Romans 12:12 "Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer..."
These qualities are certainly important for us as believers today.
Paul tells us in Romans 15:13 "...Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing...."
We really are to rejoice in the Lord because He is the God of hope. As we place the God of hope before us we can more easily work patiently through our trials and tribulations and be able to continue steadfastly in prayer.
Over the past years I have been an advisor for the Middle East prayer group at Elim Bible Institute. We as a group prayed for all the countries of the Middle East including Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey, asking the Lord to bring the peoples of these nations to salvation.
In 2005 and 2006 Shawn Neitz was the student leader of that group. On August 26th of this year our Afghan family, the Ebrahimis, arrived, and the next day as we toured the EBI campus Shawn came up. I introduced him to the Ebrahimis and remembered that Shawn had once led our Middle East prayer group. I asked him what years he had led the group. He replied, "2005 and 2006."
The Ebrahamis came to a country in the Middle East in 2005 and began attending a meeting of those who followed Jesus. In 2006, through a series of events among the same believers, the couple came to a place of full commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. The very years Shawn and the prayer group had prayed for these countries were the years the Lord was working to answer and on Friday, August 27th He very quietly brought us together to show us what He had done.
Through the prayers of that group and many others the Lord was faithful to answer prayer and then after four years quietly bring us together. So, let us rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and continue steadfastly in prayer!
Today's Blogger: Pastor Dick Dreyer
Tomorrow's Text: Grace Day
Friday, September 10, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
foreshadowing
1 Cor. 12:1-16:24; 2 Corinthians
Almost every good book or movie contains an element of foreshadowing. In the greatest story ever told, our God left us some clues as to His future plans for the story of mankind.
For today's New Testament passage, we are reading I Corinthians 12:1 through the end of II Corinthians. In I Corinthians 15, Paul talks about our future Christian hope in the resurrection.
20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
The resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, was a foreshadowing of the resurrection of the saints that will happen upon his return. He was the "firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." The firstfruits are just the beginning of the harvest. We will receive a perfect resurrection body just like Jesus. Our natural bodies will be buried in the ground like a seed, and they will be raised at the second coming as imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual bodies. (vs. 42-44)
What does this mean for us as Christians? It means the fear of death has no hold over us. And when we're not afraid of death, there is no fear than can hold us back from living 100% for the Kingdom of God.
Check out N.T. Wright's book "Surprised by Hope" for more on the theology of resurrection and the implications of the Christian hope.
If you’re into music as much as I am, check out the lyrics for the song “Perfector” by one of my favorite bands, My Epic.
Today's Blogger: Josh Cummings
Tomorrow's Text: Romans
Almost every good book or movie contains an element of foreshadowing. In the greatest story ever told, our God left us some clues as to His future plans for the story of mankind.
For today's New Testament passage, we are reading I Corinthians 12:1 through the end of II Corinthians. In I Corinthians 15, Paul talks about our future Christian hope in the resurrection.
20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
The resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, was a foreshadowing of the resurrection of the saints that will happen upon his return. He was the "firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." The firstfruits are just the beginning of the harvest. We will receive a perfect resurrection body just like Jesus. Our natural bodies will be buried in the ground like a seed, and they will be raised at the second coming as imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual bodies. (vs. 42-44)
What does this mean for us as Christians? It means the fear of death has no hold over us. And when we're not afraid of death, there is no fear than can hold us back from living 100% for the Kingdom of God.
Check out N.T. Wright's book "Surprised by Hope" for more on the theology of resurrection and the implications of the Christian hope.
If you’re into music as much as I am, check out the lyrics for the song “Perfector” by one of my favorite bands, My Epic.
