INTERESTING INFORMATION CHRISTIAN MINISTRY 6/10/2026
Est. 1997
The following material is provided for information purposes only. Any conclusions or opinions formed should be based on the principles as outlined in Acts 17:11. The material is intended for use as a witnessing tool and to keep you informed so you will not be unaware (Luke 21:34) of what is happening according to Scripture’s “However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find any faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8b)
Ezekiel 34:2 “Shepherd, feed the Flock
HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW TODAY ABOUT THE FINAL END-TIME OUTCOME OF ISRAEL…IRAN…..HOW ABOUT AMERICA.…ALL COUNTRIES ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE?
YOU WONT WANT TO MISS THIS WEEK'S MESSAGE!
"Iran, Russia, and Turkey in Bible Prophecy"
CHRISTIAN MUSIC VIDEO
"YET NOT I BUT THROUGH CHRIST IN ME"
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK "Prayer does not need proof, it needs practice" – Our Daily Bread
SUMMARY OF ARTICLES
INTERESTING INFORMATION ARTICLES
4 REASONS WHY ANTISEMITISM IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN - Part 2
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https://www.heritagechurchmckinney.com/messages/Iran,%20Russia%20and%20Turkey%20in%20Bible%20Prophecy.mp3
McLaughlin, Heritage Church, McKinney, Tx
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City Alight
3. God delivered great blessings through Israel
On that note, many of the Christian benefits enjoyed by Gentile Christians are received through the Jewish people. For example, “the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God,” a reference to the Spirit of God’s self-revelation in Holy Scripture (Romans 3:2). With one exception (Luke), we can say that every biblical author was an ethnic Jew — even with relative confidence for the books whose author is not known.
If it were not for the Jewish people, who carefully preserved and copied these sacred writings, we would not have access to God’s revelation today. The Jewish Scriptures (or Old Testament) contain God’s revelation of his holy character, his work in creation, his moral law, and his promised plan of redemption.
God’s revelation in Scripture was always intended to advance God’s glory among the nations. Moses told Israel that keeping God’s law “will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?” (Deuteronomy 4:6-8).
In fact, Paul’s meditation on every benefit that comes through the Jews leads him to break out in praise. “They are Israelites,” he writes, “and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 9:4-5).
4. God will yet redeem “all Israel”
The three reasons above argue that antisemitism is anti-Christian based upon what God has done through and to Israel. This fourth reason focuses on what God will do in the future.
Romans 11 paints the big picture: Israel’s unbelief will lead to the salvation of the Gentiles. In turn, the salvation of the Gentiles will “make Israel jealous” of the salvation that is their birthright (Romans 11:11), so they will ultimately turn to God. He argues from the lesser to the greater, “Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!” (Romans 11:12).
Ultimately, Paul describes this as a “mystery,” a plan of God previously concealed but now revealed. “A partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:25-26).
There are, admittedly, multiple interpretations of the phrase “all Israel” in Romans 11:26. In his commentary on Romans, New Testament scholar Dr. Tom Schreiner presents three main views: that “all Israel” refers to “the Church of Jesus Christ,” “a remnant throughout history,” or “a dramatic future salvation for Israel” (he ultimately advocates the third view).
Regardless of the exact interpretation, however, Paul’s point still stands that God has a future plan to save many people, a plan that involves ethnic Israel.
The right posture
These four reasons should compel Christians to dissociate themselves with the nasty business of Jew-hating. Instead, Paul commends to us two postures of the heart which will cause us to approach ethnic Israel in a profoundly Christian manner.
First, do not be arrogant. This is Paul’s command in his famous metaphor of the grafted olive tree. “If some of the branches were broken off [unbelieving Jews], and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others [believing Gentiles] and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree [Jesus Christ], do not be arrogant toward the branches,” Paul warns (Romans 11:17-18).
