I bet these little guys hadn’t counted on a resurgence of winter when they decided to come back to Bismarck! In any case, I’m sure this cold snap will pass soon enough…but it’s got to be a real bummer for the feathered friends who expected Spring to be in full effect.
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
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:
(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Romans 5:8-19)
While Christmas is such a special time, the coming of the Messiah who was to save us from our sins, Easter is where Jesus Christ’s work was done. I think this holiday, when we commemorate the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior, is seldom given the importance it merits. This one particular event reconciled God and sinners…what could be greater than that?
Prior to Christ’s coming, the world was bound by God’s law. The Bible says that if a person transgresses the law in one point, he’s guilty of the whole law. Those are some pretty impossible commandments for a person to live by without breaking, aren’t they? Well, that’s kind of the point.
The people of Israel had to atone for their sins by giving blood sacrifices in the temple. They were told to sacrifice animals “without spot” or blemish by the law of Moses. That is, they had to sacrifice their best. The same thing applies to Jesus; we’re all sinners, so only a perfect sacrifice could be made on our behalf. Since there is “none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10) there was no one able to make that sacrifice…until God sent his only begotten Son to die on our behalf. As Peter wrote:
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. (I Peter 1:18-21)
Now you know why they refer to Jesus as “the Lamb of God.”
This comes back to the sad mistake of people trying to work their way to heaven by doing good works or following sacraments, or hoping that their good works outweigh their bad and somehow tip some sort of spiritual balance to make them “mostly good” and earn them a place in heaven some day. Neither of those things are outlined in God’s plan for salvation. Only the sacrifice made by Jesus on the cross could pay the penalty for our sins.
This one time offering on our behalf has made a way for God and each sinner to be reconciled:
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:10-14)
Notice: doing any sort of ritualistic sacrifice can never take the place of what Jesus did, nor is there any need to perform that sacrifice again. The act performed on the cross stands not only as sufficient for all our sin, but as the only sacrifice capable of making atonement for us. No Saturday afternoon wafer required.
Things changed between God and man that day. Previously, people were not able to approach God in the temple; only a priest who had made atonement for his sins could do so. The holiest place in the temple was separated by a veil, so that not just anyone could approach God. When Jesus died, the veil of the temple was “rent in twain from the top to the bottom” (Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38). There goes the priesthood, and the separation between God and men. An everlasting sacrifice was made by Jesus; no further sacrifice on the altar of the temple was necessary (or sufficient).
So now it’s up to each person to approach God on his/her own, in prayer. Jesus told his disciples, God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24 Rather than perform a physical ritual through a priest, it is now up to each person to address God personally, spiritually, through prayer.
Look at the people who were saved in the New Testament after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. They simply believed in Him and in his death, burial, and resurrection. The very same things we commemorate this Easter weekend. They didn’t need absolution from a man; they didn’t need membership in a particular church; and they didn’t need to do it every Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning. They simply acknowledged that they were sinners and put their faith in Jesus to save them. All that is required for eternal life in Heaven is that belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and acceptance that he died and rose again to save us sinners.
I could use a lot of keywords here as they appear in gospel tracts and literature, but I choose not to. Rather, I choose to just use my own words, because this message comes straight from my heart.
It’s really easy to take the simple act of believing in God’s grace and His sacrifice on our behalf and turning it into one of those “works” that Paul warns of in Ephesians 2:8-9. Repentance is necessary for salvation, but I believe it’s inseparable from believing that Jesus died for us. That simple realization and belief has to be the most humbling thing ever to pierce the heart of man. I don’t think you can “repent and believe” any more than I think you can “believe and repent.” They are simultaneous; at least, they were in my case. Once the truth that you’re a sinner and that Jesus died for you pierces the heart…wow. You believe, and humbly so…all at once.
If you’ve never placed your trust in the sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ made on your behalf, I urge you to do so today. It’s not some fancy ritual; rather, it’s the act of a sinner getting his heart right with God, talking to Him one-to-one in prayer as a child to a father. It’s a beautiful thing, and you’ll see Him someday in heaven.
