Like a Chicken with Its Cut Off

I was reading a story on the internet today about a chicken that lived 18 months after having its head cut off. www.miketheheadlesschicken.org

In a nutshell, there was this guy who went out to the barnyard to behead a chicken for dinner. Unfortunately, the axe barely missed the jugular vein, leaving an ear with the majority of the bird’s brain stem intact – but it took off its head.

Well, according to the story, the chicken shook off the blow and went about being a chicken, still pecking with his neck (even in the absence of its head) and continuing to try to straighten and clean its feathers with its nonexistent beak. 

The guy waited for the chicken to die, but when it made no signs of doing so, he decided to have something different for dinner that night and he took to caring for the bird. He fed him things like milk and water through his open esophagus using an eyedropper. And, small bits of gravel were also dropped down his throat to help his gizzard grind food.

The chicken was initially able to walk but clumsily. It soon got used to the situation and its new center of gravity. But it could no longer crow, but instead made a gurgling noise.

The chicken died 18 months later.

Is there a lesson to be learned here? Perhaps like this ‘headless’ chicken, we, too, will live a limited, less than quality life if we’re running around without our ‘head’, trying to ‘make-do’ with what we have left of ourselves.

I’m not referring to just being overloaded with much busyness that leaves us exhausted and stressed out. I’m suggesting we consider it’s a greater problem than that when we’re disconnected from our ‘head’ – who is Jesus Christ. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us. (Col. 2:18-20) Without our ‘head’, we will operate like the chicken without a head.

I don’t want to be like a chicken with my head cut off! I really want to be like the eagle that flies. Those of you who know me, know that this my favorite scripture:  “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”  (Is. 40:31)

FEAR is NOT just a ‘feeling’ –
it is a‘spirit’

So says God’s Word:
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 1 Tim. 1:7

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 1 Jn. 4:18

√Some common causes of fear:

1. Focusing on the temporal
            fear is paralyzing. It creeps up on you and overtakes your mind and thoughts (and, eventually, your body) and will render you powerless to function properly in your everyday life.

2. Believing the evil report
            fear is viral (spreads quickly over a short amount of time) in our world as we daily soak it in through the TV, media of all sorts, internet, blogs, and social media, just to name a few.

3. Accepting your circumstances
            fear dominates our thinking to the point of convincing us that our present state of affairs is permanent. It keeps us in state of being afraid by imagining all kinds of seeming giants in an attempt to intimidate us into a position of cowering in fear.

L I admit, personally, I have fallen into this trap too often.

I was greatly admonished this morning by the Holy Spirit as I read this from 2 Jn. 1:8  . . . . Look to yourselves (take care) that you may not lose (throw away or destroy) all that we and you have labored for, but that you may [persevere until you] win and receive back a perfect reward [in full].

J I am determined to not get so consumed with my problems and crisis' that I forget the great things God has performed for me in the past.

Have we read the entire quote of the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt who said,

As Christ is - so am I in this world!

As Christ is, so am I in this world!

So says God’s Word: 

In this is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 1 John 4:17

Therefore, I ask myself: 

• Does Jesus expect everything that He touches to prosper? Yes, He does! 
• Does Jesus expect good things to happen to Him? Yes, He does! 
• Does Jesus enjoy God’s unmerited favor? Yes, He does! 
• Is Jesus sick and carrying infirmities? NO, He is not!
• Is Jesus filled with guilt and shame? NO, He is not!

As Christ is, so am I in this world! 

♫ ♫  I STAND REDEEMED ♫ ♫

When I think of all my faults and my failures
When I consider all the times I've let God down
I am humbled by the grace He has extended 
I'm amazed at the mercy I have found
I could never earn His love on my own
Yet every time I come before His throne

Chorus:
I stand redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
I stand redeemed before the great I am
When He looks at me, I sees the nail scarred hands 
That bought my liberty
I stand redeemed

Even at my best I am unworthy
I have nothing precious I can give
A broken life is all I have to offer
And yet it's a priceless gift to Him
The bitter mark of sin will never fade away But  can come before Him unashamed

I See Grace

Here in these walls; here in these rows
There are those who regret the roads they once chose
More than the sorrow, more than the pain
There is joy for the way that
Through Christ they've been changed.

