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About shepherdbryan

My passion is to disciple and see men discipled in every area of their life to see the multiplication principle actually work in a 100 year generational blessing. As go men in the church, so goes the church. As go men in the nation, so goes the nation. Fortunately, because men have often not taken their spiritual role to the limit, God has raised up many godly women to carry the torch where men have laid it aside. May God rapidly raise up men for the next generation of leaders to the Fourth Generation of spiritual leaders! As men lead in a godly way, women will follow in a godly way and that people will be blessed of the Lord.

Suffering: Who is the one who started the suffering that God allows? Part 2

This is Part 2 of 5 parts answering the question, “Who is the one who started the suffering that God allows?” in the larger question, “Why does a loving God allow suffering?” Parts 3 through 5 will be posted on succeeding days.

The Beginning Began Before Man (cont.)

God asked them if they were around when He created the earth? Were they part of the architects or builders of the foundation? The answers were a resounding, “No!” And then God added verse seven, “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” The term “morning stars” (plural) is found only once in all of Scripture. The term “morning star” (singular) is only found three times. In two of the passages it refers to Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:19; Rev. 22:16) and in one other passage it is used as a reward for the believer in the church age who overcomes and keeps the Lord’s work until the end (Rev. 2:28). The term “morning stars” is set in parallelism with “sons of God.”

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Suffering: Who is the one who started the suffering that God allows? Part 1

This is Part 1 of 5 parts answering the question, “Who is the one who started the suffering that God allows?” in the large question “Why does a loving God allow suffering?” Parts 2 through 5 will be posted in the next four days.

Whenever you deal with a situation, it’s often best to go back to the beginning to understand it. For example, if you want to understand why there are so many references to God carved into public buildings at our Nation’s Capitol, you don’t interview people on the street to find the answer. You go back to documents and paintings that were made at the time of the beginning of the United States of America. Any objective historian will see document after document written by our founding fathers who had the deepest respect for God and the Bible. That is why there are so many pictures in the United States Capital building of patriots who are holding a Bible, involved in prayer and even conducting a baptism. That is why our nation was richly blessed as a beacon of hope to the world in the first two hundred years, because God was at the center of this nation’s history.

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MSG: He is Living John 20

This is a special message presented on Resurrection Sunday, April 20, 2014

Many of you have heard of Adam and Eve. God created them in the Garden of Eden and gave them perfect everything! They both had perfect air, food, water and perfect companions.  However, the one thing God asked them not to do, they did. That produced a problem. God had said that if they ate of the fruit that was forbidden to them, they would die (They did die physically, hundreds of years, but this death was spiritual, a separation). It was a spiritual death (a separation), because God is holy and His holiness cannot tolerate anything that is contrary to His character and will. They could no longer enjoy intimacy in relationship with God. So God banished them from the Garden! That was a problem.

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Suffering: How great is the suffering that God allows? Part 3

This is Part 3 of 3 parts answering the question, “How great is the suffering that God allows?” in the larger question, “Why does a loving God allow suffering?”

Jesus’ Death On the Cross was the Ultimate Example of Suffering

By the time Jesus was on the cross, He had already suffered in many ways. He had endured six illegal civil and religious trials during the (sleepless) night before. He then went through the brutal persecution and torture from the Roman soldiers. They beat a crown of thorns into His skull (Mark 15: 16-22). They thrashed His body with a cat-o-nine-tails (which was a leather whip with many pieces of metal and bone woven into the leather straps). After mocking Him with a purple robe and bowing down to Him, he carried His cross part of the way to Golgotha, before He collapsed from exhaustion. But He never opened His mouth through this (Is. 53:7).

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Suffering: How great is the suffering that God allows? Part 2

This is Part 2 of the question, “How great is the suffering that God allows?” as part of the larger question, “Why does a loving God allow suffering?” Part 3 will be posted tomorrow.

Paul’s Suffering Example

What about the suffering Paul endured. Did God allow his suffering? Paul understood from hindsight that God was always sovereign in every detail. Paul wrote,

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Suffering: How great is the suffering that God allows? Part 1

This is Part 1 of 3 parts for the question, “How great is the suffering that God allows?” in the larger question, “Why does a loving God allow suffering?” Parts 2 and 3 will be posted over the next two days.

How great is the suffering in the world? It is off the charts! The reality that there is so much suffering seems absolutely ridiculous. You or many people close to you know of great, great, great suffering!

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Insights: Crucifixion

This article was adapted from the late C. Truman Davis, M.D. as recorded in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary. In honor of the Lord Jesus Christ’s “Good Friday” work as a Substitute for you and me, I submit this for your reflection and prayer for living a life that is holy and pleasing to Him.

Crucifixion

What is crucifixion? A medical doctor provides a physical description: The cross is placed on the ground and the exhausted man is quickly thrown backwards with his shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flex and movement. The cross is then lifted into place.

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Book Review: Social Issues: What does the Bible say about morality? by Answers in Genesis

“Social Issues” is like a bioethics seminar, only simple enough for anyone to understand. These issues are important in our culture, because of the evil of evolution and how it has twisted, distorted and misrepresented the truth. It’s one thing to discern the impossibility of evolution and discard it, but how does a Christian apply Biblical truth to defend his position on social issues. Answers in Genesis has provided a great resource for a number of questions. Continue reading

Q&A: Palm Sunday – True Success in Life: Luke 19:28-44

These are suggested answers to the Message Based Discussion Questions from the message presented on Palm Sunday on April 13, 2014. These are designed to stimulate thinking, not prevent it. Please dig and develop additional responses for discussion!

What success was Jesus expecting from life?

1) Jesus taught and healed all the way to the cross Luke 18-19

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