Brown's Daily Word 10-12-07

Good Morning.
Praise the Lord for His riches of grace and glory. In Ephesians, Chapter 1:7-14, we are reminded about our place in the heart of the Lord, and our place in His eternal and perfect plans. In Him we live, move, and have our being. In Him we have redemption through His blood and the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him, with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Although it isn't clear from the English translation, the Greek text of Ephesians 1:3-14 is made up of one very long run-on sentence. Paul started this sentence in verse 3 with the phrase: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Then he proceeded to tell us what God has done. He did not stop to take a breath, but continued on until the end of verse 14. He could not stop talking about God. He spoke of all three members of the Godhead - the Father who planned our salvation from eternity past, the Son who accomplished our salvation on the cross, and the Spirit who signed, sealed and delivered us in our new relationship.
It was in the spring of 1844 when a young German scholar made a most remarkable discovery. His name was Konstanin Von Tischendorf and he had been traveling through the Middle East. He came one night to an old Greek Orthodox monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai. Knocking upon the door, he was invited in by the Russian monks who lived there and invited to spend the night. It was bitterly cold in the desert and the monks has baskets of old dry cordwood and vellum to throw into the fire place. Tischendorf was warming his hands at the fire when his eyes caught sight of one of the pieces of vellum and he did a double take. This particular piece of vellum had writing on it. Tischendorf had benefited from a classical education and he recognized the writing as a part of the Greek Bible. He began digging through the baskets of refuse and came up with 129 pages of what was to be the oldest manuscript of the Bible to be discovered up to that time.
The monks could see that he was excited and they became cautious. When he asked if he could take the manuscript with him, they allowed him to take only 43 of the 129 pages. The rest of the manuscript was sent to Mother Russia where it remained until after the Communist Revolution. It was not until 1933 that the Russian Communists, having no use for old copies of the Bible, agreed to sell the Codex Sinaiticus to Great Britain for a price of 100,000 pounds - one of the most expensive books in the world.
In Him we have redemption through His blood (Ephesians 1:7-8). This is what Christ has done for us. He came into this world of sin, and He paid the ultimate price for us - His own blood shed on our behalf. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.
In the 1930's, millionaire John D. Rockefeller used to dress up in a suit and a top hat and have his picture taken giving some poor boy a dime. A dime was a lot of money in those days. It would be the equivalent of $10 today. But even so, the most that could be said of Rockefeller is that he was giving OUT of the abundance of his riches. However, if he had gone to one of those boys and had purchased for him a mansion in the country and given him a chauffeur-driven limousine, then it could be said that he was giving ACCORDING TO his riches.
That is the way God has saved us. He redeemed us, not merely out of His riches, but according to His riches. How rich is God? How much grace does He possess? His is an inexhaustible supply. All of God's attributes are of infinite measure, so that if He has graced us according to the riches of His grace, then He has graced us very richly indeed.
Dr. Stanley Livingston had a medical condition in which he was required to drink goat's milk. He was visited one day by a tribal king and he noticed that the king was eyeing his goat. Livingston felt led of the Lord to give the goat as a gift to the king and, in return, the king presented him with the staff that he was carrying. Later that day, Livingston confided in a friend, "I don't know what I was thinking. How could I have been so foolish as to give my goat away. I don't know what I shall do with this stick." His friend replied, "You don't understand. That isn't a stick. It is a scepter. You don't just own one goat. Now you own all the goats in the tribe." The Lord has given us an inheritance. It is a scepter, and we have been walking around thinking that it is just a stick.
"In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth." (Ephesians 1:8b-10)
God has a plan for the universe. History is moving toward a goal. We do not have to guess at either the plan or the goal. It has been made known to us. Verse 9 says that "He made known to us the mystery of His will." We have the whole story. We have the beginning of the story in the Old Testament. We have the middle of the story in the coming of Christ and in His death and His burial and resurrection. We even had the end of the story, for we have His promise that one day He shall return. It will be at that time - the fullness of the times - that we shall experience the summing up of all things in Christ (1:10). When Christ returns, the entire universe - things in the heavens and things upon the earth - shall be brought into conformity and into submission to Him.
"In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory" (Ephesians 1:10b-12). We have an inheritance. Notice the use of the present tense. We are not merely heirs of a future inheritance. It awaits us as a present possession in the heavenlies. It is an inheritance that has been awaiting us for a very long time. It has been awaiting us since before we were saved. Before we were even born... "before the foundation of the world." ...You were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:13b-14).
We are described as God's own special possession. We are a trophy of His grace. We are God's, not only because He created us in the first place, but especially because He purchased us.
The story is told of a little boy who built a toy sailboat. He loved that sailboat. It held a special place in his bedroom and he would imagine sailing on exciting adventures with his toy boat. One day, he was down and the lake and put the boat in the water when the wind changed and, much to his dismay, his boat was swept away. A few months later he was walking down the street and saw the same sailboat in the window of a pawn shop. "That's my boat!" he told the pawn shop owner. "It may have been your boat," replied the owner, "but it's mine now and it will cost you twenty dollars." The little boy went home and collected and saved until he had $20.00 and then he went back to the pawn shop and purchased the boat. "Little sailboat," he said, "You are mine. I made you and then I bought you back. You're twice mine."
The Lord is our Maker. He not only made us, He also bought us and paid for us. We are twice His. We are doubly blessed.

In His Blessings.
Brown



Weight Loss - Old Testament Style

The teacher in the bible class asked a woman to read from the Book of Numbers about the Israelites wandering in the desert.

"The Lord heard you when you wailed, "If only we had meat to eat!" she began. "Now the Lord will give you meat. You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, or ten or twenty days, but for a month until you loathe it."

The woman paused, looked up and said.... "Hey, isn't that the Atkins diet?"



Liberal Tendencies
A YOUNG woman teacher with obvious liberal tendencies explains to her class of small children that she is an atheist. She asks her class if they are atheists too. Not really knowing what atheism is but wanting to be like their teacher, their hands explode into the air like fleshy fireworks.

There is, however, one exception. A beautiful girl named Lucy has not gone along with the crowd. The teacher asks her why she has decided to be different.

"Because I'm not an atheist."

Then, asks the teacher, "What are you?"

"I'm a Christian."

The teacher is a little perturbed now, her face slightly red. She asks Lucy why she is a Christian.

"Well, I was brought up knowing and loving Jesus. My mom is a Christian, and my dad is a Christian, so I am a Christian."

The teacher is now angry. "That's no reason," she says loudly.

"What if your mom was a moron, and your dad was a moron. What would you be then?"

She paused, and smiled. "Then," says Lucy, "I'd be an atheist."