HB Newsletter Volume 10 - Number 09

8/9/2019 HB Newsletter Volume 10 - Number 09

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Homeward BoundVolume 10 Number 09

Homeward Bound Ministries Post Office Box 3351 Milford Connecticut 06460 (203) 882-9661

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Its Only Sin!

Have you ever said that? Its only sin?

Has that crossed your mind while under thegrip of temptation? To arrive at this point ofdecision in your heart and carelessly view what you are about to do or have already done asits only sin is most tragic. It can possibly belethal to you since the Bible says, The soul thatsinneth, it shall die. (Ezekiel 18:4, 20) Godhates sin.

A careless and carefree attitude aboutsin will destroy your soul. The preaching of thecross of Christ, punishment for sin and the

wrath of God are topics that few men preach orteach today and even fewer want to hear. But,what needs to be said that will convince men oftheir capricious attitude regarding sin? Towhat will men listen that will make them wakeup and understand the danger of on-going, willful and other attitude towards sin thatcause them to yawn and think nothing of it?

I would like to present for you heresomething written by Dr. Thomas Guthrie, a

a fiery evangelist and pastor from Scotland whowrote the following description of sin. Read itwell, for what he says is Truth. I challenge youto find argument with it.

Sin. It is a debt, a burden, a thief, asickness, a leprosy, a plague, a poison, aserpent, a sting; everything that man hates - it

is; a load of curses and calamities beneath whore crushing, most intolerable pressure, the whole creation groaneth. Name me the evthat springs not from this root - the crime thaI may not lay at its door. Who is the hoarysexton that digs man a grave? Who is thepainted temptress that steals his virtue? Whois the murderess that destroys his life? Who isthe sorceress that first deceives, and thendamns his soul ? - Sin.

Who with icy breath, blights the fair blossoms of youth? Who breaks the hearts oparents? Who brings old men's gray hairs withsorrow to the grave ? - Sin.

Who, by a more hideous metamor-phosis than Ovid ever fancied, changes gentle

children into vipers, tender mothers intomonsters, and their fathers into worse thanHerods, the murderers of their own innocents ?- Sin.Who casts the apple of discord on householdhearths? Who lights the torch of war, andbears it blazing over trembling lands? Who by

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Homeward Bound Volume 10 Number 09

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Its Only Sin! (continued)

divisions in the Church, rends Christ's seamlessrobe ? - Sin.

Who is this Delilah that sings the

Nazarite asleep, and delivers up the strength ofGod into the hands of the uncircumcised? Who, winning smiles on her face, honeyedflattery on her tongue, stands in the door tooffer the sacred rites of hospitality, and, whensuspicion sleeps, treacherously pierces ourtemples with a nail? What fair Siren is this, who, seated on a rock by the deadly pool,smiles to deceive, sings to lure, kisses to betray,and flings her arms around our neck, to leapwith us into perdition? - Sin.

Who turns the soft and gentlest heart tostone? Who hurls reason from her lofty throne,and impels sinners, mad as Gadarene swine,down the precipice, into a lake of fire? - Sin.

Who, having brought the criminal tothe foot of the gallows, persuades him to refusea pardon, and with his own insane hand to wave away the messenger of mercy? Whatwitch of hell is it that thus bewitches us ? - Sin.

Who nailed the Son of God to that bloody tree? and who, as if it were no dovebearing the olive branch, but a bloody vultureswooping down to devour the dying, vexes,grieves, thwarts, repels, drives off, the Spirit ofGod? Who is it that makes man in his heartand habits baser than a beast; and him who was once but little lower than an angel, butlittle better than a devil? - Sin.

Now, may I ask you, how shall we tellothers about sin? What Words ought we toshare with them that they spend not an eternityin Hell apart from God in torment? The Truth,my brethren. The Truth.

Spiritual Warfare and Sin:Irreconcilable Hostility

A. W. Tozer

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, againstpowers, against the rulers of the darkness ofthis world, against spiritual wickedness in highplaces. (Ephesians 6:12)

In the early days, when Christianityexercised a dominant influence over Americanthinking, men and women conceived the worldto be a battleground. Our fathers believed insin and the devil and hell as constituting one

force, and they believed in God andrighteousness and heaven as the other. Bytheir very nature, these forces were opposed toeach other forever in deep, grave, irreconcilablehostility. Humans, our fathers held, had tochoose sides - they could not be neutral. Forthem it must be life or death, heaven or helland if they chose to come out on God's sidethey could expect open war with God'senemies. The fight would be real and deadlyand would last as long as life continued here below. People looked forward to heaven as return from the wars, a laying down of thesword to enjoy in peace the home prepared forthem . . . .

