Friday, July 31, 2015

We are justified by FAITH. 8/1/15

Day 211 - Reading the New Testament in one year.

Song of the Day:
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Romans 4

Abraham Justified by Faith
4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[a]

4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

7 “Blessed are those
    whose transgressions are forgiven,
    whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the one
    whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”[b]
9 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

13 It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, 15 because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”[c] He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”[d] 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.


Supplied Life Devotional by Bill Freeman

August 1st

Stop yourself for a moment August 1st

“And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I delight.” MATTHEW 3:17

Spending time with the Lord will supply us, deliver us, save us, and transform us. We do not need human effort, religion, or outward improvement of behavior. We do not need to adjust ourselves with our natural energy. We just need time to be with the Lord and allow ourselves to abide in His love. The Lord described our participation in the love-life of the Triune God in John 17:26 by saying to the Father, “And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” This means exactly what it says. The very same love that Jesus enjoyed from the Father is in us, not imitated by us or worked up by us. We experience the Triune God’s love-life dwelling in us by allowing this love-life to pass through our being from our spirit (Rom. 8:15) into our heart (Gal. 4:6). In light of this, who would be so foolish as to neglect spending time with the Lord enjoying this flow of liquid love!

Who can fathom the intensity of the Father’s love and delight in His beloved Son? Step out of yourself for a moment. Do not consider your condition. Stop your struggle for victory. Cease from all your preoccupations. Just stop and consider one thing — the Father’s love to the Son! The Father declared from the heavens at Jesus’ baptism, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I delight.” The Son is the Father’s delight! Not you! Not me! Not our condition! But the Son! The flow of the Father’s love is all channeled to the Son. Now listen to John17:26 once more: “That the love with which  You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” What you and I need is not to find out how to solve our problems, but rather to place ourselves before the Lord and simply give Him some time for His love- life to pass through us. The flow of the divine love is conveyed to us by the Spirit (John 7:37-39) and not only solves our problems, but brings us everything we need. The love-life of the Triune God Himself is our portion and enjoyment. We just need to spend time cultivating it.

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God is faithful. 7/31/15

Day 210 - Reading the New Testament in one year.

Song of the Day:
https://youtu.be/9PLn6RkB1n4

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Romans 3

God’s Faithfulness

What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.
3 What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written:
“So that you may be proved right when you speak
    and prevail when you judge.”[a]
5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” 8 Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!
No One Is Righteous
9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11     there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.”[b]
13 “Their throats are open graves;
    their tongues practice deceit.”[c]
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”[d]
14     “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”[e]
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16     ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.”[f]
18     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”[g]
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Righteousness Through Faith
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in[h] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

Supplied Life Devotional by Bill Freeman

July 31st

The law of our being July 31st

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” ROMANS 8:2

We need to be renewed in our minds about a part of us — our spirit. This part of our being is the law of our being. It is something working and operating constantly. When my spirit is regenerated, the Lord’s life is immediately imparted into me. My spirit is filled with Christ as the life-giving Spirit. He resides in me as such a One. Our spirit is the part of us that is joined to the Lord, who is the Spirit. The two spirits have become one. So we do not wait for an inspiration or some kind of feeling to prompt us to pray, to sing, to speak, or to call on the Lord. Just as my body has been born, and all my faculties are mine, and I learn to use my faculties, so my spirit has been born and my spirit is mine. With my spirit, I can take the initiative to pray and open myself up to the Lord. By contacting the Lord with my spirit, I can turn my mind. Whenever I use my spirit, I merge with the law of the Spirit of life. Let me illustrate what it means for us to relate to a law. The airline industry is not based on an intermittent phenomenon that happens with airplanes. Flying an airplane is not an unpredictable occurrence. It is not that one time an airplane “happens” to make it up in the air, but the next time it does not, and then the next time maybe it will. No, it does not work that way. There is a law of aerodynamics. In the same way, in whatever you are passing through, if you use your spirit — that part in you that is regular and reliable — then you are in the right realm to be freed. The law of the Spirit of life is the realm that freed us from the law of sin and death. “Freed” in Greek is in the past tense — it has already happened. We have already been freed. Now we simply enter into the good of the freedom. We merge with the freedom.

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Song(s) of the Day
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KihE0j5qe8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU_rTX23V7Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REc6uRQRnV0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRTJUezIAb8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HKfN4_Oe94
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxuhwGvrIBE
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Thursday, July 30, 2015

The Day of Refreshing 7/30/15

Day 209 - Reading the New Testament in one year.

Song of the Day:
https://youtu.be/9PLn6RkB1n4

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https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/niv/Rom.2


Romans 2

God’s Righteous Judgment

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness,forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”[a] To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.
12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

The Jews and the Law

17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; 18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”[b]
25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26 So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the[c]written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
28 A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.



Supplied Life Devotional by Bill Freeman

July 30th

Compatible with His voice

"The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God has opened My ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away." Isaiah 50:4- 5

According to this Old Testament prophecy about the Lord's life, the Father woke Him morning by morning and opened His ear to hear His voice. Then in the Gospels we observe the way He lived His life from morning to night-- where He went, those He saw, those He prayed for, those He related to-- how He went about His daily life. He always did the things that pleased the Father. His intimacy with the Father was the factor that supplied the ability to live a compatible life with the Father.

By observing the Lord's life of intimacy and compatibility with the Father in the Gospels, we discover the nature of the life that is now dwelling in us. It is a life that thrives on intimacy with the Father (Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:15). It is a life that always desires to prove, by testing, what is well pleasing to the Lord (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 5:10). It is a life that knows compatibility with the Father's life- voice in all the details of daily life (Eph. 4:20- 21). Now this life is living in us.

