The 3 Rs of a Saint

 ~ From Lost Sinner to Saved Saint ~

Introduction  ~  The epistles in the New Testament make it clear that Christians are saints.  What follows is an easy to remember road map. 

Ruined by Sin  ~  “For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22b-23). …

Redeemed by The Savior  ~  “… For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood” (Romans 3:23-25a).

Regenerated by The Spirit  ~  “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.  But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:3-7).

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

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Psalmist Cries, 3of5

 Psalmist Cries, 3of5

~ Lament of Concern ~

Introduction  ~  Throughout the Book of Psalms we find a Psalmist crying out to God – lamenting the circumstances surrounding him.  In this series we look at five types of laments found in the Psalms – it is by no means an exhaustive list of the types of laments or the number of psalms in each of the types we look at.  Also, a particular psalm can be labeled in more than one way. 

Example Psalm  ~  “You have given us up like sheep intended for food, and have scattered us among the nations.  You sell Your people for next to nothing, and are not enriched by selling them.  You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to those all around us.  …  All this has come upon us; but we have not forgotten You, nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from Your way; but You have severely broken us in the place of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death.

“If we had forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a foreign god, would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.  Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

“Awake!  Why do You sleep, O Lord?  Arise!  Do not cast us off forever.  Why do You hide Your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression?  For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our body clings to the ground.  Arise for our help, and redeem us for Your mercies' sake” (Psalm 44:11-13, 17-26).

Comment  ~  Have you ever cried out to God with a cry of concern?

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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Spiritual Gifts, 8

 ~ The Source Spiritual Gifts ~

Opening Comment  ~  “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:16-18). 

Source Spiritual Gifts  ~  What Spiritual Gifts do we categorize as Source Spiritual Gifts?  They not only relate to our service but also are related to our spiritual maturity.  They enable us to please God as we exercise our traditional Spiritual Gifts.  “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and Godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3 niv).  The Source Spiritual Gifts are those gifts which build Christ-likeness into our lives.  I think of the Source Spiritual Gifts as the Construction Sector, as you will see as we take up each of these gifts individually. 

Scripture  ~  Chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians is all about Spiritual Gifts and in particular how their can be unity while diversity (how our culture could learn that principle).  This key chapter on Spiritual Gifts ends this way: “But earnestly desire the best gifts.  And yet I show you a more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31).  Two key learnings from this passage.  First, it is good to seek to grow our spiritual gifts and second there is an excellent way of not only desiring the best gifts but also in the use of any and all of our Spiritual Gifts.  The “more excellent way” is provided in the following passage, Chapter 13 commonly known as the Love Chapter.  Notice, how the Love Chapter ends: “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). 

Explanation  ~  Faith is how you know where you are going.  Hope is what keeps you going.  But love is how you get there.  Why is love the greatest?  One idea to contemplate is that the Scripture tells us that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16) but nowhere does it say that God is faith or God is hope. 

Our responsibility is to become more like Christ.  ”And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).  “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Closing Comments  ~  “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.  Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.  Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.  Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.  Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.  Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (1 Timothy 4:12-16).

“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:6-7).

“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10).

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

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