How different today. The fact remainsthe same, but the interpretation has changedcompletely. People think of the world, not as abattleground, but as a playground. We are nohere to fight; we are here to frolic. We are noin a foreign land; we are at home. We are nogetting ready to live, but we are already livingand the best we can do is rid ourselves of ourinhibitions and our frustrations and live thislife to the full.


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Interesting Moon FactsNUMBER 1Bye Bye Moon

As you read this, the Moon is moving away fromus. Each year, the Moon steals some of Earth'srotational energy, and uses it to propel itself about 3.8

centimeters higher in its orbit.NUMBER 2Ocean Tug

Tides on Earth are caused mostly by the Moon(the Sun has a smaller effect). Here's how it works: TheMoon's gravity pulls on Earth's oceans. High tide alignswith the Moon as Earth spins underneath. Another hightide occurs on the opposite side of the planet becausegravity pulls Earth toward the Moon more than it pullsthe water.

At full Moon and new Moon, the Sun, Earth andMoon are lined up, producing the higher than normaltides (called spring tides, for the way they spring up).

When the Moon is at first or last quarter, smaller neaptides form. The Moon's 29.5-day orbit around Earth isnot quite circular. When the Moon is closest to Earth(called its perigee), spring tides are even higher, andthey're called perigean spring tides.

All this tugging has another interesting effect:Some of Earth's rotational energy is stolen by the Moon,causing our planet to slow down by about 1.5milliseconds every century.NUMBER 3The Moon is a Planet?

Our Moon is bigger than Pluto. And at roughlyone-fourth the diameter of Earth, some scientists thinkthe Moon is more like a planet. They refer to the Earth-Moon system as a "double planet." Pluto and its moonCharon are also called a double-planet system by some.NUMBER 4Moonquakes

Apollo astronauts used seismometers duringtheir visits to the Moon and discovered that the gray orbisn't a totally dead place, geologically speaking. Smallmoonquakes, originating several miles (kilometers)below the surface, are thought to be caused by thegravitational pull of Earth. Sometimes tiny fracturesappear at the surface, and gas escapes.

Scientists say they think the Moon probably hasa core that is hot and perhaps partially molten, as is

Earth's core. But data from NASA's Lunar Prospectorspacecraft showed in 1999 that the Moon's core is small-- probably between 2 percent and 4 percent of its mass.This is tiny compared with Earth, in which the iron coremakes up about 30 percent of the planet's mass.NUMBER 5Egghead

The Moon is not round (or spherical). Instead,it's shaped like an egg. If you go outside and look up,one of the small ends is pointing right at you. And the

Moon's center of mass is not at the geometric center othe satellite; it's about 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) off-center.

NUMBER 6Sister Moons

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. Right?Maybe not. In 1999, scientists found that a 3-mile- (5-kilometer-) wide asteroid may be caught in Earth'sgravitational grip, thereby becoming a satellite of ouplanet. Cruithne, as it is called, takes 770 years tocomplete a horseshoe-shaped orbit around Earth, thescientists say, and it will remain in a suspended statearound Earth for at least 5,000 years.

NUMBER 7Moon Trees

More than 400 trees on Earth came from theMoon. Well, okay: They came from lunar orbit. Okay, thetruth: In 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa took abunch of seeds with him and, while Alan Shepard and

Edgar Mitchell were busy sauntering around on thesurface, Roosa guarded his seeds.Later, the seeds were germinated on Earth

planted at various sites around the country, and came tobe called the Moon trees. Most of them are doing justfine.NUMBER 8Locked in Orbit

Perhaps the coolest thing about the Moon is thait always shows us the same face. Since both the Earthand Moon are rotating and orbiting, how can this be?The Earth's gravitational effects slowed the Moon'srotation about its axis. Once the Moon's rotation slowedenough to match its orbital period (the time it takes theMoon to go around Earth) the effect stabilized. Many othe moons around other planets behave similarly.

