Grace For The Journey

  We are looking into the verse in Romans 8:28 seeking to unfold the tremendous truths for life that God has there.  We are seeking to understand and apply this verse by thinking through four biblical truths.  Yesterday we will looked at the first truth: God has an eternal purpose and He is able to accomplish His purpose.  Today we will look at the second principle:

2. God’s eternal purpose includes calling to salvation a people for Himself.

In 2 Timothy 1:9, Paul says that God “has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”  In our text, Paul describes those for whom God works all things together for good as “those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.”

Note that Romans 8:28 does not promise that all things work together for good for all people.  It is not a verse for universal optimism.  For those who reject or hate God and are not called according to His purpose, the future holds condemnation and eternal punishment, if they do not repent.  So, according to the Bible, the promise that God will work all things together for good is only for His elect, whom He purposes to save.  Paul describes the elect in two ways:

a. Those for whom all things work together for good love God.

This is the human side of things, although God is behind it.  None of us would love God if He had not first loved us (1 John 4:19; Ephesians 2:3-7).  But when we heard the gospel, that because He loves the world God gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him has eternal life (John 3:16), we responded in faith so that now we love Him.

He changed our hearts from being being hostile toward Him

To wanting to please Him because we love Him.

To wanting to please Him because we love Him.Also, loving God (in Romans 8:28) is not a condition, but a description.  In other words, Paul is not saying that as long as you really love God, He will work everything together for good for you, but if your love for God grows cold, He won’t work everything for good. That wouldn’t be much comfort!  Although at times our love for God may need reviving (Revelations 2:4-5), it can still be said of every true Christian that we do love God.  It’s the bent of our lives.

Paul only refers to our love for God in three other places (1 Corinthians 2:9; 8:3; Ephesians 6:24).  So we have to ask, why did he mention it here?  Perhaps he mentions it here in the context of trials because at such times we need to affirm our love for God and His love for us.  During trials the devil tempts us to doubt God’s love for us. We need to be reminded not only that God loves us, but also that because He gave His Son for us, we now love Him.  He is our chief treasure.

Also, in a time of persecution, love for God (and His love for us) is the one thing that can’t be taken from us.  This evil world can deprive us of our possessions. It can torture us and kill our bodies.  But it can’t take our chief treasure.  As Psalm 73:25-26 puts it, “Whom have I in heaven but You?  And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.  My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” So those who have tasted God’s love through the gospel love Him.  They are the ones for whom God is working all things together for good.

b. Those for whom all things work together for good are called according to God’s purpose.

This is the same group that loves God, but described from God’s point of view.  Paul adds this description so that no one will mistakenly think that his own love for God is the primary thing.  Rather, our love for God stems from His sovereign calling us.  As someone has said, “Not one link in the chain of actual Redemption is of our forging – or the whole would indeed be fragile.”

In the New Testament epistles, the word “call” or “calling” always refers to God’s effectual call, which accomplishes His purpose.  The Westminster Shorter Catechism (Answer 31) states, “Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, He doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.”  When God effectually calls us to salvation, He does not drag us kicking and screaming, against our will.  Rather, when we come to Christ, we come freely because He has made us willing by His grace (John 6:37).

How can you know whether God has called you?  When you heard the gospel, that Christ died for sinners and that God offers forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who believe in Christ, did you believe?  Did you come to Jesus?  Did God change your heart?  Before, you didn’t love God, but now you do.  Before you didn’t care about the Bible, but now you treasure it as God’s very word.  Before, you loved your sin and made excuses for it, but now you hate it and fight against it.  If so, then be assured that God is working all things together for good for you.  But, what does that mean? Are we supposed to view tragedies in our lives as good?  We will talk about that tomorrow.

This is God’s Word For Tod

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  Last Friday we began to look into the verse in Romans 8:28 seeking to unfold the tremendous truths for life that God has there.  This week we will seek to understand and apply this verse by thinking through four biblical truths.  Today we will look at the first truth:

1. God has an eternal purpose and He is able to accomplish His purpose.

This truth is foundational to the truth of Romans 8:28.  If God doesn’t have a purpose, then He couldn’t work all things according to that purpose.  Or, if He has a purpose, but He’s not able to carry it out, then your trials might be sabotaging His purpose.  A heretical view held by some professing evangelicals called Open Theism argues that God is not sovereign over the terrible things that happen in the world.  They’re trying to get God off the hook for suffering, but they rob Romans 8:28 of its comfort for us in times of suffering. We must affirm three things about God’s purpose:

     A. God has an eternal purpose that cannot be thwarted.

If a man is going to do anything of significance – build a house, found a company, or take a trip – he has a purpose and a plan to accomplish that purpose.  It’s unthinkable that the Sovereign God created the universe with no purpose or no plan to achieve that purpose.  But we don’t need to infer this by logic; the Bible often affirms that God has a purpose that can’t be thwarted.