May the Lord grant to us multiplied grace in our spirit, so that the love of God, the grace of Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit would be our daily portion (2 Cor. 13:14). As we inwardly merge with the intimacy in the Triune God, we will not only abide in His love, but we will develop a finer and more delicate sensitivity to the consciousness of life within us. It is by the love of God and the grace of Christ flowing in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit that we can be a person that is compatible with the Lord's voice. Amen

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Song(s) of the Day
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KihE0j5qe8
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REc6uRQRnV0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRTJUezIAb8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HKfN4_Oe94
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015

God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity. 7/29/15

Day 208 - Reading the New Testament in one year.

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/dramatized/niv/Rom.1


Romans 1
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life[a] was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power[b] by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from[c] faith for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul’s Longing to Visit Rome
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,[d] that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[e] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”[f]

God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.


Supplied Life Devotional by Bill Freeman

July 29th

Intimacy and compatibility July 29th

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’ s commandments and abide in His love.” JOHN 15:9-10
To understand what it means to live a life of compatibility with the Lord, we need to consider the example of the Lord’s human living. What we see in the Lord’s relationship with the Father is that His compatibility with the Father came out of His intimacy with the Father. John 1:18 reveals that the only begotten Son is “into the bosom of the Father.” This shows His intimate fellowship with the Father. John 15:9-10 indicates that He was abiding in the Father’s love. It was out of this kind of love-intimacy that He lived a life of complete compatibility with the Father’s life and will.
The Lord’s example reveals the principle by which we can live day by day being compatible with His voice. It is simple. Compat- ibility with the divine life comes by cultivating a life of intimacy. We all recognize that this is true in the marriage life. How is a wife compatible with her husband? How does she live to please her husband? The compatibility of a wife with her husband is dependent upon her intimacy with her husband. Her intimacy with her husband creates and nurtures the desire to please him.
The Holy Spirit’s terms in the New Testament for compatibility are “pleasing” and “well pleasing.” John 8:28-29 says, 28 “Then Jesus said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” In other words, the reason for His compatibility with the Father was that He heard the Father’s voice because of His life of intimacy with the Father. He was sensitive to what the Father taught Him, not only because the Father was with Him all the time, but also because He was always abiding in the Father’s love. This was the reason there was such a constant supply coming from the Lord. He lived in the Father and was always doing that which was compatible with the Father.

Pray Until Something Happens (PUSH)
Anna, Ariana, Ariel, Pat,  Rene, Wes, and Willie.

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National
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International
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Missing Nigerian Christian girls.
Families of slain Kenyans.
Families of all the recent plane crashes.

Song(s) of the Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_gJ68kksWE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KihE0j5qe8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU_rTX23V7Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REc6uRQRnV0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRTJUezIAb8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HKfN4_Oe94
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxuhwGvrIBE
Buy Christian Music
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Tuesday, July 28, 2015

The Kingdom of God. 7/28/15

Day 207 - Reading the New Testament in one year.

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/dramatized/niv/Acts.28

Acts 28

Paul Ashore on Malta
Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. 2 The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. 3 Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. 4 When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” 5 But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. 6 The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

7 There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days. 8 His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. 9 When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. 10 They honored us in many ways; and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.

Paul’s Arrival at Rome
11 After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island—it was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. 12 We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days. 13 From there we set sail and arrived at Rhegium. The next day the south wind came up, and on the following day we reached Puteoli. 14 There we found some brothers and sisters who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome. 15 The brothers and sisters there had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At the sight of these people Paul thanked God and was encouraged. 16 When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him.

Paul Preaches at Rome Under Guard
17 Three days later he called together the local Jewish leaders. When they had assembled, Paul said to them: “My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. 18 They examined me and wanted to release me, because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death. 19 The Jews objected, so I was compelled to make an appeal to Caesar. I certainly did not intend to bring any charge against my own people. 20 For this reason I have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.”

21 They replied, “We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of our people who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. 22 But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect.”

23 They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus. 24 Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. 25 They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet:

26 “‘Go to this people and say,
“You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
27 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’[a]
28 “Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” [29] [b]

30 For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. 31 He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!


Supplied Life Devotional by Bill Freeman

July 28th


Handle Christ July 28th

“And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” COLOSSIANS 1:18

Cohesiveness means that there is something sticky. We stick together. There is a fellowship, there is a knitting, there is a bonding. The bonding is not because we agree mentally on certain things. It is because the Christ within us automatically coheres and bonds us together. We feel that fellowship, that joy, that oneness. We are not detached units by ourselves. We are not divided or separated. There is a sense of togetherness. There is a sense of flow. What is this? It is Christ! It is not just a good feeling. It is Christ who is the cohesive factor holding everything together.

As we experience Christ and know Him, He Himself becomes the holding factor. Notice how Paul continues from “in Him all things consist” to “He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence” (Col. 1:17-18). Verse 18 shows us the practical way that we can enjoy the experience of this cohesiveness. It is by all of us allowing Christ to have the first place in all things, to be everything to us, and to be the center of our being, so that our relationship with one another is Him. He is before everything. He has the priority. I do not handle my flesh. I do not handle my reactions. I do not handle my resentment. I do not handle my hurt. I do not handle my problems. I do not handle my self. I am not qualified. I simply handle Christ. I handle Him first. I give Him first place. I am not qualified to be my savior. He is my Savior. He is my life. He is my relationship with my self. He is my relationship with the Father. He is my relationship with sin. He is my relationship with the flesh. He is my relationship with the world. He is my relationship with the devil. He is my relationship with the law. He is my relationship with all the saints. Christ is my life.

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Anna, Ariana, Ariel, Pat,  Rene, Wes, and Willie.

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Vonetta's mom 

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Song(s) of the Day
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU_rTX23V7Q
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRTJUezIAb8
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