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December 30, 2020

“Reaffirm Your Love for Him”

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8 So I urge you now to reaffirm your love for him. – 2 Cor. 2:8

2 Cor. 2:5-11 NLT

It appears that someone in the church at Corinth had done something that was deserving of discipline by the church body. Whatever the action was, it had caused a great deal of grief in the church.  Paul is writing to tell them that the discipline has been sufficient and now it is time for the church to move on and let the healing begin.  The church now needs to restore that one to their fellowship and reaffirm their love for him or he could be completely overwhelmed. In every family, whether it be our church or our physical family, there are disagreements, some severe enough to be deserving of corrective action.  But once that action has been taken, it is time to restore and reaffirm our love for each other.

1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. — Galatians 6:1 NIV

The restoration is not a favor to the perpetrator, but a necessary step in the forgiving process that brings glory to God.  True forgiveness releases all anger and resentment against that person and allows us to enjoy the freedom we have in God’s forgiveness of our sins.  It also defeats satan’s schemes since it will keep us from allowing a root of bitterness to grow in us, which will steal our joy.

14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many– Hebrews 12:14-15 NIV

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

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February 26, 2017

Oh! To Know Him!

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7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. — Philippians 3:7
Philippians 3:5-11 NLT

There is absolutely no action or good work that we can do that will save our souls. Our righteousness is like filthy rags compared to the righteousness of Jesus. So, living good lives, doing good deeds, and obeying the law are useless for salvation. Sooner or later, we all have to kneel before Jesus, confess our sins, repent, take up our cross and follow Jesus. We are saved by grace through faith, lest any of us should brag that we have somehow saved ourselves. We must share in His suffering and death to experience the power that raised Jesus from the dead. When we do this, our hearts will be broken because of His suffering for us. But they will soon be filled with joy unspeakable because His Spirit abides in us and we will participate in His resurrection. We are in Christ and He is in us: therefore, we are totally immersed in Him. One day soon, we will be like Him! Hallelujah!

7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. — 2 Corinthians 4:7 NLT


“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 02-26-2017

November 12, 2016

Knock! Knock!

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8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.  — Matthew 7:8 NLT

We hear a lot of opinions on how we should pray. Some say you should only ask once and God will answer when and if He wants to. Some say you should only ask for certain things. What does God say about it? In the original text of the Bible, the Greek verbs were verbs that indicated this was a continuing action. Jesus concurs with this in the parable of the woman who kept bothering the unjust judge until he gave her what she wanted. In James, we are told that “all good gifts come down from the Father above”. Furthermore, God has said that He is our provider and that means more than spiritual salvation. When Jesus healed people, He used the term “made whole”. That means physical as well as spiritual. The simple truth is that we can ask God for any and every thing that doesn’t violate His Word and we can keep on asking Him. Think about what He said to Paul. Paul had asked Jesus 3 times for healing and God said “my grace is sufficient”. That was God’s answer to Paul’s prayer. Unless God has answered your prayer (and that doesn’t always mean that He gives us what we want, but He does give us what we need) keep on asking. Look again at verse 8 above: “For everyone who asks receives……”

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 11-12-2016