O. Addison Gethers e-mail address [email protected] [email protected]
twitter URL http//:twitter.com/OAddisonGethers Messenger contact window live/msn messenger: [email protected] aim: durangoadd64 skype: cowboys62 yahoo messenger: OADDISONGETHERS rs ----- Original Message ----- From: "Donnie Parrett" <[email protected]> To: "Donnie Parrett" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 10:32 PM Subject: Daily Bible Reading For Wednesday November 18 > Day 322 > > Romans 4 > Trusting God > 1-3 So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the > faith, into this new way of > looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve > him, he could certainly > have taken credit for it. But the story we're given is a God-story, not an > Abraham-story. What we > read in Scripture is, "Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, > and that was the turning > point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on > his own." > 4-5If you're a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we > don't call your wages a > gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it's something > only God can do, and you > trust him to do it-you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard > and long you worked-well, > that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. > Sheer gift. > > 6-9David confirms this way of looking at it, saying that the one who > trusts God to do the > putting-everything-right without insisting on having a say in it is one > fortunate man: > > Fortunate those whose crimes are carted off, > whose sins are wiped clean from the slate. > Fortunate the person against > whom the Lord does not keep score. > Do you think for a minute that this blessing is only pronounced over those > of us who keep our > religious ways and are circumcised? Or do you think it possible that the > blessing could be given to > those who never even heard of our ways, who were never brought up in the > disciplines of God? We all > agree, don't we, that it was by embracing what God did for him that > Abraham was declared fit before > God? > > 10-11Now think: Was that declaration made before or after he was marked by > the covenant rite of > circumcision? That's right, before he was marked. That means that he > underwent circumcision as > evidence and confirmation of what God had done long before to bring him > into this acceptable > standing with himself, an act of God he had embraced with his whole life. > > 12And it means further that Abraham is father of all people who embrace > what God does for them > while they are still on the "outs" with God, as yet unidentified as God's, > in an "uncircumcised" > condition. It is precisely these people in this condition who are called > "set right by God and with > God"! Abraham is also, of course, father of those who have undergone the > religious rite of > circumcision not just because of the ritual but because they were willing > to live in the risky > faith-embrace of God's action for them, the way Abraham lived long before > he was marked by > circumcision. > > 13-15That famous promise God gave Abraham-that he and his children would > possess the earth-was not > given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God's > decision to put everything > together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed. If those > who get what God gives them > only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all > the right forms properly > signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise > into an ironclad contract! > That's not a holy promise; that's a business deal. A contract drawn up by > a hard-nosed lawyer and > with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to > collect. But if there is no > contract in the first place, simply a promise-and God's promise at > that-you can't break it. > > 16This is why the fulfillment of God's promise depends entirely on > trusting God and his way, and > then simply embracing him and what he does. God's promise arrives as pure > gift. That's the only way > everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the religious > traditions and those who have > never heard of them. For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial > father-that's reading the > story backward. He is our faith father. > > 17-18We call Abraham "father" not because he got God's attention by living > like a saint, but > because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn't that > what we've always read in > Scripture, God saying to Abraham, "I set you up as father of many > peoples"? Abraham was first named > "father" and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what > only God could do: raise > the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When > everything was hopeless, Abraham > believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he > couldn't do but on what God > said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God > himself said to him, > "You're going to have a big family, Abraham!" > > 19-25Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence and say, "It's hopeless. > This hundred-year-old body > could never father a child." Nor did he survey Sarah's decades of > infertility and give up. He didn't > tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He > plunged into the promise and > came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he > had said. That's why it is > said, "Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him > right." But it's not just > Abraham; it's also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace > and believe the One who > brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. The > sacrificed Jesus made us fit > for God, set us right with God. > > Romans 5 > Developing Patience > 1-2By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for > us-set us right with him, > make us fit for him-we have it all together with God because of our Master > Jesus. And that's not > all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that > he has already thrown open > his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might > stand-out in the wide open > spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. > 3-5There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're > hemmed in with troubles, > because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and > how that patience in turn > forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God > will do next. In alert > expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the > contrary-we can't round up > enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives > through the Holy Spirit! > > 6-8Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and > doesn't, wait for us to get > ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far > too weak and rebellious to > do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we > wouldn't have known what > to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying > for, and we can understand > how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God > put his love on the line > for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use > whatever to him. > > 9-11Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, > the consummate blood > sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any > way. If, when we were at > our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death > of his Son, now that > we're at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by > means of his resurrection > life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, > we are no longer content > to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God > through Jesus, the Messiah! > > The Death-Dealing Sin, the Life-Giving Gift > 12-14You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we're in- > first sin, then death, and > no one exempt from either sin or death. That sin disturbed relations with > God in everything and > everyone, but the extent of the disturbance was not clear until God > spelled it out in detail to > Moses. So death, this huge abyss separating us from God, dominated the > landscape from Adam to Moses. > Even those who didn't sin precisely as Adam did by disobeying a specific > command of God still had to > experience this termination of life, this separation from God. But Adam, > who got us into this, also > points ahead to the One who will get us out of it. > 15-17Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing > sin. If one man's sin put > crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think > what God's gift poured > through one man, Jesus Christ, will do! There's no comparison between that > death-dealing sin and > this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death > sentence; the verdict on > the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got > the upper hand through > one man's wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life > makes, sovereign life, in those > who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand > setting-everything-right, > that the one man Jesus Christ provides? > > 18-19Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us > in all this trouble with > sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more > than just getting us out > of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many > people in the wrong; one man > said yes to God and put many in the right. > > 20-21All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. > But sin didn't, and > doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we > call grace. When it's sin > versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with > death, and that's the end of > it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the > Messiah, invites us into > life-a life that goes on and on and on, world without end. > > Romans 6 > When Death Becomes Life > 1-3So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I > should hope not! If we've left > the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house > there? Or didn't you > realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in > baptism. When we went under > the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of > the water, we entered into > the new country of grace-a new life in a new land! > 3-5That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered > into the water, it is like > the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like > the resurrection of Jesus. > Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we > can see where we're going in > our new grace-sovereign country. > > 6-11Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross > with Christ, a decisive > end to that sin-miserable life-no longer at sin's every beck and call! > What we believe is this: If > we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in > his life-saving > resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a > signal of the end of > death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus > died, he took sin down with > him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this > way: Sin speaks a dead > language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you > hang on every word. You > are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did. > > 12-14That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your > lives. Don't give it the > time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that > old way of life. Throw > yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time-remember, you've been raised from > the dead!-into God's way > of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not > living under that old tyranny > any longer. You're living in the freedom of God. > > What Is True Freedom? > 15-18So, since we're out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can > live any old way we > want? Since we're free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that > comes to mind? Hardly. You > know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of > so-called freedom that destroy > freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free > act. But offer yourselves to > the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin > tell you what to do. But > thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set > you free to live openly > in his freedom! > 19I'm using this freedom language because it's easy to picture. You can > readily recall, can't you, > how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing-not caring > about others, not caring > about God-the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how > much different is it now > as you live in God's freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness? > > 20-21As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn't > have to bother with > right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do > you call that a free life? > What did you get out of it? Nothing you're proud of now. Where did it get > you? A dead end. > > 22-23But now that you've found you don't have to listen to sin tell you > what to do, and have > discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A > whole, healed, > put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work > hard for sin your whole > life and your pension is death. But God's gift is real life, eternal life, > delivered by Jesus, our > Master. > > > > > > ~~~~~ > Please join us on Skype Monday thru Friday at 8:00 EST for our Morning > Skype Prayer Time. > Also, follow my tweets on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/Donnie1261 > > > Contact Me At: > Donnie Parrett > 1956 Asa Flat Road > Annville, Kentucky 40402 > Home Phone: 606-364-3321 > Church Phone: 606-364-PRAY > Skype Name: Donnie1261 > Email: [email protected] > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Deaf-Blind Inspirational Life Group" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/dbilg?hl=.
