Reproach

A simple search in the Bible of the word reproach will yield a list of many scriptures.  Just reading several of them you'll get the impression that the word is not used in a favorable way.
There are several ways to apply the word reproach, but I would like to focus in on one particular phrase you'll see, that is being above/beyond reproach.
There are two basic way to be above/beyond reproach
1) With respect to God:

Colossians 1:21-23 (NASB)

" ²¹And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,
 ²²yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach--
 ²³if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister."
~You see we are counted "beyond reproach" in the mind of God because of the work Christ accomplished for us.

2) With respect to Man:
Philippians 2:14-16
 ^"14Do all things without grumbling or disputing;
 ¹⁵so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,
 ¹⁶holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain."
~You see we are to live lives such that we are "above reproach" in this world.

The first reproach is has been taken away for us by Christ, but I must ask...  Are you "beyond reproach" with respect to God?

The second reproach is a little bit more tricky as we must still live in this "crooked and perverse generation" and it's not so easy.  This is where the rubber meets the road and the real work (and obedience), for us, comes in.  Pray, study, then obey...  So, I must ask...  How is you reproach-able-ness (is that even a word?) with respect to man coming?

Let me know.


May God bless you,

Patrick

Getting to the heart of the Matter.

Image via Wikipedia

What is in your heart?  I mean, what's really in there, deep down inside of your heart?
I'd like to call your attention to two verses that talk about this important matter.
First is Proverbs 27:19
     "As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects man."
and the second is Luke 6:45
     "The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart."


 The qualities and attributes that the Proverb writer and Jesus are teaching about are necessarily products of a good or evil heart.  Often the mouth is the primary vehicle for the evidence of either.  Many times we are judged by others, not by what we believe or what we think, but by what we say and do.  Our hearts are reflected in what we do, how we spend our time, how we talk and relate to others, what we say, what we condone and what we condemn.
My question to you is-What how is your heart being reflected?

Let me know,

Patrick

The Wisdom of God

Psalm 111:10
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever."

It is interesting how much we can learn from our children.  How they so innocently and simply point out things that we overlook or take for granted.  Last night as we were going through our bedtime routine and came to our prayer time, my wife and I were once again reminded by our son of the simple fundamentals of living for God that we tend to over-complicate.  His prayer was simple, "Dear Lord, thank you for this day.  Please help us to obey and to learn your wisdom."  We were floored!  Keep in mind that he's only 3 1/2 years old.  I don't know how he came up with this prayer.  We've often times taught our children to pray for help with obedience, but "to learn your wisdom," is not a phrase we regularly use...  I think we may start though.
Some things to consider...
~Do you over-complicate your walk with God?
~Do you pray for God to help you to obey His will?
~Do you pray for Godly wisdom?
~Do you thank God for your day? (There's always something to be thankful for.)

Thoughts???


God bless,

Patrick

In Him...

Today, I have a short little exercise for you to try.
Read the following passage from Ephesians 1:1-14 and take note of all the times Paul uses the phrase "in Him" or a similar phrase (I'll add emphasis
to make it a little easier).

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: ²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.  In love ⁵He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, ⁶to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. ⁷In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according tothe riches of His grace ⁸which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight ⁹He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him ¹⁰with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him ¹¹also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, ¹²to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. ¹³In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.

WOW...  We certainly do have a lot IN HIM!

Are you IN HIM?

Thoughts

Normal?

I think one of the things plaguing Christianity today is a "normalization" of sin.  This is highly contributed to by the way our culture is; nothing is wrong, don't judge anything etc...  Often times I think we see sin, but don't look on it the way God does.  But isn't that what we should do?  Think back to the days in the graden of Eden.  Adam and Eve lived in that perfect, sinless state; then with one seemingly simple act they altered the course of events forever.  Notice God's response, though.  He did not tolerate their behavior, He immediately expelled them from the garden.  Do we look at sin like this?  How often do we watch T.V. or go to movies or surf the net and watch shows or videos in which people are sinning and think nothing of it?  Or maybe we think, "Boy... I'm glad I'm not like that."  I'm not implying that we cut ourselves off from everything, but I am trying to get us thinking about how we view sin and respond to it.  Has sin become acceptable?  Has it become tolerable?  Has it become normal???  I don't think God would answer yes to any of these.  Just think, would you have sent your only son to die for something that was acceptable, tolerable and normal?
Ephesians 5: 11-12 says, "¹¹Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; ¹²for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret."


