11/23/22 GOD ENLIGHTENS HIS SAINTS
God sends His message of enlightenment to His "Saints" (holy one's, those who receive His reconciliation and transformational work of grace) and, "The Faithful in Christ Jesus," (those who follow faithfully), see Eph. 1:1.
Make sure you are on the mailing list and watching for His special delivery.
11/23/22 ENLIGHTENED, NOT INSPIRED
Divine inspiration is the Holy Spirit's inerrant revelation of God's truth to specifically appointed and anointed prophets and apostles in the Bible.
We are not inspired in that sense of the word.
We are enlightened by God's Holy Spirit through His word.
In life, we all make observations. We should evaluate human observations in the light of eternal truth.
Eternal truth will always lead to God's glory and will result in our being conformed to the image of Jesus.
11/23/22 WE ARE INVITED, NOT PROGRAMMED
There is a difference in being a "partaker," and being "programmed."
Redemption is relational, not robotic. God enables choice, demands choice, judges choice. Choices have consequences, good and bad.
Our relationship with God is based on how we respond to His atonement for the sins of the whole world.
1John 2:1-7
1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
The depth of degradation is bottomless to those who resist, refuse, reject His call to reconciliation. On the other hand, the glories in-store for believers are unsearchable and unimaginable, both in the life that now is, and that which is to come.
1 Corinthians 2:9-13
9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
11/22/22 INVITATION TO DELIVERANCE
Salvation is relational and experiential, not robotic and exploitative.
God's predestination has to do with love, redemption, the how and why and the ultimate goal of salvation. Don't let fancy footwork, man-made theology convince you that God is on a self absorbed power play. Though He is all powerful, His love, mercy, compassion give context and direction to His power, His power serves His moral attributes (justice, truth, mercy, compassion). God provides salvation because of Divine love. God is love.
I hate to have to take the time to state the Biblically obvious about John 3:16, but darkness hides the other glories of Divine good news from those who are chained in darkness.
Now to my main point. Ephesians chapter one is the introduction to immense and glorious truths of salvation. I will simply post the passage and invite you to wade-in, dive to its depths, sore to its height, then come back to this passage again and again to explore the unsearchable riches of Christ.
This is not the picture of Divine office work, this is the revelation of redemption, as God seeks, saves, sanctifies and sends believers who have become partakers of Divine nature, become one with Christ.
Ephesians 1:1-23
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
11/22/22 BE STILL
To those who have ears to hear, God
says, "BE STILL."
It doesn't help to tell the hardheaded, "Sit down, shut up and listen."
11/22/22 THIS IS THE STANDARD
First, all the times God has failed me.
Now all the times I thought He failed me.
There, that didn't take long.
