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
Friday, January 5, 2018
Thursday, January 4, 2018
Questions over Mark 1:1-9
Questions over Mark 1:1-9
- What was John preaching when he appeared in the wilderness?
- “...a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."
- a and b
- a. What was different about what he was preaching from the way people were supposed to get forgiveness for their sins?
- Confession of sin and repentance were required under the law — nothing new.
- New: That baptism (or Mikveh) was for salvation and that it was as necessary for Jews as for Gentiles.
- (What was also new was that he announced that someone far greater than himself was coming after him.)
- b. What did they do when they came to him?
- They confessed their sins, repented, and were immersed.
- This baptism which John proclaimed and administered was connected with repentance and resulted in remission of sins.
- "The force of the phrase εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν which modifies βάπτισμα μετανοίας is to make remission of sins the result of the baptism of repentance. Every such baptism bestowed remission upon the person baptized."
- Lenski, R. C. H. (1961). The Interpretation of St. Mark’s Gospel. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House.
- What did John say about Jesus?
- Jesus is mightier than I. I’m not holy enough to even remove his sandals or touch his feet.
- He will baptize (in, with or by) the Holy Spirit.
- In what ways does John fit the prophecy from Isaiah Mark quotes in 2-3?
- Before the arrival of the Queen of England in Jakarta, the roads between the airport and the British Embassy and Indonesian Presidential Palace were all repaired, painted and kept clean. Indonesian and even British flags were flown along the roads and from buildings welcoming her arrival. It was almost impossible for the city citizens to be unaware of her coming presence. This was the work of John the Baptist with reference to Jesus.
- John was the “bugle fanfare,” the “drumroll,” the "opening act, warm-up act, or supporting act" before the Headliner of the show. He got everyone’s attention and after focusing it on Jesus, faded into the background.
Additional questions over verses 1-13:
- Why was John reluctant to baptize Jesus?
- Why did Jesus insist on being baptized anyway?
- What did John mean by saying that Jesus would baptize with fire and the HS?
- What is the significance of the Spirit descending upon Jesus and the Father’s statement concerning Jesus?
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
What I Learned from Romans Chapter 4
The apostle Paul demonstrates clearly in this chapter that we are saved by faith and by faith alone. I have no problem with the expression “faith alone” if we fully understand the biblical definition of faith. Faith, as defined in scripture, is always active, obedient, doing what God has commanded. It therefore includes works, but the work that saves is the work that God has commanded us to perform. It does not include works that we think might be better or an improvement upon what God has specified.
The biblical definition of faith is found in Hebrews chapter 11. The definition is stated in verse 1 of that chapter, then the rest of the chapter is a rather long list of people who were saved “by faith.” In every case the DID something. They performed a WORK which resulted in their salvation. They did what they were told to do. That’s how it works. Paul tells us in Romans 10:17: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” Faith comes from hearing Christ. Christ (God) tells us what to do and we do it. That is what faith is. Trusting in Christ to the point that we do whatever he commands us to do. And apart from that kind of faith there is no salvation for anyone.
A partial list from Hebrews 11:
And the list goes on. In every case something was done “by faith". The expression “by faith” means they were told to do something and they did it. They obeyed the commands of God. They were obedient.
James in his epistle talks about a dead faith — the kind that the devils have. But the devils will not be saved because they do nothing “by faith.” James admonishes his readers not to share this dead faith which is inactive. He pleads with them to show their faith by what they DO. His definition of faith is the same as that of Paul and the Hebrew writer. Faith is living and active — doing whatever it has been commanded to do. Refusing to do what God has commanded is not biblical faith. Doing something other than what God has commanded is not biblical faith either.
Let’s get practical. What has God commanded us to do in order to be saved? Has he asked us to say the sinner’s prayer? Where do we find that command in scripture? I contend that saying the sinner’s prayer for salvation is dead faith. Why? Because it is NOT what God commanded people to do to be saved.
On the day of Pentecost, the people listening to Peter’s 1st gospel sermon asked him what they had to do to be saved. They had already become convicted in their hearts. Peter told them: "Repent, and...be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;….” When they obeyed what God had instructed them to do they received the forgiveness of their sins. Repentance and Baptism were acts of faith. By obeying these commands they were saved, not by the water, but by their faith. By faith they obeyed God. 3000 people were baptized that very day. The jailor of Philippi was baptized the same hour he believed and that was between 12 and 1 in the morning — while everyone else was sleeping….! Saul of Tarsus was told to get up, be baptized and wash away his sins…. These were all works or acts of faith. They were done “by faith.” They were done in obedience to God’s command and resulted in salvation by faith.
We are saved by faith alone when we actively and totally surrender to God. Total surrender means that we continue to live a life of total surrender and obedience. There is no salvation without it and nothing else can substitute for what God has commanded. The works that we do are those prepared beforehand by God for us to do. We do them “by faith.”
