The article below gives a very good overview of a doctrine that is often overlooked. Our being adopted into God’s family as His sons and daughters, becoming a co-heir with Jesus Christ is an essential teaching that is not stressed enough in our churches. Please take a look at this article and post comments.
http://covenantofgracechurch.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11
Ta Ethne would like to take the time to thank Now Jesus Ministries of Michigan for partnering with us. They have given a sizable donation which will enable us to go on mission to SE Asia early in 2013. This trip has been in the planning stages for almost 18 months and now it will become a reality. This will be our 6th trip into the area and it is exciting to see what was once an unreached people group hold baptism services for the many new believers coming to Christ. More and more are being discipled and taking the message to neighboring villages.
You can check out Now Jesus Ministries at http://www.nowjesus.org
As I reflect upon the season of advent, I am constantly challenged by how deep in meaning this season is. Not only is it a time of looking back at the 1st coming of Christ in Bethlehem, but a looking forward to His return as King of Kings. As I reflect on the preparation of His first coming, I have to ask – am I truly ready for His second? I know so many people who aren’t, that it saddens me. Then, I get to thinking that I know even more who will celebrate Christmas without knowing what they are really celebrating. It is like going to a birthday party for the son of a neighbor of a friend of yours. You kinda know them a little, but you know you are out of place at the party.
That is what Christmas is for people who are not God’s children. They are at His Son’s birthday party, but they are outsiders, missing out on the real excitement and meaning.Only those of us in the family of God can truly celebrate Christmas. I guess that is why I don’t get too upset with the over commercialization of Christmas. People aren’t believers so why shouldn’t they behave as they do? They don’t ruin my Christmas – I am focused on God and His great gift.
As I wrote yesterday, we can take a lesson from Hanukkah and make sure our light is shining outward, as a witness this Advent season. Perhaps if we do, if we tell people of Christ’s first and second comings, they will be able to truly join the party.
During this season of celebration named Hanukkah, there are many lessons we can learn. The Festival of Lights, while a holiday pretty much exclusively celebrated by Jews, should be held in high esteem by Christians as well. (Also by Muslims if they were honest but that is a different thought for another time). The miracle of God extending the oil so that the menorah remained lit until more oil could be made ready for use, was a great miracle indeed. It showed that God was with His children and pleased with them and their zeal for His Holy Name. That was only one of the miracles God performed, though. The entire Maccabean rebellion should have been crushed by the overwhelming forces arrayed against them. God’s granting victory to them is reminiscent of the victories during the time of the Judges. Jesus observed the festival (John 10:22-23) as did His disciples. What could possibly be wrong with a festival honoring God’s provision and care?
We are reminded during this time that God cares for His people. He provides for His people. He protects His people. He remembers His people. He helps His people. It would be a good idea for everyone to read 1 and 2 Maccabees and learn of God’s care for His people during the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments.
It is also a good time to speak with our Jewish friends. To celebrate with them the miracles of God. To use this time as a bridge to communicating with them how Jesus is the Light of the World. That the God of Lights, who delights in giving His children good gifts, gave one in the form of His Son.
Wish them a Happy Hanukkah. Teach the meaning of the holiday to your children. Remind yourself that candles are not lit to shine in the home. They are meant to shine out, to tell others of the miracles of God. Let that be a lesson to take home – that the best way to honor God is to tell others about His greatness.
I am thankful for the empty tomb, showing the resurrection of my Savior, Jesus Christ
DAY 40 – MORE ABOUT JESUS
What a great way to end forty days of devotions. To learn more about Jesus everyday should be the desire of each of us. No matter how much I study and how much I learn, I have only scratched the surface of knowing Him. I desire to know more about Him. I am glad that eternity means forever, because that is how long I anticipate it taking to even begin knowing Him.
In learning more about Him, I will come to understand what He means when I am given direction by Him. I will be able to discern His will more clearly and obey Him more completely. I will come to understand His Words revealed in the Scriptures, written for our guidance.
One of the greatest ways to learn more of Him is to talk to Him, through prayer, each day. It is in conversing with Him that we learn to hear His voice. We also read of Him in the Bible, so that we can compare what it says to what we hear, to make sure we are hearing His voice and not an imposters.
Another reason I desire to learn more about Him is to be able to show others I know, whom I care about, what He is like. I long to show His grace and transforming power to those around me who need Him most. If I am going to be greedy and shout more, more, I want it to be a holy greediness to understand my Lord better.
My prayer for you, is that you will desire to know more about Him also.
Lord, help us desire to know more of You. Reveal Yourself to us as we come to You in prayer, as we read of You in the Bible. Speak to us in an unmistakable voice, one that cuts through the clutter and noise of the world. Help us to know You so that we may live a life pleasing to You and bring others to You for salvation.