If you want more information, click the “Contact me” link at the top-right corner of this page and throw me a question. (If you’re reading this on one of the websites that syndicate Bismarck Mandan Blog.com, come directly to my site). I’ll give you some passages out of the Bible that can point you in the right diretion. Don’t take my word for it, I’m just one of a million guys out there with a website. Look into God’s word, he’s made it plain as day. Find out what it truly means to become a Christian, and suddenly Easter will have a whole new significance for you…as it does for me, and millions of born-again believers across the entire world.
One place that’s benefiting from this precipitation is east of Bismarck: The ND Game and Fish OWLS (Outdoor Wildlife Learning Site) along Bismarck Expressway. The catch & release lake on the site has been dredged and the shoreline repaired, so this year will be a fantastic year for fish and wildlife there.
I haven’t had much time to take pictures or post on my blog lately, but that’ll change. I’ve been struggling to be a husband, dad, tax preparer, freelancer, churchgoer…the works. If something has to take a back seat when things get tough, “blogger” is at the top of the list. But it’s not a permanent list. I’m still running around with my camera every day…it’s just harder to get blogworthy stuff when my only ventures are for errands or work!
Oh yeah…BABY NUMBER TWO is on the way. That doesn’t complicate matters at all…does it?
Dear Senator Dorgan,
Please consider this as a respectful request from a North Dakota citizen to uphold the entire Bible as my religious right for a belief system. Canada has made it illegal for pastors to preach certain parts of Bible from the pulpit. There is the same talk of this happening in our country. My request is based on the following fact that the Bible does not instruct Christians to hate anyone. Government condemnation of portions of the Bible on the grounds of “hate speech” would be contrary to what the Bible actually teaches. The exact opposite is true. The Bible instructs Christians to love, even if we don’t condone the behavior of the person or even if we believe that God has deemed the behavior immoral.
Canada has outlawed their pastor’s ability to preach homosexuality as being immoral behavior. I am asking you to take a stance to uphold my right to believe what the Bible says and for my right to practice my faith and hear the Bible preached in its entirety without government persecution. Anyone who would claim that the Bible instructs us to hate someone because they are homosexual is a liar. The Bible also says lying is immoral. I hear the sting of people taking the Lord’s name in vain nearly every day. The Bible says it’s immoral to take the Lord’s name in vain. I believe it is wrong to take the Lord’s name in vain. The Bible does not say to hate someone who does it.
This is my plea for the protection of my rights to my faith. I believe this right is upheld by the Constitution. I am sad that the hateful actions of some individuals and groups have been mistaken as “Christian” beliefs. I live according to the instruction of the Bible which is to love all people, even if I believe their behaviors are immoral. I cherish the right to teach my children these same Biblical values. It is possible to stand up for your moral principals without being hateful. Any hatefulness that I am capable of showing does not come from Biblical teaching or the Spirit of Christ within me, but from my own wretched human nature. I work hard to live a life pleasing to God that emulates Christ. I often fail, but please do not mistake the short comings of Christians or those claiming to be Christians as Biblical instruction.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Mike
Mike makes a couple of great points here. First is that we Christians could lose the right to preach the Bible if we’re not careful. You think that can’t happen? Look at the free speech part of the First Amendment; it’s been ripped to shreds by the McCain-Feingold Act. Political and religious speech were of utmost importance to our founding fathers, and now this crazy Congress has vanquished free political speech. Anyone who thinks religious speech can’t be next is living in a dream world.
The second is that Christians are not “hatemongers” and, aside from the Phelps cult, don’t preach against homosexuality out of hatred…at least not while walking within God’s will, that is. Homosexuality is a SIN, there’s no way of getting around that; but so are things like lying, stealing, and blasphemy. You don’t see people proudly proclaiming their sin in “Thief Rights” parades, do you?