Let me know what you think,

Patrick

Signs

Luke 11:29 "And as the crowds were increasing, He began to say,, "This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign shall be given to it but the sign of Jonah."" (NASB)

Signs, signs, we all want signs!  Something to prove to us that Jesus is real, that God exists, that we are, in fact, saved.

Jesus dealt with this subject quite bluntly here.  The problem he was facing was not that people didn't have enough information about Him, but that they had evil hearts and refused to believe and were blaming it on a lack of "signs." (Remember Jesus was actually there in person, what more would you need?)  Jonah on the other hand was preaching God's message back in Old Testament times to a nation (Nineveh) that was full of wickedness, yet they heard his message and believed it and repented! (No signs except his message.) 
We have God's word with us today, we have His message to us.  Why do we sometimes have such a hard time believing it?!?  Jesus wants us to be like the people of Nineveh.  He wants us to simply hear His words (the Bible) and believe...

Thoughts???

Let me know,

Patrick Antonucci

"Thank you we be here."

Psalm 86:12
"I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart,And will glorify Your name forever. "

When we sit down to a meal, we all go around and each take a turn praying.  Keep in mind that my son is 3 1/2, my first daughter is 2 and the baby is 10 months.  It takes some time, but it's rewarding.  One of the things I like about it is what the kids say when they pray.  Sometimes they say the cutest things and other times they say things that are so profound that my wife and I are amazed.  Often they'll pray about things that my wife or I will pray about (This really makes us think about what we say and do around them).  But most every prayer for my son and daughter starts out with, "Dear Lord, Thank you we be here."  Hearing it over and over each time we pray, I sort of take it for granted what they are saying.  Now I don't know if they know the significance of what they're saying, but I was thinking about it the other day.  It's such a simple, little prayer, but very appropriate.  "Thank you we be here" says so much with so little.  Think about what this phrase means.  I'll leave the details up to you, but do take a few minutes and think about it and let me know what you come up with.

Thank you,

Patrick Antonucci

The Righteousness of God

Ever think about what it takes to live with God in eternity?  I mean who can really measure up?  We all know that Christ is THE way to eternal life, but how does that work?  The way I'm approaching this is from the point of view that God is absolutely  and completely holy and righteous and cannot, by His very nature, tolerate sin or sinfulness.  And this is the basic problem for humanity; "For all have sinned a fall short of the glory of God." (Rom 3:23) is what the Bible says...  But, if we keep reading that verse we see that "all..[are] justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." (vs 24)  There are some pretty BIG Bible words in that little verse and I don't want to get into their particular meanings except that IN Christ is found the justification (just-if-i'd never sinned) and redemption.  Additionally, if we back up a few verses, we see a little more "...the righteousness of God has been manifested,... even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe." (vs 21-22)  If you carefully read these verses you'll see that the righteousness of God is made available to us through Jesus Christ!  This IS how it works.
The logic goes like this...
1. God is righteous and cannot be in the presence of sin
2. We have sinned, so that creates a problem for us
3. God sent His Son Christ, who lived a perfect life, to take on all sin
4. In Christ we have available the righteousness of God we need to get back with God
5. We are therefore, in Christ, just a righteous as God is!!!

Think about it.

Thoughts??

Patrick Antonucci

Jesus contradicts Himself???

