This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Today’s message is about spiritual positioning. My hope is that it will bless you as much as it has me.
Today’s Prayer
Father, help us to remember that although Your grace is free, discipleship is costly. If we truly accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and commit ourselves to You, then out of love we will want to serve You, seeking to know Your will and to be obedient to it. Help us to be a channel of Your love, Your healing, and Your strength that others may see Jesus in us. That’s what it is all about, isn’t it — this being a Christian? You first loved us, and we are to pass Your love on to others. And let us count it all joy. In the wonderful name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
Let’s eat.
Children of God: Their Position
A Title of Relationship and Endearment
Heirs and Joint Heirs
Galatians 4:7 –
Now we are no longer slaves, but God’s own sons.
Romans 8:17 –
And since we are his children, we will share his treasures–for all God gives to his Son Jesus is now ours too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
Dear Children – Title of Endearment
1 John 2:12-28 –
I am writing these things to all of you, my little children, because your sins have been forgiven in the name of Jesus our Savior. I am saying these things to you older men because you really know Christ, the one who has been alive from the beginning. And you young men, I am talking to you because you have won your battle with Satan. And I am writing to you younger boys and girls because you, too, have learned to know God our Father. And so I say to you fathers who know the eternal God, and to you young men who are strong, with God’s Word in your hearts, and have won your struggle against Satan: Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love these things you show that you do not really love God; for all these worldly things, these evil desires–the craze for sex, the ambition to buy everything that appeals to you, and the pride that comes from wealth and importance–these are not from God. They are from this evil world itself. And this world is fading away, and these evil, forbidden things will go with it, but whoever keeps doing the will of God will live forever. Dear children, this world’s last hour has come. You have heard about the Antichrist who is coming–the one who is against Christ–and already many such persons have appeared. This makes us all the more certain that the end of the world is near. These “against-Christ” people used to be members of our churches, but they never really belonged with us or else they would have stayed. When they left us it proved that they were not of us at all. But you are not like that, for the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you know the truth. So I am not writing to you as to those who need to know the truth, but I warn you as those who can discern the difference between true and false. And who is the greatest liar? The one who says that Jesus is not Christ. Such a person is antichrist, for he does not believe in God the Father and in his Son. For a person who doesn’t believe in Christ, God’s Son, can’t have God the Father either. But he who has Christ, God’s Son, has God the Father also. So keep on believing what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will always be in close fellowship with both God the Father and his Son. And he himself has promised us this: eternal life. These remarks of mine about the Antichrist are pointed at those who would dearly love to blindfold you and lead you astray. But you have received the Holy Spirit and he lives within you, in your hearts, so that you don’t need anyone to teach you what is right. For he teaches you all things, and he is the Truth, and no liar; and so, just as he has said, you must live in Christ, never to depart from him. And now, my little children, stay in happy fellowship with the Lord so that when he comes you will be sure that all is well, and will not have to be ashamed and shrink back from meeting him.
Unknown by the World
1 John 3:2 –
Yes, dear friends, we are already God’s children, right now, and we can’t even imagine what it is going to be like later on. But we do know this, that when he comes we will be like him, as a result of seeing him as he really is.
John 15:18-21 –
for you get enough hate from the world! But then, it hated me before it hated you. The world would love you if you belonged to it; but you don’t–for I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? `A slave isn’t greater than his master!’ So since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you! The people of the world will persecute you because you belong to me, for they don’t know God who sent me.
Waiting for the Manifestation
Romans 8:19 –
For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day when God will resurrect his children.
Colossians 3:4
For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day when God will resurrect his children.
Quote of the Day
The proof that you love someone is not that you have warm affectionate feelings toward them. The proof is in your actions, your words and your sacrifice, your willingness to give the best of yourself and your willingness to get nothing in return.
Katherine Walden
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REV. ELDER G E STERRETT
FOUNDER
GCKRS HELPING HAND FOUNDATION – THE RELATIONSHIP FACTORY
James H. Taylor Sr. – Kankakee City News has published my Daily meal message for a decade.