~**Glorying in the Gospel**~

  
The gospel of Jesus Christ is so wonderful and awe inspiring. Sunday's sermon was on the gospel...yesterday I was greatly encouraged by a video I watched on distinguishing law from gospel...and today I meditated on what the gospel is and how it has impacted my life during devotions. May the below prayer encourage you to focus on the person and work of Jesus Christ who is the gospel itself.


Gospel Prayer

     Thank you Lord for coming as a sinless baby, living a life of perfection unmatched and a billion times greater than even the most heroic figure we can think of. Help me to grasp how much pain and hardship you went through as you prepared yourself to humbly be taken and tried in a court of law that condemned You, a perfect sinless man, to the worst death, a death saved for the scum of the earth. God, thank You for separating Yourself from your most beloved so that I could might come to know you. Thank you for raising Your Son from death and fulfilling the prophecies of old that said He would rise three days after death. I am in awe that you sent the Holy Spirit to be Your earthly presence that would convict me of my sins and draw me to You. May I daily be reminded that without You, I am nothing...I would be enslaved to sin. Because of Your great love, I can now call you Abba Father! May Your praise be continually on my lips.

-Amen-

 ~**~

   ~Gospel proclamations proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior

   ~ The Gospel allows us to be free from the weight of having to be perfect. Christ cvers us with His perfection!

   ~ "In the gospel, God comes after us because we need him not because he needs us. Only the gospel can free us to revel in our insignificance." - Tullian Tchividjian

   ~"For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh..." - Romans 8:3

Transformed From Rebel Slave to Joyful Servant

“Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

 Martin Luther King Day....what does it make you think of? Perhaps your mind might wander to //slavery//, African Americans, cruelty, injustice, racism and a whole slew of other things. In all that this day stands for, and against, my mind takes me to the cross and the //freedom// from sin I found there in Jesus Christ.

//“There was a day when I died, utterly died, died to George Müller and his opinions, preferences, tastes and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame of even my brethren and friends; and since then I have studied only to show myself approved unto God” (cited in Slave, 153).//

 
   Called out of the bondage of our sin, we are //freed// from the shackles of all that held us to Satan. No longer do we shake our week fist at God and turn away from all that is pure; rather, we bow down to a strong and mighty King, ruler of all. Yet there remains a unique situation, under Christ we are still a //slave (Gr. doulos)//. How can this be? Haven't we been //freed//? Previous to our changed hearts under Christ, we were in forced //bondage//, living the life of a miserable renegade with a master who cared nothing for our well being. Now, our wild past is behind us and b Christ's saving power, we have enlisted into His army. Like the //slaves// in the New Testament who would sign himself over to his master after //freedom// had been given him, so is our new life in Christ. We are singularly devoted to Christ and have total dependence on Him.  We are joy filled, hope filled, and Christ filled! We are clothed in the best garment there is to offer, our Master's righteousness! We are His heirs, "...being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." - Titus 3:7.

   So, as we remember Martin Luther King Jr. on this relaxing day of vacation, remember even more Jesus Christ, the One who //freed// all form //slavery//...the greek, jew, blacks, whites...ALL are allowed to enter His Rest!

   I found the way Cripplegate explains this unique new life we are now apart of very helpful.

~Grace and Peace~