I would like to consider two seemingly contradictory statements by Jesus found in the book of Luke
~Luke 9:50 "...for he who is not against you is for you." (Context Luke 9:46-50)
~Luke 11:23 "He who is not with Me is against Me..." (Context Luke 11:14-23)

     It seems as though we have a contradiction here!  However, we can't just cut out little snippets of scripture, compare them and draw a conclusion.  We must consider the context!
     In the first passage the disciples were complaining to Jesus because they saw a man casting out demons in the name of Christ who was not a part of their group.  They wanted to stop him, but Christ says no.  This man is obviously a believer (he's casting out in the name of Jesus).  Jesus is not stating a general truism here.  Remember He's talking to a specific group of people (his disciples) and trying to get His point across.  His point is that we must guard against pride in our group and position (as the disciples were guilty of here).  We should not stand in the way of those who are doing kingdom work.  I would like to note, though, that this is not an invitation to accept denominationalism and divisions.  We must be unified in Christ.
     In the second passage we have Jesus himself casting out demons, yet people are refusing to believe in Him (many were actually attributing His power to Satan).  Jesus is making the point that people have to make a choice...  Are you going to follow Christ or not?  If you choose to follow Christ then you're "with Him," but if you choose not to follow Christ then, by process of elimination, you're "against Him."  There is no middle, luke-warm ground. 
     So while on the surface we seem to have two passages that contradict one another, they are actually  consistent with Jesus' teachings, upon further investigation, .
     My question to you is, where do you fall in relation tothese passages?
    ~Do you find yourself being prideful in your group or associations?
    ~Do you find yourself being prideful in your position or responsibilities?
    ~Do you find yourself looking down on others who have a "lower" rank?
    ~Who are you going to choose?

Thoughts????

Patrick Antonucci

The Good Part

Luke 10:41-42 "But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." (NASB) To keep this short, I only quoted Jesus' point, to read the entire passage, click on this Luke 10:38-42.

The good part which Jesus is referring to here is devotion to Jesus and His teaching.
     How often in life do we let our worries in life distract us from Christ?
     How often in life do we let our concerns in life distract us from Christ?  
     How often do we get caught up in preparations, but never actually get to the doing of the thing we're preparing for?
     What are we doing that is keeping us fron the good part?
     What are we worrying about that is stealing our devotion to Christ?
     What is it in your life that is choking out your devotion to Christ?
     What little thing can you surrender to God today that will release some of the worries and concern and help you get the good part?

May you have a blessed day!

Thought???

Patrick Antonucci

The Disciples Prayer

The prayer found in Luke chapter 11:1-4 is most commonly refered to as the "model prayer" (a more common place to read of this prayer is in the Gospel of Matthew), but I would like you to think of it as the "Disciples Prayer" for the next few minutes.
Heres the text:
1It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples."
2And He said to them, "When you pray, say:
'Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
3'Give us each day our daily bread.
4'And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.'"

Notice that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. I don't want to get into whether or not to memorize this prayer or if just saying these exact words is some kind of magic formula (but recall that Jesus likely spoke in Aramaic and the original gospel was probably written in Greek).  I want, instead, to point out a few things that will hopefully prove helpful in your prayer life
1) "When you pray"  Implies that you ARE praying
2) Addressed to the Father and immediately gives Him praise and prays for Gods will to be accomplished
3) Petitions God for necessities (God has promised to give us good things, just maybe not what we always expect)
4) Prays for forgiveness, and admits that they too need to forgive others
5) Prays for protection against sin, not that God would lead us to sin, but that given the sinful world we live in that we may resist with His help
 
Hope you had your prayer time today!!!
God bless you...
 
Thoughts???
 
Patrick Antonucci

Sacrifice!

John 3:16
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life..." (NASB)

One informal definition of the word sacrifice is: giving up something, often for someone else.