Of course not; part of the reason homosexuality is so disgusting isn’t just the physical manifestation of it, but the fact that homosexuals define themselves by their sin. Every single person on earth is a sinner according to the Bible. The way to salvation is to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, repenting of that sin.
I agree with Mike that we should all be trying to win more people for Jesus according to his will, and let Him help them deal with their sin. That’s what happened when I became a Christian, and millions could tell the same story. And while we stay grounded in the truth of God’s word, acknowledging that there is “none righteous, no, not one,” (Romans 3:10) then we won’t start marching around with picket signs claiming that a homosexual is worse in God’s eyes than a thief, liar, blasphemer, or adulterer. A true Christian won’t walk around judging others; he’ll let the Bible do the judging. We’re just supposed to be bearers of the truth that ALL may be saved.
If you want to stand up for religious freedoms, I invite you to either copy and paste the text of Mike’s letter and send it to your congressmen or to write one of your own. They’ll respond, and I hope to hear how Dorgan’s office responds to Mike’s letter. The only way we make sure our voices are heard is by speaking up!
I don’t know how much they paid for their new brand, or who did it, but it seems a little close to another prominent financial institution. I don’t know that it’s close enough to cry foul, but it certainly raises some eyebrows.
This reminds me of the time NDSU wanted new branding, so they spent tens of thousands of dollars on a new logo — out of state, mind you — to come up with a new one. What was it? The letters N and D stacked on top of S and U. Wheeeee. To make matters worse, it was basically identical to South Dakota State University’s logo. Truly a remarkable waste of money, even in the context of North Dakota state government.
I wish I was good at logo design…I’m not. I’m good at animating other peoples’ designs, which works good in my current job. But if I was designing logos for a living, I think I’d try a little harder to stay clear of someone else’s trademark.
See the bent bolt sticking out of the concrete base? Apparently that’s not a problem. I guess a guy just has to break out his big honkin’ wrench, jam the nut on there as tight as she’ll go, and rely on the other three to take up the slack. So be it, I guess if the thing were to fall in that direction again it would only disturb the gophers.
As many of you know, I’ve spent the last – wow, almost 20 years – involved in broadcasting and/or video production. I keep my ear to the ground regarding that sort of thing, and thus I picked up this little tidbit about the FargoDome. The ‘Dome has just received an electronic facelift, including new a new sound system. I’ve never attended an event in the FargoDome, although I’ve worked plenty of them and scaled the catwalks high above it and run around on the roof watching the F-16’s. Friends who have attended events in the FargoDome have said the acoustics aren’t that great, and the buzz I heard reveals a possible reason why.
When the old loudspeakers were cut loose from the ceiling beams and lowered down, a shocking discovery was made: over half of them were stuffed with masking material! It seems that they were black when they were put up there, but later on they were painted Bison Green along with much of the gridwork up above. The drivers were stuffed with masking material so they didn’t get coated in paint, and – oops – apparently most of them were never unmasked.
If you thought the ‘Dome sounded a little muffled or muddy…well, perhaps that’s why. But hopefully it isn’t being held together with any of KQDY’s bent bolts.
Oh yeah, my favorite part of the FargoDome: the catwalks. They have long, steep ramps from the stair access along the outer wall to the inner ring of catwalks up above. Those ramps are about an arm’s width across and very long & steep. The catwalks get very dusty, and therefore very slippery. While carrying equipment up to the catwalks I’d often have to just use one hand to carry, with the other used to steady myself up using the handrail. When I was done mounting camera equipment etc. for whatever show I was working up there, I would enjoy taking a run and surfing down the dusty ramps. It was like being on rollerblades, but VERY high up above the ground. WOO HOO! Sometimes I miss my adrenaline junkie days…but then I remember the scars and the creaking noises. I guess memories will have to do for now.
We’ve all had days like this, haven’t we? Everybody makes mistakes, it’s just that the guys with the CDLs (Commercial Drivers Licenses) that tend to make the really big ones. After all, they drive the biggest vehicles!