Good morning to all on this last Sunday in August. Waine and I just returned from Jamaica. We were there for 1 week with Tracy, Kai and Hailie. Freddie was unable to come because of an expired passport. It was good to spend time with Tracy and get to know her on a different level. The babies insisted we say prayer before each meal; this simple act melted my heart each time we held their little hands and let the love of God flow through us. On the way home, the Montego Bay Southwest ticket counter noticed that Kai's passport had expired on July 1. God only knows how he was able to travel to Jamaica on an expired passport. Waine and I were in Kingston and felt powerless to help. We went to the American Embassy in Kingston to try and work things through and it appeared that it would take a minimum of 3 business days to get Kai a new passport. As it was already Wednesday, close of business, that meant the earliest Kai was going to be able to get a new passport would be Monday. I started to pray earnestly that God would make a way for Kai to get back to the US on the appointed day. I left it in God's hands as the time to departure ticked away. Long story sort, Tracy was given 3 boarding passes to come home. When you need God to act and take care of a problem, He just comes through. We had only 2 hours to solve this problem--the earthly way would have taken 3 days which we were prepared to do. Waine was prepared to go to Montego Bay and stay with Tracy and the kids until Monday but I believe that my prayer, my faith gave God the opportunity to shower blessings. This is how prayer works. Thee is nothing special about my prayers, God can do anything BUT He needs a pathway through which to work. That is our faith. In small things and big things Faith and Prayer allows God's mercies and blessing to flow through. Hallelujah! A small story that demonstrates God's BIG love.
We have finished Acts and I am pushing through to Paul's letters from Rome. Romans 1 verses 1 - 32, "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— the gospel He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding His Son, who as to His earthly life was a descendant of David, and Who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for His name’s sake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you. I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles. I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." Amen and may God add a blessing to reading and hearing of His Word.
I am not sure that it can get any plainer than this! Paul is making it clear that when you have heard the Gospel of the Good News--the salvation that is provided and is available through the sacrifice made by Christ, you are without excuse when the judgment comes. God has made it clear that the ONLY way back to Him is through Christ. That when we don't take that step, we not only miss out on being with Him through eternity but we begin to suffer here on earth and become depraved. We are given over to sin which leads to a life of ENVY, MURDER, STRIFE, DECEIT, MALICE, GOSSIP, SLANDERING, GOD-HATING, INSOLENCE, ARROGANCE AND BOASTFULNESS. Any of this sound familiar. It pretty much describes the world we live in. These are the qualities of a world that has traveled far from God. A world that is on a time clock to self destruct. You need no further evidence!
Paul also talks about homosexuality being a by product of the depravity of sin. This is the scriptural support that homosexuality is not normal. It is not the way of God. God intended that Man and woman be with each other to love Him and one another. A by product of this love is the procreation and continuation of the Human Race. If you ever wondered if homosexuality if nurture versus nature, you now have scriptural evidence that IT IS NOT NATURE. God never intended for men to be with men or women to be with women in a sexual way, which is why quite frankly he made penis' to fit into vaginas and vaginas to be connected to a uterus with fallopian tubes. It is called the act of creation.....And God CREATED, Genesis 1. God CREATES! Anything contrary to this is of Satan who destroys. Does God hate people who practice homosexuality? No He loves all of us but hates sin. Will God prevent people who practice homosexuality from being saved? No because they have the same chance as all sinners to be saved by GRACE. Will Christians still practice homosexuality? Do Christians still lie, cheat, and deceive? Yes, we all sin daily HOWEVER as we mature in the Spirit of God, we begin to leave our childish ways behind us. As we grow in Faith our tendencies toward sin become less and less. Each of us work through our childishness with God.
None of us who have heard the Gospel will have an excuse when we come before God. Our main job is to love God with all of our hearts, mind and soul and then to love one another JUST AS GOD LOVES US. This love will enable others to come to know and trust the God that I serve! To know Him is to love Him. To love Him is to serve Him. To serve Him is to love you!
Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
Stephanie
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