Praise the Lord
for this new day. I trust you had a blessed and a very beautiful weekend of
rest, renewal, worship, witness, and celebration. Our grandson Simeon turned 5
years old yesterday. While we were camping with Janice and her family, Simeon
whispered in my year loudly, " Grandpa, I do not need any clothes for my
birthday this year, I need lots of Match Box Cars'. Yesterday, when I called him
for his birthday, he said, "when I come to visit you in New York, I would like
to have Ice cream for breakfast, lunch and supper. I would like to have pancakes
with chocolate chips and maple syrup". We praise the Lord for Simeon. He loves
Jesus. He loves some of the worship songs by Chris Tomlin. He also loves the
hymn, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". One time he told me that " Our Lord
is Huger than this world" . I call this extreme faith.
We celebrated
Mission's Sunday yesterday. John Wesley said, "The World is our parish". Our
missionary friends Dave and Jean Coles shared during the Sunday School and
worship time. We had a great banquet featuring international foods following the
Morning worship.
Dave
Coles was born and raised in the Union Center United Methodist Church. Dave and
Jean are serving the Lord in Indonesia. They are finishing their 18th year of
missionary work there. They are blessed with three sons and one daughter. All
their children were home schooled. The oldest son earned his Ph.D. from Duke in
Chemistry. The second son is doing his Ph.D. in engineering at Buffalo. The
youngest son just graduated from Robert Wesleyan. Their daughter is finishing
her nurse practitioner degree and is working with Mercy Ships. Dave Coles, who
has spent years working in the Moslem context, spoke about our God as revealed
in Jesus Christ our Lord. He highlighted the wonderful gift of forgiveness that
we have in Christ and because of Christ. Our daughter Laureen accompanied at the
piano for worship yesterday. She chose as one of the hymns, "Jesus Paid It All".
Real forgiveness
comes when you realize that you do not deserve it. The Bible says, “We all, like
sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way....” (Isaiah
53:6). The apostle Paul wrote: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God” (Romans 3:23). You will notice there are no exceptions in those verses.
None of us deserves anything from God. We are fit only for judgment, but the
Good News is, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The Bible says, “If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from
all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). My sins are not excused, but they are
forgiven when I turn to God with confession that springs from a humble heart and
genuine sorrow for my sin against him. The Bible says, “The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise”
(Psalm 51:17). My sins are not excused or passed over, they are forgiven and
taken away as though they never existed when I come to God with a proper
attitude of the heart. I confess my sin; I no longer try to hide it.
There is an interesting passage in First Corinthians where Paul says, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” No surprises so far, but then he continued by saying, “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). That is what they were, but now they were members of the Kingdom of God — the family of the forgiven. The Bible says, “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool’” (Isaiah 1:18).
Isaiah wrote thousands of years ago: “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6,7). In the Apostles' Creed we join Christians all over the world in affirming "I believe in the forgiveness of sins."
Amy Carmichael, missionary to India and author, said: “There is no need to plead that the love of God shall fill our heart as though he were unwilling to fill us. He is willing as light is willing to flood a room that is opened to its brightness; willing as water is willing to flow into an emptied channel. Love is pressing round us on all sides like air. Cease to resist, and instantly love takes possession.” So we do not have to plead for his forgiveness either. As soon as we open the door of repentance, it floods in.
Joni Erickson quotes Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” and then writes, “My friend, Dan Earl, is a bee-keeper. Recently he presented me with a gift basket of his bee byproducts - creams, candles, and best of all, his top-selling honey. That Sunday I enjoyed a cup of Earl Grey tea and toasted crumpets with butter and honey. I was almost in heaven. It was so delicious."
The Puritan, Jonathan Edwards, drew a parallel between honey and Psalm 34:8. One can conclude that honey is honey because it is golden, has a certain viscosity, and has bits of comb in it. Therefore, it must be honey. But Edwards said there is a superior way to know. Put a drop on your tongue, and you'll see that knowing honey involves much more than understanding facts about it. To truly know honey is to taste and see that it is sweet, delicious, and delightful. There's nothing quite like it!”
There is an interesting passage in First Corinthians where Paul says, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” No surprises so far, but then he continued by saying, “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). That is what they were, but now they were members of the Kingdom of God — the family of the forgiven. The Bible says, “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool’” (Isaiah 1:18).
Isaiah wrote thousands of years ago: “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6,7). In the Apostles' Creed we join Christians all over the world in affirming "I believe in the forgiveness of sins."
Amy Carmichael, missionary to India and author, said: “There is no need to plead that the love of God shall fill our heart as though he were unwilling to fill us. He is willing as light is willing to flood a room that is opened to its brightness; willing as water is willing to flow into an emptied channel. Love is pressing round us on all sides like air. Cease to resist, and instantly love takes possession.” So we do not have to plead for his forgiveness either. As soon as we open the door of repentance, it floods in.
Joni Erickson quotes Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” and then writes, “My friend, Dan Earl, is a bee-keeper. Recently he presented me with a gift basket of his bee byproducts - creams, candles, and best of all, his top-selling honey. That Sunday I enjoyed a cup of Earl Grey tea and toasted crumpets with butter and honey. I was almost in heaven. It was so delicious."
The Puritan, Jonathan Edwards, drew a parallel between honey and Psalm 34:8. One can conclude that honey is honey because it is golden, has a certain viscosity, and has bits of comb in it. Therefore, it must be honey. But Edwards said there is a superior way to know. Put a drop on your tongue, and you'll see that knowing honey involves much more than understanding facts about it. To truly know honey is to taste and see that it is sweet, delicious, and delightful. There's nothing quite like it!”
There are all
kinds of facts to be known about forgiveness, but it is meant to be tasted. Its
sweetness is meant to be experienced.
In
Christ,
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