The White Stone Zone

1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. (Psalm 32) I have read this verse and would hesitate to consider myself thus blessed because of the last 7 words. I always thought that it was saying you are forgiven, your sins are covered, and the Lord does not count your sins against you if and only if I am never deceptive--if there is no deceit in me. In other words, forgiveness is conditional based on no sign of deceit in my life. I would become discouraged because when I am really honest, I have to admit that I am not always truthful; in fact, my natural tendency is to leave things out, cover things over and maybe even outright lie in order to save my own rear end. It is not my natural tendancy to always be truthful. However, I believe God revealed something awesomely wonderful to me today. Consider the words, "in whose spirit is no deceit." The ...

Well, it is a New Year, and after 25 years of bringing in the New Years as a believer in Christ, I am convinced that our walk with Christ is a day in and day out struggle between the flesh and the Spirit. Although this day in and day out experience can somtimes seem monotonous, it need not be. I have seen the church each year yearn for a ending of the monotony by God doing something new. We pray for revival and hold "revival" meetings that are charged with emotion and excitement; however, after the meeting, we go back to the day to day struggle waiting for the next meeting to break the monotony. The good news is that our daily struggle need not be monotonous. We look for God to do something new and either believe one of 3 big fat lies. Lie # 1 - Satan is winning. This is a lie bcause in the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ Jesus, satan has been stripped of all power and authority. Jesus stripped satan of any power or authority and has given us full ...

I now have even more of a vested interest in this next election. My one and only son, Liam has joined the Marines. Last night there was a welcome aboard ceremony at Mario's Restaurant. It was a nice occassion and a proud moment for our family; however, I now want a President in the White House who will properly lead our men who are putting it on the line for us. I want a President who will respect the military and use God's wisdom when making tough decisions. I want a President who can empathize and actually care when making those decisions. And now I realize even more why God will never leave us nor forsake us. He has a vested interest in our lives. " 31 ¶ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"(Romans 8) You see that! God has given the life of his Son to make sure we get to be with Him for eternity...

I have had a bit of writer's block, so I thought I would let Charles Spurgeon inspire us with great news! According to this gracious covenant, the Lord treats His people as if they had never sinned. Practically, He forgets all their trespasses. Sins of all kinds He treats as if they had never been; as if they were erased from His memory. Oh, miracle of grace! God here does that which in certain aspects is impossible to him. His mercy works miracles which far transcends all other miracles. Our God ignores our sin now that the sacrifice of Jesus has ratified the covenant. We may rejoice in Him without without fear that He will be provoked to anger against us because of our iniquities. See! He puts us among the children; He accepts us as righteous! He takes delight in us as if we were perfectly holy. He even puts us in places of trust; makes us guardians of His honor, trustees of the crown jewels, stewards of the gospel. He counts us worthy and gives us a ministry; this is the highest...

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the Holy Spirit, but the controversy can be easily eliminated if we let the Scriptures define the work of the Holy Spirit. Two passages come to mind, and in the days to come, we will examine more. 26"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me." The Holy Spirit is to testify about Jesus Christ. In other words, when someone is in communion with the Spirit of God, they are growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will fix the believers eyes on Jesus Christ. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.[ g ] And by him we cry, "Abba,[ h ] Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.. Likewise, the Holy Spirit's ...

3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints—(Col. 1) It is evident in Paul's writings that he gets very excited when he hears about people actually placing their trust in Jesus Christ in order to get around to the businesss of loving one another. There are several passages similar to this one where Paul gets excited when he hears reports that the churches are full of faith and love. Nowhere does he ever seem concerned about the size of the church, the amount of money, or even the number of souls 'won for Jesus'. (The truth is Jesus alreay won and none will be lost) Paul is concerned about faith in Christ Jesus. This is foundational, and nothing works without faith in Christ Jesus. Jesus asked if he would find faith on the earth when He returned. Notice, He wants to see faith, not works, numbers or religion. All of the polls out ther...

John 18 ....Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons. 4Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, "Who is it you want?" 5"Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "I am he," Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6When Jesus said, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground. There is a scene in the movie "Remember the Titans" where assistant football coach Bill Yost tells head coach Herman Boone to run up the score..."Leave no doubt," he bellows. I believe this is the reason why Jesus had the encounter with the soldiers in the grove. They came with weapons, but they drew back and fell to the ground at the sound of his voice. This was an example of our Sovereign God leaving no doubt as to who was in charge, who was winning, and who would have the fi...