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: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 10:53 PM Subject: Daily Bible Reading For Thursday November 19 > Day 323 > > Romans 7 > Torn Between One Way and Another > 1-3 You shouldn't have any trouble understanding this, friends, for you > know all the ins and outs > of the law-how it works and how its power touches only the living. For > instance, a wife is legally > tied to her husband while he lives, but if he dies, she's free. If she > lives with another man while > her husband is living, she's obviously an adulteress. But if he dies, she > is quite free to marry > another man in good conscience, with no one's disapproval. > 4-6So, my friends, this is something like what has taken place with you. > When Christ died he took > that entire rule-dominated way of life down with him and left it in the > tomb, leaving you free to > "marry" a resurrection life and bear "offspring" of faith for God. For as > long as we lived that old > way of life, doing whatever we felt we could get away with, sin was > calling most of the shots as the > old law code hemmed us in. And this made us all the more rebellious. In > the end, all we had to show > for it was miscarriages and stillbirths. But now that we're no longer > shackled to that domineering > mate of sin, and out from under all those oppressive regulations and fine > print, we're free to live > a new life in the freedom of God. > > 7But I can hear you say, "If the law code was as bad as all that, it's no > better than sin itself." > That's certainly not true. The law code had a perfectly legitimate > function. Without its clear > guidelines for right and wrong, moral behavior would be mostly guesswork. > Apart from the succinct, > surgical command, "You shall not covet," I could have dressed covetousness > up to look like a virtue > and ruined my life with it. > > 8-12Don't you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code > started out as an excellent > piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert > the command into a > temptation, making a piece of "forbidden fruit" out of it. The law code, > instead of being used to > guide me, was used to seduce me. Without all the paraphernalia of the law > code, sin looked pretty > dull and lifeless, and I went along without paying much attention to it. > But once sin got its hands > on the law code and decked itself out in all that finery, I was fooled, > and fell for it. The very > command that was supposed to guide me into life was cleverly used to trip > me up, throwing me > headlong. So sin was plenty alive, and I was stone dead. But the law code > itself is God's good and > common sense, each command sane and holy counsel. > > 13I can already hear your next question: "Does that mean I can't even > trust what is good [that is, > the law]? Is good just as dangerous as evil?" No again! Sin simply did > what sin is so famous for > doing: using the good as a cover to tempt me to do what would finally > destroy me. By hiding within > God's good commandment, sin did far more mischief than it could ever have > accomplished on its own. > > 14-16I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's > commands are spiritual, > but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of > myself-after all, I've spent a long > time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I > decide one way, but then I act > another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to > figure out what is best for > myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary. > > 17-20But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep > it, and if the power of > sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! > I realize that I don't > have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, > but I don't really do it; > I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as > they are, don't result in > actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me > every time. > > 21-23It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to > do good, sin is there to > trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious > that not all of me joins in > that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, > they take charge. > > 24I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is > there no one who can do > anything for me? Isn't that the real question? > > 25The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to > set things right in this > life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and > mind, but am pulled by the > influence of sin to do something totally different. > > Romans 8 > The Solution Is Life on God's Terms > 1-2With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is > resolved. Those who enter into > Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, > low-lying black cloud. A new > power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, > has magnificently cleared > the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands > of sin and death. > 3-4God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with > the problem as something > remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human > condition, entered the > disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and > for all. The law code, > weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done > that. > > The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a > deep healing of it. And now > what the law code asked for but we couldn't deliver is accomplished as we, > instead of redoubling our > own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us. > > 5-8Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with > measuring their own moral > muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust > God's action in them find > that God's Spirit is in them-living and breathing God! Obsession with self > in these matters is a > dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, > free life. Focusing on the > self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in > self ignores God, ends up > thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what > he is doing. And God > isn't pleased at being ignored. > > 9-11But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly > be thinking more of > yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this > invisible but clearly present > God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for > you who welcome him, in whom > he dwells-even though you still experience all the limitations of sin-you > yourself experience life > on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the > alive-and-present God who raised Jesus > from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he > did in Jesus, bringing > you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as > surely as he did in > Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in > you, your body will be as > alive as Christ's! > > 12-14So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one > red cent. There's nothing > in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent > burial and get on with your > new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go! > > 15-17This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, > grave-tending life. It's > adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, > Papa?" God's Spirit touches our > spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who > we are: Father and > children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us-an > unbelievable inheritance! We go > through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times > with him, then we're > certainly going to go through the good times with him! > > 