"Ignorance is a CHOICE..."

In today's information society, with access to information at every corner, we must remember this:

Ignorance is a CHOICE, not an excuse.

-Self-reliance

-'You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do themselves.'

--Abraham Lincoln

-"Ignorance is a CHOICE..."

-'Only on earth are there those who do not believe God. Even though the powers of evil lead men astray and keep them in darkness and unbelief, yet they themselves believe in God and tremble, for they know that on the Lord's Day, judgment awaits them.'
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"You believe there is one God. Good! The devils believe and tremble."
~~
--Corrie ten Boom
-'Clippings from My Notebook'

--Stretched Out in Prayer

--BIBLE MEDITATION:
"... The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:16

-DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
These words, effectual and fervent, literally mean "stretched out." The idea is of a horse jumping over a barricade, stretched out as he leaps. Or it's like an athlete who's running for the gold, and he bursts for the tape and stretches himself out for the goal. James says that's the way we are to pray. Our prayers are to be on fire! They're to be stretched out, and I don't mean stretched out on your bed half asleep. We are to be striving for the goal. We're to be eager, earnest, fervent, and impassioned in our prayers. God forgive our cold, lukewarm, milk toast, take-it-or-leave-it type of prayers.

When we give without sacrifice, pray without fasting, witness without tears, is it any wonder we sow without results?

-ACTION POINT:
How God has convicted my heart as I've studied the book of James! I've had to bow my head, confess my sin and say, "God, forgive my cold, lukewarm, indifferent prayers. May I learn how to pray effectually, fervently, as James taught us to pray." What does James mean when he talks about the conditions that we should meet? He's talking about the intensity of the asking. That's the kind of prayer that brings results.

--Adrian Rogers

--Expectations~

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--'Treat a man as he appears to be, and you make him worse. But treat a man as if he already were what he potentially could be, and you make him what he should be.'

--Johann Wolfgang Goethe

--"Ignorance is a CHOICE..."

--Tolerance/Excellence =
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'The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity, and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity, will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy.
Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.'

--John Gardner

--THE ONE WHO RESCUES US FROM DEATH~

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
---John 3:16

Imagine looking at a swimming pool filled with people. All of a sudden, you see a small child caught out in the deep end, completely unable to swim and sinking to the bottom. So you start waving your arms and shouting at him, trying to give him some tips on how to make it back to the shallow end of the pool.

Does that make sense? Would anyone in their right mind just stand there and shout while a child is drowning? Absolutely not! Every single rational-thinking person would jump in the water and pull that child to safety.

Left in our sin, we’re exactly like that drowning child. We have no hope of escaping death on our own. And while the world’s religions wave their arms and shout instructions at us for pulling ourselves from death, Jesus is the only one who gets in the water to save us.

As we move into the season of Advent, let’s focus our hearts and minds on the work of Jesus Christ – the one who came into the world to die for our sins and rescue us from a hopeless eternity. Praise God today that He loved you that much! -

PRAISE GOD THAT HE DIDN’T JUST GIVE US INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIVING, BUT CAME HIMSELF TO SAVE US FROM A HOPELESS ETERNITY!

--PP/JG

--Brevity of Life,..Never A 'Later'

-'For weeks after my last operation (for malignant growth) --frail and without energy, sleeping ten hours--I looked in my house at all the books I had not read and wept for my inability to read them. Or I looked at great books I had read too quickly in my avidity--telling myself I would return to them later.
There is never a 'later', but for most of my life I have believed in 'later'.

--Donald Hall
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"No one knows about that day or hour,(the Son of man will return), not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come." (Matthew 24:36,37,42)~~

--Sin is the Cause; Christ is the Cure!

----- “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” - Romans 5:12

-Some would say that man is but the sum total of his environment and his body chemistry. If he does wrong, it's because he's like a computer that has been programmed wrongly. If he was raised in a bad neighborhood, he shouldn’t be blamed for breaking into stores or smoking dope. Or if he has a vile temper, perhaps he had an overbearing mother.

According to psychologists, these unfortunate souls may be pitied but not blamed. They may be sick, but they’re not sinful. They may be weak but not wicked. They need guidance but not salvation. But these social evaluators are wrong!