Today's Blogger: Josh Cummings
Tomorrow's Text: Romans
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
beyond awesome
“We do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him…And so we will be with the Lord forever.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13, 14, 17
I make no pretense that I understand what all will happen in the end times. I’ve heard from those who are pre-tribulation, post-trib, pan-millennialists, and I’m not sure what I think about the timing of it all. I am pretty confident, though, that toward the end, things are going to get very bad for a while, and I selfishly hope I’m not around then. But I am also totally confident that then Jesus WILL return, and that part will be BEYOND AWESOME! In fact, He is constantly working in our lives now to get us ready to meet Him. (1 Thess. 3:13)
He also is working to get as many people as possible into His kingdom before He returns. This year I experienced His incredible patience and love for those who are not yet His, as I saw Him woo my mother. My mom grew up in a Southern Baptist family who loved the Lord, but for whatever reasons she had not yielded her life to Him.
Over the years, I had shared my faith with her, as had several other family members, with seemingly no effect. Then last fall, she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and her health deteriorated rapidly. One day my uncle (a believer) visited her and told her frankly, “Fran, we want to be sure what's going to happen to you.” He then (again) explained how Jesus had died for her salvation and asked if she wanted to pray with him to accept Christ. And this time she said yes!
As I sat with my mom in her last days, as she teetered between this world and the next, I was able to encourage her to let go of her life here and that Jesus was waiting for her with loving, open arms in an amazing eternity. She died peacefully on February 22. Of course, I miss my mom a lot, but I don’t grieve “as those who have no hope.” I know she is with Him forever.
Today's Blogger: Terri Cavanaugh
Tomorrow's Text: 1 Cor. 12:1-16:24; 2 Corinthians
I make no pretense that I understand what all will happen in the end times. I’ve heard from those who are pre-tribulation, post-trib, pan-millennialists, and I’m not sure what I think about the timing of it all. I am pretty confident, though, that toward the end, things are going to get very bad for a while, and I selfishly hope I’m not around then. But I am also totally confident that then Jesus WILL return, and that part will be BEYOND AWESOME! In fact, He is constantly working in our lives now to get us ready to meet Him. (1 Thess. 3:13)
He also is working to get as many people as possible into His kingdom before He returns. This year I experienced His incredible patience and love for those who are not yet His, as I saw Him woo my mother. My mom grew up in a Southern Baptist family who loved the Lord, but for whatever reasons she had not yielded her life to Him.
Over the years, I had shared my faith with her, as had several other family members, with seemingly no effect. Then last fall, she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and her health deteriorated rapidly. One day my uncle (a believer) visited her and told her frankly, “Fran, we want to be sure what's going to happen to you.” He then (again) explained how Jesus had died for her salvation and asked if she wanted to pray with him to accept Christ. And this time she said yes!
As I sat with my mom in her last days, as she teetered between this world and the next, I was able to encourage her to let go of her life here and that Jesus was waiting for her with loving, open arms in an amazing eternity. She died peacefully on February 22. Of course, I miss my mom a lot, but I don’t grieve “as those who have no hope.” I know she is with Him forever.
Today's Blogger: Terri Cavanaugh
Tomorrow's Text: 1 Cor. 12:1-16:24; 2 Corinthians
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
heresies are like weeds
Mark 12:1-16:20; James; Galatians
Mark, apart from the gospel that bears his name, appears elsewhere as a secondary figure. Cousin of Barnabas, he might have been the man who escaped from the soldiers who arrested our Lord. He is obviously something of an activist recording nineteen miracles compared with eight recorded by John and only eight parables compared with twenty-five recorded by Luke. After the briefest of introductions he enters immediately on his story.
Heresies are like weeds, they are hard to be rid of and seem to be self-propagating. Man is easily capable of inventing his own heresies and markedly incapable of improving on Divine revelation. Paul is emotional elsewhere but in Galatians I feel his passion, perhaps even rage, more strongly than anywhere else. He has perhaps learned by experience that nothing can be more frustrating and opposed to the gospel than the continuing effort to produce Christian character unaided by the Holy Spirit and then to assume that my acceptance by the Father is on the basis of that performance.
Paul's Christian experience began with his confession of Jesus's supremacy when he addressed Him as Lord. (Acts 9.5.) but my suspicion is that the doctrinal, ethical and practical fruition of that initial confession demanded more than his three days of blindness and might well have developed during his three years in Arabia. Did he visit Horeb where both Moses and Elijah had been before him?
