Video Bible Lesson - Full of Grace and Truth, Like Jesus by Randy Alcorn

1/2 Hour of God’s Power with Scott Ralls

6/7/2020

Full of Grace and Truth, Like Jesus

by Randy Alcorn

“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” - John 1:17Below are some thoughts about grace and truth and our need for both, in an age where some are all truth and no grace and others are all grace and no truth. (In fact, grace without truth is NOT biblical grace, and truth without grace is NOT biblical truth.)“Hate the sin, but love the sinner.” No one did either like Jesus.Truth hates sin. Grace loves sinners. Those full of grace and truth—those full of Jesus—do both.“‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin’” (John 8:11, NIV).Attempts to “soften” the gospel by minimizing truth keep people from Jesus. Attempts to “toughen” the gospel by minimizing grace keep people from Jesus. It’s not enough for us to offer grace or truth. We must offer both.When we offend everybody, we’ve declared truth without grace. When we offend nobody, we’ve watered down truth in the name of grace. John 1:14 tells us Jesus came full of grace AND truth. Let’s not choose between them, but be characterized by both.Some Scripture that pertains:“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

#Jesus, #Christian, #Bible, #Salvation, #Heaven, #God, #HolySpirit

Streams in the Desert

Streams in the Desert

But no one says, ‘Where is God, my Creator, who gives songs in the night' (Job 35:10)

Do you have sleepless nights, tossing on the hot pillow, and watching for the first glint of dawn? Ask the Divine Spirit to enable you to fix your thoughts on God your Maker, and believe that He can fill those lonely, dreary hours with song.

Is yours the night of bereavement? Is it not often at such a time that God draws near, and assures the mourner that the Lord has need of the departed loved one, and called “the eager, earnest spirit to stand in the bright throng of the invisible, liberated, radiant, active, intent on some high mission”; and as the thought enters, is there not the beginning of a song?

Is yours the night of discouragement and fancied or actual failure? No one understands you, your friends reproach; but your Maker draws nigh, and gives you a song—a song of hope, the song which is harmonious with the strong, deep music of His providence. Be ready to sing the songs that your Maker gives.
—Selected

“What then? Shall we sit idly down and say 
The night hath come; it is no longer day? 
Yet as the evening twilight fades away, 
The sky is filled with stars, invisible to day.”

The strength of the vessel can be demonstrated only by the hurricane, and the power of the Gospel can be fully shown only when the Christian is subjected to some fiery trial. If God would make manifest the fact that “He giveth songs in the night,” He must first make it night.
—William Taylor

Love Coupons from the Lord

Love Coupons from the Lord
by Shawn McEvoy

Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.
Hebrews 6:12, NLT

Rummaging through our junk drawer once upon a time, I came across a gift from my wife that has brought me nothing but trouble.

Hold it right there. You keep presents from your wife in the junk drawer? 

I’m happy to explain. Everything else I’ve ever received from Valerie is a treasure, a blessing. But in this case…

I’m speaking here of a booklet of "love coupons" placed in my stocking one Christmas. You’ve surely received something similar at one point in your life – a bundle of certificates entitling the bearer, at his or her behest, to a smattering of various benefits such as back rubs, dates, baked goods, relaxation, respite from chores, or other goodies. Whoever invented these well-intended documents of doom wasn't a master of foresight.

The problem doesn't lie in the sentiment, it's in the redemption. Flipping fondly through the long lost book, I plucked out a coupon for a 30-minute massage and excitedly approached the one from whom the much-appreciated thought originated.

“Hey, look what I found. Do you think I could redeem this tonight?”

Body language is an amazing thing. Val said nothing, but her facial expression told me I might as well have been expired yogurt. Her lips didn't move, but I very clearly heard her brain say:

“Are you kidding me? I’m overwhelmed and on my feet all day chasing down rambunctious children, and you have the audacity to bring me a coupon? If there’s anybody who should be receiving a massage tonight, mister, it’s me! In fact, if you really loved me, you'd know when I was too busy or moody or tired!”

And there it is. Something that had been designed to show her love to me had turned into something that demonstrated my perceived lack of love for her. Um, how did that happen? Stupid coupons. Back into the junk drawer until you're more convenient to my wife – once the kids are out of the house.

So, in need of unconditional promises I could count on, I pulled out the old concordance seeking out scriptures about which I could pray: "Look what I found. Do you think I could redeem this tonight?"

See, Valerie is human; I'm unwise. Our Father is neither. He loves us more than we can fathom and He's put together quite a package of unbreakable promises that have no flaw in the redemption. We just have to faithfully submit them.

Holding fast to promise in difficult times was a major theme for New Testament authors. Here are just a few examples of the encouragement they offer through telling us what's available to the believer through Christ:

• 1 - Power, Holiness, Escape from Temptation and Worldliness
  
  “And by that same mighty power, He has given us all of His rich and wonderful promises. He has promised that you will escape the decadence all around you caused by evil desires and that you will share in His divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).
  
  Pluck this out and turn it in when… you feel bogged down by all the sin and negativity in the world, when you need to feel that your destiny is something more than this crude earthly matter, but a partaker of the divine.
   
• 2 - The Holy Spirit, Complete with Gifts, Fruit, and Power
  
  “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as My Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven” (Luke 24:49).
  
  Pluck this out and turn it in when… you need to remember that Jesus did not leave you here alone; He sent His messenger to fill you with everything you need to know Him and make Him known.
   
• 3 - Fellowship, Joy, Eternal Life
  
  “You must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will continue to live in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life He promised us” (1 John 2:24-25).
  
  Pluck this out and turn it in when… you need to return to the first principles of the faith, being reminded of the benefits of walking with God.
   
