"If You've Seen Me, You've Seen The Father".

2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith 

• excellence, to excellence, 
• knowledge; 1:6 to knowledge, 
• self-control; to self-control, 
• perseverance; to perseverance, 
• godliness; 1:7 to godliness, 
• brotherly affection; to brotherly affection, 
• unselfish love. 

1:8 For if these things are really yours and are continually increasing, 

• they will keep you from becoming 
• ineffective and 
• unproductive 
• in your pursuit of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately. 

1:9 But concerning the one who lacks such things—

• he is blind. That is to say, 
• he is nearsighted, since 
• he has forgotten about the cleansing of his past sins. 

1:10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, 

• make every effort to be sure of your calling and election. 
• For by doing this you will never stumble into sin. 

1:11 For thus an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be richly provided for you. 

Peter gives us a list of God's characteristics and then tells us to "make every effort" to develop these same characteristics in ourselves. We are to become like God. We are to "image" him and this reminds me of what we read in Genesis.

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What does it mean to make man "in our image." 

    Gen1:26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” 

1:27 God created humankind in his own image, 

in the image of God he created them, 

male and female he created them. 

In God's image means

• To rule as God's agents
• to represent God's character 
• to "image" God -- 
• to represent God perfectly

Jesus did this so well that he could say to Philip, "If you've seen me, you have seen the Father."

• Others looking at our lives should see God in us
• We should be able to say, "If you've seen me........."
• But, of course, we cannot. 
• But that should not stop us from trying
• Peter is telling us how to "image" the Father
• But his list is not the only one in the NT

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Paul's list to the Phillippians

Philippians 4:8–9 

• Finally, brothers and sisters,whatever is 
• true, 
• worthy of respect, 
• just, 
• pure, 
• lovely, 
• commendable, 
• if something is excellent or praiseworthy, 
• think about these things. 
• 4:9 And what you 
• learned and 
• received and 
• heard and 
• saw in me, 
• do these things. 
• And the God of peace will be with you.

• Paul gave himself as an example to follow
• Are we living lives worthy of being imitated????

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Paul's list to the Romans

• Romans 12:   Our bodies are to become living sacrifices for God's glory
• How to deal with our selves
• How to deal with our friends
• Romans 13:
• How to deal with the State
• Romans 14
• How to deal with those weak in the faith
• Romans 15
• We are to imitate Christ

 Willmington, H. L. (1999). The Outline Bible (Ro 12). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

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Paul's list to the 

Galatians 5:22 Fruit of the Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is 

• love, 
• joy, 
• peace, 
• patience, 
• kindness, 
• goodness, 
• faithfulness, 5:23 
• gentleness, and 
• self-control.

 Against such things there is no law. 

5:24 Now those who belong to Christ 

• have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 

5:25 If we live by the Spirit,

• let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit. 

5:26 Let us 

• not become conceited, 
• not provoke one another, 
• not being jealous of one another.

By keeping our attention focused upon God and His characteristics we can grow in all of these graces and more successfully reflect the glory of God. This is what God wants us to do and to be. We succeed by "renewing our minds" and by making "every effort" to grow more like God every day. It's a never ending "effort" but the rewards are eternal. 

Name Calling....!

"In the NT, blasphemy takes on the wider Greek meaning, for it includes slandering a human being (Mt 15:19; see also Rom 3:8; 1 Cor 10:30; Eph 4:31; Ti 3:2), as well as God. It even includes mocking angelic or demonic powers, which is just as wrong as mocking any other being (2 Pt 2:10–12, Jude 1:8–10). In other words, slander, derision, and mocking of any kind are totally condemned in the NT."

Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). In Tyndale Bible dictionary. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

Vulgar Language

Why do we we criticize others for using vulgare language when we use it ourselves? Isn't that called hypocrisy? Yes, I agree that our political leaders SHOULD set a higher standard as an example for the rest of us; but, they are products of our culture and our culture, it seems, has accepted vulgarity into the common vernacular. When we allow vulgarity on TV and in our movies, printed materials, and everyday conversations, why are we shocked when we hear it from our politicians?

Mother-in-law's 102nd Birthday Celebration.

 We recently drove over to visit my mother-in-law and celebrate her 102nd birthday. These are a few of the photos taken (most of these by my sister-in-law. Thanks, Mary.) For more photos visit the link below. Thanks. Comments are welcome. Just click on "comment" below.

https://www.evernote.com/l/ABtE6zKtSKFMFqqZPlhA4rZMyyR8HA7itgU

Photo to accompany Low Carb Posting and comments. Before and after Lipid Panel numbers. I remain on the same medications as before. Statin drugs but no blood pressure medications. So my overall Cholesterol levels didn't change. It runs around 130 these days. I was pre-diabetic before but that went away after 6 months on the low-carb diet. If I remember correctly, my blood sugar numbers usually ran around 180 but dropped below 100 after 6 months on the diet - usually in the 80's these days. Systolic blood pressure is usually between 110 and 120 while diastolic is usually between 60 and 70. I've always had high blood pressure before the diet. Sometimes as high as 140/90 or even higher. Anyway, let me know what you think. Make a comment below. Thanks.

Questions over Mark 1:9-13

Questions over verses 9-13:

1. Why was Jesus baptized anyway? He had no sin to be remitted. 
• Even though he had no sin, he identified with all of us do. He was connecting with us or joining with our humanity.  
• Jesus honored John’s baptism. He showed that it was ordained by God himself. He thus fulfilled all “right-with-God-ness.” He thus obeyed every command of God. 
2. What is the significance of the Spirit descending upon Jesus? 