• In the oldest book of the Bible, after all his suffering, Job replies to the Lord (42:2), “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.”
• In Isaiah 14:24, with regard to the eventual downfall of Israel’s enemy, Assyria, the prophet states, “The Lord of hosts has sworn saying, ‘Surely, just as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand.”
• Later, regarding God’s purpose to raise up Cyrus to free Israel from captivity, Isaiah (46:9-11) cites the Lord as saying, “Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.’”
• In Ephesians, after stating how God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world and predestined us to adoption as sons (1:4, 5), Paul adds (1:11), “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.”
• Also, in Ephesians 3:11, God declares, “According to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The Bible clearly teaches that God has an eternal purpose to glorify Himself by saving a people through His grace, so that Christ would be preeminent in all things.  And nothing can thwart His purpose. This means that…

B. Sinful people are not able to thwart or frustrate God’s purpose.

After speaking of God as the Almighty Creator, who spoke the universe into existence, the psalmist adds (Psalm 33:10-11), “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.  The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.”  So . . .

Rather than sinful people frustrating God’s purpose,

God frustrates their purpose!

This truth is all through the Bible, but let me give you two examples.  Genesis 37-50 unfolds the history of Joseph and his brothers.  Their father Jacob favored Joseph, which caused his brothers to hate him.  They sold him into slavery in Egypt and lied to their father that a wild beast had killed him.  In the providence of God, Joseph rose from prison to the position of second in command to Pharaoh.  In that role, he was able to save his extended family during a long famine.  He later explained to them in Genesis 50:20, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” Joseph’s brothers’ sin could not thwart God’s greater purpose for His people.

The New Testament tells of the greatest evil that has ever been committed, when sinful men crucified the sinless Son of God.  But did these evil men, acting under Satan’s influence, thwart God’s plan?  In Acts 4:27-28 we read the prayer of the early church when they faced persecution, “For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, who You anointed, bot Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.”  The wicked men were responsible for their sin, but their sin fulfilled rather than thwarted God’s plan.

This means that no sinful person can thwart God’s purpose or plan for your life.  The sinful mate who left you for another woman didn’t ruin God’s plan for your life.  The drunk driver who killed your loved ones can’t frustrate God’s purpose for their lives or your life.  The evil person at work who lied about you and got you wrongfully fired didn’t divert God’s purpose for your life.

The Bible is clear that God is sovereign and people make choices for which they are responsible.  We must affirm both.  But the point is, no choice of the worst sinner, even of a man like Hitler, can thwart God’s purpose to save and glorify His people.  Romans 8:28 only works if God has an eternal purpose that He is able to accomplish in spite of sinful people.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  Beginning today, and for all of next week, I want to unfold the truths God has for us in Romans 8:28.  This is a powerfully packed verse that offers us great instruction and encouragement.  God is in control and He is at work in our lives every second of each day.  This verse tells us that our loving and powerful God works “all things” together for our good.  Therefore, it is absolutely important to understand what the Bible says and what it does not say regarding “all things.”

The Bible says in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Notice first what the apostle Paul does not say.  He does not say that “All things are good.”  Why?  Simply because all things are not good!

• Broken families are not good.
• Sickness and disease are not good.
• Violence is not good.
• Physical abuse is not good.
• Wars are not good.
• Loss of life is not good.
• Our sin is not good.

I’m sure you could add a great many more things to this list.

The Bible never said that all things are good;

What it does say is that

All things will ultimately work together for good.

A lot of bad things happen in this life because everything is broken.  Because of the sin of our first parents, our vertical relationship with God is broken and our horizontal relationships with each other are broken.  In addition to these vertical and horizontal breakdowns, we live in a world that was once perfect but now groans in frustration and decay (see Romans 8:19-22).  We see evidence of this in the countless diseases and natural disasters that devastate lives all over the world.

Bottom line:

It is plain to see that there is a lot of bad in this world.

But in spite of all the bad,

God has promised to work all of it out for our good!

That’s right;

God is working everything we go through –

All the pain and suffering and sorrow and loss –

For our good.