Are you blaming others? Or taking responsibility and coming to the Cross? Let me sum it up this way: life is short; death is sure; sin is the cause; and Christ is the cure.

--Adrian Rogers~~

--"Ignorance is a CHOICE..."

--Are You One of the Elect?/ 'Whosoever Will......'

“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” - Revelation 22:17

“...And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely...” You don’t have to pay one blessed cent for it. It’s there.. Take it and drink it. You will never have your heart’s deepest thirst satisfied until you’re satisfied with Jesus. And if you are thirsty, come and drink. He will save you, I promise on the authority of the Word of God.

You say, “But Pastor Rogers, what if I’m not one of the elect?” Well, would it help? Could I be more sure if He said, “If Adrian Rogers will come and drink.” I could say, “Now wait a minute. There’s more than one Adrian Rogers in the world today.” What if Revelation 22:17 said, “Adrian Pierce Rogers”? There might be another Adrian Pierce Rogers. It might not refer to me.

What if it said, “Adrian Pierce Rogers, born in West Palm Beach, Florida”? Well, there could be another Adrian Pierce Rogers born in West Palm Beach, Florida. What if it said, “Adrian Pierce Rogers, born in West Palm Beach, Florida, who now lives in Shelby County, Tennessee? There might be another one born in West Palm Beach, Adrian. By now you’re saying, “You’re getting ridiculous.”

Let me just solve this thing. Let’s forget all that and just put one word in there: “whosoever.” Whosoever! That’s better than anybody’s name spelled out. Who are the elect? I can settle that in 30 seconds. The elect are the “whosoever wills.”

If you want to be saved, come. Come to Jesus. He’s reaching out His nail-pierced hands to you and saying, “Come, come, come.” Jesus says come. The Spirit says come. The bride says come. The individual says come. You can come and drink.
--Jesus is Calling You....them, me, us. 'Come to the Father!'
--Adrian Rogers=/Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus/ Alan Jackson
<http://youtu.be/nO4uIyz_d90>
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----Question: "What happens to those who have never heard about Jesus?"
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--Answer: All people are accountable to God whether or not they have “heard about Him.” The Bible tells us that God has clearly revealed Himself in nature (Romans 1:20) and in the hearts of people (Ecclesiastes 3:11). The problem is that the human race is sinful; we all reject this knowledge of God and rebel against Him (Romans 1:21-23). If it were not for God's grace, we would be given over to the sinful desires of our hearts, allowing us to discover how useless and miserable life is apart from Him. He does this for those who continually reject Him (Romans 1:24-32).

In reality, it is not that some people have not heard about God. Rather, the problem is that they have rejected what they have heard and what is readily seen in nature. Deuteronomy 4:29 proclaims, “But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.” This verse teaches an important principle—everyone who truly seeks after God will find Him. If a person truly desires to know God, God will make Himself known.

The problem is “there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God” (Romans 3:11). People reject the knowledge of God that is present in nature and in their own hearts, and instead decide to worship a “god” of their own creation. It is foolish to debate the fairness of God sending someone to hell who never had the opportunity to hear the gospel of Christ. People are responsible to God for what God has already revealed to them. The Bible says that people reject this knowledge, and therefore God is just in condemning them to hell.

Instead of debating the fate of those who have never heard, we, as Christians, should be doing our best to make sure they do hear. We are called to spread the gospel throughout the nations (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8). We know people reject the knowledge of God revealed in nature, and that must motivate us to proclaim the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Only by accepting God’s grace through the Lord Jesus Christ can people be saved from their sins and rescued from an eternity apart from God.

If we assume that those who never hear the gospel are granted mercy from God, we will run into a terrible problem. If people who never hear the gospel are saved, it is logical that we should make sure no one ever hears the gospel. The worst thing we could do would be to share the gospel with a person and have him or her reject it. If that were to happen, he or she would be condemned. People who do not hear the gospel must be condemned, or else there is no motivation for evangelism. Why run the risk of people possibly rejecting the gospel and condemning themselves when they were previously saved because they had never heard the gospel?

--Jesus tells us, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:15-16)
--Go to the website listed below for answers to more questions about the Bible.
<www.GotQuestions.org>
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