Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday January 09TH 2022, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

Last Sunday – filling-in for my Lead Pastor – I kicked-off 2022 with another full sermon and Communion for my small church family. I preached on two good Kings of Judah – Uzziah and Jotham – from 2ND Kings and 2ND Chronicles. They were good kings – father and son, but they both had some flaws. Jotham learned from Uzziah. We learn from Jotham.

I may post that sermon in a future multi-part series here on #SundayScripture.

But let me continue what I’ve started with excerpts of my December 2021 sermon on being “Holy & Redeemed”. It’s based on 1 Peter 1:13-23. Here’s Part 4:

And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of Him during your time as “foreigners in the land.” (1 Peter 1:17)

We are holy. We are set apart from the world. We don’t think, and we don’t act like the people of this world who do not believe – who do not follow – our God. That does not make us better than them. They are flawed. And we are flawed. We are all flawed. Sure we’ve repented – we’ve turned away – from our old pre-salvation lifestyle – but we are still sinners. Everyone is a sinner. Everyone can be redeemed by our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. Everyone can be “Holy & Redeemed”.

And once you’re “Holy & Redeemed” you realize that you are here in this world temporarily. This is not a permanent settlement for you. This is not your forever Homestead. (See what I did there.) Thank God for that, for we are – for lack of a better word – uncomfortable here in this world. We long for our true home. We await our eternal home in Heaven. The Bible says that we are citizens of Heaven – where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. (Philippians 3:20a)

And when our Savior returns (and He will) – He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like His own – using the same power with which He will bring everything under His control. (Philippians 3:21)

Don’t you just love that ? These weak mortal bodies that we have today. He will change them, so that they are glorious. All of our aches and pains will go away. All of our diseases will be eradicated. I will have a full head of hair again ! That’s our God of hope.

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver – which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ – the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. (1 Peter 1:18-19)

God chose Him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days He has been revealed for your sake. Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because He raised Christ from the dead and gave Him great glory. (1 Peter 1:20-21)

When someone is held captive – sometimes a ransom is paid for the immediate release of that captive. Our God paid a ransom to release us from captivity – captivity to sin and death. That ransom was Christ’s death on the cross. It was the ultimate price to set us free.

I’ll continue this sermon next #SundayScripture. If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned. Tomorrow it’s #Top10Monday, as I present my personal Top 10 hits this week that honor our God Almighty on the radio.

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:

The LORD bless you, and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.