Rock Excavation Service

22/07/2024

Sometime before Creation, God held a meeting with Himself.

God Held a Meeting - Creation - I no longer am under the judgment to come upon the rebellion in Christ's kingdom because the King has pardoned my sins

17/07/2024

We live in a tumultuous time; nearly all Christians have done so. But in Christ Jesus we find real peace.

Why do the nations rage? - Prayer is the first and best weapon Christians have for dealing with confrontation.

09/07/2024

God is for us!

Fight My Battles - Warfare - But between the throng that surrounded him there was God surrounding him! That's the God that we serve.

18/06/2024

My Rock Excavation Service post.

We Are Much the Same - Gospel - Rock Excavation Service -

03/06/2024

The following post was inspired by a lesson one of our associate pastors taught at my local church.

A Short Story
Jim was a handsome, well-liked, and naturally respected boy. Sure, he did his fair share of stupid things as he grew up, but people seemed to think well of him even during those years. He was what most adults at that time called a good-natured, rambunctious kid. But Jim was, by any definition, not a saint.

Jim had learned to leverage his reputation to take advantage of situations that other kids would never have gotten away with. This ability affected his personality. In a way, Jim was two very different people. One was a well-adjusted young man, while the other was a rebellious kid who lived on the line between good and bad.

One fateful day, a Christian with a heart for the unsaved told Jim about the Good News of Jesus. Jim was moved by the Holy Spirit and gave his life to Christ. He went “all in.” Every aspect of his life was lived with a commitment to righteousness—that is, everything but one thing. There was one thing that Jim wrestled with nearly every day.

Jim could never feel right with Jesus because he kept failing in one area of his life. Jesus forgave Jim every time Jim confessed his sin, but Jim’s battle with that one thing went on for many years. That one thing stole Jim’s peace.

Jesus did not lose patience with Jim. God is “slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.” But Jim had a difficult time with that one thing. He was angry at himself and frustrated with God. He wondered why he constantly fought that one thing.

Years later, as Jim prayed, the Holy Spirit impressed upon Jim that God was giving Jim mastery over that one thing. God didn’t take that one thing away, but He gave Jim the strength to apply self-control over it, and Jim did, and he did, and he did.

Dealing With Your One Thing
C.S. Lewis said, “The threat Christianity has always faced is idolatry. God doesn’t need our worship. Worship is for our good. The duty of the created is to worship the Creator.”

If you have a “one thing,” you need to know that it is actually an idol in your life. You don’t want to submit to it, but you must if you are to have what it offers. However, to overcome it, you must see that “one thing” for what it is. God will answer your prayer if you ask Him to deliver you from that idol and give you the self-control to overcome that one thing. God answers prayer.

28/05/2024

Follow the Money - We should reduce our standard of living and increase our standard of giving.

26/05/2024

Missing the Message - Comfort - Rock Excavation Service - the return of Jesus Christ - Eschatology

14/05/2024

We all have a dot.

The Dot - Gospel - Rock Excavation Service - God will put a dot on my life - Jesus is the only person who never sinned

08/05/2024

06/05/2024

Today's post!

Cast Thy Bread Upon the Waters - Rock Excavation Service - cast your bread upon the water - delayed gratification

02/05/2024

Over the years, I’ve learned that it is spiritually healthy to read letters written during the first couple of hundred years after Jesus’s birth. These letters give us first-hand accounts of the concerns of the early Church and what early Christians observed within the Church. One of these letters, known as the “Epistle to Diognetus[1],” was written between 130 AD – 200 AD. The letter wasn’t discovered until the 13th century[2]. Here are some excerpts that I think will be helpful to you.

Christian Conduct
The author of the letter points out how Christians live in a way that is unique.

********
They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death and restored to life…The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, claim themselves the advocates of any here human doctrines.
********

Christians in the World
The author of the letter tells Diognetus about how Christians share all things in common, but there is no impropriety.

********
But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each…they dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners, as citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as a native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh.
********

How Christians Obey Civil Laws
The author of the letter emphasizes Christians more than obey civil laws, they exceed them.

********
They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of Heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives.
********

What About Us?
Someday, if Jesus is our Savior, we will meet those first-century Christians. Will we measure up to their high standards? Can we say to them that our co-workers and families easily found the difference in us that was missing in them? Were we known as people who share more than our opinions? That’s something to think about.

