This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. The subject of today is Oneness and Peace in Christ. I am in such a grateful place today and God is steadily growing me in the spirit. My hope is that the message today opens someone’s eyes and heart.
Today’s Prayer
Most gracious Heavenly Father, You are indeed the author of reconciliation! For You sent Your Son to be the means for giving a second chance to anyone who would accept Him on faith as Your Son and Your messenger! For those who can believe in Him, ask forgiveness for their sins, and truly repent — willing to give up their sinful ways — He promised to provide help now, and eternal life in the future! Remind us that Jesus, who was Himself innocent of sin, carried out Your first move toward reconciliation at Your direction! Open our hearts to better understand Your ways. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Oneness and Peace in Christ
Ephesians 2:11-22
Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders by birth. You were called “the uncircumcised ones” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God’s people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us. By his death he ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles. His purpose was to make peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new person from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. He has brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and to us Jews who were near. Now all of us, both Jews and Gentiles, may come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
Quote of the Day
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God…We have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! ~Abraham Lincoln~