On this day of days

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Are you still amazed?

I hope you are still amazed by grace. . .every day!  I am always helped and thankful for fellow bloggers who write about God’s amazing grace.  Here’s what Paul  wrote recently. Trust it helps you be amazed today:

By nature our sinful hearts really do think it is all about us. But it’s not. It is all about God. Grace serves as a continual reminder of this reality: “Apart from me [Jesus], you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

God’s grace saves us – “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph 2:8-10).

God’s grace sets us apart by God, to God, for God – “[Believers are] called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 1:7); “saints by calling” (1 Cor 1:2).

God’s grace sanctifies us – “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:11-12).

God’s grace sustains us – “And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). “This is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it! (1 Pet 5:12).

God’s grace secures us – “[Through Christ] we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand” (Rom 5:2).

Don’t stop being amazed.

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The greatest need in churches this Easter

The work of preaching is the highest and the greatest and the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called. If you want something in addition to that I would say without any hesitation that the most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching; and as it is the greatest and the most urgent need in the Church, it is obviously the greatest need of the world also.

~Martyn Lloyd-Jones~

Preaching & Preachers (Grand Rapids, MI; Zondervan; 2011) p. 17

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What does it mean for God to forsake His Son

I just preached on this scene last Sunday from Mark’s Gospel on what it meant when Jesus experienced being God-forsaken on the cross for three hours from 12 to 3 PM on the Friday he died.

I would commend to you this three part post that explains three elements of what it meant when Jesus uttered his fourth saying from the cross, “My God, my God why have you forsaken Me?”

1. The Father allowed the Son to suffer social abandonment
2. The Father allowed the Son to suffer emotional desertion
3. The Father allowed the Son to suffer spiritual wrath

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Gideon testimony: From drug dealer to Bible professor

This is a powerful video that should be an encouragement to all who serve in Bible distribution, in prison ministry, or who are praying for a child who has turned his or her back on God.  Never weary of prayer or giving someone a Bible.  Lesson learned!

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