Focus on those who seek your encouragement and help. Ignore those that seek to distract you and waste your time.

Riverboat Update:
We received word that Ezra and Joanna and the kids arrived safely in Manaus this morning. For the time being, they are staying at the chapel they fellowship with when visiting there.

Will be interesting to see what transpires in the next 48-72 hours. Israel has already preemptively struck targets in Lebanon and Syria that were affiliated with Hezbollah and Iran. Will she preemptively strike in Iran too? Or will she wait until Iran strikes first? Will Iran's walk meet her talk? Will the US only help Israel defensively, or will she actively engage Iran's proxies or even Iran herself? No matter what happens, this is a nail biter. The Middle East is racing for Gog and Magog.

One short life to be a good soldier.
One long eternity to be a fulfilled human being.

Perhaps Christ's identification with a race of sinners can be considered, by all Who have trusted Him as Saviour, to be the most poignant aspect of this fulfilment of all righteousness. The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us so that He could be identified with your sin and mine and to take upon Himself all the punishment that you and I justly deserve. He identified with our gross unrighteousness so that we could be identified with His perfect righteousness.

Carli • Saved by Grace

The danger does not lie in speculating on what a passage of scripture means. The danger lies in falling in love with a speculation and being married to it. This closes the mind and heart to further light on the subject, light that would take a man on a different tack. Hold your speculations loosely. Hold the facts of revelation (the Bible), history, grammar, and the like tightly. Accept no speculation which requires you to tweak Scripture, history, or grammar.

Dan 12:3, "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."

Join Lee this Friday for a discussion about Time in Eternity
Premiers 7pm CST

https://www.youtube.com/live/l3zdsgv1-rg?si=AckP44kCnU1utZ57

We are all fallen creatures, and although we praise and thank God that we have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, have been made a new creation in Him, and have been given His resurrected life, our old, fleshly nature lusts against our new~life~in~Christ and our new nature lusts against our old, fleshly, sinful self. Only God can fully know and understand our inner heart. May we submit to His purifying gaze and be ready and willing to say: "Purify my heart O Lord," no matter what it may cost.

Carli • Saved by Grace

When we truly identify with our Saviour and trust in Christ's capacities alone for our journey through life, it is then that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness; it is then that the wind of God will lift us up on eagles' wings and carry us through life's stresses and strains, in the power of His Holy Spirit.

Carli • Saved by Grace

The resolve to serve the Lord will inevitably cause believers to swim against the tide of popular opinion as our heart focusses on Christ and gazes steadily upon Him and His ultimate goal, which is that Christ is all, and all in all. The man or woman, mother or father, boy or girl who is prepared to lead in this important life~choice, will most likely be one that will influence those in their own 'household' in this eternally significant decision, and will be able to say with Joshua: "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

Carli • Saved by Grace

God is not only in the midst of us, but He is the Almighty God and as such, He is mighty to save His people, not only from their enemies without and their fears within, but also from the curse of sin and death. Christ is the provision for our need, the remedy for our fear, the cure for our problems, and the antidote to sin. He is our protector and defender and as such He is our victorious warrior. He is our triumphant Saviour, Who is mighty to save.

Carli • Saved by Grace

Union with Christ is the most wonderful truth of our salvation that staggers the imagination... for the Holy Spirit baptises us into the Lord Jesus and then comes to live inside our bodies. This spiritual baptism only happens once... at the point of salvation, but from that moment on, through time and into eternity, believers will never be out of union with Christ. This position of security does not depend on our merit or demerit. It does not depend on what we do or what we don't do, but on the efficacy of the finished work of Christ at Calvary.

Carli • Saved by Grace

Paul reminds us that death is the greatest enemy of a man's soul and the sting and severity of sin is death, while the terrible power of sin is the perfect law of God which is His greatest tool to identify men's sinfulness and point us to Christ. But thanks be to God, for on that day, death is overcome by life. Death is consumed into victory. Death will be triumphantly destroyed.
This is indeed a blessed hope for everyone who has been born of God and positioned in Christ, for on that day we will be able to say: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

Carli • Saved by Grace

God is Light ~ unapproachable Light, and yet He has placed His Spirit of Light into our hearts to lead us aright, to guide us into all truth and to shine His love into the hearts and lives of all with whom we come in contact. Let us walk in the light as He is in the light and may the light of His presence within each of our hearts, shine through our lives to proclaim to all we meet, the light of the glorious gospel of grace that has been shed abroad in our hearts and lives.

Carli • Saved by Grace

The Lord establishes our steps because He loves His children and is pleased to be our Provider, our Protector, and our Establisher, not only in this life but in the eternal realms to come, which are reserved for us in heaven. How blessed we are to have a God Who delights in our way, Who is intimately involved in every detail of our life and Who upholds us with His righteous right hand. No wonder this Psalm begins with the words "Do not fret”~ but let us, like David, rest in the safe arms of the Protector of our soul, the Establisher of our steps.

Carli • Saved by Grace

This verse is a lovely testimony of Philemon's developing Christian character, for news had reached the apostle Paul’s ears that other believers were being refreshed through Philemon's ministry. What a joy for Paul, who not only led this man to Christ but received news of his ongoing spiritual progress in his Christian life. May we also seek to act in a similar godly manner and obey the instructions we receive from Scripture in thought, word, deed, and motive, so that the testing of our faith does not cause any ungodly reaction, but demonstrates a maturing faith, a growth in grace, and a response that honours the Lord.

Carli • Saved by Grace

It is this confidence in Christ that enables John to write that we know that the Son of God has come. We know that Christ has made the Father known to us, and we know that in Him we have been given spiritual understanding and godly wisdom. God, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, came to earth to reconcile man to the Father through the Son and to give spiritual understanding and godly wisdom to all who would trust in His name. And He is the only way to God, the only truth from God, and the only life of God.

Carli • Saved by Grace