18-21That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present > hard times and the coming > good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming > next. Everything in creation > is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and > all the creatures are ready > and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. > Meanwhile, the joyful > anticipation deepens. > > 22-25All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of > pain throughout the world > are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The > Spirit of God is arousing > us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren > bodies of ours are yearning > for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more > than waiting diminishes a > pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see > what is enlarging us. But > the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our > expectancy. > > 26-28Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is > right alongside helping us > along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does > our praying in and for us, > making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us > far better than we know > ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. > That's why we can be so > sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into > something good. > > 29-30God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from > the outset to shape the > lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. > The Son stands first in the > line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of > our lives there in him. > After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he > followed it up by calling > people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis > with himself. And then, > after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously > completing what he had > begun. > > 31-39So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we > lose? If God didn't hesitate > to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing > himself to the worst by > sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely > do for us? And who would > dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare > even to point a finger? The > One who died for us-who was raised to life for us!-is in the presence of > God at this very moment > sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a > wedge between us and Christ's > love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not > hunger, not homelessness, > not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in > Scripture: > > They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. > We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one. > None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced > that nothing-nothing living > or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or > unthinkable-absolutely > nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus > our Master has embraced us. > > Romans 9 > God Is Calling His People > 1-5 At the same time, you need to know that I carry with me at all times a > huge sorrow. It's an > enormous pain deep within me, and I'm never free of it. I'm not > exaggerating-Christ and the Holy > Spirit are my witnesses. It's the Israelites...If there were any way I > could be cursed by the > Messiah so they could be blessed by him, I'd do it in a minute. They're my > family. I grew up with > them. They had everything going for them-family, glory, covenants, > revelation, worship, promises, to > say nothing of being the race that produced the Messiah, the Christ, who > is God over everything, > always. Oh, yes! > 6-9Don't suppose for a moment, though, that God's Word has malfunctioned > in some way or other. The > problem goes back a long way. From the outset, not all Israelites of the > flesh were Israelites of > the spirit. It wasn't Abraham's sperm that gave identity here, but God's > promise. Remember how it > was put: "Your family will be defined by Isaac"? That means that Israelite > identity was never > racially determined by sexual transmission, but it was God-determined by > promise. Remember that > promise, "When I come back next year at this time, Sarah will have a son"? > > 10-13And that's not the only time. To Rebecca, also, a promise was made > that took priority over > genetics. When she became pregnant by our one-of-a-kind ancestor, Isaac, > and her babies were still > innocent in the womb-incapable of good or bad-she received a special > assurance from God. What God > did in this case made it perfectly plain that his purpose is not a > hit-or-miss thing dependent on > what we do or don't do, but a sure thing determined by his decision, > flowing steadily from his > initiative. God told Rebecca, "The firstborn of your twins will take > second place." Later that was > turned into a stark epigram: "I loved Jacob; I hated Esau." > > 14-18Is that grounds for complaining that God is unfair? Not so fast, > please. God told Moses, "I'm > in charge of mercy. I'm in charge of compassion." Compassion doesn't > originate in our bleeding > hearts or moral sweat, but in God's mercy. The same point was made when > God said to Pharaoh, "I > picked you as a bit player in this drama of my salvation power." All we're > saying is that God has > the first word, initiating the action in which we play our part for good > or ill. > > 19Are you going to object, "So how can God blame us for anything since > he's in charge of > everything? If the big decisions are already made, what say do we have in > it?" > > 20-33Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for > one moment suppose any > of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn't talk back to > the fingers that mold it, > saying, "Why did you shape me like this?" Isn't it obvious that a potter > has a perfect right to > shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a > pot for cooking beans? If > God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry > displeasure and another style > carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn't that all right? > Either or both happens to > Jews, but it also happens to the other people. Hosea put it well: > > I'll call nobodies and make them somebodies; > I'll call the unloved and make them beloved. > In the place where they yelled out, "You're nobody!" > they're calling you "God's living children." > > Isaiah maintained this same emphasis: > If each grain of sand on the seashore were numbered > and the sum labeled "chosen of God," > They'd be numbers still, not names; > salvation comes by personal selection. > God doesn't count us; he calls us by name. > Arithmetic is not his focus. > Isaiah had looked ahead and spoken the truth: > If our powerful God > had not provided us a legacy of living children, > We would have ended up like ghost towns, > like Sodom and Gomorrah. > How can we sum this up? All those people who didn't seem interested in > what God was doing actually > embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And > Israel, who seemed so interested > in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they > miss it? Because instead > of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they > themselves were doing. They were so > absorbed in their "God projects" that they didn't notice God right in > front of them, like a huge > rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went > sprawling. Isaiah (again!) > gives us the metaphor for pulling this together: > > Careful! I've put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion, > a stone you can't get around. > But the stone is me! If you're looking for me, > you'll find me on the way, not in the way. > > > > > > > > ~~~~~ > 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=.