MORE ABOUT JESUS by Eliza Hewitt
More about Jesus would I know
More of His grace to others show
More of His saving fullness see
More of His love Who died for me
More about Jesus let me learn
More of His holy will discern
Spirit of God, my teacher be
Showing the things of Christ to me
More about Jesus in His Word
Holding communion with my Lord
Hearing His voice in every line
Making each faithful saying mine
More about Jesus on His throne
Riches in glory all His own
More of His kingdom’s sure increase
More of His coming, Prince of Peace
REFRAIN:
More, more about Jesus
More, more about Jesus
More of His saving fullness see
More of His love who died for me
DAY 38 – HIS WAY WITH THEE
Yielding to the Holy Spirit’s guidance each day is easier said than done. My will, my desires, have to be constantly pushed down so that His desire and will can shine through. I cannot live a godly life in my own power. My heart is desperately and deceitfully wicked. I need to always submit myself to Him, in order to do what is right and holy.
Some of my favorite lines in this hymn point to great gospel truths. He can carry my load far better than I can. Better yet, He offers to carry that load. My worries, frustrations, concerns and ailments can be turned over to Him and exchanged. I especially love the next to last line in the second stanza. The line comes straight out of Jude’s epistle and gives us hope. He can keep us from stumbling or falling. What a magnificent Savior!
Everything is dependent upon Jesus. Only His saving power can make us what God intended for us to be when He created us. Only His atoning death on the cross can cleanse us from all unrighteousness and free us from sin’s power. Only His love can completely fill us because only He can love us with a pure love.
It is a mystery why I struggle with letting Him lead me. I know all these biblical truths. I see the truth of them lived out in my life day by day. Yet I still struggle with turning my life over to Him minute by minute. What a frail, fickle creature I am. How reassuring to read in Scripture that even when I am faithless, He remains faithful because His Spirit lives in me and He cannot deny Himself.
Lord, give me the ability to consistently turn my life over to You. I struggle with control issues. I know You know best but my own deceitful heart wrestles with You. Overcome it Lord and reign supremely in my life so I may experience true freedom in You.
HIS WAY WITH THEE by Cyrus Nusbaum
Would you live for Jesus and be always pure and good?
Would you walk with Him, within the narrow road?
Would you have Him bear your burden, carry all your load?
Let Him have His way with thee.
Would you have Him make you free and follow at His call?
Would you know the peace that comes from giving all?
Would you have Him save you so that you need never fall?
Let Him have His way with thee.
Would you in His kingdom find a place of constant rest?
Would you prove Him true in providential test?
Would you in His service labor always at your best?
Let Him have His way with thee.
REFRAIN:
His power can make you what you ought to be
His blood can cleanse your heart and make you free
His love can fill your soul and you will see
‘Twas best for Him to have His way with thee.
DAY 37 – ALMOST PERSUADED
Based on the KJV’s translation of Acts 26:28 and a sermon by the Reverend Brundage, Philip Bliss gives us this hymn with a sobering theme. It seems that as he was listening to a sermon, a line was uttered that went, “He who is almost persuaded is almost saved, and to be almost saved is to be entirely lost.” As he reflected on this, he was moved to pen the words to this hymn.
What a sad situation it is, when a person receives a witness of the gospel truth, accepts it as the truth, and still refuses to submit to Christ’s Lordship. How sad to hear from people, “some more convenient day”, not right now, later, perhaps. It is so frustrating to hear people acknowledge the truth but refuse to let it change their lives.
Some are afraid they will have to give up a lifestyle they enjoy, some are afraid of the demands God may make of them. This fear keeps many from following, making the mistake that they can repent right before death and find peace. They forget that death can come unexpectedly and it is too late once they appear before the judgment seat.
It is for this reason the Bible tells us that today is the day of salvation. We are not to harden our hearts to the gospel, not to delay in repenting of our sins and asking God for mercy. Now the invitation is given, we are not guaranteed tomorrow. Whether tomorrow brings death to us or the return of Christ, either way it spells doom for the unbeliever. To delay may be eternally fateful. Sad, sad, their bitter wails as they realize, too late, they missed the invitation. Let us bear down in prayers for those we love before it is too late for them.
Lord, there are those I love who are foolishly waiting. They know the truth but have yet to bend their knee to You. Let Your Spirit strive with them still, melt their hard heart and lead them to You I pray.
