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Touching lives with the truth of God's Word.

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Sunday, May 29, 2005

The Practice of Joy

One of the greatest arguments against atheism is the atheist. Think about it: Have you ever met an atheist who's really happy over atheism? In fact most atheist will admit, that deep down in their hearts they are not happy at all over their belief in no God. May I say, atheism produces no joy, no cleansing, no freedom, and no love. The very word atheism is not a positive statement but a negative one. It comes from "A THEOS" and means "without God." To be without God is to be without joy, period.

Child of God, don't ever forget the darkness that God saved you from. And don't forget that, no matter what you don't have, if you are in Christ, you have salvation, freedom, joy, hope, and love. Atheism is manifested by the absence of salvation, freedom, hope, joy, and love. But dear friend, God is manifested by its presence. Remember, when you have Christ you have everything.

Throughout your day today, think of all the things you can thank God for and be joyful about. "Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4)

THE BEREAN NOTEPAD
Touching lives with the truth of God's Word.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

NEVER TO OLD

Moses grew up in Egypt as an Egyptian prince. When he was forty he lost his privileges, all his status, and riches, and became a fugitive, a wanderer in the desert. He reached age fifty, then age sixty, then retirement age, in the middle of nowhere, a nobody, washed up, former Egyptian prince, now an old has been, his life almost over. Finally, he reached the age of eighty, and then God called him into ministry, and the rest is history. In fact almost all we know of Moses happened after he was eighty.

May I say; you may also have felt that your best days are past, that you have wasted to much time, that life has passed you by, that your greatest moments and usefulness to God is behind you and gone. But for the greatest servant of God in the Old Testament, life and ministry began at eighty. God is the God of the now, and there is no such thing as lost time. Dear friend, He will restore the years the locusts have eaten. You just have to rise to the call. You think about that.

THE BEREAN NOTEPAD
Touching lives with the truth of God's Word.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

The Believer's Resurrection With Christ

Question! How can one die to the old life and be raised to walk in newness of life? The answer is: -(by grace through faith). What Christ has done for us by grace, we must receive and appropriate by faith. Jesus by an act of infinite grace, identified Himself with us, dying our death. We by an act of simple faith, must identify ourselves with Him, confessing "I am a sinner, it is my death He is dying. I will accept His grace and commit myself to Him for salvation." The moment this is done we become one with the once- crucified, ever living Christ.

May I say; Calvary is the meeting place where the identification is effected. No man was ever made one with Christ without being made one with Him in His death. The apostle Paul says in Romans 6:3-4 "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Child of God, When the sinner acknowledges Christ death as his own and trust Christ for salvation, not only does he receive a standing before God as having been crucified, buried and raised with Christ, but the Spirit seals the transaction, uniting him in a vital, living relationship with Christ. The believer actually becomes a partaker of Christ resurrection life.

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:1-3

THE BEREAN NOTEPAD
Touching lives with the truth of God's Word.

Monday, May 09, 2005

Examine Yourselves

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Paul is not saying that we should check our works to see if we are saved. Surely the carnal Corinthians would have failed any such test! Rather the context tells us that when Paul told the Corinthians to "examine" themselves, he was responding to those who would "examine" him (1 Cor. 9:1-3). He did not doubt their salvation; they doubted his apostleship (2 Cor. 13:3). Paul argues that if they were in the faith, it proved that he was an apostle indeed, for he had led them to Christ (1 Cor. 4:15). In his first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul put it this way.

If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord (1 Cor. 9:2).

The fact that the Corinthians were in the Lord and in the faith, was proof of his apostleship (2 Cor. 13:3), and should have removed all doubt.

May I say; to remove all doubt about our salvation, we must never look to ourselves, we must always look to God's Word, which assures us that while we are unacceptable to God in ourselves, we who are saved are ever and always accepted in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6). You think about that.

THE BEREAN NOTEPAD
Touching lives with the truth of God's Word.

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Grace & Freedom

John Newton was a slave trader. Then he had an encounter with the Lord and gave his life to Jesus. He renounced his sinful lifestyle and the enslaving of human beings. He wrote, "Amazing Grace." His friend, William Wilberforce, another believer, became an influential member of Parliament. John Newton encouraged his friend to do everything in his power to abolish slavery in England. So Wilberforce labored tirelessly to end slavery, and in 1833 succeeded in having the English Parliament abolish slavery throughout the empire.

The abolition of slavery and Amazing Grace go together. May I say that if you are a believer, the Amazing Grace of God is so powerful it ended your slavery to sin. So praise Him with your lips, but also praise Him with your life. Let His love bring freedom into your life and lead you to bring freedom to the lives of others- for God's Amazing Grace sets the prisoner free. You think about that.

THE BEREAN NOTEPAD
Touching lives with the truth of God's Word.