Dearly Beloved
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Do the Math
Dearly beloved of God, let’s do some math this morning. X+ Y= Z. If we know “X” and “Z” we can solve the equation to find “Y”.
“X” is known; in this equation it is the problem you are facing. “Z” is the answer you are looking for, which is deliverance from the problem, which God promises to perform for us in His Word. What is “Y’?
If we do the math the answer is obvious. “Y” is God our Father, the One True and Living God. When we factor Him into the equation we will always get the answer we need.
God our Father is both able and willing to help us; He says so. Not only did He say so, He gives us example after example of how He has done just that for His people.
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Speak to me Father
Dearly beloved of God, our Father is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Say, “Abba [Father], Father.” His ears are open to our prayers. He is near; He is with us and for us.
When you read His Word, God your Father is speaking to you. Think of His Word in the first person when you read it.
Oh, speak to me Father. Lead me and direct my steps.
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The Prime Mover
Dearly beloved of God, God so loved us that He sent His only begotten Son to save us. God is the prime mover, not us.
It was His idea for us to born again of the spirit from Him. He determined that He would be God our Father by the new birth spirit. It was His idea for us to be partakers of the divine nature.
He desired for us to be members of His household, and fellowcitizens with the holy ones. In fact, He determined that we are His dwelling place by the spirit.
He determined beforehand for us to be saved by His grace by confessing Jesus as Lord and believing that God raised him from the dead. He is the prime mover, and He determined the grounds for our salvation; not us.
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Transformed Living
Dearly beloved of God, “God saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given unto us in Christ Jesus before the time of the ages.” II Timothy 1: 9 WT
How do we respond to God’s great grace shown us in Christ Jesus?
The law of the spirit, that is to say, life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of the sin and the death that Adam brought upon mankind.
In the new birth we received a new nature, that of spirit life in Christ Jesus.
In our natural birth as human beings we received a body and soul life; which is our old nature of the flesh.
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The God of All Comfort
Dearly beloved of God, God our Father is the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our trials and afflictions so that we are able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
When you compare the trials and afflictions that Paul endured to make known the gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ these words are noteworthy and worth our consideration.
Paul was stoned and left for dead, beaten, jailed, and lied about by the adversary’s sycophants nearly everywhere he went, not to mention everything else he endured. You can read about what he endured in II Timothy 3:10-13.
I am certain that most, if not none of us have endured the tribulations he endured, and yet he wrote:
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Called According to His Purpose
Dearly beloved of God, God called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the time of the ages.
God called us to His kingdom and glory. He called us by the gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ. To what end did He call us? He called us to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us that we should be called the children of God, (and so we are)! God is our Father and He calls us His beloved. We are the children of the Living God, and members of His household.
We are now the beloved of God, the called, holy ones in Christ Jesus.
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What Guarantee Do You Have?
Dearly beloved of God, what guarantee do you have concerning the future? What promise can the world make concerning your wellbeing, long life, prosperity, healing, peace of mind, deliverance from the things that make you afraid, much less your salvation and eternal life? You cannot trust a thing the world says.
As the children of God we have sure and certain promises that God stands behind. He is both able and willing to perform His Word!
God told Israel that He had told them about the end from the beginning. He told them that He created the heavens and the earth; what is too hard for Him? He said that He brought to pass the former things He told them, and He will bring the new things that He told them to pass.
He said, “Be not afraid; for I am with you. Be not dismayed: for I am your God: I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness.”
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God’s Plan of Redemption
Dearly beloved of God, the justice of God is by the believing of Jesus Christ to all who believe on him.
Every one of us were previously dead in sin; we did not have spirit life, and we came short of the glory of God. We were all guilty before Him.
In spite of being dead in sin, ungodly, and enemies of God, God sent His Son to redeem us, to reconcile us to Himself, and to save us.
If we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son when we were enemies, then much more, having been reconciled, we shall be delivered from wrath by his life.
We were justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God set forth His Son as the place of reconciliation. God determined this; it was His idea, not ours.
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What Do We See?
