Saturday, November 21, 2015

Wow, as the song says, what a difference a day makes.  Bit chilly outside, but bright sun lit skies greet my eyes.
Can’t see Mt. Hood as it is covered in clouds, but, Mt. Adams is a bright white.  Crisp air, 45 degrees and the animals have decided it remains cold enough outside to stay inside.  They keep ‘stealing’ each other’s favorite spots – however, they have learned to choose another.
Still, there are disagreements, especially when it comes to Phantom, but they get over it.
John 1:10-13  He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

I often think of those ethnic groups that were not Hebrews.  Even though they may have been ‘good’ people they were lost.  There were ways for some of them to come to God and many did when marring into and accepting the Jewish religion – and God.
But without that bond they were lost.
When Jesus came to walk this earth for the salvation of mankind, He came first to the Jews.  He was Jewish and that was His initial mission.  While some gentiles accepted His message, His message was primarily to the Jews.
When the Apostles first started spreading the Gospel, again it was to the Jews.  But they learned quickly that the mission had been changed, not only were they to preach Christ to the Jews, but they were to preach God to ALL mankind.
US INCLUDED!
We have a glorious opportunity in Christ.  We know that He loves us and will welcome us into His arms after our death.
Yet, people still do not know Him.  They only way they can become accept Christ is to know Him.  The only way they can know Him is for us to tell them.
The beauty of God’s love through us is that it doesn’t diminish His love for us.  As we share His love we grow closer to Him; rather that losing, we gain.
There are men and women I have witnessed to for over 50 years that still do not accept the salvation of Christ.  I pray for them, I share whenever I can – usually IF they let me, they shut me off – but there are still ways I can present the gospel and have continued to try all these years.
We are the beneficiary of God’s Grace and the truths of His Word in both Testaments.  We gain so much as we learn of how He loved His people, how He tried to keep them from danger (and their own selfishness.)
We learn that we are not alone with our struggles and that He will draw us closer to Him as we learn more about Him.  The more we learn about Him, the more we love Him.
The more we love Him, the more we want to share Him.  The more we share Him, the more we see others coming to Him.  The more others come to Him, the stronger our message to those that are unsaved.
There are times I struggle to see others has God sees them.  I am blinded and not using His eyes. 
Jesus’ salvation is not limited, all of us are given the opportunity to choose God over the world – while the world refuse to receive Him, I am thankful that He opened up the door to me, who was in the world without hope of salvation.
Others told me, prayed for me and shared their love of God to me. 
The beauty of Christianity is that it is not exclusive.  He doesn’t care about ethnic origins, color of the skin, who we are – very good, or extremely bad – rich, poor; we are all lost and He offers to all of us His Salvation.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
And THAT includes ME!
Later, Art :-)
From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again

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