Category: Romans

  • Celebrate your identity in Christ

    Fireworks against an urban skyline

    My goal today is to provide you with a small taste of who you are in Christ, no matter what comes.

    If you belong to Jesus, you are safe in His hands.

    I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. John 10:28-30 ESV

    You are sealed.

    In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guaranteeof our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory Ephesians 1:13-14 ESV

    You are an overcomer

    For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 1 John 5:4 ESV

    You are a new creation.

    Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

    You are being made complete.

    I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6 ESV

    You are loved and adopted into the family of God.

    Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. Ephesians 1:4-5 ESV

    We may stumble and fall, but in Him, we are secure. Nothing can take us away from him.

    Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39 ESV

    Times might get hard, and the world might turn its back on us. We might face struggles or persecution. Whatever comes, my dear friends, we will remain victorious in Christ.

    As we celebrate the coming New Year, let’s remember the one who stepped out of glory to reconcile us to the Father. Through Him, we have the victory. That’s worth celebrating.

    May you come to truly understand who you are in Christ and give Him the praise and honor due His name.

    Be blessed

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

    Have you considered?

    God never changes – our immutable God

    The local church needs you

    Even one knows the truth – even if they deny it

  • The Prince’s Tears

    Beautiful but Fragile

    A clear glass drop with a long tail is displayed against a black background. A "Prince Rupert's Tear"
    Prince Rupert’s Tear

    For Christmas, some years ago, a dear friend gave  me a reprint of a book from the mid-1890s. It is a recipe book of sorts, and it tells how to make everything from common household cleaners to medication to explosives. 

    The recipes and information are fascinating, although I don’t think I’ll try most of them. Many of the processes are highly dangerous.

    One of the things I learned how to make was called Prince Rupert’s Drops or Prince Rupert’s Tears. According to one source, “The drops are named after Prince Rupert of the Rhine, who brought them to England in 1660, although they were reportedly being produced in the Netherlands earlier in the 17th century and had probably been known to glassmakers for much longer.”

    PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS. The tears are made by letting drops of molten glass fall into a tub of cold water. The glass hits the water and cools, creating beautiful tear-shaped drops. They are hard, clear, and have a small glass tail on them.

    Amazingly, when you hold a drop and break off its tail, it explodes into fine powder, and the explosion can be felt in your hand. I suspect that a vacuum must be formed when the glass hits the water, and when air is let in, the drop can’t handle the pressure change.

    At first, the recipe was simply one of those interesting but useless pieces of trivia that can catch my attention occasionally. The more I thought about it, the more I realized what an apt metaphor for life it was.

    Our hearts can be as beautiful as Prince Rupert’s Tears and just as fragile.

    We go through life with hearts that are hard and empty. An event will occur that shatters our hearts, and we’re left holding nothing but dust. The impact of the brokenness rocks our world. At that moment, many of us realize that we need a relationship with Jesus.

    Fortunately, we serve the God who mends the brokenhearted. When we encounter them, we can share the reason for our hope and joy.

    …in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect 1  Peter 3:15 ESV

    May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13 ESV


    Until next time, if your heart is breaking, turn to the one who can heal it. If you know someone with a broken heart, tell them about Jesus.

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

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