JOY IN BELIEVING By JOHN FREDERICKSEN, Pastor Scripture Reading: Romans I5:13 Believers in the age of grace have perhaps more reason to rejoice in their salvation than believers of any previous time. Very early in mans history, God revealed His plan to bring spiritual blessing to the entire world through Abraham. God promised him, In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed, (Genesis 12:3). Progressive revelation unfolded the details of Abrahams seed providing a specific Saviour as a sacrifice for sin. Then the remainder of the nation was to become a kingdom of priests ministering to the world. When Christ came the first time, it was to confirm the promises made unto the fathers, (vs. 8). Had Israel responded in belief, the millennial kingdom would have been established and Gentiles would have at last enjoyed blessing. They would have glorified God for His mercy, (vs. 9), rejoiced (vs. 10), and praised the Lord because they too would trust in Him (vs. 11-12). The problem is, Israel refused to believe and Gods plan to bless the Gentiles could have been frustrated. But the God of hope found a solution. Romans 11:11-15 explains that God is now blessing Gentiles NOT through Israels rise to prominence, but through her fall from Gods unique favor. Today salvation is offered to all apart from Israels promises or instrumentality, and solely on the basis of grace. No wonder then that Paul exhorted his readers to be filled with joy and peace in believing. He even exhorted them to abound in the confident expectations of eternal blessings. Ours is a salvation provided by the determined purpose of a merciful God. Lets truly rejoice in it today! ============= Happy Independence Day Americans! 238 yrs ago today a group of God-fearing patriots took a bold step of faith as they ascribed their names to the U.S. Constitution & declared our freedom from Great Britain.Freedom did not come nor has it been maintained without a high cost,but we can stand & truly declare that this is the greatest nation on the face of the earth. We ARE ONE NATION UNDER GOD! I have added Lee Greenwoods beautiful song from yester-years, God bless the USA. Enjoy! If tomorrow all the things were gone Id worked for all my life, And I had to start again With just my children and my wife, Id thank my lucky stars To be living here today, Cause the flag still stands for freedom And they cant take that away. And Im proud to be an American Where at least I know Im free, And I wont forget the men who died Who gave that right to me, And I gladly stand up next to you And defend her still today, Cause there aint no doubt I love this land God Bless the U.S.A. >From the lakes of Minnesota To the hills of Tennessee, Across the plains of Texas >From sea to shining sea. >From Detroit down to Houston And New York to L.A., Well Theres pride in every American heart And its time we stand and say: That Im proud to be an American Where at least I know Im free, And I wont forget the men who died Who gave that right to me, And I gladly stand up next to you And defend her still today, Cause there aint no doubt I love this land God Bless the U.S.A. And Im proud to be an American Where at least I know Im free, And I wont forget the men who died Who gave that right to me, And I gladly stand up next to you And defend her still today, Cause there aint no doubt I love this land God Bless the U.S.A. The above was sent to me by rev Joe, and was so good now passing on to you, Pray for our country we are so close to loosing our BLESSED FREEDOM. graceandthetruth Our Purpose and Mission The ministry of Grace and The Truth has the purpose of encouraging Christians to believe what God says. We are dedicated to helping Christians to a fuller knowledge of Him, and the Grace of God. Until we all come into the Unity, Ephesians 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 17:49:10 +0000
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