CHURCH4U2: Verse of the Day

Daily Sermon ILLustration-Can’t Get Rid of the Holes

Can’t Get Rid of the Holes Someone tells the story of a boy who was rebelling against his dad constantly. This boy was destroying his own life by his rebellion, but he refuse to heed his father’s words. One day, the dad said to the boy, "I want to show you what you’re doing to your life. I’m going to put a wooden post in our front yard. Every time you rebel, I will put a nail in this post. Every time you obey, I will pull out one nail." The first thought from the boy was, "I’m going to do everything I can to fill that post with nails." And he did. In two months’ time, he filled that post with nails. But he also began to feel the damage he was doing to his own life and to his parents’ lives. With true remorse, the boy began to obey his father. One by one, the nails came out. When the last nail came out of the post, the boy both broke down in tears. The dad asked, "Son, why are you crying?" And the boy replied, "I got rid of the nails, but I can’t get rid of the holes." God the Father saw the nails and the posts of our lives, and He saw our helplessness against sin. So He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to gather the nails and the posts from those who would let Him. And because of His love for us, Christ allowed Himself to be nailed on the posts, where He willingly paid the consequence of our sin. Romans 6:23 tells us, "For the [consequences] of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." And this gift comes with God’s Spirit to train us to live holy lives. =(Church Iglesia) Added a new video to Church4u2TV "The Father's Song" http://WorldTV.com/Church4u2TV/?vid=3

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Verse of the Day - 1 Peter 2:9

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. — 1 Peter 2:9

Thoughts on Today's Verse...

Excluded. Rejected. Discarded. Abandoned. Forgotten. Pushed aside. Not picked. Each of these describes an aspect of feeling like you are a nobody. Satan gives our sinful flesh the tools and the opportunities to speak these words of self-condemnation to ourselves. But God — two of the greatest words in the Bible — loved us in Christ and brought us into his family and gave us a purpose. We are now part of the people of God! We have been chosen for the victorious team of teams. We have received mercy! Grace has washed over us and the love of God has adopted us in his family. Peter is giving maligned and persecuted people the reminder that they can choose to see themselves as "nobodies" or they can choose to see themselves by their new identity. Thankfully, Peter's words speak to our hearts, too. You, dear friend in Jesus, are God's child. You are part of his eternal and conquering people — like Moses, Esther, Paul, and Mary Magdalene. Mercy has reversed the power of sin and failure and put grace in place empowered by the Holy Spirit's presence in you. So don't live today as you once "were": live today as you are in Jesus!

My Prayer...

O Father of Mercy and God of all grace, thank you for making me new — your child, part of your people, and a purpose put in the world around me on purpose. Please help me hear your description of me and not Satan's. Please help me define my identity by your words and not my own words of self-condemnation. I thank you for who I am and that I a no longer bound by what I once was. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

The Thoughts and Prayer on Today's Verse are written by Phil Ware. You can email questions or comments to phil@verseoftheday.com.

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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

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