We do not easily or rapidly accept our inate ignorance of what we must do to please the Father and when we have learned a little we must then discover our inability to perform what hopefully we now desire. One of my secretaries had on the wall of her office which was next to mine a framed Pennsylvania/Dutch proverb which read "We get too soon old and too late smart".
James, sometimes known as "the Less" or "the Just" the brother of our Lord became the first bishop of Jerusalem. Sometimes called "camel-knees" because of the deformity produced by his rigorous prayer practices, he was a strict vegetarian apart from the Passover lamb and history says he never cut his hair, shaved or bathed and continued to have a high regard for the law. The last reference to James in Acts 21. 18-26 would seem to confirm this.
Today's Blogger: Rev. David Edwards
Tomorrow's Text: 1 Thess.; 2 Thess.; 1 Cor. 1:1-11:34
Mark, apart from the gospel that bears his name, appears elsewhere as a secondary figure. Cousin of Barnabas, he might have been the man who escaped from the soldiers who arrested our Lord. He is obviously something of an activist recording nineteen miracles compared with eight recorded by John and only eight parables compared with twenty-five recorded by Luke. After the briefest of introductions he enters immediately on his story.
Heresies are like weeds, they are hard to be rid of and seem to be self-propagating. Man is easily capable of inventing his own heresies and markedly incapable of improving on Divine revelation. Paul is emotional elsewhere but in Galatians I feel his passion, perhaps even rage, more strongly than anywhere else. He has perhaps learned by experience that nothing can be more frustrating and opposed to the gospel than the continuing effort to produce Christian character unaided by the Holy Spirit and then to assume that my acceptance by the Father is on the basis of that performance.
Paul's Christian experience began with his confession of Jesus's supremacy when he addressed Him as Lord. (Acts 9.5.) but my suspicion is that the doctrinal, ethical and practical fruition of that initial confession demanded more than his three days of blindness and might well have developed during his three years in Arabia. Did he visit Horeb where both Moses and Elijah had been before him?
We do not easily or rapidly accept our inate ignorance of what we must do to please the Father and when we have learned a little we must then discover our inability to perform what hopefully we now desire. One of my secretaries had on the wall of her office which was next to mine a framed Pennsylvania/Dutch proverb which read "We get too soon old and too late smart".
James, sometimes known as "the Less" or "the Just" the brother of our Lord became the first bishop of Jerusalem. Sometimes called "camel-knees" because of the deformity produced by his rigorous prayer practices, he was a strict vegetarian apart from the Passover lamb and history says he never cut his hair, shaved or bathed and continued to have a high regard for the law. The last reference to James in Acts 21. 18-26 would seem to confirm this.
Today's Blogger: Rev. David Edwards
Tomorrow's Text: 1 Thess.; 2 Thess.; 1 Cor. 1:1-11:34
Monday, September 6, 2010
"be a man"
Mark 1:1-11:33
"Be a Man" had always been my motto. The idea that I can do anything and everything gave me a lot of scars, aches and pains. Many of us have grown up in a country where we self make ourselves, weakness is looked down on, failure is not an option. We honor those who have no known weaknesses or flaws, but this is completely contrary to what Christ taught us.
Christ's message was about humility. I remember after a mistake that was made Pastor Mike Cavanaugh sent me an email that said, “perfection is not our aim, humility is.” This is what Paul was told after pleading with the Lord three times to remove a thorn in the flesh, “But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
When we don’t try to hide our weakness or be something that we are not, we actually see Christ glorified in our lives. When we try to cover up our weaknesses in our own strength we actually diminish the access to Christ's power in our lives. God is not looking for the healthy - Jesus actually said He didn’t come for the healthy but the sick. God desires for us to call out to Him in our weakness, so He can help us. If we don’t recognize our weakness we can’t recognize our need for Him.
My challenge for you today is to call out to God for help in your weak areas, whether it be your marriage, your job, your finances, your sickness, any area you may be lacking faith in, and let’s see His power made perfect in our lives.
Today's Blogger: Pastor Seth Goodson
Tomorrow's Text: Mark 12:1-16:20; James; Galatians
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
