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[Keifer]

Originally Posted by JWayne

***This thread is for posting daily bible scripture...

Thank you Wayne...

Originally Posted by Jesse Jones

We have certain hope in the future appearing of Jesus Christ...

And bless you Jesse for your work for Him. Here's today's offering...

Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. (John 8:42)

[Jesse Jones]

Originally Posted by Keifer

Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. (John 8:42)

Jesus’ words proved that He was God’s true Son. These Jews thought that they occupied a privileged and secure position as sons within God’s household because they were Abraham’s descendant. They couldn’t accept the truth that He spoke because of their presuppositions, prejudice, and parentage.

Jesus was hinting that their father was not God since they opposed Him. If they were God’s true children, they would love Jesus rather than try to kill Him, and they would acknowledge that God had sent Him.

[Keifer]

And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. (2 Corinthians 5:15)

[Jesse Jones]

Originally Posted by Keifer

And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. (2 Corinthians 5:15)

Since no man is excluded from God’s offer of salvation, so God’s love extends to Jesus Christ’s dying on the cross. We should die because of the penalty of our sins. Christ died on behalf of us, not only for our benefits, but instead of us. Our sins were borne by Him.

Jesus died for making the fulfillment of God’s desires rather than His own desires, and rose to continue serving us. He gave His life for us. We, all His disciples, must follow, die to our own selfish interests, and live to serve others.

[Keifer]

For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. (Galatians 5:6)

[Jesse Jones]

Originally Posted by Keifer

For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. (Galatians 5:6)

If we submit to circumcision to gain the acceptance from God and believe the salvation needed to do by law-keeping, we must keep the whole Mosaic Law, only complete compliance satisfies its demands, not just the requirement of circumcision. That is impossible for us to do. If we choose the law method, we would separate us from Christ since He provided salvation as a gift and we would fall away from the grace method of salvation.

What does matter is that we trust God because we love Him. We need to unit the three basic Christian virtues: faith, hope, and love. The Holy Spirit will help us to make all three become possible. Love is not an essential trait of faith. On the contrary, faith animates love, and then, faith and love work together in our heart.

[Keifer]

Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; (1 Thessalonians 1:3)

[Jesse Jones]

Originally Posted by Keifer

Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; (1 Thessalonians 1:3)

There are three virtues of Thessalonians’ Christians, which caused Paul and his companions to thank God.

In the past, they had exercised faith when they trusted Jesus Christ.
In the present, they were loving Him, and served Him out of love.
In the future, they were hoping for His return at the Second Coming, and they had borne up under any suffering patiently.

We, all of the Christians, have been expecting to have the three Christian virtues. Let’s go forward to work in faith, labor in love and endure in hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

[Keifer]

For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit. (Ecclesiastes 2:26)

[Jesse Jones]

Originally Posted by Keifer

For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit. (Ecclesiastes 2:26)

We know that final judgment will take place after this life and God’s rewards are not just temporal but eternal.
But in this verse, God’s rewarding or punishing us for our trust in God and our ethical behavior would take place before death. Sometimes God channels the fruits of a wicked person’s work into our hands, the righteous person’s.

Is Solomon’s counsel wrong? No!

In our daily living, we cannot expect really significant changes to come out of our work, but we can enjoy its fruits and find some satisfaction in the work itself. However, this is possible only we have the wisdom, knowledge and happiness from God’s help. Then, we should say, 'Thank God for what you do have, and enjoy it to the glory of God.'