Good Morning All,
Acts 4:12; “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
This is kind of directed
to those avid sports fans out there. You
know who you are. You dress up in the
team colors. You sit in the same chair
to watch the game because “they always win when I sit in this chair wearing my
old team jersey.” When you watch a football game and in the closing seconds of
the game, needing a field goal to win the game; do you cross your legs and
cross your fingers? Do you, as a fan, do
everything you can, from the comfort of your living room, do everything you can
possibly do to influence the outcome of the game? Do you?
No, you don’t. Nothing you do in your living room impacts
the game one iota. Very little you do at
the game in person impacts the game.
When the athletes are focused in on the game, they tend to be able to
ignore the distractions around them. So,
the next time the team you cheer for wins a game and you think it is because of
your lucky socks; I am sorry to tell you; you had nothing to do with it.
The same is true for our
salvation. You had nothing to do with
it. You didn’t seek out God, you didn’t
figure it out, you didn’t “find Jesus” (He was never lost); you didn’t come to
your senses, you did nothing at all. You
were a lost and condemned soul with absolutely no chance whatsoever of ever
getting to heaven. Fortunately for you
and me, God saves us as a wonderful, precious gift. He gives us salvation. It is a gift and a gift, by the very
definition of the word, cannot be earned. God saves us as an act of unmitigated
love. There is no comparable event in
our world. God’s love for you is above
and beyond anything that exists. The
salvation which God gives to you is priceless and you get it given to you.
The really great thing
about you have nothing to do with your salvation is that with it all being
dependent upon God; we know it will get done right the first time. We cannot forget to sign one of the papers,
or lose the registration, or forget the appointment, or be on the phone or get
lost on the way to the signing, or even just have a copy of your birth
certificate instead of a certified original.
We don’t need to bring anything.
God takes care of it all and it does impress him that you always sit in
the fourth pew on the pulpit side; you don’t get to heaven that way. It doesn’t matter how much you put in the
collection plate; you don’t get to heaven that way. Of course, it doesn’t matter if you haven’t
been to church for thirty years or you haven’t put a dime in the collection
plate; God still saves you. Our
“greatness” doesn’t impress and our weaknesses do not eliminate; God saves us
out of love and not because of what you do or do not do. He also doesn’t exclude you either. God’s grace is for everyone to claim by faith. God even gives us the faith to cling to him
and his promises; so, hold on tight receive that gift of salvation and trust in
it forever.
Dearest Father, your
gift to us is all we need. Give us the sense of peace and comfort that we have
when we trust you for all our needs. Be
with those who are most troubled by the cares of this world and give them your
grace to see the truth and to cling to it.
In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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