• As God he was already one with the H.S., but as a human being he was not so still needed to receive the Spirit. We also receive the HS at our baptism.
• It was the fulfilling of prophecy (Ps. 45:7: “God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows,” and Isa. 61:1: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach…”.
• He was receiving the anointing of God. (Acts 10:38: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.”)

3. What is the significance of the Father’s statement concerning Jesus?
• It was the blessing of all three in the God-head: Father speaks, the son begins his ministry blessed with the power of the H.S. 
• John’s baptism was not in the name of the trinity but in a sense Jesus was baptized in the name of the trinity as we are — “In the name of the Father, Son, and H.S.” Mt 28:20.
• It demonstrates the divine approval of Jesus (and us) by the trinity.
4. Why was he impelled to go into the wilderness for 40 days? 
• Jesus’ entire ministry would be a continuous encounter with Satan—not limited to this one experience in the desert.
• Mark uses the term Satan (adversary) as opposed to Devil (accuser), which is used by the other Gospel writers. Jesus will continually be striving with his “adversary”—Satan. This great encounter will climax at the Cross.
• In these 40 days, Jesus takes the offensive against temptation and evil instead of avoiding them.
• These 40 days show Jesus was qualified for His messianic mission.
• These 40 days bear witness to His true humanity.
• The presence of wild animals stresses the hostile character of the desert region as Satan’s domain.
• God’s protecting care through the angels who attended (were serving) him. They supplied general aid and the assurance of God’s presence. They do the same for us in times of trial and temptation. 

Many of the ideas above were borrowed from the following references: 

• Lenski, R. C. H. (1961). The Interpretation of St. Mark’s Gospel. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House.
• Cooper, R. L. (2000). Mark (Vol. 2). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
• Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
• Dockery, D. S., Butler, T. C., Church, C. L., Scott, L. L., Ellis Smith, M. A., White, J. E., & Holman Bible Publishers (Nashville, T. . (1992). Holman Bible Handbook. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
• Walvoord, J. F., & Zuck, R. B., Dallas Theological Seminary. (1985). The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
• Paschall, F. H., & Hobbs, H. H. (Eds.). (1972). The teacher’s Bible commentary. Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers.
• Carson, D. A., France, R. T., Motyer, J. A., & Wenham, G. J. (Eds.). (1994). New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed.). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.

Low Carb Diet

I teach a Bible class on Wednesday nights for my local fellowship when I'm here in Fremont, NE. The ladies delight in bringing snacks for all of us to enjoy during the fellowship period. Toward the end of December 2011 I announced that I didn't want the ladies to be offended if I no longer ate any snacks after the beginning of the coming new year and the reason was that I wanted to lose weight and would need to cut back on calories or carbohydrates or both.

Beginning January 1st, I tried first one diet then another but didn't lose any weight. This continue until the end of May when I decided that I knew how to lose weight...so why wasn't I doing what I knew would bring my weight down?

Well, what I knew I had to do is not what my wife wanted me to do. She felt that the low carb diet was not a healthy diet and discouraged me from going down that path. It just happened that during the final week in May I had an appointment with my family doctor. During our 15 minute check-up time, I casually brought up the idea of low-carb diets and what did he think about them. He pounced on the question like a hungry lion on fresh meat. "I think they are great...! Are you thinking of losing weight?" I told him my problem and he related that he had just returned from a seminar where the merits of this type of regimen were discussed in great detail. He was a believer! Armed with his support I cut way back on the carbs and immediately began seeing the results on the scales. He wanted to do a blood lipid panel before I began and then do another one after 6 months on the program. The results after a loss of about 60 or 70 pounds were terrific. All the bad numbers came down and all the good numbers went up. He was dancing with excitement and so was I.

That process began in mid-year 2012 and continues to this day. Overall, I lost about 80 pounds. It's always a challenge over special days like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years day celebrations. However, I'm very happy to report that again this year I had a taste of everything I wanted, ate the protein and fat that I needed and got through this current holiday season without gaining any weight. I feel great, my lipid numbers are terrific and I'm still wearing size 32 pants...!!! (Down from size 43 in 2011.)

While my family doctor enthusiastically supported my regimen, my cardiologist took more convincing.  It was after my second lipid panel that I first met with him and talked to him about my diet. He asked me what I ate and didn't eat and then was silent for what seemed to me to be a very long time. Deep in thought he finally said, "Well, it's not what I've been taught; but, I can't argue with your numbers...! Just keep on doing what you're doing. With these numbers you should live to be 105."

Even my wife has now reluctantly accepted the fact that I intend to stay on this regimen for the rest of my life, or until there is proof that it's unhealthy. I long ago lost my craving for carbs and sweets. I love steak; pulled pork; fried, grilled or roasted chicken; fried or grilled fish; boiled, fried or scrambled eggs; all kinds of hard cheezes; sugar-free Jello; stevia sweetened coffee; and several kinds of flavored water or Coke Zero.

The regimen may not work for everyone; but, it has been working for me over 5 years now and I'm evangelical about promoting it to all who will listen. Several of my friends have tried it and have successfully lost weight. One especially has been following it for well over a year now and found that his doctor fully supports his efforts. He looks better, feels better and has fewer neuropathy attacks. I'm posting just one of any number of addresses on the internet where those interested can do their own research.  For all of you reading this, I wish you a long, healthy, carb-free life. I also wish you eternal life. Contact me if you're ready for that dialog.

Your comments are welcome. Just click on the "Comment" Button. God bless.
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https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/low-carb-diet/art-20045831