What about phases? Here's how they work: Asthe Moon orbits Earth, it spends part of its time betweenus and the Sun, and the lighted half faces away from usThis is called a new Moon. (So there's no such thing asa "dark side of the Moon," just a side that we never see.)

As the Moon swings around on its orbit, a thinsliver of reflected sunlight is seen on Earth as a crescenMoon. Once the Moon is opposite the Sun, it becomesfully lit from our view -- a full Moon.


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And they overcame him . . .

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, andby the word of their testimony; and they loved not theirlives unto the death. (Revelation 12:11)

I sit here quite surprised tonight. Three timesover the past thirty six hours this verse came to me. It isa verse I have not heard nor do I remember reading inthe past ten years, although I know Ive read it since Ive

been cover to cover past it a good number of timesduring this decade. It is a verse that I heard repeatedly

between 1980 and 1995. In conversations with threedifferent people the Spirit brought it to my recall. Letme share it with you in context.

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Nowis come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of ourGod, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our

brethren is cast down, which accused them before ourGod day and night. And they overcame him by the bloodof the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; andthey loved not their lives unto the death. Thereforerejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe tothe inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil iscome down unto you, having great wrath, because heknoweth that he hath but a short time. (Revelation12:10-12)

Though many will argue, we live in dark days.The church is under attack from all directions. Truth is

being trampled everywhere. Though many speak ofharvesting, the evidence of laborers in the fields is few.Those that seemingly profess salvation lack power andstrength.

Although Satan and his demonic horde roam theearth today freely, tempting and attempting to bringdown Gods elect, those who have truly laid their livesdown in submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ havethe power of the indwelling Spirit of God, Who hasalready given us the victory over him, and sin and death.

Knowing that we have this power, it is our dutyto stand tall in these times and not just preach theGospel, but lead by example. As James put it so very

well, But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only,deceiving your own selves. (1:22) By laying aside our

very lives and yielding ourselves a living sacrifice, we willserve Him and be the beacon of light into this darknessthat will draw men unto the Truth that they, too, might

be saved. The Bible says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,which is your reasonable service. And be not conformedto this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of

your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, andacceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)

If you are a nominal Christian, one who still livesin the flesh and has yet to overcome, you will be unableto do this. Those who have yet to enter in to this

victorious walk, those who are only thinking of or talking

about it, will not be able to stand. When the persecutioncomes, when the power of the enemys attack comes

without the whole armor of God in place you will flee foryour carnal life. Satan can successfully accuse you whenyou still live in your sin. Once free of continued, willfuand consciously premeditated sin Satan can find noplace of accusation in you. There is power in living a lifeapart from sin. Oh yes, we stumble and fall occasionally

but I am speaking about those who remain in habituaand unrepentant sin.

Scripture tells us, . . . but the just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4) This means that he whohas been justified, been made righteous by the blood ofJesus Christ, will live by faith . . . I am crucified

with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Chrisliveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh Ilive by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, andgave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20) This faith we live

by is a gift from Jesus to us. We must live by this faith iwe are to make it safely home! This walking in the faith

is so important that God did not tell us just once, nottwice, not three times, but FOUR times in scriptureThat is just how very important and vital it is for usRead them here for yourself:

. . . butthe just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk2:4)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it isthe power of God unto salvation to every one thatbelieveth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Fortherein is the righteousness of God revealed from faithto faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. Forthe wrath of God is revealed from heaven against alungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold thetruth in unrighteousness. (Romans 1:16-18)

But that no man is justified by the law in the sight ofGod, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.(Galatians 3:11)

Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man drawback, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we arenot of them who draw back unto perdition; but of themthat believe to the saving of the soul. (Hebrews 10:38-39)

We know that God seldom repeats Himself in Scripture. . . but when He does it is to make sure we receiveand understand a very important point! Brethren, let usovercome Satan everywhere we find him through thefaith given unto us by Him who crushed Satan andforever broke his power over us through sin and deathour Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

This newsletter Is brought to you by:

Homeward Bound Ministries

Post Office Box 3351Milford Connecticut 06460

(203) 882-9661

[email protected]

HB Newsletter Volume 10 - Number 09

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