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

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

2 Corinthians 5:9-10

	(9) Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. (10) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

These verses state a reality we all face: We are accountable to the Creator for our conduct. We know that standing between us and God is an internally generated pride that, if allowed, will greatly hinder our desire to please Him by submitting.

We must understand that God’s calling of us, His granting of repentance to us, and His providing us with His Spirit have given us a valuable power, an “edge.” He has not given us an impossible challenge. Receiving the Holy Spirit has given us the wherewithal, the powers, to meet our responsibility to submit voluntarily to Him. What is the solution? In short, it is to exercise humility before the Holy One of Israel. Humility can defuse pride’s power.

There is a major difference between pride and humility. Because of exposure to Satan and the world, pride is within us almost from birth. Humility, though, is not part of us from birth. Spiritual humility is most definitely a developed characteristic, derived because of contact with God and our choosing to be so before Him.

— John W. Ritenbaugh

To learn more, see:
Living By Faith and Human Pride

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from The Berean: Daily Verse and Comment http://ift.tt/29QuBzf