Now, I know from personal experience that this is very difficult to see when we are in the middle of a hardship or heartache.  I’m sure you can relate to that!  But as time passes, we often look back and see how God used every bit of that difficult situation for our good.

This is not always the case, however.  As a pastor, I am confronted with some of the really awful things that happen in life, and I often have to acknowledge that we will not see the good on this side of the grave.  And that is why we must trust in this promise: that the God who made heaven and earth is working everything out for our good.

Here is one of the best ways to look at the difficulties of life: Picture the cross. The absolutely worst act of violence and evil occurred when Jesus was crucified on a cross. To the watching world, Jesus died a criminal’s death as a false prophet and blasphemer.  The disciples went into hiding, fearing that they would meet with the same fate.  But on the third day . . .

The worst thing that ever happened

Turned out to be the best thing that ever happened!

Remember, whatever you are facing today, God has a different perspective than you do.  He has ordained both the beginning and the end, and He knows precisely what is best for you in your life right now.

We must trust in God heart,

Even when we cannot trace Him hand,

Knowing that all things –

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Will ultimately work for our good and His glory

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  I have a great word of encouragement for you today!  It is found in the answer to this question: “If you are out in a field or valley, far away from a water supply, how do you get water without rain?”  The answer is found in God’s Word.  The Bible says in 2 Kings 3:16-17, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I will fill this valley with pools of water.’  For this is what the Lord says: ‘You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle, and your other animals will drink.  This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord.’”

Second Kings recounts the dire circumstances confronting three armies that were suffering from severe thirst, with no relief in sight . . . until the Lord God Omnipotent intervened.  Without sending any wind or rain, God supplied all the water that was needed by both man and beast!

Mark this well, beloved reader:

Our God is not dependent

Upon ordinary means

To meet extraordinary needs.

Our God is in the business of meeting every need of His people.  But He meets those needs in His way and in His timing, and He is never dependent upon the natural way by which we would expect those needs to be met.

Here is another way to look at this truth and be encouraged.

We are never to look at what would be called secondary causes – rain for water –

Because behind the rain is the Righteous Rainmaker of the Universe.

Our God needs no means to meet our needs. He simply wills what we need into existence whenever He sees fit.  To be sure, God is pleased to use ordinary means to meet our needs, and frequently this is the way He does it.  But when supernatural pathways are in His plans, we are called to look beyond the secondary causes and see the First and Faithful Cause: the sovereign Creator of the universe.

If our God can bring us water without rain, He can bring healing without medicine and doctors. To be sure, God uses the most advanced medical treatments available to man. But there are times when medicine falls short but our God brings the cure.  The doctors are bewildered, but the believer is strengthened in his faith, seeing the truth of Scripture born out: with God all things are possible!  Our God is not confined to answering our prayers in the way we expect it or in the way He has done in the past.  He will always meet us in our place of deepest need, but it will always be in His way . . . and often that will be an unexpected way!

We can all think back to times of prayers that were not answered in the ways we expected.  Water quenched our thirst, yet there was no rain.  A financial obligation was met, yet there was no money.  Healing was achieved, yet there was no medical pathway to recovery.

Wherever there is lack in your life right now,

Know this:

Your loving heavenly Father can bring you abundance in unexpected ways.

God is not dependent upon anyone or anything to accomplish His purposes in your life. Look to Him and Him alone, and you will soon be standing knee-deep in streams of water . . . with no rain in sight!

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

The world would have us believe that all roads lead to heaven.

The world often paints a picture of a mountain with God sitting at the peak and countless pathways up the mountain to climb up to the presence of God.  This thinking has even infected the church; one stunning survey recently conducted by LifeWay Research found that a full sixty percent (60%) of self-proclaimed “evangelical Christians” agreed with the statement that “Everyone eventually goes to heaven.”

Such beliefs are simply not true, as Jesus Himself makes perfectly clear in John 14:6: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”

Now, that is an exclusive truth claim!

No one comes to God the Father except through faith in His beloved Son.

Unbelievers frequently criticize the Christian faith for not being “inclusive,” but it is an undeniable fact that every religion makes exclusive truth claims.  Each religious worldview presents its own way to get to heaven (the afterlife, eternal life, etc.) and into the presence of God.

Now, every religious world view can in fact be false . . . but they cannot all be true.  If Jesus is who He says He is, then we must take Him at His word and believe there is only one way to eternal life and into the eternal presence of the Creator of the universe.

Here are a few truths to glean from John 14:6.

1. First, we cannot work our way into God’s presence.

It is by God’s grace that we are saved, not by our good works; we are saved on the basis of God’s mercy, not our merit. Jesus is the Way.

