Robert Lloyd Russell's Blog, page 71

The Law: Questions, 11of25

~ Was The Law Also For The Gentiles? ~
Scripture  ~  “You came down also on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them just ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments.  You made known to them Your holy Sabbath, and commanded them precepts, statutes and laws, by the hand of Moses Your servant.  You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought themwater out of the rock for their thirst, and told them to go in to possess the land which You had sworn to give them” (Nehemiah 9:13-15). 
“But I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols.  I am the Lord your God: walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them; hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God’” (Ezekiel 20:18-20).
Comments  ~  Jesus summed up the Law this way:  “Jesus said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets’” (Matthew 22:37-40).
“So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him.  If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately.  Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer.  You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, “Where I am going, you cannot come,” so now I say to you.  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:31-35).
Reference  ~  You may be interested in a previous “Abundant Life Now” 14 post series entitled “10 Commandments Today” (from March 1 to June 28, 2018).  “Abundant Life Now” also posted a 12 post series entitled “Law vs. Grace” (from January 22 to December 24, 2013).  The Key Passage in this series is: “Do not think that I [Jesus Christ] came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.  I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
NOTES: (1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page. (2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column. (3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website.  (4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/.

Psalm 119, 12of27

~ Read God’s Word To Gain Wisdom ~
119:24 Your testimonies also are my delightAnd my counselors.
119:66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge,For I believe Your commandments.
119:97 Oh, how I love Your law!It is my meditation all the day. 119:98 You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;For they are ever with me. 119:99 I have more understanding than all my teachers,For Your testimonies are my meditation. 119:100 I understand more than the ancients,Because I keep Your precepts.
119:130 The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.
Comment  ~  Wisdom can be defined as applied knowledge.  The more you know the Bible and are sensitive the leading of the Spirit of God the more wisdom you will possess. 
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
NOTES: (1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page. (2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column. (3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website.  (4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/.

Question – Jesus, 30

~  Regarding Escape ~
Introduction ~  This series is about questions involving Jesus.  Some were asked by individuals involved with Jesus Christ while He walked on earth.  Others are questions that Jesus Christ asked others.  We will look at questions on about 130 topics (some may split into two or more posts).  Even so, it is far from an exhaustive list. 
Scripture  ~  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” (Matthew 23:29-33).
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
NOTES: (1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page. (2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column. (3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website.  (4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/.

God Is My… (Psalms), 3

~ God Is My God ~
Introduction  ~  Previously from July 16, 2017 through January 6, 2019 ALN posted a series of 60 posts of “Jesus is…,” and now we look exclusively at who “God is…” from the Book of Psalms.  While not a complete list these posts occur are in the same order they are in the Psalms. 
Passage  ~  “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation.  Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to You I will pray.  My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up” (Psalm 5:1-3).    
Significance  ~  God has promised to listen to the genuine plea from those who know they need strength outside themselves.  Have you gone to God for help?  Have you accepted His Son as your Savior?  If so, are you regularly in the school of prayer—not just for help but also for praise and adoration? 
Comment  ~  It is only when a person realizes that they are not the end all that they turn to God.  The self-sufficient, self-reliant person, by definition, does not have a felt need for God.  Have you noticed that many times when God uses an individual mightily for His kingdom that person has first traveled through some deep waters?
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
NOTES: (1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page. (2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column. (3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website.  (4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/.

Myth, 36

~ Success Is A Result of Hard Work ~
The General Reality  ~  This concept is partly true.  It is true that hard work is not only necessary but often rewarded with a degree of success.  But this is not a formula that always work.  One can work very hard at doing the wrong thing and then be puzzled at the lack of desired results.  One can be very efficiently doing the wrong thing but unless they are working effectively towards the desired goal they will be disappointed. 
The Spiritual Reality  ~  When we consider the spiritual realm we understand that everything, including every outcome, is dependent upon a sovereign God! 
Scripture  ~  Arguably, the Apostle Paul accomplished more for the Church than any other person.  Consider his testimony.  “And that’s about it, friends.  Be glad in God!  I don’t mind repeating what I have written in earlier letters, and I hope you don’t mind hearing it again.  Better safe than sorry — so here goes.  Steer clear of the barking dogs, those religious busybodies, all bark and no bite.  All they’re interested in is appearances — knife-happy circumcisers, I call them.  The real believers are the ones the Spirit of God leads to work away at this ministry, filling the air with Christ’s praise as we do it.  We couldn’t carry this off by our own efforts, and we know it — even though we can list what many might think are impressive credentials.  You know my pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God’s law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting Christians; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God’s law Book.  The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash — along with everything else I used to take credit for.  And why?  Because of Christ.  Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life.  Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant — dog dung.  I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him.  I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ — God’s righteousness. I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience His resurrection power, be a partner in His suffering, and go all the way with Him to death itself.  If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it” (Philippians 3:1-11, msg).
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
NOTES: (1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page. (2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column. (3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website.  (4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/.

