Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: FAMOUS (02/27/20)
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TITLE: The Accompanying Requirement of Fame
By Doug Laird
03/03/20 -
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The *substitutionary turtledove offering (1) of Luke 2: 24 indicates that Jesus Christ was born into a low income family.
The description of Him found in Isaiah 53: 2, 3 does not sound like one who would aspire to celebrity status.
Until He was later resurrected, it did not appear that He had ended well. He had been betrayed, denied, beaten, scourged, spat upon, verbally abused, crucified, deserted by most of His followers and forsaken by God.
Yet His fame, primarily based on a three-year public ministry ending with His death on the cross, is second to none. Even those who have or who will reject *Who (2) He claimed to be (Luke 22: 70) and *what (3) He clamed to have accomplished have heard of His claim to fame over the last 2,000 years.
All of human history and many areas of secular science use the event of His birth as a (B.C./A.D) reference point.
In more recent history, attempts have made to replace BC (Before Christ) and AD (year of Our Lord) with BCE (Before Common/Current Era). Any time and for any reason that the mention of Jesus Christ can be taken out of the picture the infamous devil is well pleased.
No one hates the fame or the name of Jesus Christ more than Satan.
Jesus is His *given name (4). Christ is among many of His *titles (5). Christ originates from the Greek word christos meaning the anointed one.
The devil hates the name and the fame of Jesus because he knows that, “…there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4: 12 NASB).”
Secular historians refer to Him as Jesus, acknowledging His humanity. Edified disciple’s refer to Him as the Lord Jesus Christ, acknowledging His Deity (Lord), His Humanity (Jesus), and His divine role (Christ) in the plan of God.
The devil tolerates people speaking about “God,” as who “God” is differs among the many worldly *religious (6) groups.
It’s when Jesus Christ is promoted that the devil goes to war.
To *believe (7) in Jesus (the) Christ means to place one's full trust and confidence in Who He is and what He accomplished on the cross. There are many who believe in Jesus, but do not acknowledge either His deity, or the exclusive significance of His work on the cross. Who He is and He did is what made Him famous.
Believing this and what makes one saved.
There may not be *anything wrong (8) with fame or fortune.
Fame and fortune independent of God only becomes a spiritual issue if they becomes one’s *master (9); if one fails to acknowledge the *source (10) of one's prosperity; the divine *purpose (11), and/or the accompanying *moral responsibility (12) that comes along with fame or fortune.
Famous or not, every person has a circle of influence consisting of the people he/she interacts with on a daily or regular basis. The use of websites, emails, texts, tweets, and social media has greatly extended the circle of influence that an individual can have.
Both God and the devil uses these circles of influence to promote their diametrically opposed agendas.
The devil's spokespersons often *outnumber (13) the spokespersons for God.
Because of the number of followers that famous celebrities can muster, celebrities become great ambassadors of Christ in the hands of God, or they can become weapons of mass destruction in the hands of the devil.
Through modern means of communication, deceived and/or worldly-minded celebrities lead people astray by the millions every day (14).
Many who want to be famous, live or die for the world’s approval. Scripture speaks about the consequences of *friendship (15) with world and having it *speak well (16) of us.
Accompanying fame and fortune is the *requirement (17) to use such things for the glory of God.
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(1) Lev. 12: 8 (2) Luke 22:70 (3) 1John 2:2 (4) Matt. 1: 21 (5) Isa. 9: 6 (6) Psalms 96:5 (7) John 3: 16, 18 (8) 3John 1: 2 (9) Matt. 6: 24 (10) James 1: 17(11) Esther 4: 14(12) Luke 12: 48c (13) Matt. 7:14
(14) Matt. 15: 14 (15) James 4:4 (16) Luke 6:26 (17) Luke 12: 48d
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