2. We see that Jesus is the Truth, which tells us there is indeed a category called truth.

Truth is not relative and everything is not true.  If Christianity as a religious world view is true, then every other religious world view must be false.

3. Jesus is the Life. Jesus gives us life and is our life, both every day and eternally.        Jesus is the Life.

Paul gave us great insight into this remarkable truth.  In 1 Timothy 2:5, he says, “There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.”

When Adam and Eve turned away from God,

The way to God was broken and barred.

Adam and Eve were banished from the presence of God and sent out of the Garden to live east of Eden.

Only through our Lord Jesus Christ is that way open to us again.

Through His sinless life, sacrificial death, and supernatural resurrection, Jesus made a way for us to reconnect with God.  As our Mediator, Jesus exercises a three-fold office:

• The Prophet who proclaims to us the truths of the Gospel;
• The Priest who offers Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sin;
• And the King who saves us from the dominion of sin, Satan, and death.

Let this word encourage you and challenge you today: there is only one way to eternal life, and that way is the Lord Jesus Christ.  Is He your way?  Have you transferred your trust from yourself to Jesus as the Only Way?  If you have accepted this truth, by grace through faith, then rejoice today that your Jesus is the One Way . . . the Only Way.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

Did you know that this is exactly where our Lord Jesus Christ was on the night He was betrayed . . . between two rocks? Let me explain; and I pray you will be greatly encouraged by this truth today.

When Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was taken first to Annas, the previous high priest, and then to his son-in-law Caiaphas, the current high priest. The Jewish historian Josephus recorded that the name Caiaphas literally means “rock.” While these illegal trials were going on, Peter, who was called Cephas (which also means “rock”) was out in the courtyard denying that he even knew His Lord.  So, in a sense, on the night Jesus was betrayed, He put Himself between two rocks: Peter the rock, and Caiaphas the rock. One rock was in the courtroom accusing Him and the other was in the courtyard denying Him.

But there was a huge difference between these two “rocks” . . .

A difference with eternal ramifications.

The Bible tells us in Luke 22:60-62, that Peter replied after three questions about his association with Jesus, “I don’t know what you are saying!”  Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.  And the Lord turned and looked at Peter.  Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”  So Peter went out and wept bitterly.”

The Lord Jesus Christ gave Peter one look after he had denied Him three times, and Peter was immediately seized with guilt and remorse.  He wept tears of repentance that were rooted in a godly sorrow.

This rock was softened by the grace of God.

Peter had denied Jesus three times, and his hard heart grew harder with each denial . . .  until that fateful moment when the rooster crowed and Jesus looked straight at him – not with condemnation, but with love and forgiveness.  Jesus had already told Peter that he would deny Him, but He also told Peter that He had prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail.  And so Peter was restored to a right relationship with his Redeemer. That restoration was confirmed in the remarkable exchange between Peter and our Lord that is recorded in the final chapter of John’s gospel.

Caiaphas, on the other hand, spent the night overseeing the wicked religious trials of Jesus, trials that were utterly inconsistent with Jewish law.  Jesus undoubtedly looked at Caiaphas several times throughout that long night, but the high priest’s cold heart remained rock hard.  Caiaphas had no room in his heart for Jesus; he wanted nothing to do with the true High Priest, who had been sent from above to take away the sins of the world.  Why?

Because Caiaphas refused to see himself as Peter saw himself

. . . As a sinner in need of a Savior.

Peter knew himself to be a sinner;

Caiaphas imagined himself to be a sinless religious leader of God’s people.

By nature, our hearts are all rock hard and alienated from God.  Our hearts beat for ourselves.

But one look from our Lord Jesus Christ can change all that

. . . If we see ourselves as sinners in need of a Savior.

Caiaphas did not see himself as being like everyone else – a sinner.  Peter could not imagine himself as anything but a sinner in need of the Savior who would forgive him for what he had done.

What a Savior we have in Jesus!

One look from Him can

Change a heart of stone into a heart of faith.

May that be the confession of all our lives.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  Ever look around and see someone who seems to be doing better, experiencing more peace and joy, earning more . . . someone who always seems to be getting the right breaks, is making a bigger impact for Christ, finds more favor with God, and on and on?  In a word, they seem like “super saints.”  Or maybe you think you have seen this person staring back at you in the mirror?

I have news for you.  There are no super saints!

Never have been . . . never will be.

