Richard Craig, Author at GraceAndWorks - Page 36 of 59

This study was set up by my sister, Connie Willoughby and myself. God says, “Keep my commands and I’ll prepare for you a place.” That in  itself infers all commands. This will be a study for some and a review for others.

Sin is a transgression of God’s law. 1st John 3:4. Knowing between right and wrong Romans 3:23 and punishment for sin is death Romans 6:23

There are 5 steps to the road of salvation:

Hear–Romans 10:17

Believe–Matthew 16:16, John 8:23, Acts 16:30-31 and Mark16:16

Repent–Acts 17:30-31, 2nd Corinthians 7:10, Acts 2:37-38 and 1st Thessalonians 1:9

Confess–Mathew 16:16, Matthew 10:32-33 and Acts 8:35-38

Baptized–Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38

Burial in Water–Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:12 and Acts 22:16

Obedience is part of the path of salvation.

Obedience is our assurance that we truly know God (1st John 2:3) God wants us to be sanctified or set apart (1st Thessalonians 4:3).

Obedience proves our love for God. 1st John 5:2-3, John 14:15-24

Obedience demonstrates faithfulness. 1st John 2:3-6

Obedience glorifies God to the world. 1st Peter 2:12 and Matthew 5:16

Obedience opens avenues of blessings. John 13:17

Blessed are those who fear the Lord AND obey Him. James 1:22-23,

Matthew 7:21 and Psalm 128:1

One of the many acts of obedience that the scriptures address is the assembling of the saints or church. Hebrews 10:24-26. With the command to assemble with the saints there are scriptures telling us our work must be done “steadfastly.” Colossians 1:23, Acts 2:42 and Revelation 2:10.

Coming together as a congregation of saints on the 1st day of the week also will provide us the opportunity to Worship our God. Included in Worship service is: Preaching, Praying, Singing, Giving, Fellowship and Communing with the Lord (Acts 20:7).

Love one another–John 13:34-35, Matthew 22:37-39, Romans 12:10, John 4:7-8, Matthew 5:44-45, John 15:12-13 and Romans 12:8.

The fruit of the Holy Spirit sums up 9 attributes of a Christian life according to Paul in his letter to the Ephesians. All are important elements in successful interactions with others.

1) Love

2) Joy

3) Peace

4) Forbearance

5) Kindness

6) Goodness

7) Faithfulness

8) Gentleness

9) Self Control

God established His church on the Day of Pentecost. According to Ephesians 4:4-6 there is only ONE body, One Spirit, One hope, ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism, ONE God and Father of all, and through all, and in you all. Many will be called and few will be chosen. Are you doing what God wants and will you be one of the chosen?

Have a good study!!

Happy 4th of July. Let’s make some fireworks today. Are you a “Right Winger”, “Left Winger”, “Middle of the Road Winger”, “Chicken Winger” or a “Turkey Winger”? For today it doesn’t matter. Are you Republican, Democrat, Independent, Muslim, Mormon, Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Atheist or something else? For today it doesn’t matter.

What does matter for today is–think for yourself!! I’m tired of some left wing or right wing journalist, radio personality, TV commentator or anyone else trying  to tell me what somebody said or what they meant. Let’s get this out in the open–I’m not a fan of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump!! I will say this though, if this is the best America has to offer for a President, we have SERIOUS problems.  I’m a college graduate and I think I can figure out what someone said or did not say, if I listen to them. What I can’t figure out is, why can’t American citizens, without being given biased opinions from some right or left winger, figure out what is best or who is best. Have we stooped so low that we can’t even think for ourselves. I certainly hope not!!!

Everyone seems to be so concerned about the Presidential election that they forget about electing Senators and Congressmen/women. What could the Obama administration have done if congress and senate hadn’t said NO to some/most of what he wanted done. A constant struggle!! What if this same thing happens for the next four-eight years? Will we still blame the President for everything gone wrong? Or will we finally see that it may be the people in Congress or the Senators that are the problem?  It is my take on this that if we don’t do some house cleaning in Congress and Senate, it really doesn’t matter who the President is.

Now let’s talk about President Obama. Has he made some mistakes? Yes, who hasn’t? The Affordable Health Care isn’t perfect and it needs some tweaking and the National debt is atrocious. Good luck to the next Administration with these two things. He inherited a war we should not have been in, saved the auto industry, saved the banking industry, the housing market is good once again, the stock market has come back to almost 18,000 from around 7,000 (Dow Jones), the price of gasoline is down to $2.25-$2.50 from around $4 and the unemployment rate is down considerably from where it was. Not bad for an administration that has fought and struggled with Congress and Senate for 8 tears. Good luck with the next Administration on doing the same or better.

God tells us to pray for our leaders. Why can’t we do this, instead of continually complaining and being non-supportive? We need to be careful this year about what we want as a nation. Think for yourself and do your due diligence to vote for the best people to run this GREAT Nation for the next 4 years. That includes the President, Congress, Senate and all the way on down the line!!

Now let’s celebrate the 240th year of independence of this GREAT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and have a good time!! Let’s also send a prayer to God to keep all safe that fight for our freedom!!