Romans 9,10&15; I Peter 1

Thank you, Father, that you chose me and have mercy and compassion on me. This election is for your purposes and by your mercy. It does not come because of my will or exertion.

But now, by your call to me, and your gift of grace and faith, I do pursue the righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus, the Christ.

I believe in him and receive him as Lord of my life. Jesus Christ is the end of the law of righteousness for each of us who believe.

I say with my mouth and my life that Jesus is Lord and you, God, my heavenly father, raised him from the dead, according to the scriptures.

I glorify you, father, for your mercy to me and to all those who are yours. According to your great mercy, you have caused me to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

In Christ, my inheritance is imperishable, undefiled and unfading. I am guarded by your power, father, through faith, for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

I Cor. 15 & J. Piper

Christ lifted my sins and carried them to the cross and died the death that I deserve to die. That means my death is no longer punitive. My death is no longer the wrath of God against me, rather through Christ’s atonement my death, or the death of any of God’s children, is our entrance into full salvation, with no condemnation.

“This mortal body must put on immortality and death is swallowed up in victory for the child of God, through Christ Jesus.”

If Christ had not been raised then this would not be so, but Christ has been raised from the dead and I am raised with him.

At God’s appointed time I will appear, in this flesh, to die and this fleshly vessel will be sown like a kernal. What is sown is perishable, but what God raises from that is imperishable.

It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. This is because flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom nor can perishable inherit the imperishable.

John 10

Lately we have studied John chapter 10, considering the impact on our lives of Jesus as our Shepherd. In that study and in the context of the world events, I’ve seen things in the chapter that I had not seen before.

In verses 1, 2, 5, 8 & 10. There is a warning that there are thieves.

There are people or powers who would lead away the children of God. I’m sure Jesus is talking about false pastors or false religion or in the immediate context he is probably talkin about the Pharisees.

I believe that warning could be applied and extended today to, of all things, our media.

There may be in some of our media a sincere effort to keep us informed and to help the nation, but for the most part it seems obvious that the media is after power and money. What is called “the news” in our country has grown into a power seeking, self-serving preacher.

The news media has long been in their minds the “fourth estate”. In other words, they have elevated themselves to the same level as the Supreme Court, the President and the Congress.

And lately, as far as I can see, they consider themselves the only estate. They plan that the other branches of public service should bow down and cowtow to them. If a leader takes a position opposite the opinion of the media they are scorched for it by obviously biased reporting.

Anyway, what I’m getting at is, in my opinion, we need to be careful where we spend our worship. People don’t think of the time they spend watching the news as worship. They think of it as getting information.

But I ponder: how much information do I really need? Is this information doing me any good? Is anybody really going to call me from Washington and ask me my opinion on something. And what is this information fed to me six or eight hours(or more) a day doing to my soul and Spirit?

Where we spend our time and put our attention, and what we allow to affect our feelings and faith is worship. Most folks certainly aren’t spending an hour or two a day in communion with God. By God’s command we should be ceaselessly in prayer or communion. Certainly hours spent in front of the news interrupt that communion at the very least and destroy it at the very worst.

I don’t mean to go on too long with the false worship idea but it is interesting to me that we would be studying that part of John 10 during this time of international crisis.

I can see the potential of propaganda in this “preaching” and I can sense the fearful response of the people who stick with the “reports” of the media.

Based on my experience it is possible to watch almost no news and still stay informed. You see headlines, people call you and talk to you about things. It is not necessary to sit in front of the TV or to welcome this kind of fear-mongering into your home for hours at the time.

Instead, I want to spend my time seeking my shepherd, moving close to him, sensing his care and his touch for me. And in that worship choice, finding myself in green pastures, beside still waters, fully restored in my soul, and walking in paths of righteousness.

1 Peter 5; Heb. 9; 2 Tim. 4

Hallelujah, today I cast my cares upon you, father, so thankful that you care for me. I am not anxious, my refuge is in you, not in being anxious. I’m eager for your company and your lordship today, Father, son, and holy Spirit.

Just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the judgment, so, Christ, you were offered once to bear my sins, and you will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save us who are eagerly waiting for you.