As a pastor of a church that Jesus is currently building, it’s all too easy for me to take my eyes off Jesus and put them on myself and think that I am more than I am.  In those moments, I am so thankful that God has given me a partner in ministry—my beloved wife, Kay – who reminds me I am no super saint – and that the church we serve is Christ’s church, not mine!   What a precious gift from God – to have a wife who is not afraid to kindly but firmly tell her husband like it is . . . over and over and over again!

Evangelist D. L. Moody once quipped, “I’ve had more trouble with D. L. Moody than with any other man I’ve ever known.”  Thomas à Kempis advised, “Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish yourself to be.”  When G. K. Chesterton was asked what was wrong with the world, he promptly responded, “I am!”

Honesty is truly the best policy,

Especially when it comes

To being honest with ourselves!

When we acknowledge our true condition – great sinners in need of an even greater Savior – we begin to approach the place where we can be used by God.

Regardless of what we are doing for God,

We are only doing it because

He has given us the strength to do it.

Our next breath is a gift from God.  Our next heartbeat is a gift from God.  Our next step in the direction of advancing our service toward our Savior is a gift from God.  Daniel testified that “God . . . holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways” (Daniel 5:23).

Everything is a gift from God,

And when we understand this truth,

We see ourselves for what we truly are:

Weak, utterly dependent creatures.

We join David’s in Psalm 86:1,“Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy” (Psalm 86:1).  Make no mistake, the ground is always level at the foot of the cross . . . and that means there are no super saints!

Keeping this truth before you at all times will do two things.

1) If people regard you as some sort of super saint because of your character and service before God, receive the compliment with all humility – even with a measure of fear, for “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but a man is tested by the praise he receives” (Proverbs 27:21).  Give all the glory to God!

2) If you are quite sure that no one regards you as a super saint, perhaps because of your lack of ministry and service to God, remember that you are just as valuable to God and needed by God as everyone else!  You don’t believe me?  Answer this question: How many extra Christians has God made?  The answer, of course, is none.  The Bible says in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

You are a vital member of the body of Christ.

Pouring all your gifts, talents, and abilities into the service of your Lord will cause all the boats in the harbor to rise; refusing to do so diminishes us all.

Remember what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12-27, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free —and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.  And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.  If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’  On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,  while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

So . . . since there are no super saints in the service of our Savior, what are you waiting for?  God never calls you to do something without equipping you to get it done.  You have the greatest reason and motivation in the world to do all God is calling you to do: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

You are free to simply walk and serve

In the gifts and grace

That God gives you and leave the results to God.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For the Journey

  I read something interesting the other day.  In 1306, while Scotland was at war with England, Robert the Bruce became king of Scotland.  Legend says there was a time when Robert took refuge in a cave to hide from the armies of England, and while in the cave he saw a spider trying to attach its web to a ceiling beam.  Over and over, the spider tried and failed.  Eventually, however, the creature succeeded in its task.

After a number of battles, Robert the Bruce led his men in the Battle of Bannock-burn in 1314. It was there where Scotland won its independence.  This story of the spider is captured in the very familiar maxim . . . “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

Christian believer, I want you to carefully consider this:

Your life is to be defined by

Getting up one more time

Than you have been knocked down.

Or, put another way

Trust In God’s Design

And

Lean On His Power!

It’s as simple as that!  To be sure, God has called you into His perfect plan for your life, but make no mistake, along the way – perhaps even today – you will get knocked down.  During the years I was playing sports, I heard this maxim over and over from the coaches: “falling isn’t failing unless you fail to get up!”

The Bible exhorts us in Proverbs 24:16, “Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again.”

So, regardless of the personal, professional, or relational difficulties you may be facing today – perhaps, like Robert the Bruce, you find yourself in a proverbial “cave” of conflict or confusion – remember the story of the spider.  God has called you to be a spider-saint. Never give up and never give in!

The Bible is chock-full of examples of those who did not succeed at first … or on the second attempt … or even the third time.  You do remember Peter denying his Lord in the courtyard, don’t you?  Yet, our Lord would not let him stay down.  God helped Peter back up and set him right back into kingdom work by causing Peter to take his focus off his failure and put it back where it belonged – on Jesus.

God says in Isaiah 41:13, “I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”

Look today to the only One who can bring you both the encouragement and the power you need, no matter what “cave” is currently enclosing you.  Remember . . .

“If at first … or second … or third … you don’t make it,

Look to God and He will help you up!”

God has given you everything you need to be a spider-saint,

So keep trusting in God’s design for you and His power in Christ!