• 4 - Salvation, Belonging, Riches & Blessings, Being Children of God
  
  “And this is the secret plan: The Gentiles have an equal share with the Jews in all the riches inherited by God's children. Both groups have believed the Good News, and both are part of the same body and enjoy together the promise of blessings through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3:6).
  
  Pluck this out and turn it in when… you are overtaken by selfishness or self-centeredness, and need to focus on who you are as part of the Church and an all-inheriting child of God.
   
• 5 - Truth, Confidence, Assurance, Life
  
  “Truth gives them the confidence of eternal life, which God promised them before the world began – and He cannot lie” (Titus 1:2).
  
  Pluck this out and turn it in when… you feel let down by those around you, lost in the temporal rather than the eternal, or in need of knowing that God can’t go back on His Word.
   
• 6 - Membership in the Family, Persecuted but Free
  
  “And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac. And we who are born of the Holy Spirit are persecuted by those who want us to keep the law, just as Isaac, the child of promise, was persecuted by Ishmael, the son of the slave-wife” (Galatians 4:28-29).
  
  Pluck this out and turn it in when… you are downtrodden by right-and-wrong, do-and-don't. You are born again free in the family of the Most High.
   
• 7 - Trials, Patience, Endurance, the Crown of Life
  
  “God blesses the people who patiently endure testing. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12).
  
  Pluck this out and turn it in when… you wonder at God’s wisdom and will, when tough times come your way, and when you feel you don't have the strength to go on. Testing is guaranteed, so don't despise it or your own discipline – how else would you be able to exercise your faith?

And the best promise of all while we're on this earth may just be new joy, new mercy every morning. Each day another chance. When days get rough and we could use "a backrub from above," all we have to do is open up the Bible and say, "Look what I found, Lord. It's been a tough day. Do you think I could redeem this one tonight?"

Since the Lord is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, the answer is always yes. Until one day we experience His ultimate promise of a new heaven and a new earth and there will be no need of coupons.

Intersecting Faith & Life: Redeem one of the above coupon/promises today!

If We Lived with God as Our Portion

If We Lived with God as Our Portion
By Cindi McMenamin

“Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” (Psalm 16:5-6 NASB)

What do you consider your reward in life? A fulfilling career, satisfying relationships, or being able to find joy in the simple things in life? What about success, notoriety, or financial security?

The problem with those “rewards” is that we can often feel we are missing the mark when our expectations aren’t met. But when you and I adopt a mindset like some of the great men of faith in the Scriptures, we can funnel every circumstance in life, every disappointment, and even every miserable failure, through the grid of God being our portion and reward.

Consider Abraham, who waited years for God to deliver upon a promise to give him a son. Remember David the shepherd boy, psalmist, and giant killer who became Israel’s greatest king, but was also a fugitive for many years of his life. And consider Paul, who was shipwrecked, imprisoned, and beaten and left for dead several times. They all considered God as their portion – or reward in life – regardless of their circumstances.

What if you and I were to adopt the motto: “The Lord is my portion?” Our lives would look very different.

We would be content with our lives.

When the Lord is your portion, you are content and you know what it means to have enough. Instead of praying for more money, a bigger house, a better job, and a happier or more fulfilling life, you realize you have been abundantly blessed.

The writer of Proverbs 30:7-9understood God as His portion, when he said: “Two things I asked of You, Do not refuse me before I die: Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, That I not be full and deny You and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or that I not be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God.” (NASB).

Are you content with what God has given you, realizing He sees what is best for you and knows what you can handle and what you can’t? If you see God as your portion, you will be.

We could surrender the need to succeed.

In Genesis 15:1, God told Abraham, “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

The Apostle Paul understood this “exceedingly great reward” in Christ when he said, “I consider everything (education, achievement, a spotless reputation, self-achieved righteousness) a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him…” (Philippians 3:8-9).

When we understand the worth of knowing Christ, we can surrender the need to succeed in our eyes and in the eyes of others. When He is our portion we find our reward and our worth in Him, not in anything the world offers. And we can say as David did in Psalm 16:1: “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”

When you and I live like God is our inheritance, our share, and our reward, we also understand that nothing else compares to Him. We’ve won the prize.

A Prayer for When You’re Tired of Waiting

A Prayer for When You’re Tired of WaitingBy Lauren Gaskill

“Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.” – Psalm 62:5-8

Waiting is hard. And whether you’re waiting in traffic, waiting for the seasons to change, waiting for your husband to get home from a work trip, or waiting for your dream to come true — waiting is never fun.

I mean, seriously, who likes to wait? Who wakes up and says, “I hope I have to wait for something today?” (If you’re reading this and that’s you, please email me so we can be friends and I can learn your secret!)

All joking aside, if the majority of the world could choose between waiting and not waiting, I think we’d choose the latter. Because chances are if we’re waiting for something, that means we want it pretty bad, but we don’t have it yet.

Dear brothers and sister, I don’t know what you’re waiting on right now, but I want to invite you to draw strength not only from those who have waited before us, but from God himself.

Draw strength from the promises of God and look forward to the fulfillment of those promises. For our God is not a God of false or empty promises, but of beautiful, certain promises.

We are not alone when we wait. God is with us and He wants us to pour our hearts out to Him. He wants us to trust and find refuge in Him.

I pray that as we wait, we will hold on to these truths and we will let God’s Word renew our souls.

Whatever He has for us is worth the wait.

Lord, you are not just the God of time but the God of timing. Help me to trust You as I wait for the things I desperately want. Help me not become discouraged or depressed in this season of waiting, but help me take my place joyfully with all the saints who persevered through the wait you had for them. As we walk through this season of Advent, help me to spend time meditating on Your promise to bring our Savior into the world. Thank You for Your plan to come again and bring restoration for all things! In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.