Therefore, by your grace, I fight a good fight, I finish my race, I keep the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which you, the Lord of righteousness, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but to all who have loved your appearing.

Rev. 5,7&11

Worthy are you, Lord Jesus. Worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. To you, Lord, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. You are sovereign Lord, holy and true.

Salvation belongs to you who sits on the throne, God, my father, and to the lamb. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to you, father, forever and ever.

You, father, shelter me with your presence. I hunger and thirst no more; the sun and scorching heat do not strike me. The lamb in the midst of your throne is my shepherd and he guides me to springs of living water. You, God, my father, wipe away every tear from my eyes.

I give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty. You reward your servants, those great and small, who fear your name, and you destroy the destroyers of the Earth.

I Peter 1; James 1; John 6; Acts 20; Hebrews 11; John 14; I Peter 2; Col. 2&3, Romans 11, Mat. 1

I am born again by the imperishable seed which is the word of God, and I have received with meekness the implanted word which is able to save my soul.

I work diligently to believe on Jesus as the Christ. I am quick to repent from sin and from even “fleshly” thinking, and my faith is in the complete work of Jesus, my Messiah. I know God rewards me as I seek him diligently.

I believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and I have come to God the Father through faith in Jesus. There have been times when I have strayed, but now I have returned to my Lord Jesus, the shepherd and Bishop of my soul.

Christ is all and in all, and I am complete in him. For from him and through him and to him are all things, and to him is glory forever. His name is, Jesus, and he has saved me from my sins.

Matthew 16; John 1; 2 Peter; John6

To those to whom the father reveals it, Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. He is the word of God and he became flesh and dwelt among us, so that the world would have the word of God, to see it, to hear it, and to touch it. To have it written by the apostles as they were carried along by the holy Spirit.

God is the one who calls me. Without his revelation I would not see. I have come to faith in Christ because you, heavenly father, have drawn me to you. You have elected me for salvation and because of that I come to Christ. And whoever comes to Christ Jesus, he will never cast out.

I Thess. 4

Father, your word informs me that there will be loss of loved ones in this lifetime, and that that loss will lead to times of grieving and times of tears, but, in faith, I do not grieve as one who has no hope. For I believe that Jesus died and rose again and that, through Jesus, you, father, will raise with Christ all those who have fallen asleep.

Those who have fallen asleep will precede those who are left at the coming of the Lord Jesus when he descends from heaven. He will descend at the time appointed by you, father, with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of your trumpet, father.

The dead in Christ will rise first. Then those who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we always be with the Lord.

Romans 5

By one man’s obedience many were made righteous. Even though sin increases, grace abounds all the more. Grace reigns through the righteousness of Jesus Christ leading to eternal life for me. With joy I receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness that is mine through Jesus Christ, my Lord.

Since I have been justified by faith, I have peace with God, my heavenly father. Through Christ I have also obtained access by faith to this grace in which I now stand, and I rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

I rejoice as God works in my character to produce endurance, christ-like character, and hope. And this hope does not disappoint because God’s love has been poured into my heart through the holy Spirit, who has been given to me as a gift by God, my father.

Since I have been justified by Jesus’s blood, much more I am saved, by my Lord Jesus from the wrath of God. By Christ I have been perfectly and joyously reconciled to God, my father.

Heb 2, Mark 10, John 8, I Cor. 6

Jesus, the Christ, partook of flesh and blood. He took on humaness just like me so that through death he destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and he delivered me from the slavery of the fear of death. He came to serve the father and to give his life as a ransom for me.

I am Jesus’s disciple indeed. I continue in the word of God. I know the truth and the truth has set me free.

The son of God has chosen me and bought me with his righteous life and redeemed me from the bondage of sin. Jesus, the son of God, has made me free and whom the son sets free is free indeed.

Christmas, Easter and other “special” days remind me of my freedom, freedom from the fear of death. Jesus took on my nature in Bethlehem and died my death in Jerusalem so that, I can be fearless wherever I am. The biggest threat to my joy is gone. Death is no longer a fear. I am truly free. No more bondage to anxiety.