- Joined
- Apr 25, 2006
- Messages
- 17,522
28 June 2008
Word on the Web
2 Corinthians 4:13-15
It is written in the Scriptures, "I believed, so I spoke." Our faith is like this, too. We believe, and so we speak. God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, and we know that God will also raise us with Jesus. God will bring us together with you, and we will stand before him. All these things are for you. And so the grace of God that is being given to more and more people will bring increasing thanks to God for his glory.
"I believed, so I spoke" refers back to Psalm 116:10 - "I believed; therefore I said, 'I am greatly afflicted'." The psalmist David was going through a time of great suffering and adversity yet because of his faith ends with a resounding song of praise to God.
Paul endured beatings and trials, imprisonments and persecutions, shipwreck and hardship; yet through it all recognized and shouted out the resurrection hope we can all share because "God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead". Nowhere does anyone state this hope more clearly than Paul in his first letter to the church at Corinth:
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. [1Cor 15:13 ]
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. [1Cor 15:14]
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead... [1Cor 15:20]
Charles Hodges says that "the resurrection was the one great all-absorbing object of anticipation and desire to the early Christians and should be to us...It is then that the work of redemption will be consummated (completely finished) and we shall be made complete and Christ-like." What good is keeping quiet about our faith? It's not for nothing that it called the "Good News"!
Lord Jesus, Saviour and friend, sometimes I'm afraid to tell people about you, for all sorts of reasons, for which I'm truly sorry. Father God, enthuse me so I'm unable to keep quiet about the amazing gift you gave me through your son and the Holy Spirit. Fill me with courage so "I speak because I believe". Please send "divine appointments" into my life; people without hope who need the saving and transforming power that only the resurrected Jesus can bring. Help me to share my faith simply and honestly, secure in the knowledge that it is Good News for them and me. Amen.
Written by Kate Hatton
Word on the Web
2 Corinthians 4:13-15
It is written in the Scriptures, "I believed, so I spoke." Our faith is like this, too. We believe, and so we speak. God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, and we know that God will also raise us with Jesus. God will bring us together with you, and we will stand before him. All these things are for you. And so the grace of God that is being given to more and more people will bring increasing thanks to God for his glory.
"I believed, so I spoke" refers back to Psalm 116:10 - "I believed; therefore I said, 'I am greatly afflicted'." The psalmist David was going through a time of great suffering and adversity yet because of his faith ends with a resounding song of praise to God.
Paul endured beatings and trials, imprisonments and persecutions, shipwreck and hardship; yet through it all recognized and shouted out the resurrection hope we can all share because "God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead". Nowhere does anyone state this hope more clearly than Paul in his first letter to the church at Corinth:
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. [1Cor 15:13 ]
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. [1Cor 15:14]
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead... [1Cor 15:20]
Charles Hodges says that "the resurrection was the one great all-absorbing object of anticipation and desire to the early Christians and should be to us...It is then that the work of redemption will be consummated (completely finished) and we shall be made complete and Christ-like." What good is keeping quiet about our faith? It's not for nothing that it called the "Good News"!
Lord Jesus, Saviour and friend, sometimes I'm afraid to tell people about you, for all sorts of reasons, for which I'm truly sorry. Father God, enthuse me so I'm unable to keep quiet about the amazing gift you gave me through your son and the Holy Spirit. Fill me with courage so "I speak because I believe". Please send "divine appointments" into my life; people without hope who need the saving and transforming power that only the resurrected Jesus can bring. Help me to share my faith simply and honestly, secure in the knowledge that it is Good News for them and me. Amen.
Written by Kate Hatton