Paul grounds this posture of humility in the doctrine that every Christian’s standing depends not on their own merit, but on the grace of God through faith. “They [the natural branches] were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith,” Paul tells the Gentiles. “So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you” (Romans 11:20-21).
Thus, Paul applies some of Jesus’s final teaching to the context of Jew-Gentile relations. “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).
Second, seek Israel’s salvation. This is what Paul sought. “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved,” he wrote (Romans 10:1). Indeed, Paul desired Israel’s salvation so fervently that he almost wished that he himself could be cut off from Christ in their place (Romans 9:3).
Of course, Paul was a fallen human being, capable of error and sin, just as we are. Thus, we should only follow his example where he is showing us the way of Christ. As Paul himself wrote, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).
Thus, the question for us is this: if Jesus sought Israel’s salvation, and Paul sought Israel’s salvation, do we? And if we desire Israel’s salvation, how can we hate ethnic Jews and indulge discriminatory, antisemitic attitudes? Such attitudes are not only proud and unloving, but they oppose God’s revealed plan for His chosen people.
Nothing could be more un-Christian than that.
WHO ARE THE 'POOR IN SPIRIT' ACCORDING TO JESUS? IT'S NOT WHO YOU THINK
The Christian Post, Mar. 17, 2026 -- Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with a statement that runs directly counter to modern thinking: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
At first glance, those words sound strange. We do not normally associate blessing with poverty. We associate it with strength, confidence, success, self-esteem, and self-sufficiency. Yet Jesus opens His description of the Christian life not with triumph but with bankruptcy. Not material bankruptcy, but spiritual. That distinction matters greatly today. In recent years, many progressive Christian leaders have emphasized material poverty and economic inequality as central concerns of the Gospel. Figures such as William Barber II of the Poor People’s Campaign, Senator Raphael Warnock, Jim Wallis, the late Tony Campolo, and even younger religious progressives like James Talarico often frame Christianity primarily in terms of social justice, economic reform, healthcare access, wages, housing, and political activism. They often speak as though the church’s chief mission is to transform social and economic systems.
Let’s be clear: Christians absolutely should care about the materially poor. Scripture repeatedly calls for compassion, generosity, and mercy toward those in need. A church indifferent to suffering is not like Christ. But when Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” He is not primarily speaking about economic conditions. He is speaking about the soul.
The central problem of humanity is not ultimately political oppression, low wages, or unequal distribution of wealth. The central problem is sin. The Gospel does not begin with social reform. It begins with spiritual ruin. To be poor in spirit is to recognize our complete moral and spiritual bankruptcy before God. It is to come before Him stripped of pride, self-righteousness, and every illusion of moral adequacy. It is the realization that we possess nothing that can earn God’s favor — not our morality, not our religious practices, not our politics, not our good intentions, not our charity, not even our theological knowledge.
The great Protestant Reformer Martin Luther came to understand this well. Before he discovered the biblical doctrine of justification by faith, he lived in spiritual torment. Luther fasted constantly, deprived himself of sleep, and spent endless hours confessing his sins to his superiors. He pursued holiness with exhausting intensity, believing that if he disciplined himself enough, suffered enough, prayed enough, and performed enough religious duties, he might finally earn God's favor and a place in Heaven.
Later, Luther famously said: “If ever a monk could get to Heaven by mockery, it was I.”
Yet the harder he tried, the more acutely aware he became of his own sinfulness. None of his religion could quiet his conscience. None of his efforts could erase his guilt. The problem was not merely that Luther had committed sins. The problem was that he was a sinner by nature, spiritually bankrupt before a holy God. This is precisely what Jesus is talking about.
The poor in spirit are those who finally stop pretending. They stop presenting God with their spiritual résumé and stop trying to bargain with Him through good works and moral accomplishments.
They are like the publican in Jesus’ parable who “would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner’” (Luke 18:13).
The poor in spirit understand what the proud never will: salvation is not a reward for the deserving but mercy for the undeserving.
And strangely enough, Jesus says those are the people who are truly blessed.