There are lives freed from bondage of sins once concealed
There are bodies and minds, spirits now healed
Those who found freedom and shook off the chains
From the long years of guilt, anger, and shame

I see grace; I see grace
In every life; on every face
Of the faithful who gather each week in this place
I see grace

There are those in this life who’ve been dealt a poor hand
They’ve overcome and by God’s strength they stand
Those who have come through unbearable loss
Not defined by the past but defined by the Cross

I see grace; I see grace
In every life; on every face
Of the faithful who gather each week in this place
I see grace

Story after story, one common theme
God’s power and glory in those He’s redeemed
Such tender mercy time after time
So many ways in this story that’s mine

I see grace;
Grace; I see grace
In every life; on every face
Of the faithful who gather each week in this place
I see grace

The faithful who gather each week in this place
I see grace; I see grace

Written by Jim Brady, Barry Weeks, and Tony Wood/Brady House Publishing/BMI/New Spring/Row J, Seat 9 Songs/ASCAP/Building Bridge/BMI

God's Eagles

God’s Eagles

By L. Y. Janes

God stirs the nest and makes you fly,
Then you begin to weep and cry;
His hand has failed and down you go,
With naught in sight but rocks below.

A dreadful sight and fast the fears

Take place as all hope disappears;
Oh, how you miss the downy nest,
But God has stirred it for the best.

He knows your lack of faith and trust,

He knows how for vain things you’d lust.
He knows you’d lean on men and creeds,
And would not to His Word take heed.

So from your nest He picked the down,

Left naught but thorns and briars around;
Then gladly you step on His wing, 
And to this thought you’d always cling.

But still on this you could not grow,
The way of God to fully know;
’Tis time to exercise your wings,
And get the faith that launching brings.

So—quick He lurches, down you go,
And help you cannot see or know;
Then to your wings you swiftly take, 
While fears increase, your heart to break.

Far down, down, you swiftly go, 

Until you’re near the rocks below;
Then quick beneath your trembling frame
He darts: you’re safe from care and pain.

This lesson He repeats quite oft,
Until you learn to soar aloft,
Above all troubles, trials and waves,
Until you learn Christ always saves.

From Death to Life!

When the last hour comes to the believer, and death and God's judgment appear before his eyes, he does not base his comfort upon his works. Even though he may have lived the holiest life possible, he says with Paul, "I am not conscious of anything against myself, and I feel blameless; but I am not vindicated and acquitted before God on that account. It is the Lord [Himself] Who examines and judges me." 1 Cor. 4:4

These words imply being ill pleased with self, with the whole life, indeed, even the putting to death of self. Though the heart says, "By my works I am neither made righteous nor saved," which is practically admitting oneself to be worthy of death and condemnation, the Spirit extricates from despair, through the Gospel faith, which confesses, as did St. Bernard in the hour of death:

"Dear Lord Jesus, I am aware that my life at its best has been but worthy of condemnation, but I trust in the fact that thou hast died for me and hast sprinkled me with blood from thy holy wounds. For I have been baptized in thy name and have given heed to thy Word whereby thou hast called me, awarded me grace and life, and bidden me believe. In this assurance will I pass out of life; not in uncertainty and anxiety, thinking, 'Who knows what sentence God in heaven will pass upon me?’”

The Christian must not utter such a question. The sentence against his life and works has long since been passed by the Law. Therefore, he must confess himself guilty and condemned. But he lives by the gracious judgment of God declared from heaven, whereby the sentence of the Law is overruled and reversed. It is this: "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life".  Jn. 3:36

When the consolation of the Gospel has once been received and it has wrested the heart from death and the terrors of hell, the Spirit's influence is felt. By its power God's Law begins to live in man's heart; he loves it, delights in it and enters upon its fulfillment. Thus eternal life begins here, being continued forever and perfected in the life to come.