Is your faith active and alive? Are you living a life of total surrender and obedience to God? Remember, salvation is by faith alone — doing “by faith” what God has commanded. There can be no substitutions no acts of our own merit, thinking, or imagination. God will accept nothing less than total obedience and submission.
The biblical definition of faith is found in Hebrews chapter 11. The definition is stated in verse 1 of that chapter, then the rest of the chapter is a rather long list of people who were saved “by faith.” In every case the DID something. They performed a WORK which resulted in their salvation. They did what they were told to do. That’s how it works. Paul tells us in Romans 10:17: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” Faith comes from hearing Christ. Christ (God) tells us what to do and we do it. That is what faith is. Trusting in Christ to the point that we do whatever he commands us to do. And apart from that kind of faith there is no salvation for anyone.
A partial list from Hebrews 11:
- By faith: Abel offered the blood sacrifice God commanded.
- Dead faith: Cain was rejected because his sacrifice was not what God requested.
- By faith: Enoch found salvation by doing the things that pleased God.
- By faith: Noah built an ark as instructed. He and his family were saved as a result.
- By faith: Abraham packed up and moved at the command of God.
- By faith: Sarah and Abraham conceived a son.
- By faith: Abraham offered his son Isaac as commanded.
- By faith: Moses left Egypt as commanded.
And the list goes on. In every case something was done “by faith". The expression “by faith” means they were told to do something and they did it. They obeyed the commands of God. They were obedient.
James in his epistle talks about a dead faith — the kind that the devils have. But the devils will not be saved because they do nothing “by faith.” James admonishes his readers not to share this dead faith which is inactive. He pleads with them to show their faith by what they DO. His definition of faith is the same as that of Paul and the Hebrew writer. Faith is living and active — doing whatever it has been commanded to do. Refusing to do what God has commanded is not biblical faith. Doing something other than what God has commanded is not biblical faith either.
Let’s get practical. What has God commanded us to do in order to be saved? Has he asked us to say the sinner’s prayer? Where do we find that command in scripture? I contend that saying the sinner’s prayer for salvation is dead faith. Why? Because it is NOT what God commanded people to do to be saved.
On the day of Pentecost, the people listening to Peter’s 1st gospel sermon asked him what they had to do to be saved. They had already become convicted in their hearts. Peter told them: "Repent, and...be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;….” When they obeyed what God had instructed them to do they received the forgiveness of their sins. Repentance and Baptism were acts of faith. By obeying these commands they were saved, not by the water, but by their faith. By faith they obeyed God. 3000 people were baptized that very day. The jailor of Philippi was baptized the same hour he believed and that was between 12 and 1 in the morning — while everyone else was sleeping….! Saul of Tarsus was told to get up, be baptized and wash away his sins…. These were all works or acts of faith. They were done “by faith.” They were done in obedience to God’s command and resulted in salvation by faith.
We are saved by faith alone when we actively and totally surrender to God. Total surrender means that we continue to live a life of total surrender and obedience. There is no salvation without it and nothing else can substitute for what God has commanded. The works that we do are those prepared beforehand by God for us to do. We do them “by faith.”
Is your faith active and alive? Are you living a life of total surrender and obedience to God? Remember, salvation is by faith alone — doing “by faith” what God has commanded. There can be no substitutions no acts of our own merit, thinking, or imagination. God will accept nothing less than total obedience and submission.
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
What Time Is It? Romans 5
Romans 5:10 "For if, while being enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, as having been reconciled, shall we be saved in connection with his life;"
"It is something like a man who wakes up, finds that his watch has stopped, and turns on the radio to learn the time. When he hears, he sets his watch by the radio time. What he’s done is to 'reconcile' his watch to the radio." Richards, L. (1990). The 365 Day Devotional Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
I believe it was in 1971 that I bought a Bulova Accutron watch. I wanted it because in Indonesia at that time, it was difficult to always know the exact time. The Bulova Accutron used the vibrations of a tuning fork to keep the watch within a few seconds of the true time thus meeting my needs. I was disappointed later to learn that I could have bought a quartz crystal watch that used an even more accurate technology. These watches still tended to gain or loose several seconds a day, however, and several minutes a month but they were far more accurate than their predecessors.
Today I get accurate time from my cell phone which has access to the atomic clock located in the U. S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. This atomic clock will not deviate more than 2 seconds from accurate time for the next 2 billion years!!! An even newer atomic clock has been developed which is accurate to 1 second for an even longer period of time, but may not be in use yet.
Another amazing thing about this new technology is that it is available to us free through WiFi and can be updated to the second every few minutes. Wonderful. No excuses for being late any more.
