign
but was replaced by General Horatio Gates as the commander of Continental
forces in the theater. Schuyler resigned from the Continental Army in 1779.
Schuyler served in the New York State Senate for most of the 1780s and
supported the ratification of the United States Constitution. He represented
New York . After a period in the state senate, he won election to the United
States Senate again in 1797, affiliating with the Federalist Party. He resigned
due to poor health the following year. He was the father of Elizabeth Schuyler
Hamilton and the father-in-law of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Schuyler)
Yes, in case you are wondering that Alexander Hamilton, Alexander
Hamilton whose life was documented in the Lin-Manuel Miranda’s popular musical
Hamilton.
So even though Schuyler’s military service seems to have had issues (because
the last I knew Quebec is not a state, and although the Saratoga Campaign was a
“great turning point of the war, he was replaced), Schuyler is remembered and
honored for his service to our country.
Today is Veteran’s Day and little did I know that when we were mailing a
package to someone who has started down the path that will prayerfully lead to
their successfully entering and serving in the military that I was in front of
a path that led to the house of a United States Revolutionary War General.
The paths we choose in life can take us in all kinds of directions and
through all kinds of terrain and environments, but it is usually the paths of
service to others that lead to a life that is remembered and has the best
potential for realizing at least part of what the Lord plans for our
lives.
My pastor told me once that we will be remembered as one of two things
in life:
·
Someone who was a problem
or
·
Someone who solved problems.
The someone’s who solved problems undoubtedly will be remembered for
their service to their fellow man.
So today on Veteran’s Day, we remember those who served in the United
States military. Unlike how the world
system typically only honors those who
perform the best, today’s holiday gets it right by honoring all veterans
regardless of their function or level of performance.
It doesn’t matter what branch in
the military you were in, what your rank was, what medals or commendations you
may have received, or when and where you served, if you made it through the
training and officially became a member of the armed forces and served, even for
a single day, today we say “Thank You for Your Service” or to paraphrase what we all want to hear
when we see our Heavenly Father face to face “Well done good and faithful
servant!”
Just like the military, being a “Christian soldier” is also a path that
is best defined and remembered as a path of service. The Christians who best represent the kingdom
of God are those who don’t just sit on the sidelines of life “believing”.
Christ said that you would know His disciples by their fruit and by
their love for one another. One of the most visible fruits that would reveal
our love of God is our decision to step on the path of Christian discipleship
to be “trained” in righteousness and to serve God’s kingdom through acts of
kindness and service.
Just like a soldier is trained to behave a certain way while on duty, a
Christian’s tour of duty never ends and should demonstrate a heartfelt desire
to conduct themselves according to the Lord’s will and ways for their life as
described in the Bible. So the disciple
would seek to study the word of God and to conform their thoughts and actions
to align with what it says.
And just like a soldier’s training is purposeful and “just may save
someone’s life someday”, a Christian’s
learning the Lord’s way for living should be for the purpose of serving the
kingdom of God by serving His fellow man and by sharing the gospel of Jesus
Christ that “just may save someone’s soul someday!”
Today is Thursday and Veteran’s Day, so while I encourage all to thank
and honor all those who served in the United States military, on this one
particular Thursday in November of 2021, at the very least, I would always
encourage my friends, every day, to get on the path of Christian Discipleship
to honor God and to fulfill our purpose as Christians: to love and serve the
Lord by “solving problems.”
While we can use our gifts of strength, intellect, and ingenuity to
solve a lot of problems that we encounter here on earth, only Christians who know the truth of the
gospel of Jesus Christ and share it with those around them can be used to help
his fellow man solve the biggest problem of their lives by ushering them into a
reconciled relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.
So keep walking and talking with God down that pathway that started with
spiritual death but that has led us to a new and eternal life where we can
enjoy every step of our journey by being in God’s presence continually but
where we can also bring the love of God into other people’s experience through
our acts of kindness and service and by sharing the good news that Christ came
to serve and save all who call upon Him as Lord and Savior.
Today’s Bible verse
is drawn from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is :
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT2)
17 This means that anyone who
belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has
begun!
Today’s verse speaks of the truth of
the new life that we have in Christ.
Because of Adam’s lost his spiritual
life when He disobeyed the Lord and was expelled from the Garden of Eden , all
of humanity, as Adam’s descendants, have been born spiritually dead and at
enmity with God.
However, God’s love for us caused Him
to develop a plan for redemption. Jesus Christ came to earth and demonstrated the
legitimacy of His claim to be the Messiah, Lord, Savior, and God the Son through:
· His words and miraculous works,
· living a sinless life,
· dying for our all mankind’s sins,
· being resurrected from the dead
· , and ascending into heaven.
When people not only believe “the story of Jesus”
but actually put their faith in Him personally as Lord and Savior. God sends
the Holy Spirit to indwell them and make them spiritually alive. The change in our spiritual status from spiritually
dead to spiritually alive makes us a new person.
The moment we put our faith in Jesus we are
reconciled to God, forgiven of all our sins, saved from God’s wrath, and
adopted as His children into His royal family.
We are given a new and eternal life in God’s kingdom.
That reality will really come into focus when our
lives on earth end or when Christ returns, but it is true right now and today’s
verse seeks to remind and encourage us of the fact that the “The old life is gone” and “a new life has begun!” and invites us to experience it here and now.
So every day remind yourself that not only are you
physically alive, but God has made you spiritually alive! When you put your
faith in Jesus your old, sinful, and worldly life ended and the new life you
have began.
So keep walking and talking with God, so you can
know and experience that new life God has given you.
As
always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from
prominent Christian counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with
their walk.
Today we continue sharing from June Hunt’s “Evil
and Suffering… Why? Is God Fair?
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase June Hunt’s books for your own private study and
to support her work.
D. What Does "Theodicy" Mean?
If it is true that "Life is full of suffering, and then you
die," what is the purpose of living at all? This life, however, is but a
fleeting training ground for the life to follow—eternal life that will go on
forever. God will use the sufferings in this life for our eternal good if we
choose to rely on Him.
While this is not the best of all worlds, it is the way to the best
of all worlds! Only by giving control of our lives to our Lord and Savior in this
life can we be given the next life God has prepared for us.
"Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory
that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on
what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is
eternal." (2
Corinthians 4:17-18)
- The word theodicy
is a theological term used in apologetics (a defense of the faith) to
vindicate the goodness, justice, and existence of God in the face of all
the evil and injustice in the world. Those who are convinced that God is
absolutely just know that His reputation is not at stake and can state
with absolute confidence...
"Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you." (Psalm 89:14) - The Greek
word theos means
"God," and the Greek word dike carries the idea of
"justice." As you increasingly come to know the Lord God, you
increasingly have confidence in the character of God.
"He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he." (Deuteronomy 32:4) - Theodicy
is a logical defense of the goodness of God despite the existence
of evil in the world. Because logical reasoning can be effective in
presenting truth to those who have not heard the truth, we are told...
"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to
give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and
respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously
against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." (1 Peter 3:15-16)
Biblical Counseling Keys: Evil and Suffering... Why?: Why
God? Why?.
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
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over the Darkness” or “The Bondage Breaker” series of Discipleship Classes via
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian
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