THE SERMONS OF MARTIN LUTHER
VOL. VIII, PAGE 244

♫  ♫  ♫ ♫ ♫  ♫  ♫  ♫

From Death to Life

Hymn written by Ulysses Phillips 

The Evening Light Hymnal 1949

From death to life, oh, what a thought!
Within my soul what change is wrought
By pow’r divine, no tongue can tell,
One thing I know—for me ’tis well;
From darkness unto light sublime,
Through my Redeemer’s matchless Name;
For this He left His home on high,
That I should not forever die.

Refrain:

Oh, praise the Lord for victory,
From death to life He lifted me;
By His great love and pow’r divine
Eternal life is truly mine.

There Jesus paid it all, I see,
To bring this wondrous life to me;
Life from above, oh, joy sublime!
That such a treasure should be mine;
Now in God’s Son I have a part,
Eternal life within my heart,
Translated from the shades of night,
Into the realm of glorious light.

A resurrection, I confess,
Has taken place within my breast;
I’ve been awakened from the dead,
And now I live with Christ instead;
And when I lay this body down,
To mold and crumble in the ground,
My ransomed soul shall fly away,
To one long, bright, eternal day.

There light and life without an end
Into eternity shall blend;
And I the Lord of life shall greet,
And worship at His blessed feet;
Then may I clasp His nail-scarred hands,
Which broke for me death’s awful bands,
By His great love; how could it be?
From death to life He lifted me.

John 5:24

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

From here to THERE

I was reading in 1 Kings 17 about the prophet, Elijah who was in not only in a time of famine and drought, but he was also in a time of great distress, upheaval and danger.  He was in a situation where it was of utmost importance that he listen to God and that he does EXACTLY what God tells him to do. 

As Elijah sought the Lord what to do, he was commanded by God (on two different occasions) to get to a place called "there."  

A place called "there" was where God first commanded him to go and the ravens would feed him "there".  (vs. 4)

A place called "there" was where God commanded him to go the second time and the widow would take care of him "there". (vs. 9) If he was not "there" and the ravens came, and the widow was willing to supply - he would not get what God had provided for him.

Now . . . .  when I am in the place called "there" (i.e.; where God wants me to be physically, mentally and/or spiritually) - I know that He will take care of me "there" because He has commanded that I be taken care of "there."  If I am not at the place called "there", I cannot blame God.   

This is the reason I find that I have to daily read God 's Word and ask for the guidance of His Holy Spirit to show me where my place called "there" is - and how I get from here to "there".

1 Kings 17: 1-9

Elijah the Tishbite, of the temporary residents of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before Whom I stand, there shall not be dew or rain these years but according to My word.

2 And the word of the Lord came to him, saying,

3 Go from here and turn east and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan.

4 You shall drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.

5 So he did according to the word of the Lord; he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan.

6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook.

7 After a while the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land.

8 And the word of the Lord came to him:

9 Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.

Be IN it . . but not OF it!

A man fell into a pit and could not get himself out.

A Subjective person came along and said "I feel for you down there in that pit"

An Objective person came along and said "It’s logical that someone would have fallen down into that pit"

A Christian Scientist came along and said "You only think you’re in the pit"

A Pharisee said "only bad people fall into the pit"

A Newspaper Reporter wanted the exclusive story on the pit

A Fundamentalist said "You deserve your pit"

Confucius said "If you had listened to me you would not be in that pit"

Buddha said "The pit is only a state of mind"

A Realist said "that’s a pit"

A Scientist calculated the pressure necessary to get him out of the pit

A Geologist told him to appreciate the rock strata in the pit

A Tax man asked him if he was paying taxes on the pit

An inspector asked him if he had a permit to dig the pit

An Evasive person came along and avoided the subject of the pit altogether

A Self pitying person said "You haven’t seen anything until you have seen my pit"

A Charismatic said "just confess that you are not in the pit"

An Optimist said "It could be worse"

A Pessimist said "Things will get worse"

Jesus walking along seeing the man in the pit simply knelt down, extended his hand and pulled him out of the pit!

