Week Forty-Seven, 2024
Tell me this one thing. Did you receive God’s spirit by doing what the law requires or by hearing the Gospel and believing in it? Galatians 3:2
As I was looking out the window, I saw a big and beautiful butterfly. I could not but help admiring its beauty as it flew from flower to flower. I flashed back to working in the yard and accidentally touching an ugly caterpillar. I still remember the stings as they crawled up the branches of my bushes. Then I connected the two.
We all learned about it in school. One day, the caterpillar stops eating, hangs upside down from a twig or leaf and spins itself a silky cocoon or molts into a shiny chrysalis. Within its protective casing, the caterpillar radically transforms its ugly body, eventually emerging as a beautiful butterfly.
That metamorphic transition paints a word picture of what happens to us spiritually when we ask the Lord to forgive our sins and accept Him as Lord and Savior of our life. Paul explains it so well in Galatians as he draws a line in the sand between following the law or following Jesus and walking a straight path in line with the trust of the Gospel. It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me…who gave His life for me.
Paul asks the question: Tell me this one thing, did you receive God’s Spirit by doing what the law requires or by hearing the Gospel and believing it? (Gal 3:2) In other words, are you living the standards of the world, or have you surrendered to the Gospel and the saving grace of Jesus?
You cannot live the new life following the ways of the old life. Put off the works of darkness and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We live by promises, not by explanations.
Each of His precious children whom He loves, sees, watches over and protects, and walks with so they are never alone, encourages when afraid, and whom He will seek after and find when lost.
The Lord is worthy of total obedience, devotion, and trust. Surrender all to Him! The Lord will provide to those who trust Him. Trust His provision! God’s blessing is not intended to end with you but to flow through you. Share Jesus with others!
Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian. It just means that you go to church. Only when we surrender the old life and accept the new life in Christ, do we sprout spiritual wings and fly through life as a sinner saved by grace.
Now that we have been put right with God through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1
Sometimes True Stories
The Presbyterian church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrel infestation. After much prayer and consideration, they concluded that the squirrels were predestined to be there, and they should not interfere with God’s divine will.
At the Baptist church, the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistry. The deacons met and decided to put a water-slide on the baptistry and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels liked the slide and, unfortunately, knew instinctively how to swim, so twice as many squirrels showed up the following week.
The Lutheran church decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God’s creatures. So, they humanely trapped their squirrels and set them free near the Baptist church. Two weeks later, the squirrels were back when the Baptists took down the water-slide.
The Episcopalians tried a much more unique path by setting out pans of whiskey around their church in an effort to kill the squirrels with alcohol poisoning. They sadly learned how much damage a band of drunk squirrels can do.
But the Catholic church came up with a more creative strategy! They baptized all the squirrels and made them members of the church. Now they only see them at Christmas and Easter.
Not much was heard from the Jewish synagogue. They took the first squirrel and circumcised him. They haven’t seen a squirrel since.
Quotes You Can Use
It is better to suffer than to sin. Fear sin more than suffering. Edgar Aponte
Jesus doesn’t condemn you—He’s interceding for you. Dan Shock
A good home must be made, not bought. Joyce Maynard
Only God knows the end from the beginning. Dan Shock
Sacrifice – the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something with a higher claim. Are we willing to be a living sacrifice for Christ… no matter the cost? Marty Stubblefield
You can build something beautiful even from the stones that are put in your way.
When we walk through dark or fearful moments, it is our hope for the future that sustains us. Dan Shock
It is a safe place to be in the huddle with teammates, but if you stay there too long and never break the huddle and run the next play, you can never succeed. Dwight Short
God did not bless you to feel good about ourselves, but to bless others by sharing the Gospel.
Jesus Christ did not come into the world, die on the cross, and rise again to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live. Praise God, he is still doing it. Duane Brooks
Telling people that salvation requires faith in Jesus requires courage on our part. But compassion often does. So, let us pray for the lost people we know to experience the joy of eternal life in Christ. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to open doors to our witness and give us the words and courage we need to share with them. Jim Denison
There are many things that I don’t know or understand… but I do know the importance trusting an unknown future to a known God. Marty Stubblefield
A whole new dimension is opened to the spiritual man. Dan Shock
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