MEDITATION MONDAY.
I was still chewing on the words from Steve's sermon last week, "God did not call us to be happy, He called us to be HOLY!" Then, yesterday, Dan, for the first time in decades preached a "hell, fire, and brimstone" lesson. Yet, that lesson was preceded by amazing songs about GRACE and a very thought provoking communion talk.
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We do not get the full picture of God unless we have a perspective of His GRACE and TRUTH and understand verses like, John 4:24, " God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in SPIRIT and in TRUTH." Dan emphasized that it's not just that a person have the numbers to open a combination lock. Unless you have those numbers in the right order, the lock (or door) will not open.
The truth is that our LORD of GRACE, MERCY, and COMPASSION said these words, in Matthew 7:22-23,
"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name (Did we not have the right numbers?), and in Your name drive out
demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. (You never understood the combination to get you in the door!) Away from me, you evildoers!'"
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Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, reminds us in Acts 4:12 "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
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Then, Paul reminds us in Galatians 1:6-8, "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the One who called you by the GRACE of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!"
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Paul went on to say in Galatians 3:26-29,
26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
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We need to know that there are "other gospels" that are preached. One is the "health and prosperity gospel". I believe that it is in direct opposition to our scripture memory for this month, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10,
"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. . That is
why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in
persecutions, in difficulties. .."
.I was so touched by Jonathan's 3 part "table talk", yesterday morning, that I asked him for the words and (for now) want to share with you one of the things that he shared. Jonathan said,
"I recently stumbled across a sermon from a Methodist Church in Reno, NV. In it, the speaker attempted to answer the age old question,
'Why do good things happen to bad people?'
in a way that I had never heard before and I think it is relevant to my message today. I think that, in some ways, you could substitute hopelessness for pain in this quote, but here goes. 'As we live through times of pain and sorrow, we begin to realize why bad things happen to good people. It takes PAIN and GRACE in our lives to be most fully human.
- A person who has experienced only pain WITHOUT GRACE becomes bitter.
- Likewise a person who has lived knowing ONLY GRACE without any pain cannot have compassion.
It takes both PAIN and GRACE to be fully human, to be able to reach out to others who suffer. It takes GRACE and PAIN to be truly thankful.'”
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Thank you, Jesus, for allowing Steve, Dan, and Jonathan to all have thoughts for us to meditate on today..
Last night, I was on Facebook and my friend Dottie Schulz had this on her status - more meditation:
- “There are places in the heart that do not yet exist; suffering has to enter in for them to come to be.” Leon Bloy
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Food for thought:
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It's about the cross!
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
"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. . That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties..."
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