For as in Adam all die, so in Christ ALL will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22; Romans 5:15-19) N.I.V.
My Friend ...
My Father has lavished His love and grace on you(1 John 3:1; Ephesians 1:7-8) and have included you in the relationship that I have with the Father and the Spirit(Ephesians 1:13; 1 John 4:13-14)Your life is now hidden with Me in God(Colossians 3:3) And you have been raised up with Me and seated in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6) where you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3) You are no longer a stranger, but a member of God's household (Ephesians 2:19) You have received the Spirit of sonship, making you a child of My Father, His offspring (Romans 8:15-16; Acts 17:28) and a co-heir with Me, sharing in My sufferings, so that you may also share in My glory (Romans 8:17; Colossians 1:27)
I am the firstborn of My Father (Romans 8:29) You also, have been born again (1 Peter 1:23) making you a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) Through Me you have been reconciled to God - without blemish and free from accusation! (Romans 5:10-11; 2 Corinthians 5:18; Colossians 1:22-23) And your sins are no longer counted against you (2 Corinthians 5:19) I have come into the world as a light, so that no-one who believes in Me should stay in darkness (John 12:46) My Father has rescued you from the dominion of darkness and brought you into the kingdom of light, with your sins completely forgiven (Colossians 1:12-14)
My Father's will is that everyone who looks to Me and believes in Me shall have eternal life, and I will raise him or her up at the last day (John 6:40; 3:16-18) He is not willing that anyone should perish, but all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9; Acts 17:30) He will grant you the gift of faith and repentance (Ephesians 2:8; Romans 2:4) My command is to love each other as I have loved you (John 15:12) To help you obey this command My Father will send the Holy Spirit, the Counselor, Who will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said (John 14:26) He will guide you into all truth (John 16:13) My Father and I will also make Our home with you (John 14:23)
Put your trust in Me and you will not be disappointed (John 14:1; Psalms 22:5) No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what has been prepared for those who are My friends (1 Corinthians 2:9) For I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11) In all things I am working for your good (Romans 8:28) The good work that My Father began in you will be completed (Philippians 1:6)For He is always at His work (John 5:17) All of My words are true(Psalm 119:160) they are living and active (Hebrews 4:12) The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life (John 6:63) My word will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:11; 46:10) And all of My promises will be fulfilled (2 Corinthians 1:20; 2 Peter 1:4)
I am the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20) In Me you have everything you need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3) Including victory over your enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26,57) Whoever serves Me must follow Me; and where I am, My servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves Me (John 12:26) Those who follow Me have been called, chosen and faithful (Revelation 17:14) I no longer call you a servant...instead I have called you a friend (John 15:15) My question is...will you be My friend? (John 15:14) My Father and I, the Holy Spirit and and the angels are waiting to rejoice over you (Luke 15:10) Come and join the party, where you will receive a rich welcome into My eternal kingdom! (2 Peter 1:11)
Love,
Your Friend,
Jesus Christ.
Rick Warren's Interview
You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, 'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California .
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:
People ask me, What is the purpose of life?
And I respond:
In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.
I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.
And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems:
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit.. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.
Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD, Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
For more than six decades, the brothers Torrance--Thomas, James and David—have had a tremendous influence on the theological world. They and particularly TF Torrance, have a devoted following world-wide and particularly in the US. Their high view of the fully human, fully divine Jesus is built upon the foundation of the Patristic writers, and the great Reformers from Calvin to Barth. Working in both pastoral and academic settings, the Torrances have stressed the profound implications of Christology for the mission of their Church and the daily life of Christians. Today, a generation of their students around the world find themselves in positions of pastoral and theological leadership.
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