Dearly beloved of God, sometimes in the struggles and sorrows of this life we are overwhelmed, and grow weary. In those times that we faint in our minds we need the encouragement of God’s Word, and the acknowledgement of our hope of glory in Christ if we are to endure unto the end.
Hebrews 2:5-9
5 Moreover, He did not put the coming world, about which we speak, in subjection to angels.
6 But one testified in a certain place, saying: “What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You visit him?
7 “You briefly made him lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor,
8 “You put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in subjecting “all things” to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. At the present time, however, we do not yet see all things subjected to him.
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One Body in Christ
Dearly beloved of God, every word in the Word of God is God-breathed. God gave us His Word as our reference for truth concerning spiritual matters. It is His responsibility to make His Will known to us, and it is our responsibility to believe what He has revealed.
One of the keys to understanding how the Word of God interprets itself is understanding to whom it is addressed. All scripture is addressed to one of three groups.
I Corinthians 10:32
Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God.
We understand this when it comes to our mail. We would not think of opening a letter addressed to someone else, so it should be easy to understand to whom a scripture is addressed.
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Commandments in the Age of Grace
Dearly beloved of God, as the children of God who live in the age of grace there are commandments we are to keep.
I John 3:21-24
Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God;
And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
And this is His commandment, That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and he in him. And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us.
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Good Hope through Grace
Dearly beloved of God, in Christ we have a living, true hope of glory that does not fade away that is reserved in heaven for us. It stings when a beloved one falls asleep, but the sting is nothing compared to the pain of those who have no hope. God our Father has given us good hope through His great grace.
My heart aches for the families of those who have lost loved ones, but there is nothing we can do but to love, pray, and help them as they mourn and cope with the emptiness of their loss.
We are all mortal, and we must face that reality. Those who do not have Christ in them, the hope of glory only have this life, but we will live again when God sends His Son for us on the Day of Redemption.
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Goliath or God?
Dearly beloved of God, yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, (Why?) for Thou art with me.
If we do not need to fear death, what in life do we have to fear?
The adversary instills fear; God our Father delivers.
There were times in David’s life that there was only a step between him and death, but God was in that step.
He could have been defeated by fear when he challenged Goliath, but he walked with the Living God who was bigger and stronger than his opponent, and He trusted Him.
Dearly beloved, seek the LORD, He will hear you, and deliver you from everything that makes you afraid. He is the LORD God Almighty and He is able and willing to help you. He is unlimited in resources; look to Him. Those who seek the LORD will not lack any good thing.
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Our Times are in His Hands
Dearly beloved of God, our times are in His hands, therefore, we should have no fear; He is our Father.
“Fear not,” is His Word to us. God our Father is our sufficiency in all things. When we consider what God our Father has done for us in Christ, and who we are in him, what could we possibly fear?
Our standing before God is in Christ as members of his body. He has given us access to Him by the spirit from Him. He has completely filled us in Christ with what he accomplished; it is all of them in all of us who are members of his body.
Listen to the words that He Himself revealed to the Apostle Paul for us to know and believe.
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Our Overcoming Victory
Dearly beloved of God, Jesus is the only human being that arose from the dead, and who dies no more. His resurrection out from among the dead was the most historic event in human history, and it is the foundation of Christianity.
All of us are mortal, meaning we are subject to death. It is appointed unto man once to die, but unlike the common lot of people we have the hope of living again when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to gather us up to meet him in the air.
Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead is the blueprint for our resurrection. God our Father determined beforehand for us to be conformed to the image of His son, so that he might be the firstborn from the dead among many brethren.
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Our Victory is in His Victory
Dearly beloved of God, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ into the world to declare Him; to make Him known. Jesus declared God by teaching His Word, and doing His Father’s Will. He said that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”
God instructed the apostle He sent to reveal the great mystery concerning Christ to write, “All scripture is God-breathed….”
From God’s point of view there is no question about the integrity of His Word. He is the Author of His Word, and He stands behind every word. He is both able and willing to perform every Word He has spoken, and He is faithful and reliable.
How long will God’s Word be in force? The Lord Jesus Christ said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” The words he spoke for God will never pass away. That’s rather emphatic, is it not?
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