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The Last Conversation with Grandad

  The Last Conversation with Granddad; A Eulogy for Marshall Helms             There is so much that needs to be done, and so precious little time. There are some here who need comfort, and some who need assurance, and some who need encouragement, and some who need to be admonished. Yes, there is much to do, and precious little time. So, let us pray. Father, the task before me is overwhelming, and I have no strength for it. Abide with me please that in my weakness Your strength might be perfectly evidence, and Your word might go forth today to accomplish all Your good and perfect will. I ask it for the sake of Your glory, In the name of Jesus. Amen.             It has been rightly said that it is not wrong to mourn. Indeed, in Matthew 5 our Lord says those who mourn are blessed for they will be comforted. We mourn death because it is unnatural. It discomforts us because it was never meant to be this way. We broke God’s rules, and we broke the creation. Now, we wake-up to find t
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The awful easy life

  Behold, these are the wicked;   always at ease, they increase in riches. Psalm 73:12 ESV             Are we not like Asaph in danger of stumbling over our envy of the ungodly? We see them today much as they were perceived then, and there’s a good reason for it. A troubled person seeks an end to their troubles, but a person who is at ease tends to stay at ease. Prosperity is the prison of the unrighteous keeping them locked away from the salvation found only in Christ. What would they need saving from? Conversely pain, even the pains confusions and doubt, drive us towards God.             We live too much by sensation thinking our perception of pleasure is the call of God, and pain is the devil’s prod. We think temporal prosperity is the sign of God’s favor, and poverty His curse. None of these notions’ longs survive under biblical scrutiny. We must let go our flawed understandings, and take hold of something better. Then we will not be so troubled by the ease of the ungodly con
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Dead then alive

  Ephesians 2:1-9 gives a wonderfully detailed account of salvation in regards to the practical ramifications. You see we are born into this life without spiritual life. We were as the Inspired writer puts its dead. We have all had some experience with death, and we know what it means. That is why Paul uses this simple language. It is simply dead, not almost dead, or nearly dead, or mostly dead (which as we know is entirely different than complete dead). Dead is   dead, and it means everything we would assume. The dead do not nothing. They do not move of their own accord. The dead undertake no action by themselves. And so, it was with us, we were driven by base appetites of body and mind. We were seeking after a life we did not have, and could not find. In all of this we served the Devil who convinced us in the Garden of Eden that death was preferable to life, by promising that we could attain to godlike existence. In essence we killed ourselves by trying to transcend our nature, i
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