Streams of Mercy Are STILL Flowing

Robert Robinson was a wild youth that came repentance listening to a George Whitefield sermon. He became  pastor and wrote a couple of hymns. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing was written in 1757. 

Later in life he wandered from the Lord and apparently felt he could not return. Perhaps as the the story of Pilgrim's Progress, when Christian and Hopeful were captured by Giant Despair, and taken to Doubting Castle, he too fell prey to the devil's lies and forgot for a time the Promises of God. For those who aren't familiar with Pilgrim's Progress, Christian and Hopeful escape Doubting Castle when Christian realizes he has a key called Promise, which will open all the doors and gates of Doubting Castle.

It is said that Robert Robinson too found he had a key called Promise, when years later, he was riding in a stage coach with a young woman who did not know who he was but quoted the hymn Come Thou Fount to him.

He replied, "Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then."

It is said that she responded by telling him “Sir, the ‘streams of mercy’ are still flowing.”

♫  ♫  ♫  ♫  ♫  ♫  ♫

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise. 

Somewhere It's Snowing

I once read in a poem,

when snow covers the earth,

That it hides the worlds scars,

and gives nature new birth,

And they say when a man turns from sin to the Lord,
That forgiveness, like snow, covers him evermore!

And somewhere it’s snowing –

see the soft drifting down

As the snowflakes surrender

to the hardening ground.

Like the good grace of Jesus

that now covers our sin,

In the kingdom of Heaven,

it’s snowing, again.

Now, I've heard that the angels

lift their hearts and rejoice,

When one traveler turns homeward

from his ways, to the Lord.

If somewhere someone’s turning, he’s giving his all,
And God’s grace, like the snow, is beginning to fall!

And somewhere it’s snowing –

see the soft drifting down

As the snowflakes surrender

to the hardening ground.

Like the good grace of Jesus,

that now covers our sin,

In the kingdom of Heaven,

it’s snowing, again. 

By Katrina Rae 

GRACE -> Paid It All . . The End!

I wonder, at times, why we keep trying to pay God back for our mistakes when they have already been paid for by Jesus Christ when we confessed our sins and repented?

Hebrews 4:16 

Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it]. 

Rom. 5:20

Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

Manasseh – King of Judah
(the son of King Hezekiah)

This is a story of a man who went from being
one of the vilest and wicked sinners ever, to a saint.
  
From an enemy of God to a servant of God.

From a man under God’s judgment to a man under God’s Grace and Mercy.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

But he did evil in the Lord’s sight, like the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites.

 For he built again the [idolatrous] high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared altars for the Baals and made the Asherim and worshiped all the hosts of the heavens and served them.

Also he built [heathen] altars in the Lord’s house, of which the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall My Name be forever.

He built altars for all the hosts of the heavens in the two courts of the Lord’s house.

And he burned his children as an offering [to his god] in the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom], and practiced soothsaying, augury, and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger.

And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son,

            “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put My Name [and Presence] forever; And I will no more remove Israel from the land which I appointed for your fathers, if they will only take heed to do all that I have commanded them, the whole law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses.”

So Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the heathen whom the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.

The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not hearken.

So the Lord brought against them the commanders of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks and in fetters and brought him to Babylon.

When he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.

He prayed to Him, and God, entreated by him, heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom.

Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.

And he built an outer wall to the City of David west of Gihon in the valley, to the entrance of the Fish Gate, and ran it around Ophel, raising it to a very great height; and he put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities of Judah.

           
And he took away the foreign gods and the idol out of the house of the Lord and all the altars that he had built on the mount of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city.

           
And he restored the Lord’s altar and sacrificed on it offerings of peace and of thanksgiving; and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.

