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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Paul the Minister to the Gentiles Bible Verse:Romans 15:14-21 "Imyself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.” " Message:
As Paul winds up his letter, he realizes that his long lecture might sound presumptuous to a group of people he has never, for the most part, met. His tone has been one of instruction, and people being people, there were no doubt members of the church in Rome who might say, “Who is this Paul guy to be telling us what to do?”
So, he show some interpersonal skills. First he gives them credit for their accomplishments, telling them he is satisfied how good and knowledgeable they are, “able to instruct one another.” Then, he gives them some credentials: He has preached and started churches from Jerusalem to Greece, always traveling to places nobody else has been, and performing miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit. He says it very nicely. One might be tempted to think he’s bragging a bit, but we must remember, it serves Christ that Paul establish his credentials and authority.
Most likely, he needn’t have done so, since surely the Roman church would know well who he was; he had many friends and acquaintances in Rome, whom he had gotten to know in his lengthy travels throughout Turkey and Greece.
Saint Edmund’s Shield
The quote is from Isaiah 52 (Isaiah 52:15) and is fairly quoted in context, for Isaiah was speaking of Gentile kings when he said “those who have never been told of him will see.” Paul, who is the instrument of God and is fulfilling a prophecy made 800 years before, cannot help but sound somewhat boastful if he speaks of what he has done; he had indeed “fulfilled the ministry of the Gospel of Christ,” by leaving the comforts of his home and his people, to bring knowledge of salvation to all the people of earth.
It is today as it has always been, since Paul wrote these words. If we live in developed world, we might perceive that Christianity is in decline. But to think so is mistaken.
Fewer people in the Western world call themselves Christians today than a few decades ago, and even fewer will be found in churches on a given Sunday. But this is God’s concern, not ours.
We must conduct our own affairs as the Bible teaches us, and we must make the gospel available, bringing those to Christ who will come; but we cannot count our success by numbers. Being too anxious to get people into church, so that we feel successful and vindicated, indulges our own vanity and leads us to pander to the pre-existing opinions of a potential convert.
What must concern us is not how many people follow us, but rather, that it is Christ to whom we are leading them. We seek to preach the incontrovertible truths of God, not the fickle opinions of humanity, or we have accomplished nothing. “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience.”
Meditation : Prayer : Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted me as a living member of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have blessed me with the grace of forgiveness through the sacrifice He made for me and for all people. Send me now into the world in peace, and grant me strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart; through Christ our Lord......Amen |
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