This, of course, is an understatement of what was done for us when God "gave" us His son.  Jesus chose to leave His heavenly dwelling to come to earth as a man, to take on sin and to save us.  God, in His infinite love for us, sent His Son to die on the cross for us.  That is sacrifice!  That is surely giving up something for someone else!  Not to mention that God did not have to save himself, nor His Son, they are both complelely righteous and holy.
In my previous post I talked about the importance of memorials and the Lord's Supper as a memorial being set up, in one sense, to remind us of Christ's death, burial and resurrection.  Through this memorial we are given a weelky reminder of the sacrifice that was made for us by Christ, its importance in our life and how much He deserves our worship and praise.
Did you participate in the Lord's Supper this past Lord's Day?  If not, why not?  If so, did you focus on Christ and what He did for you on that fateful day at Calvary, His sacrifice?

Let me know,

Patrick Antonucci

Memorials

Joshua 4: 5-7
5 and Joshua said to them, "Cross again to the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel.
6 "Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, 'What do these stones mean to you?' 7 then you shall say to them, 'Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off ' So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever."  (NASB)

     Whether or not you have children, the idea of memorials can be a powerful concept.  Memorials serve as a reminder of somthing significant that should be in the forefront of ones memory.  Think about it.  The church has several memorials; The Lord's Supper (Communion), Baptism and The Lord's Day.  All serve their function in the lives of christians, but they all serve to remind us of important events.  Communion; the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Christ-the cornerstone of the faith, Baptism; the point at which Christ's saving work is applied to our lives through faith, by God's grace, and The Lord's Day; a time to worship God.  What other memorials do you have in your life?  Are they ones that people in general acknowledge, or are they specific to you and/or your family/friends?  Also, what purpose do they serve; of what do they remind you?  ("What do these stones mean to you?")

 Let me know,

Patrick Antonucci

About Us

Scriptures for the Home is a family based Christian home business created by Patrick Antonucci and his family.  Our mission is built upon the teaching found in the fifth book of the Bible, Deuteronomy Chapter 6 verse 4-9 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." (NASB) (emphasis added)
 We believe that one of the many applications of this scripture is to have scripture visible in your home("write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."), office, workspace, or where ever you spend a lot of time (maybe even in the car??)  This is where Scriptures for the Home comes in.  We provide high quality prints with scripture on them suitable for displaying on the wall, a desk, dresser, chest, night stand, entertainment center, refrigerator, shelf etc...  The possibilities are endless.  Each photo is taken personally by the Antonucci Family and enhanced by Patrick and his wife. 
Additionally, one of the side benefits of having God's word on display is that it provides an opportunity to discuss His word with those that see the prints.  Children especially will benefit from the constant reminder of the teachings of God through these products.  This is a great conversation starter as in the above verse we are commanded to talk about God and teach his commands to our children. 
There are a few other verses, in no particular order, that we'd like to share that have influenced our business. 
The first is our "theme verse" Psalm 119:105 "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."  This verse is so true.  God's word truly does shed light on our walk as Christians and we should look to the Bible for direction, wisdom, insight and knowledge in each and every aspect of our lives.
Next is earlier in Psalm 119;  verse 11. "Your word have I treasured in my heart that I might not sin against you."  Again, we see how God's word should be directly influencing all areas of our lives.  Additionally, memorization of and meditation on God's word is implied here; two very important spiritual disciplines both of which are aided if our environments are saturated with scripture.  (One of our long-term goals is to have resources for memorization!)
Lastly is 2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."  It is interesting how the word "all" is applied to Scripture in the sense that it's the very words of God and is useful for equipping people to do the work God has prepared for them.
 These verses have truly been an inspiration to us and it is our prayer that through Scriptures for the Home we can help Christians of all shapes and sized bring God's word into their everyday lives in exciting and perhaps new ways.




 

Gifts

The main text for today is from Mark 16:15-20

"And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.  These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."  So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.  And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed."