Yet the people still sacrificed in the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

2 Chronicles 33: 1-17

♫ Jesus paid it all,

All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow. ♫

God’s GRACE – Old & New Testament

Even in its diversity, the Bible is tied together by the theme of God’s GRACE, and we can see this in every book of the Old and New Testaments. And God’s GRACE always points us clearly to Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Grace of God

For while the Law was given through Moses, GRACE
(unearned, undeserved favor and spiritual blessing)
and truth came through Jesus Christ.

(John 1:17)

OLD TESTAMENT

Genesis shows God’s grace to a universally wicked world as He enters into relationship with a sinful family line (Abraham) and promises to bless the world through him.

Exodus shows God’s grace to His enslaved people in bringing them out of Egyptian bondage.

Leviticus shows God’s grace in providing His people with a sacrificial system to atone for their sins.

Numbers shows God’s grace in patiently sustaining His grumbling people in the wilderness and bringing them to the border of the promised land not because of them, but in spite of them.

Deuteronomy shows God’s grace in giving the people the new land ‘not because of your righteousness’ (Deut. 9).

Joshua shows God’s grace in giving Israel victory after victory in their conquest of the land with neither superior numbers nor superior obedience on Israel’s part.

Judges shows God’s grace in taking sinful, weak Israelites as leaders and using them to purge the land, time and again, of foreign incursion and idolatry.

Ruth shows God’s grace in incorporating a poverty-stricken, desolate, foreign woman into the line of Christ.

1 and 2 Samuel show God’s grace in establishing the throne (forever—2 Sam. 7) of David, an adulterous murderer.

1 and 2 Kings show God’s grace in repeatedly prolonging the exacting of justice and judgment for kingly sin ‘for the sake of’ David.

1 and 2 Chronicles show God’s grace by continually reassuring the returning exiles of God’s self-initiated promises to David and his sons.

Ezra shows God’s grace to Israel in working through the most powerful pagan ruler of the time (Cyrus) to bring His people back home to a rebuilt temple.

Nehemiah shows God’s grace in providing for the rebuilding of the walls of the city that represented the heart of God’s promises to His people.

Esther shows God’s grace in protecting His people from a Persian plot to eradicate them through a string of unexpected events.

Job shows God’s grace in vindicating the sufferer’s cry that his redeemer lives (Job 19:25), who will put all things right in this world or the next.

Psalms shows God’s grace by reminding us of, and leading us in expressing, the relentless covenant of love God has for His people and the refuge that He is for them.

Proverbs shows us God’s grace by opening up to us a world of wisdom in leading a life of happy godliness.

Ecclesiastes shows God’s grace in its earthy reminder that the good things of life can never be pursued as the ultimate things of life, and that it is God who in his mercy satisfies sinners (note Eccl. 7:20; 8:11).

Song of Songs shows God’s grace and love for his bride by giving us a faint echo of it in the pleasures of faithful human sexuality.

Isaiah shows God’s grace by reassuring us of His presence with and restoration of contrite sinners.

Jeremiah shows God’s grace in promising a new and better covenant, one in which knowledge of God will be universally internalized.

Lamentations shows God’s grace in His unfailing faithfulness in the midst of sadness.

Ezekiel shows God’s grace in the divine heart surgery that cleansingly replaces stony hearts with fleshy ones.

Daniel shows God’s grace in its repeated miraculous preservation of His servants.

Hosea shows God’s grace in a real-live depiction of God’s unstoppable love toward His whoring wife.

Joel shows God’s grace in the promise to pour out his Spirit on all flesh.

Amos shows God’s grace in the Lord’s climactic promise of restoration in spite of rampant corruption.

Obadiah shows God’s grace by promising judgment on Edom, Israel’s oppressor, and restoration of Israel to the land in spite of current Babylonian captivity.

Jonah shows God’s grace toward both immoral Nineveh and moral Jonah, irreligious pagans and a religious prophet, both of whom need and receive the grace of God.

Micah shows God’s grace in the prophecy’s repeated wonder at God’s strange insistence on ‘pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression’ (Micah 7:18).

Nahum shows God’s grace in assuring Israel of ‘good news’ and ‘peace,’ promising that the Assyrians have tormented them for the last time.

