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A Thanks Offering For God's Grace
In this country, the entire nation celebrates Thanksgiving in November. Some celebrate by busily preparing food, watching football and gathering with family. These are great Thanksgiving celebrations. However, Christians have a greater blessing in the opportunity to give thanks to God. Whether people in this world want to recognize it or not, everything they own is given to them by the Lord and there is going to be a day when all will give an accounting.
Christians are thankful for God's saving grace.
Ephesians 2:8-10 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." This is one of the great evangelistic summaries in the Word of God. F.F. Bruce so wonderfully points out, "This is the watchword for the reformation theology: 'By grace alone, through faith alone, to God be the glory.'" The Bible teaches that everything Christians have comes by grace. "Grace" (charis) here affects man's sinfulness. It not only brings forgiveness to repentant sinners, but also joy from the Holy Spirit and heartfelt thankfulness to the Lord Jesus. This grace changes repentant sinners into new creations without destroying their individuality.
Those who live on this earth were marked by sin that came down to them as a curse from the time of Adam. It was decided and agreed upon by God the Father, Christ His Son and the Holy Spirit that Jesus would come to earth and redeem sinful mankind from willful sin. Christians have been saved by grace and they are sustained only by the grace of God. The precious children of God feast from the manna of God's Word daily, just as Mephibosheth did at King David's table. And there will be that day when all who have Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord will be eating at that geatest Thanksgiving feast, the "Marriage Supper of the Lamb of God." What a day that will be!
Does your life Express God's Grace?
I can remember not too many years ago when we used an old hand operated flour sifter. It was a simple little contraption that consisted of a little tin can with a screen in the bottom and a crank that turned a wire against that screen. Flour wasn’t as fine in those days as it is now and it always needed sifting to get rid of the lumps.
The fine particles that made it through were used in the baking process but there was always some rock-hard pieces left over that were useless and were cast away.
Our lives are placed through a sifter. With each new day, the crank is turned and a few more of our rough edges disappear as the finer parts of our new man and the coarse parts of our sinful, fleshly nature are revealed so that these character flaws can be discarded.
NUMBERS IN THE BIBLE
Remember to use these keys when dealing whith Bible Prophecy only
Many of the numbers in the Bible have deeper prophetic or spiritual significance. Both in the Old and New Testaments, numbers reveal hidden concepts and meanings that commonly escape the casual reader. And throughout history, men with great minds, like Augustine, Isaac Newton, and Leonardo Di Vinci, showed more than just a passing curiosity regarding the importance of biblical numbers. Once more, Jesus said, “The very hairs of your head are numbered” (Matthew 10:30). So obviously, Bible numbers should be carefully considered.
At least 12 numbers in the Bible stand out in this regard: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 40, 50, and 70. In order to express this truth, one or two biblical examples have been given below. However, much more can be said on this subject, so these examples serve merely as an introduction and are not exhaustive by any means.
1 – represents absolute singleness and unity (Ephesians 4:4–6; John 17:21, 22.) (We presume readers need no more than these two citations, as most of the biblical information regarding unity and singleness is common knowledge.)
2 – represents the truth of God’s Word; for example, the law and prophets (John 1:45), two or three witnesses (2 Corinthians 13:1), and a sword with two edges (Hebrews 4:12). See Mark 6:7 and Revelation 11:3. It is also used 21 times in the books of Daniel and Revelation.
3 – represents the Godhead / Trinity. The angels cry “Holy” three times to the triune God (Isaiah 6:3). See also Matthew 28:19 and 1 John 5:7, 8.
4 – represents universal truth, as in the four directions (north, south, east, west) and the four winds (Matthew 24:31; Revelation 7:1; Revelation 20:8). In acts 10:11, a sheet with four corners symbolizes the gospel going to all the gentiles.
5 – represents teaching. First, there are the five books of Moses. Second, Jesus taught about the five wise virgins and used five barley loaves used to feed the 5,000.
6 – represents the worship of man, and is the number of man, signifying his rebellion, imperfection, works, and disobedience. It is used 273 times in the Bible, including its derivatives (e.g, sixth) and another 91 times as “threescore” or “60.” Man was created on the sixth day (Genesis 1:26, 31). See also Exodus 31:15 and Daniel 3:1.
The number is especially significant in the book Revelation, as “666” identifies the beast. “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six” (Revelation 13:18).
7 – represents perfection, and is the sign of God, divine worship, completions, obedience, and rest. The “prince” of Bible numbers, it is used 562 times, including its derivatives (e.g., seventh, sevens). (See Genesis 2:1–4, Psalm 119:164, and Exodus 20:8–11 for just a few of the examples.)
The number seven is also the most common in biblical prophecy, occurring 42 times in Daniel and Revelation alone. In Revelation there are seven churches, seven spirits, seven golden candlesticks, seven stars, seven lamps, seven seals, seven horns, seven eyes, seven angels, seven trumpets, seven thunders, seven thousand slain in a great earthquake, seven heads, seven crowns, seven last plagues, seven golden vials, seven mountains, and seven kings.
10 – represents law and restoration. Of course, this includes the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20. See also Matthew 25:1 (ten virgins); Luke 17:17 (ten lepers); Luke 15:8 (healing, ten silver coins).
12 – represents the church and God’s authority. Jesus had 12 disciples, and there were 12 tribes of Israel. In Revelation 12:1, the 24 elders and 144,000 are multiples of 12. The New Jerusalem city has12 foundations, 12 gates 12 thousand furlongs, a tree with 12 kinds of fruit 12 times a year eaten by 12 times 12,000 or the 144,000. (See Revelation 21.)
40 – represents a generation and times of testing. It rained for 40 days during the flood. Moses spent 40 years in the desert, as did the children of Israel. Jesus fasted for 40 days.
50 – represents power and celebration. The Jubilee came after the 49th year (Leviticus 25:10), and Pentecost occurred 50 days after Christ’s resurrection (Acts 2).
70 – represents human leadership and judgment. Moses appointed 70 elders (Exodus 24:1); The Sanhedrin was made up of 70 men. Jesus chose 70 disciples (Luke 10:1). Jesus told Peter to forgive 70 times 7.
THE CULTURE OF COMPLAINT
In 1991, Robert Hughes, an art critic, wrote a book called The Culture of Complaint. His thesis is that we live in a culture in which we perceive ourselves as being entitled to having all our wants and desires fulfilled. When that doesn't happen, we become "victims," we whine and complain and grumble. If we see it as somebody else's "issue" that's caused our inconvenience, then we sue that person or institution.
Are you disappointed in life? You need to hear this message. It is easy to be content when things are going well -- but like the Israelites when life turns bitter we become disappointed. God wants to teach us to be content ... not just when things go our way -- but also when they don't.
John Piper in A Sweet and Bitter Providence said, "... the point of biblical stories like Joseph and Job and Esther and Ruth is to help us feel in our bones (not just know in our heads) that God is f...