In the end, you will be glad you did and God will get the glory.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

 

Grace For The Journey

  When was the last time you felt like the apostle Peter and thought you knew better than the Lord in a particular area of life?  Have you ever given a refined rebuke or correction to the Almighty?

The Bible tells us in Matthew 16:22, “Then Peter took Him [Jesus] aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘Far from You, Lord: this shall not happen to You!’”

If you pause for a moment and think about your average day, you just might be surprised at how many times you say, “Never, Lord!”  And I think . . .

The area we all struggle the most is in the area of grace.

The words of 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness,” often convict me of my pride and arrogance in thinking . . .

That I can find someone, or, something

Other than Jesus to meet my needs,

Lift my spirits, and heal and encourage my hurting heart.

• We say “NEVER” to God’s grace when we look for our purpose in our profession.
• We say “NEVER” to God’s grace when we look for our significance in our success.
• We say “NEVER” to God’s grace when we look for our meaning in our ministry.
• We say “NEVER” to God’s grace when we look for our approval in our accomplishments.

God’s grace is sufficient to . . .

Save us,

Guide us,

Govern us,

And

Grow us into the person God is calling us to be.

His power is made perfect in our weakness, and it is God’s perfect plan to work through imperfect and weak people, providing all the purpose, significance, meaning, and approval we could possibly hope for or even imagine.

Far too often we say, “Never, Lord!” when it comes to acknowledging that His grace is totally sufficient for our salvation.

• To His mercy we want to add our merit.
• To His grace we want to add our goodness and good works.
• To His finished work we want to add our feeble works.

Our sinful, human nature simply will not receive

The completed work of our Savior on the cross;

We look for every imaginable way to supplement it.

Or, when we can receive the grace that is sufficient for our salvation we say, “Never, Lord!” to that same grace that sanctifies us as well.  Deep down we believe that the only way we will grow in our faith is by the spiritual sweat of our own brow.  We believe God will bless us when we do good and curse us when we do less than good.  We even go as far as to believe that God is angry with us and seeks to exact His pound of flesh when we step out of line and mess things up.

Let us never say “Never, Lord!” to the truths of the Gospel, because we simply cannot understand the greatness of our God.  May we say, “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” to every Gospel truth and simply trust in His every Word.  May our Lord gently rebuke us, correct us, and exhort us until we rest in the reality of our completed redemption until that day we are received into glory.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  What has you restless lately?  Are you facing uncertainty at the office?  Are you dealing with difficulty in your marriage?  Are you struggling with your season of singleness?  Do you find too much month left at the end of the money?

If you stroll into a bookstore, you’ll find a plethora of books in a section labeled “Self-Help” – books that promise to give you the cure to what is ailing your restless heart.

But mark this for future reference –

The self-help field is no help at all!

That is why the blog today is a word of holy help from on high and contains a prescription for going from restless to resting.

The Bible says in Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth!”

The command to “be still” seems counter-intuitive in the world we live in today, doesn’t it?  It seems as though God did not know just how much would be going on in our lives when He gave us this divine imperative to simply “be still and know Him.”  But our God, who has infinite Wisdom knew everything about us and the lives we would be living . . . and He knew just how critical it would be for our restless hearts to rest in Him and be still if we are ever going to live the life we have been called to live.

In the words of St. Augustine, “God, you have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in You.”  Often we remember the first half of this Biblical instruction – “Be still” – but forget about the last half: “and know that I am God.”  The only answer to the vacuum in our restless hearts is in knowing God and growing in our personal relationship with Him.  Knowing the Father through the work of Christ on the cross and through the empty tomb, when as applied to our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit, is the cure for every ailment that causes our restlessness.  As we both rest in and rehearse the Gospel truths in our hearts, we are transformed by the renewing of our minds, the enlarging of our hearts, and the bending of our wills (Romans 12:1-2).

The Bible says in Psalm 16:11, “You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.”

Think about looking at life through a camera lens.  The more you move around, the blurrier the picture.  We have all taken pictures like that and thought how nice the picture would have been if there was less movement.  That is why some of the best photography in the world is done with the camera mounted on a tripod so as to keep it still.  When we “are still” in God’s presence, our vision becomes clearer . . . which empowers us to keep moving in the direction God is calling us to go.

Our hearts were redeemed to beat for the things of God.  We are to be pursuing God, loving God, and serving God.  When God is at the center of our lives, we will know Him better and better with each passing day.  The command to “be still” will be part of our daily living.  And at this level of living, we will consistently move from restlessness to resting.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”