ALMOST PERSUADED by Philip Bliss
Almost persuaded now to believe;
Almost persuaded Christ to receive;
Seems now some soul to say,
Go, Spirit, go Thy way
Some more convenient day
On Thee I’ll call
Almost persuaded, come, come today;
Almost persuaded, turn not away;
Jesus invites you here
Angels are lingering near,
Prayers rise from hearts so dear;
O wanderer, come!
Almost persuaded, harvest is past!
Almost persuaded, doom comes at last!
Almost cannot avail;
Almost is but to fail!
Sad, sad, that bitter wail
Almost, but lost!
DAY 36 – JUST AS I AM
What a wonderful joy to know that we can come to Jesus just as we are. Indeed, we have to come as we are because only He can cleanse us. We cannot clean ourselves up. We cannot make ourselves righteous. We don’t wait until we have “made things right.” We go to Him to be made right.
Not only do we come to Him just as we are, but we are assured that He doesn’t leave us as we are. We come to Him and leave changed. He does indeed rid our souls of the dark stain of sin. He makes us spiritually alive, opens our eyes to spiritual truth, puts us into the correct frame of mind as He heals us.
It is amazing that He is willing to pardon us. Even greater still is His willingness to cleanse us, transform us, call us one of His own. He has promised and His promises never fail. “Come to Me,” Jesus invites and we run to Him, knowing He alone has the answers we need.
I love the very first verse. We come to Christ with no excuses, only an admission of our guilt. We throw ourselves on the mercy of God’s court, and find His grace operative there. Our admission of guilt, our contrition and repentance, is all we need. He bids us to come to Him to find forgiveness and healing. Why should we linger, and heed not His mercies? He is tenderly calling to us, urging us to come to Him. “Let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet they will be white as snow.”[1] O Lamb of God, I come, seeking Your forgiveness and grace.
Thank You Lord for being willing to take me as I am. Thank You for not leaving me that way, but cleansing me and making me holy. You are a great and wonderful God.
JUST AS I AM by Charlotte Elliott
Just as I am without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee
O Lamb of God I come, I come
Just as I am and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot
To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot
O Lamb of God I come, I come
Just as I am though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt
Fightings and fears within, without
O Lamb of God I come, I come
Just as I am poor, wretched, blind
Sight, riches, healing of the mind
Yea all I need in Thee to find
O Lamb of God I come, I come
Just as I am, Thou wily receive
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve
Because Thy promise I believe
O Lamb of God I come, I come
Just as I am, Thy love unknown
Hath broken every barrier down
Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone
O Lamb of God I come, I come
Just as I am, of that free love
The breadth, length, depth, and height to prove
Here for a season, then above
O Lam of God, I come, I come
[1] Isaiah 1:18
DAY 34 – MUST I GO, AND EMPTY-HANDED?
What a haunting thought, to meet Jesus in heaven and have nothing to show Him. To waste the talents He has given us, to squander the time allotted to us, to waste the opportunities to reach others for His kingdom, what a tragedy. We must work now, before He returns, to reach as many people as we can with the gospel, for when He comes again it will be in judgment and not mercy.
Jesus will not lie to us. He will not say, “Well done my good and faithful servant” if we have not done well nor been good. If we have hidden our talent, as the man in the parable did, if we have refused to live our life for His glory, it will be in shame that we stand before Him.
To live a life with no regrets, to make the most of every opportunity given, to use every minute of every day seeking His will, that should be our goal. Oh if we could have time back. Time to witness once more to friends that have passed away. Time to speak, once again, to family members that have died without Christ. But there is no turning back the clock, we must make the most of every opportunity, redeeming the time we have.
This is a good resolution to make: to seize the time, to earnestly seek after souls and ferret out opportunities to share the gospel. Will we have people in heaven come up to us, thanking us for sharing the gospel with them or will we have people in hell shrieking, asking us why we cared so little for us that we kept our gospel to ourselves? Will we meet Jesus empty-handed?
Lord Jesus, help me redeem the time You have allotted to me to work for the kingdom. Give me souls to witness to, give me opportunities to share. Let me lead others to You so You can save them by Your grace.
MUST I GO, AND EMPTY-HANDED by Charles Luther
Must I go and empty-handed
Thus my dear Redeemer meet
Not one day of service give Him
Lay no trophy at His feet?
Not at death I shrink nor falter
For my Savior saves me now
But to meet Him empty-handed
Thought of that now clouds my brow
O the years in sinning wasted
Could I but recall them now
I would give them to my Savior
To His will I’d gladly bow
O ye saints, arouse, be earnest
Up and work while yet ’tis day
Ere the night of death o’er-take thee
Strive for souls while you still may
REFRAIN:
Must I go and empty-handed?
Must I meet my Savior so?
Not one soul with which to greet Him:
Must I empty-handed go?
ta ethne 