The White Stone Zone

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? All too often, the Christian life is seen as an aesthetic, boring monontonous task of being miserable in the here and now so that we can have a glorious eternal life; in other words, God is presented as an uptight killjoy who prefers a stick in the mud over muddy children laughing and playing. This is the one lie the father of lies has spread to God's children since the garden--before we expose that lie, we need to see that satan is one unoriginal bastard. What did he tell Eve in the garden? Basically he told her that God is withholding from her. He gets her to focus on what she did not have instead of the abundance available to her. He also told her that she is not like God and if she wants to be like God, she needs to act independently and begin t

"8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." If you are like me, you may often wonder if God really loves you and how much does he really love you. We can toss this thought about in our mind and vary from day to day, moment to moment and feeling to feeling. Sometimes we may think He really loves us, and other times we may think God is pretty sick of us. The good news is, we don't have to guess, fall victim to our feelings or be tossed about by the opinions of others. God is quite clear in the Scriptures and in history in demonstrating His love for us. In the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we see that God declares His love for us by laying down His life for us. By submitting to death on the cross so that we could be forgiven and made alive in Christ. Jesus Christ died for the forgiveness and removal of sins, yes, but in the passion of Christ, His historical death, the event, we see how mu

Psalm 111 2 Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them. 3 Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. God's righteousness endures forever. God's righteousness is found in the Person of Jesus Christ. He possessed a righteousness where he never sinned, is not sinning now, and will never sin. This is the righteous life God requires. He can not join Himself to that which is unrighteous for it is against His character and if joined to unrighteousness, His righteousness would be tainted. If one wants to dwell with God here on earth and in the kingdom beyond this life and world, one must possess the same righteousness. You have never sinned, you are not sinning now, and you will never sin. That is how you can approach God in freedom and confidence. If we are honest, we know that we are behind the 8 ball on that type of righteousness quite early on in life. The Scriptures testify that no man can approach

I have been a school teacher for more than 15 years, and more than a few times I have had students whom I knew outside of school before they became my student. In some cases, I had built a pretty close relationship with the youngster through the church, the neighborhood, or through family ties. When some of these students came into my class, they were surprised to find out that I did not relate to them in the same way. They were taken back that I could not maintain a relationship with them, and they struggled with feelings of rejection. What happened? On the outside, there were no rules or law systems to keep us from relating to each other freely. Now, there was a law system to be followed and it hindered our relationship. This is precisely what happens to young Christians who receive the good news gladly, and then are told that they have to do something to be a "good Christian." In other words, the law kills our relationship with God; in fact, you can't live for God unde

His name is Hypothetical Harry. Now, I have never met this clown, nor do I care to except for the fact that he has been trailing me like a ghost for the past 20 years. Whenever the glorious news of our freedom in Christ is preached, I always here about Hypothetical Harry. Harry hears the good news that He is unconditionally loved, completely forgiven and eternally secure in Christ. He hears that Jesus paid it all and we cannot add anything to our complete righteousness in Christ. Our behavior will not and cannot change a thing. Because his behavior will never change God’s unconditional love and standing with the Father, Harry does something like this. He commits adultery all the time, drinks, steals and lies, kills his parents, “does whatever he wants”; doesn’t go to church(well, that can’t be held against him), and “still gets to go to heaven.” Whenever I am confronted with Hypothetical Harry, I tell the person asking about Harry not to worry about Harry but to take the good