Fear God, 160

~ Nations Who Witness God’s Power Will Fear God ~
God does not want His children living in fear.  “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:2-3).  However, God does want His children to have a proper respect and reverence for Him.  We are told in many places in Scripture to “ fear God .”  
This Week’s Passage  ~  “The nations shall see and be ashamedof all their might; they shall put their hand over their mouth; their ears shall be deaf.  They shall lick the dust like a serpent; they shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth.  They shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of You.  Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?” (Micah 7:16-18).
Fearing God Results in Salvation  ~  “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).  “A wise person fears and departs from evil, but a fool rages and is self-confident” (Proverbs 14:16).  This does not mean the Christian is to live a fearful life—but a life which reverences God and seeks to do His will. 
Fearing God Results in Fearlessness  ~  “The Lordis my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lordis the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1).  The answer is: only God.  With the gift of salvation comes responsibility.
Fearing God Results in Witnessing  ~  “Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul” (Psalm 66:16). 
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
NOTES: (1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page. (2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column. (3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website.  (4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/.

Psalm 119, 11of27

~ Read God’s Word To Have Joy Regardless Of Circumstances ~
119:25 My soul clings to the dust;Revive me according to Your word.
119:111 Your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever,For they are the rejoicing of my heart.
119:143 Trouble and anguish have overtaken me,Yet Your commandments are my delights.
Comment  ~  God’s Word provides us with a proper perspective.  The more we have internalized God’s written Word the more deep inner joy we will possess.  More importantly, it will be constant regardless of our circumstances. 
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
NOTES: (1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page. (2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column. (3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website.  (4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/.

The Law: Questions, 10of25

~ Was Christ To Be The Covenant Of The People? ~
Scripture  ~  “I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house” (Isaiah 42:6-7).
“Thus says the Lord: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages’” (Isaiah 49:8).
“Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened.  For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
Comments  ~  Under the Old Covenant there was continual sacrifice.  Once the “Lamb of God” came and died for all our sins there is no longer a need for continual sacrifice.  “Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth.  So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘ It is finished! ’  And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit” (John 19:29-30).  This is what separates a relationship with Jesus Christ compared to religions.  All religions require the sinner to DO something.  Christ did it for us—it is DONE! 
“For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.  For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever” (Hebrews 7:26-28).  “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.  Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:11-13).  “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all ” (Hebrews 10:10). 
Reference  ~  You may be interested in a previous “Abundant Life Now” 14 post series entitled “10 Commandments Today” (from March 1 to June 28, 2018).  “Abundant Life Now” also posted a 12 post series entitled “Law vs. Grace” (from January 22 to December 24, 2013).  The Key Passage in this series is: “Do not think that I [Jesus Christ] came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.  I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
NOTES: (1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page. (2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column. (3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website.  (4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/.

Psalm 119, 10of27

~ Read God’s Word To Prevent Harmful Addictions ~
119:45 And I will walk at liberty,For I seek Your precepts.
119:133 Direct my steps by Your word,And let no iniquity have dominion over me.
Comment  ~  There are many harmful addictions available to all of us.  Some are more subtle than others.  The more we know God’s Word the more self-control we will have. 
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
NOTES: (1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page. (2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column. (3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website.  (4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/.

Question – Jesus, 29

~  Regarding Discernment ~
Introduction ~  This series is about questions involving Jesus.  Some were asked by individuals involved with Jesus Christ while He walked on earth.  Others are questions that Jesus Christ asked others.  We will look at questions on about 130 topics (some may split into two or more posts).  Even so, it is far from an exhaustive list. 
Scripture  ~  “Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, ‘Who do men say that I am?’  So they answered, ‘John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.’  He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’  Peter answered and said to Him, ‘You are the Christ.’  Then He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him” (Mark 8:27-30).
“And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’  So they answered and said, ‘John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again.’  He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’  Peter answered and said, ‘The Christ of God’” (Luke 9:18-20). 
Comment  ~  “But who do you say that I am?  This is the most important question for every living human being.  So, I ask you, “Who do YOU say that Jesus is?”  If you do not answer it at all, or if you answer it incorrectly, you have made the biggest mistake anyone can make!
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
NOTES: (1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page. (2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column. (3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website.  (4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/.