Why? Because only empty hands can receive grace. Only the spiritually bankrupt will ever seek forgiveness in Christ alone. The Kingdom of Heaven belongs not to the self-confident but to the spiritually broken who cast themselves entirely upon God's mercy.
Once a person becomes poor in spirit — once he truly recognizes his spiritual bankruptcy before God — something else inevitably follows: mourning.
This is why the second Beatitude naturally follows the first. Jesus says: “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).
Jesus is not primarily speaking of ordinary sorrow, though God certainly comforts people in their grief and suffering. But here Jesus is speaking of sorrow for sin.
The person who is poor in spirit no longer excuses, minimizes, rationalizes, or laughs off sin. He mourns because he recognizes that sin is not merely the breach of a rule; it is an offense against the God who loves him.
The renowned evangelist Billy Graham once said he longed for the return of the old Methodist mourner’s bench. In World Aflame, he wrote: “Some think of the old mourners’ bench, and it might not be such a bad idea to get back to the mourners’ bench … What many people need is an experience at an old Methodist mourners’ bench. Repentance can be one of the most glorious experiences you will ever have.” The mourner’s bench was not merely a place for emotion. It was a place for conviction, confession, repentance, and grace. Jesus said that such mourners are blessed because this kind of mourning leads somewhere. It leads to genuine repentance, forgiveness, cleansing, and a personal relationship with Christ. Perhaps one reason we see so little genuine mourning over sin today is that many churches have traded conviction for comfort, repentance for relevance, and holiness for entertainment.
In many places, worship services now resemble concerts more than sacred assemblies. The lights are dimmed, the smoke machines are running, and the volume is turned up. While emotion may swell, one wonders where the soul’s stillness has gone when God’s presence draws near. Sermons, too, are mostly
about happiness, success, relationships, and self-fulfillment. Those themes are not wrong in themselves, but when the cross of Christ is barely mentioned, and the holiness of God and the seriousness of sin are absent, the church is not making disciples, it's just making religious consumers — people uplifted but not undone, inspired but not transformed. Even the growing fascination with ecstatic experiences must be tested by Scripture, for when the Spirit of God truly moves in power, people are not merely overcome by sensation; they are brought low before God. They are convicted. They repent. They cry out to God for mercy.
Before we can experience the comfort God gives, there must first be conviction. Before there can be rejoicing, there must be the mourning of repentance.
And the promise is beautiful: those who mourn over sin “shall be comforted.”
God comforts the broken sinner with mercy, forgiveness through the Cross, and the assurance that though our sins are many, His grace is greater still.
THE PROOF OF OUR SALVATION
1 Peter 1:6-9
Nobody likes adversity. But if you’re a believer, difficulties and suffering are valuable because they can strengthen your faith and prove it is genuine. Unfortunately, many churchgoers today continually wonder whether they ever actually received salvation. Even scriptural assurances of eternal security may bring no comfort to people who aren’t sure they are saved. Using an illustration of seed sown on different kinds of soil (Matt. 13:18-23), Jesus told a parable about various responses to the gospel. He described one of the soils as rocky, likening it to someone who initially receives the good news with joy. But on encountering trials, the person falls away because superficial trust in Christ often fades when tested by hardship.
In contrast, Peter says that when professing believers are beset by trials yet remain steadfast in the Lord Jesus, their faith is proved genuine. The result is confidence in their salvation, and with each new trial, assurance and trust in Christ grows. Their continued perseverance is the fruit of salvation that demonstrates they are abiding in Him (John 15:5).
That’s why we can rejoice even in our sufferings—because through them, God is assuring us of our salvation and conforming us to His image. Knowing this should give us hope and encouragement to continue the process of sanctification, because we have confidence that our salvation will be completed with the resurrection of our bodies.
The next time you face trouble, remember God wants you to know that your salvation is genuine. So hold tightly to Christ and keep trusting Him.
In Touch Ministry