What does this have to do with Romans 5:10? Well Paul says that we have been reconciled to God through the death of Jesus. Reconciled means that we have been set right with God. L. Richards, a favorite author of mine, gives the example of a watch being reset. Reseting your watch every few minutes to the accuracy of the atomic clock in Washington is like reseting your watch to perfection just as Jesus did in reconciling us to God, Jesus reset us to perfection spiritually. This spiritual reset was not available prior to the death of Jesus on the cross but is available today, free to everyone with a faith connection to Jesus. Jesus is our WiFi continually reseting us to the perfection of God himself.
Do you have a faith connection to Jesus? Have you been reset to the perfection that is God himself? You will still find yourself drifting away from perfection from time to time but with a continual faith connection to Jesus you will continually be reset to perfection. Romans chapter 6 tells us how to get and maintain that faith connection. Get your's today if you don’t already have one. It’s free. And the download speed is out of this world.
"It is something like a man who wakes up, finds that his watch has stopped, and turns on the radio to learn the time. When he hears, he sets his watch by the radio time. What he’s done is to 'reconcile' his watch to the radio." Richards, L. (1990). The 365 Day Devotional Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
I believe it was in 1971 that I bought a Bulova Accutron watch. I wanted it because in Indonesia at that time, it was difficult to always know the exact time. The Bulova Accutron used the vibrations of a tuning fork to keep the watch within a few seconds of the true time thus meeting my needs. I was disappointed later to learn that I could have bought a quartz crystal watch that used an even more accurate technology. These watches still tended to gain or loose several seconds a day, however, and several minutes a month but they were far more accurate than their predecessors.
Today I get accurate time from my cell phone which has access to the atomic clock located in the U. S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. This atomic clock will not deviate more than 2 seconds from accurate time for the next 2 billion years!!! An even newer atomic clock has been developed which is accurate to 1 second for an even longer period of time, but may not be in use yet.
Another amazing thing about this new technology is that it is available to us free through WiFi and can be updated to the second every few minutes. Wonderful. No excuses for being late any more.
What does this have to do with Romans 5:10? Well Paul says that we have been reconciled to God through the death of Jesus. Reconciled means that we have been set right with God. L. Richards, a favorite author of mine, gives the example of a watch being reset. Reseting your watch every few minutes to the accuracy of the atomic clock in Washington is like reseting your watch to perfection just as Jesus did in reconciling us to God, Jesus reset us to perfection spiritually. This spiritual reset was not available prior to the death of Jesus on the cross but is available today, free to everyone with a faith connection to Jesus. Jesus is our WiFi continually reseting us to the perfection of God himself.
Do you have a faith connection to Jesus? Have you been reset to the perfection that is God himself? You will still find yourself drifting away from perfection from time to time but with a continual faith connection to Jesus you will continually be reset to perfection. Romans chapter 6 tells us how to get and maintain that faith connection. Get your's today if you don’t already have one. It’s free. And the download speed is out of this world.
Sunday, December 17, 2017
What Have I Learned From Romans Chapter 6?
We have been offered LIFE through faith, and PEACE with God. Adam’s work is undone through Jesus. We have been offered justification, sanctification and glorification. We have died to sin, been united with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection and set free to serve him. THEREFORE: sin must not reign over our bodies and our bodies must not be used to sin. Our lives must be presented to God, our body parts used for God’s glory. We must control our thoughts and our environments and deepen our understanding of His word. When Christians believe that their sin does not matter they separate themselves from God because Scripture says: "The wages of sin is death."
In baptism we were crucified, buried and resurrected with Jesus. Just as the Old Testament sinner transferred his sins to the sacrifice by placing his hands on the head of the animal, so we in baptism transfer our sins to our sacrifice by re-enacting his death, burial, and resurrection. We are resurrected to live a new and different life — one free from sin. Faith and baptism are two sides of the same coin. Baptism is the “tails” of the coin with faith as the “head.” You can’t have one without the other. The Hebrews definition of faith includes action: By faith Abel OFFERED…. By faith Noah BUILT…. By faith we are UNITED with Jesus when we are baptized. Notice how baptism is related to salvation in the following verses:
— Acts 2:38, We are given the remission of sins and the gift of Holy Spirit.
— Mark 16:15 Jesus says that faith + Baptism = salvation
— Acts 22:16 Luke tells us that baptism washes away sin
— 1 Peter 3:20-21 Peter says that baptism saves us
— Acts 10:48 Cornelius was ORDERED to be baptized
— John 3:5 Jesus says that we cannot enter the kingdom of God without baptism
— Gal 3:27 By being baptized we are clothed with Christ.
I will thank God that all my sins have been transferred to Jesus and I am free because by faith I was united with Jesus in Baptism. We died with Jesus. He was raised never to die again. Death was no longer his master. I, too, have died and now live to God. I have experienced the crucifixion and resurrection with Jesus. Eternal life has already begun for me. It is a present reality. My life must reflect this.
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