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NASB | 1 John 2:2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 John 2:2 And He [that same Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins [the atoning sacrifice that holds back the wrath of God that would otherwise be directed at us because of our sinful nature--our worldliness, our lifestyle]; and not for ours alone, but also for [the sins of all believers throughout] the whole world. |
Subject: How do we preach the Gospel? |
Bible Note: George I don’t have your confidence on how I might handle martyrdom. To me the men and women that watched their children being raped and then brutally pulled apart and facing horrendous deaths themselves yet all the while praying for their tormentors is something I hold in AWE I would never attempt to say, “Oh I’d do that too.” Our brand of Christianity today falls far short of early martyrs. In many cases just being a Christian was an automatic death sentence. Today we can’t people to church if the heat or air conditioning is broken. We live in a self centered society that has pushed that philosophy into the church. Many of us don't want to inconvenienced to man a soup kitchen let alone lay down our lives. You have to beg to get people to come to a prayer meeting can you imagine attendance if after the meeting all would be killed? That is why we (the church ) look no different than the world. We witness to the world with great words, but the world sees that the divorce rate in the church is higher than out, they see men and women claiming God will provide as the beg money on TV, they see Christians returning to work on Monday complaining just like they are, they see priest and preachers arrested for child abuse, fraud, sex crimes, you name it. They hear Christians talk of brotherly love and preferring others before themselves but they also see the church parking lot after service as each car is determined to beat the next out of the lot. They hear Christians speak of honesty and morals but they also hear us brag how we beat the IRS on the income tax, or we fraudulently secure building permits for church construction, or claim more charitable deductions than we gave, or we pass them at 80 with our I love Jesus bumper stickers. Or they get cut off by the car with a honk if you love Jesus bumper sticker. They see Christians take advantage of situations and do things they ought not do. Jesus called us to be salt and light to this world, we sit in our comfortable churches and say let us pray for the sinners, if we are faced with a seeker we lay the roman road of salvation on them and then we piously fold our hands and say it is now in God’s hands. What we need to do is start living a Christian life being the salt and light we were called to be. We would be shocked at the number of people that would seek us out to tell them about our Jesus. I preach! I’ll quit. EdB |