I just listened to a sermon by our assistant pastor, about grace. I tend to mainly evaluate what someone says, instead of first submitting to God and how He has me understand and do what He has someone preach or write to us.
I can first be too quick to deal with grace as something to explain in theory. But I need to first submit to how God's grace effects us and has us becoming and loving.
In certain epistles there is at the beginning something like >
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 1:3)
By the way, this is a quote also of
2 Corinthians 1:2;
in Romans 1:7;
of Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, and Philippians 1:2;
in Colossians 1:2 and 1 Thessalonians 1:1;
and of 2 Thessalonians 1:2 and Philemon 1:3;
plus 2 Peter 1:2 and 2 John 1:3 minister God's grace and peace.
So, in various letters of our Apostles, not only of Paul but also of Peter and John, the Holy Spirit starts with ministering God's grace and peace to us, even using the same wording ten times . . . in my Bible anyways!
And I have now just discovered that six times we see a verse which says exactly what 1 Corinthians 1:3 says, plus this is in four other verses of Paul, along with other similar wording in 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus and in epistles of Peter and John. So, if you want to memorize six New Testament verses and four partial verses, all at once, this is it >
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
lolol
So, we need to stay with the point here > various New Testament writings start with ministering to us God's own grace and peace. So, before we get into trying to find out what an epistle says, and seeking theological insights or what God's word says to do practically . . . first we need to submit to howsoever You, God, are ministering Your own grace and peace to us. And Your grace includes how you favor us by changing our character to be like Jesus, and therefore how You love us by correcting us > Hebrews 12:4-11. And You share Your own peace with us, but Your peace rules us in our "hearts" > Colossians 3:15. Therefore, first before we even get into reading any epistle, I consider, we need to receive however You in Your grace and peace work in us. And this is so we get Your meaning of whatever You may say in a message.
Because how to be means how Your grace has us becoming. And what to do means how You in Your grace have us do what You want, in Your love (1 Corinthians 16:14, 1 Corinthians 13).
But I myself have had a way of skipping over any verse about receiving God's grace and peace, because this does not give me knowledge so I can use God's word to impress people with my insight. Instead, I need to first submit to You, O LORD in Your grace and peace, and discover how You have us live Your word.
amen
Your grace and peace will give me Your meaning of Your word, more and deeper than the words by themselves can tell. So I need to stay submissive to You, all the time, so I am not just impressing myself and trying to impress others.
So, here I am, not knowing what will become of me now, in Your grace and peace . . . all You please to do in me and with me ministerially . . . along with all the others who keep discovering . . . . . . . .
I can first be too quick to deal with grace as something to explain in theory. But I need to first submit to how God's grace effects us and has us becoming and loving.
In certain epistles there is at the beginning something like >
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 1:3)
By the way, this is a quote also of
2 Corinthians 1:2;
in Romans 1:7;
of Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, and Philippians 1:2;
in Colossians 1:2 and 1 Thessalonians 1:1;
and of 2 Thessalonians 1:2 and Philemon 1:3;
plus 2 Peter 1:2 and 2 John 1:3 minister God's grace and peace.
So, in various letters of our Apostles, not only of Paul but also of Peter and John, the Holy Spirit starts with ministering God's grace and peace to us, even using the same wording ten times . . . in my Bible anyways!
And I have now just discovered that six times we see a verse which says exactly what 1 Corinthians 1:3 says, plus this is in four other verses of Paul, along with other similar wording in 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus and in epistles of Peter and John. So, if you want to memorize six New Testament verses and four partial verses, all at once, this is it >
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
lolol
So, we need to stay with the point here > various New Testament writings start with ministering to us God's own grace and peace. So, before we get into trying to find out what an epistle says, and seeking theological insights or what God's word says to do practically . . . first we need to submit to howsoever You, God, are ministering Your own grace and peace to us. And Your grace includes how you favor us by changing our character to be like Jesus, and therefore how You love us by correcting us > Hebrews 12:4-11. And You share Your own peace with us, but Your peace rules us in our "hearts" > Colossians 3:15. Therefore, first before we even get into reading any epistle, I consider, we need to receive however You in Your grace and peace work in us. And this is so we get Your meaning of whatever You may say in a message.
Because how to be means how Your grace has us becoming. And what to do means how You in Your grace have us do what You want, in Your love (1 Corinthians 16:14, 1 Corinthians 13).
But I myself have had a way of skipping over any verse about receiving God's grace and peace, because this does not give me knowledge so I can use God's word to impress people with my insight. Instead, I need to first submit to You, O LORD in Your grace and peace, and discover how You have us live Your word.
amen
Your grace and peace will give me Your meaning of Your word, more and deeper than the words by themselves can tell. So I need to stay submissive to You, all the time, so I am not just impressing myself and trying to impress others.
So, here I am, not knowing what will become of me now, in Your grace and peace . . . all You please to do in me and with me ministerially . . . along with all the others who keep discovering . . . . . . . .