In this passage we are shown some of the gifts that Jesus gave to the apostles before the went out into the world to preach the gospel.  First on the list is salvation.  Now, in this passage the salvation is referring to those who would accept the preaching of the apostles, believe in Christ and be immersed, but it can be assumed that (and shown from other texts) that the apostles did have the gift of salvation.  Next we see that He gave the some very special gifts: the ability to cast out demons, to be able to speak in foreign languages, to pick up serpents, to drink deadly poison and to heal the sick.  These were all miraculous gifts and their primary reason was to confirm the word that they were speaking (vs 20).  Notice how the in account Christ sends the apostles out and gives them these gifts and the very next thing we read is their obedience.  Upon receiving the gifts they went out and did as they were told!  They gave back, in a sense, to Christ with obedience out of love.

Have you given back to Christ in obedience?  I know that today these miraculous gifts are still not in existence, but we have many other gifts that we have been given.  If you are a Christian, the primary gift you have is your salvation.  In addition to this, we have the gift of the Lord's Day, the Lord's Supper, prayer, songs of praise etc...  Have you given back to Christ in these areas?  Do you regularly attend Sunday worship services, participate in communion, pray, sing along while in the worship service and at other times throughout the week?  Are you following Christ in obedience out of love?  I know that our "works" do not save us, but a saving faith is one that is obedient, a living faith is one that works. (See James 2:14-24 for a beautiful illustration of this principle.)

How about in the areas of your abilities?  Perhaps you're a good speaker, a good teacher, a patient person, a wealthy person, one who has abilities in relational areas, able to talk with ease to others?  Maybe you have a skill such as carpentry, plumbing, or electrical?  Maybe you have talent in the musical area, or writing?  How about with art or maybe computers?  Whatever ability you may have been blessed with, are you following Christ in obedience with it?  Are you using it to strengthen, edify and build up His Kingdom?

Here's one...  What about the area of biblical knowledge?  Have you taken time to read and study God's word?  This is a very important question to consider.  There are many teachings going around, many of them are false and plainly contradict the bible, but how do you know if you're not studying for yourself?  Timothy was instructed by Paul to "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth." (2 Tim 2:15)  The "word of truth" is the gospel message and the subsequent teachings.  Of course Timothy would have not had in his possession the complete New Testament, but he would have had the Old Testament as well as what Paul had taught him.  Are we being diligent in our studies?

Hope these thoughts got you thinking!

Have a great week and remember it takes time and consistent dedication to follow Christ in obedience.  I know sometimes, many times, we fall short and fall down and fall back, but we must "press on toward the goal for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14)

Proverbs 11:28

     As we were reading through the proverbs tonight at the dinner table (we read one chapter per night and work the whole way through the book every month. I highly recommend it. Our children can already quote many of the proverbs!), this one struck a chord with my wife. She asked that I go back and re-read it. I did and had the idea for the picture at the left after we put the kids down for the night.
     I’m thankful that she pointed this one out as I think it has a direct application to my life now. Have you ever begun to get really tied up, in your mind that is, thinking about your finances? Lately, I may have been dwelling on these issues too often. Nothing like God’s Word to bring me back down to earth! As I’m writing this post, I’m reminded of how often I’ve been thinking about “getting rich.” I’m VERY excited to get our business “Scriptures for the Home” up and running and it’s been on my mind constantly for the past month or so, but have I been too into it? Perhaps...
     I’m reminded that “riches” are only temporary and can be deceptive and therefore are NOT worthy of my trust. At the time of our greatest need, “riches” can still fail us. I know that I must be a good steward of what God has blessed me with and work to provide the essentials for my family, and that is how I should view “riches;” as a means to an end, not the end itself.
     The goal is to become wealthy in righteousness, and then I will “flourish like the green leaf.” Did you ever see a leaf “flourish” that was not attached to a branch and that branch attached to a tree and that tree rooted in the earth? I bet you haven’t. What happened to the leaves when they leave (no pun intended) the tree? They wither up, dry out and die! Hmm… Similar to my walk with Christ. If I am in constant contact with him, I grow and flourish. If I start to drift, I “dry out.” My trust must be in Christ. He will never fail and He is worthy of my trust.
     We’re still going to pursue starting our business, but I know that it will never be to me or us what Christ is, has been and will be.
     Hope these thoughts were a blessing to you. Let me know your thoughts.