Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Day 10, June 10th

Eph 2:1-22 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, (2) in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. (3) Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (4) But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, (5) even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (6) and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (7) so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (8) For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; (9) not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (11) Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands-- (12) remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (13) But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (14) For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, (15) by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, (16) and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. (17) AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; (18) for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. (19) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, (20) having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, (21) in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, (22) in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

4 comments:

  1. Sarah and Josh, don't you love it when you see Ephesians up there?
    Great verses.
    So I had 5 girls on my golf cart this morning. I was transporting them to the video room to analyze their golf swings. They are all in the 8th grade. We had a great discussion in the cart on how to get to heaven. Two said they had no clue, two said believe in God, the last one said, "No, you must believe in Jesus Christ to be saved". I said amen to her and then we had a great discussion on what the gospel is and she said she goes to Asbury. It was great. The other four girls listened, they thought you had to be good to go to heaven, basically. I told them there was one who was perfectly good all of the time, Jesus Christ. I love talking to young people, they are so great to visit with. They usually listen and do not seem to be irritated by spiritual things. I praise God for these encounters and look forward to one more day of camp!
    mags

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  2. Here I am again but this should be Jenni writing this. Since she does not type yet and only writes a little I will write for her. I was very convicted tonight. We went for a walk around our block after church. The kids wanted to go knock on Scott's door to talk to him about Jesus (neighbor, good friend, we have shared the gospel with him many times before). I said, no, let's walk home, we need to get ready for bath and bed. As we approached our house, our neighbor who lives two doors down was out front with his grandbaby. I have never even spoken to this man except to say hello. Jenni was riding her bike and said atleast 5 times, "ask him mommy, ask him mommy".........so I said, you ask him, sis. She goes, "do you know Jesus?" He smiled and said yes. Then I asked him where he went to church. He said Victory. I then asked him what he thought the gospel was. He said, following the golden rule is a good place to start. Keeping the ten commandments. Then he said, you know the ten commandments should be a way of life and people try to make them a religion. I followed that with an explanation of the gospel. I told him there was one who kept all ten commandments perfectly, how we cannot keep them perfectly, that Christ was perfect, died on the cross for our sins and rose again proving He was indeed sinless. He kept smiling. It was a good encounter. My daughter is really pushing me in this. I was so ready to walk on home and she was so persistent. I was acting ashamed of the gospel with this man at first, I thank God my daughter was not.
    Mags

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  3. Met a guy today whose name is pronounced "two"; he moved to OK from CA a couple years ago. He's never attended church anywhere. I asked what he believed about Jesus. He said he believed Jesus existed; I followed up that question by asking if he believe Jesus rose from the dead. He answered yes; honestly I was surprised with his answer.

    I covered a few of the 10 Commandments with him and he agreed that he had not kept the law. I told him I had not kept the law either. I told him that Jesus is the only hope for sinners like us because he was both the perfect law keeper and wrath bearer. I explained that Jesus lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death, was buried and rose again on the third day.
    Overall a great encounter – I left him with a Gospel Tract.

    Jimmy

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  4. My best friend from High School found me on Facebook today. I haven’t spoken to her for 20 years. We did a lot of catching up by “chatting”. Found out she had a heart attack last year. Crazy! I told her that God saved me about nine years ago and shared how she could be saved by offering Christ. I look forward to more “chatting”. All she said initially is “oh, you’re a churchy girl now”. I’m excited about this opportunity because I would be surprised if she knows one other Christian.

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