May you prosper even as your soul prosper[3].

- No part of this article was produced by artificial intelligence (AI). -

Footnotes
Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus. (n.d.). Earlychristianwritings.Com. Retrieved April 20, 2024, from https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/diognetus.html. ↩︎

Wikipedia contributors. (2023, October 31). Epistle to Diognetus. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Epistle_to_Diognetus&oldid=1182817610. ↩︎

3 John 1:2 – Greeting to Gaius from the Elder. (n.d.). Bible Hub. Retrieved April 20, 2024, from https://biblehub.com/3_john/1-2.htm. ↩︎

26/04/2024

Here's a recent post.
https://rockexcavationservice.org/2024/04/15/omg/

11/04/2024

Just a brief comment about God's creation of Adam and Eve.

25/03/2024

Eager expectation, expressed in Greek as ἀποκαραδοκία (apokaradokia), conveys intense anticipation and hope. This anticipation extends to the return of Jesus Christ.

19/03/2024

Fear can be good, but God does not want us to be afraid. The Bible is full of people who made horrible mistakes because they were afraid. So, if you become afraid, put your trust in God.

17/03/2024

17/03/2024

This verse comes from Romans, chapter eight:
19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bo***ge to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.…

To this sentiment, we cry out: Even so, come, Lord Jesus. - Revelation 22:20

05/03/2024

Monday's devotional.

The verse in Romans 2:4 emphasizes God's kindness leading to repentance. It challenges the misconception of God's kindness as a guarantee of perpetual happiness. Instead, it highlights the necessity of repentance in response to kindness.

01/03/2024

I wrote this meme after reading Romans, chapter 3.

19/02/2024

Thanks for reading my post. 😊

The Apostle Paul wrote about our relationships with God the Father and Jesus. Jesus' command in John 16:23 does not diminish His role; all three persons of the Godhead are of the same essence.

17/02/2024

Thanks for reading this post.

People can say things that feel good and seem right, but those things were conceived in evil and intended for deception.

12/02/2024

Thanks for reading this post.

Taking Christ's yoke means harnessing ourselves to Jesus, working for Him, and being directed by the Holy Spirit. Only then can Christians fulfill God's purpose.

05/02/2024

Jesus returns to the place where his ministry started, finding it abandoned after John the Baptist's death. Though it was desolate, many had believed in Jesus there.

Jesus returns to the place where his ministry started, finding it abandoned after John the Baptist's death. Though it was desolate, many had believed in Jesus there.

05/02/2024

Thanks for reading this post. I appreciate you taking the time to look into a facet of God's greatness.

Just like fresh coffee, I can find a divine appointment almost everywhere I go.

30/01/2024

I am blessed because Jesus is mine. He wrapped Himself in the flesh as the Son of Man to die to save me from eternal death (1 Peter 1:3). I'm an heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood! — Rock Excavation Service () Jan 30, 2024 Source: January 30, 2024 at 11:36AM More information Your Website/Page Anchor Text Here

I am blessed because Jesus is mine. He wrapped Himself in the flesh as the Son of Man to die to save me from eternal death (1 Peter 1:3). I’m an heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of Hi…

29/01/2024

Even today, we see how God's promises to Abraham are active in new ways, such as the Abraham Accords....

There are 8 billion people in the world. From Abraham's son Isaac, there are 2.2 billion Christians and Jews. From Abraham's son Ishmael, there are 1.7 billion Muslims. This totals 3.9 billion people who claim Abraham as their father in their faith.

27/01/2024

Jesus is not limited like we are. So, when He does something for us, His action is also a message to others that He is real and available to them. We see this playing out in John 9:1-7. — Rock Excavation Service () Jan 27, 2024 Source: January 27, 2024 at 09:59AM More information Your Website/Page Anchor Text Here

Jesus is not limited like we are. So, when He does something for us, His action is also a message to others that He is real and available to them. We see this playing out in John 9:1-7. …

22/01/2024

After my life was a shipwreck, a friend told me about Jesus. All of my pent-up guilt flooded out....

Music can stir life in a dog-eared message. That is what happened to me recently. I heard, "Do you remember the time your heart was moved to tears?"