Posted on 03/31/2020 9:28:26 PM PDT by JustAmy
Thank you.
Bible in a Year:
By grace you have been saved, through faithand that is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Jerry was a good man, the pastor said at Jerald Stevens memorial service. He loved his family. He was faithful to his wife. He served his country in the armed services. He was an excellent dad and grandfather. He was a great friend.
But then the pastor went on to tell the friends and family gathered that Jerrys good life and good deeds were not enough to assure him a place in heaven. And that Jerry himself would have been the first to tell them that!
Jerry believed these words from the Bible: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and the wages of sin is death (6:23). Jerrys final and eternal destination in lifes journey was not determined by whether he lived a really good life but entirely by Jesusthe perfect Son of Goddying in his place to pay sins penalty. He believed that each of us must personally accept the free gift of God, which is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (v. 23).
Jerry was a good man, but he could never be good enough. Watch Rasool Berrys Jesus, the Good Man devotional video. He, like us, had to learn that salvation and righteousness arent the results of human effort. Theyre gifts by Gods grace (Ephesians 2:8).
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15).
Thank you.
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Beautiful, left that other site!
Today was a great day for rolling in the grass, as Penny discovered on this morning’s walk. :-)
Well, of course not. LOL!
Bible in a Year:
He has saved us and called us to a holy life.
Teenage gang leader Casey and his followers broke into homes and cars, robbed convenience stores, and fought other gangs. Eventually, Casey was arrested and sentenced. In prison, he became a shot caller, someone who handed out homemade knives during riots.
Sometime later, he was placed in solitary confinement. While daydreaming in his cell, Casey experienced a movie of sorts replaying key events of his lifeand of Jesus, being led to and nailed to the cross and telling him, Im doing this for you. Casey fell to the floor weeping and confessed his sins. Later, he shared his experience with a chaplain, who explained more about Jesus and gave him a Bible. That was the start of my journey of faith, Casey said. Eventually, he was released into the mainline prison population, where he was mistreated for his faith. But he felt at peace, because [he] had found a new calling: telling other inmates about Jesus.
In his letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul talks about the power of Christ to change lives: God calls us from lives of wrongdoing to follow and serve Jesus (2 Timothy 1:9). Watch the story of Bernice Lee and Tan Soo-Inn in the devotional video, Jesus, the Spiritual Leader. Like Casey, they experienced Gods grace, and now the Holy Spirit empowers them to be living witnesses of Christs love. Through the Holy Spirits enabling, we too have a new calling to share the good news (v. 8).
Thank you.
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A Blessed Easter Week to everyone at Amy’s Place.
Bible in a Year:
See what great love the Father has lavished on us.
Im not who I once was. Im a new person.
Those simple words from my son, spoken to students at a school assembly, describe the change God made in his life. Once addicted to heroin, Geoffrey previously saw himself through his sins and mistakes. But now he sees himself as a child of God.
The Bible encourages us with this promise: If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17). No matter who weve been or what weve done in our past, when we trust Jesus for our salvation and receive the forgiveness offered through His cross, we become someone new. Since the garden of Eden, the guilt of our sins separated us from God, but He has now reconciled us to himself through Christ, not counting our sins against us (vv. 1819). We are His dearly loved children (1 John 3:12), washed clean and made new in the likeness of His Son.
Jesus is innocence found. He liberates us from sin and its dominating power, and restores us to a new relationship with Godwhere we are free to no longer live for ourselves but for him who died for [us] and was raised again (2 Corinthians 5:15). Watch Fernando Sosas devotional video, Jesus, the Liberator. As with Geoffrey, Christs transforming love gave him a new identity and purpose to point others to the Savior. And He does the same for us!
Have a great Warm Fuzzy Wednesday
Rained overnight, but the sun is trying to shine through the clouds now.
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