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Publisher:
RevKim
January 2009
Number
146
2
Peter 1
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Simon
Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received
a faith as precious as our own, given through the saving justice
of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be yours in
abundance through the knowledge or our Lord.
By his divine power, he has lavished on us all the things we need
for life and for true devotion, through the knowledge of him who
has called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these, the
greatest and priceless promises have been lavished on us, that through
them you should share the divine nature and escape the corruption
rife in the world through disordered passion. With this in view,
do your utmost to support your faith with goodness, goodness with
understanding, understanding with self-control, self-control with
perseverance, perseverance with devotion, devotion with kindness
to the brothers, and kindness to the brothers with love. The possession
and growth of these qualities will prevent your knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ from being ineffectual or unproductive. But without
them, a person is blind or short-sighted, forgetting how the sins
of the past were washed away. Instead of this, brothers, never allow
your choice or calling to waver; then there will be no danger of
your stumbling, for in this way you will be given the generous gift
of entry to the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
That is why I will always go on recalling the same truths to you,
even though you already know them and are firmly fixed in these
truths. I am sure it is my duty, as long as I am in this tent, to
keep stirring you up with reminders, since I know the time for me
to lay aside this tent is coming soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ
made clear to me. And I shall take great care that after my own
departure you will still have a means to recall these things to
mind.
When we told you about the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, we were not slavishly repeating cleverly invented myths;
no, we had seen his majesty with our own eyes. He was honored and
glorified by God the Father, when a voice came to him from the transcendent
Glory, This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys my favor. We ourselves
heard this voice from heaven, when we were with him on the holy
mountain.
So we have confirmation of the words of the prophets; and you will
be right to pay attention to it as to a lamp for lighting a way
through the dark, until the dawn comes and the morning star rises
in your minds. At the same time, we must recognize that the interpretation
of scriptural prophecy is never a matter for the individual. For
no prophecy ever came from human initiative. When people spoke for
God it was the Holy Spirit that moved them.
****************************************************
JESUS
LOVES YOU SO MUCH HE DIED FOR YOUR SINS, WAS BURIED, AND WAS RAISED
FROM THE DEAD!
Happy
New Year!
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Getting
Back on Plan!
Acts
14:24-26a
After
going through Pisidia, they [Paul
and Barnabas] came
into Pamphylia, and when they had preached the word in Perga, they
went down to Attalia. From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch.
Thought
for Today:
Paul
and Barnabas certainly had some interesting experiences on this,
their first missionary journey. They were shunned, rejected, run
out of town, and stoned. They performed miracles, preached with
boldness, converted many new believers, formed churches, and appointed
elders. I wonder if, when they started, they had a detailed plan
or if they just let the Holy Spirit guide them day by day. I wonder
if, before they started, they did a goal setting exercise (i.e.
"We're going to make fifty presentations of the Gospel, form
five new churches, and baptize 100 new believers") and established
a formal travel itinerary ("We're going to go through Pisidia
on the 15th, stopping in Perga for three days and hold two seminars
each day at the Holiday Inn, before going on to Attalia on the 18th").
I don't think so. I think they had a general idea of where they
were going to go and what they were going to do, but from there
they let the Lord lead.
From our passage today it seems that Paul and Barnabas were back
on a schedule: through Pisidia, into Pamphylia, preach in Perga,
down to Attalia, now back to Antioch. But whose schedule were they
on, theirs or the Lord's? Do you think they got up each morning
with their day so tightly booked they knew exactly the number of
minutes allocated for lunch? I don't think so. Instead they probably
knew generally where they were going and when they would be there
(as our passage today reflects), but they allowed the Lord to mold
their day and agenda.
The point I'm trying to make is this: when doing the Lord's will
in ministry, mission, or life we need to keep our schedules and
our minds open otherwise we might miss a great opportunity to serve
the Lord. This happens many times today with everything trying
to fit in just right. Be open to what the Lords will is and how
the Holy Spirit directs, even if it means deviating from the
set schedule.
Questions
to think about:
The
Lord from time to time will interrupt your nice, neat organized
plans with His own plans. Are you paying attention or are you so
committed to your schedule that you ignore the Lord's voice? Certainly
a positive intention (what do you want to accomplish and how is
it going to happen) is necessary when beginning any new enterprise.
But this can sometimes lead to rigid thinking and we can lose the
Lord in our planning. What plans have you made that don't include
the Lord? What schedule have you created that hasn't allowed flexibility
for the Lord's re-direction? Is it time to re-evaluate? What is
the Lord's will? Don't feel like you've failed if the Lord re-organizes
or re-prioritizes your day, just remember to follow Paul and Barnabas'
example and get back on plan after you have completed the task.
(Author Unknown)
A
Special Thank You to Pastor Dennis for sending us this - "A
Little Thought Stimulation"
Let's
think about our time today and dedicate it to God!
***
Go,
therefore, make disciples of all nations: baptize them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them
to observe all the commands I gave you. And look, I am with you
always; yes, to the end of time.
JESUS
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JESUS
LOVES U! BELIEVE! |
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