Habakkuk shows God’s grace that requires nothing but trusting faith amid insurmountable opposition, freeing us to rejoice in God even in desolation.

Zephaniah shows God’s grace in the Lord’s exultant singing over His disobedient yet beloved people.

Haggai shows God’s grace in promising a wayward people that the future glory of God’s presence with them will far surpass its former glory.

Zechariah shows God’s grace in the divine pledge to open up a fountain for God’s people to ‘cleanse them from sin and uncleanness’ (Zech. 13:1).

Malachi shows God’s grace by declaring the Lord’s no-strings-attached love for his people.

NEW TESTAMENT

Matthew shows God’s grace in fulfilling the Old Testament promises of a coming king (Matt. 5:17).

Mark shows God’s grace as this coming king suffers the fate of a common criminal to buy back sinners (Mark 10:45).

Luke shows that God’s grace extends to all the people one would not expect: hookers, the poor, tax collectors, sinners, Gentiles (‘younger sons’) (Luke 19:10).

John shows God’s grace in becoming one of us, flesh and blood (John 1:14), and dying and rising again so that by believing we might have life in his name (John 20:31).

Acts shows God’s grace flooding out to all the world—starting  in Jerusalem, ending in Rome; starting with Peter, apostle to the Jews, ending with Paul, apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 1:8).

Romans shows God’s grace in Christ to the ungodly (Rom. 4:5) that washes over both Jew and Gentile while they are still sinners (Rom. 5:8).

1 Corinthians shows God’s grace in favoring what is lowly and foolish in the world (1 Cor. 1:27).

2 Corinthians shows God’s grace in channeling his power through weakness rather than strength (2 Cor. 12:9).

Galatians shows God’s grace in justifying both Jew and Gentile by Christ-directed faith rather than self-directed performance (Gal. 2:16).

Ephesians shows God’s grace in his plan to unite us to his Son before time began (Eph. 1:4).

Philippians shows God’s grace in Christ’s humiliating death on an instrument of torture—for us (Phil. 2:8).

Colossians shows God’s grace in nailing to the cross the record of debt that stood against us (Col. 2:14).

1 Thessalonians shows God’s grace in providing the hope-igniting guarantee that Christ will return again (1 Thess. 4:13).

2 Thessalonians shows God’s grace in choosing us before time, that we might withstand Christ’s greatest enemy (2 Thess. 2:13).

1 Timothy shows God’s grace in the radical mercy shown to ‘the chief of sinners’ (1 Tim. 1:15).

2 Timothy shows God’s grace to be that which began (2 Tim. 1:9) and that which fuels (2 Tim. 2:1) the Christian life.

Titus shows God’s grace in saving us by his own cleansing mercy when we were most mired in sinful passions (Tit. 3:5).

Philemon shows God’s grace in transcending socially hierarchical structures with the deeper bond of Christ-won Christian brotherhood (Philem. 16).

Hebrews shows God’s grace in giving his Son to be both our sacrifice to atone for us once and for all and our high priest to intercede for us forever (Heb. 9:12).

James shows us God’s grace by giving to those who have been born again ‘of his own will’ (James 1:18) ‘wisdom from above’ for meaningful godly living (James 3:17).

1 Peter shows God’s grace in securing for us an unfading, imperishable inheritance no matter what we suffer in this life (1 Pet. 1:4).

2 Peter shows God’s grace in guaranteeing the inevitability that one day all will be put right as the evil that has masqueraded as good will be unmasked at the coming Day of the Lord (2 Pet. 3:10).

1 John shows God’s grace in adopting us as his children (1 John 3:1).

2 and 3 John show God’s grace in reminding specific individuals of ‘the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever’ (2 John 2).

Jude shows God’s grace in the Christ who presents us blameless before God in a world rife with moral chaos (Jude 24).

Revelation shows God’s grace in preserving his people through cataclysmic suffering, a preservation founded on the shed blood of the lamb (Rev. 12:11).

Hallelujah !