9-22/23-2018 Take It Through The Week

9-22/23-2018 Take It Through The Week

Monday- Romans 3:23–25  Aren’t you glad we are all in the same boat? Well, actually I mean they have all sunk. Big boats, small boats, all sunk to the bottom with no hope of recovery or salvage, without help, that is. …all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are all the same. God used the word all because He meant it. And for those who choose of their own free will to accept God’s solution for our sinking boat, we are justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. All who chose to, can be justified. Why would God extend grace to anyone who will choose it? He gives grace to demonstrate His righteousness. God is just that good. God is just that faithful. He is just that merciful. He is just that unfair. What? Unfair? Yes, we who deserve no grace and are not that good sometimes, at extending it to others, don’t deserve the level of grace God has given us. God didn’t give us fair. He gave us grace. Aren’t you glad? I know I am. Take a few moments and thank God for His precious gift of Grace.
Tuesday – Acts 4:32–35 …great grace was on all of them.  The whole church was filled with God’s Grace and it was extended toward one another. It has been my experience in life that there is a point at which most believers will argue. I know, not you and not me, but everybody else. LOL. There is a point at which, if we are not careful and humble, that our goals and dreams for the church will become more important than God’s purposes for the church. Now the large group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own. Man, many a cult has been started with this verse. Many a commune has been started with it. Many misguided and evil leaders have duped and fleeced their flock with a verse like this, when the possessions were not what was important. What was really important was,  great grace was on all of them.  And it was, one heart and mind, that was important. When great grace was on all of them, and believers were of one heart and mind, wonderful things happened. That’s what happened back in Acts, and it can still happen today. Read Acts 2:44-46.  Again, not the part about possessions, but the part about their joyful and humble attitude praising God and having favor with the people. When the church is unified, people want to be a part of that. And more than anything else, God wants people in the church. Pray with me. Kind and gracious Father-God, thank you for Your grace extended to me. Thank You for Your favor and blessing extended to me. Help me to walk together with all the other believers and to meet their needs. Help us to encourage one another and build up one another. And together, to build up your Kingdom. Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Wednesday – Zechariah 12:9–10 All of human history is slanted and pointed toward a day that is coming. It will come at a particular time, in a particular place, and will be about a particular person. Jesus. Of course it is not enough to say, person, because He was fully-God and fully-man. And on that day, He will destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. It will be their intent to do away with Israel and usher in another kingdom. But it is the King of all Kings who will establish His Kingdom that will never end. Yes, it speaks of that day in Rev. 19:11-16. But it speaks of that day throughout the Bible. Here, Zechariah was shown (prophetically) the day when time ceases to be.  And when Israel is saved from all the satanic forces amassed against them. They will receive a spirit of grace and power, as they look at me whom they pierced. They will recognize their mistake in rejecting Jesus for all those centuries. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for Him as one weeps for a firstborn.First they will weep, but then He will destroy every reason for tears and restore every lost joy as eternity begins and continues for as long as eternity can continue. Thank God, eternity means just that. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Thursday – Acts 20:22–26,32 As Paul was on his way through Ephesus for the last time, God had told him that he would not pass that way again. In town after town the Holy Spirit testifies to me that chains and afflictions are waiting for me. For you or I such a certain fate coming our direction, would likely cause us to dread what is ahead. However that is not what is important to Paul. And what is important to him, is certainly a life lesson for us today. He wanted to make sure everyone knew that he had preached the Word and therefore he was innocent of everyone’s blood. That meant that in Paul’s heart he knew he had given the Gospel to everyone who the Spirit led him to. That serves as an inspiration for us today. Who are you praying for and have you taken the opportunity to tell them what Jesus means to you? Because you see, the message of His grace, has always been committed to the next generation and so it is passed along, person to person, age to age.
Friday – Romans 5:19–21  When Adam sinned, all men became sinners. He knew what God had said to stay away from, and yet he purposefully went after the one thing God had made off limits. Adam’s every need was met in the Garden and yet, the one want he had was his undoing. Yes, I know Eve was also at fault, but it has ever been the man’s duty to know what God has said. And that was Adam’s sin, he knew what God had said but he didn’t do it. For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. The law was given to multiply the trespass.One sin was all it took to change the world forever. Sin multiplied.  And from there transgressions of the law have become the norm rather than the exception. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more. Aren’t you glad? Aren’t you thankful, that our many sins did not prove cause enough for God to condemn us, many times over. Rather the multitude of our sins, caused God to multiply grace even more toward us. Imagine that, God multiplied grace toward sinful men. He did not want us to die, rather He wanted grace to reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Pray with me. Righteous God of Grace and Glory, thanks and gratitude are given to You by all who know You. You know us and yet you choose to love us and to multiply Your Grace toward us. We worship You. We honor You. We love You. Be exalted in our lives and homes. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.
Saturday – Romans 6:1–3, 12  It is so easy to become lax and lazy, when we realize all the grace that has been given to us. We are sinners and so sin comes easily. And there is no greater sin than sinning simply because we know God has given us His Word to forgive us, when we ask. So should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! We must continue to draw a line in the sand of our lives, that when crossed, is to be confessed. No one else can do it for us, and no one else should do it for us. Conviction of sin after salvation is a privilege reserved for the saints of God. It is that conviction that separates the Old from the New Covenant. The strength of the New Covenant is the indwelling by the Holy Spirit that moves us back into right relationship with God, and by it, we are not left to our own devices. The child of God must respond to conviction and confess or we are the most miserable, wretched people on earth. The lost drunk in the gutter is less miserable than a child of God who continues willfully sinning. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. It is not an option, it is a command. And it is for our benefit and for our growth. It is what keeps us safe toward eternity. Conviction changes us and blesses us. Take a few moments and thank God for His Grace and for the convicting gratitude that makes us holy and useful to Him.