For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8, 9.
Salvation is a free gift, and yet it is to be bought and sold. In the market of which divine mercy has the management, the precious pearl is represented as being bought without money and without price. In this market all may obtain the goods of heaven. The treasury of the jewels of truth is open to all. “Behold, I have set before thee an open door,” the Lord declares, “and no man can shut it.” No sword guards the way through this door. Voices from within and at the door say, Come. The Saviour’s voice earnestly and lovingly invites us: “I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich.”
The gospel of Christ is a blessing that all may possess. The poorest are as well able as the richest to purchase salvation, for no amount of worldly wealth can secure it. It is obtained by willing obedience, by giving ourselves to Christ as His own purchased possession. Education, even of the highest class, can not of itself bring a man nearer to God. The Pharisees were favored with every temporal and every spiritual advantage, and they said with boastful pride, We are “rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;” yet they were “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” …
We can not earn salvation, but we are to seek for it with as much interest and perseverance as though we would abandon everything in the world for it…. Abandon the idea that temporal or spiritual advantages will win for you salvation. God calls for your willing obedience. He asks you to give up your sins.—Christ’s Object Lessons, 116, 117.
With God at Dawn p. 64
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for Lotti she’s now believes there is a God. And she wants the guy she is not married to out of her life, and she doesn’t want him coming over to her home anymore because his abusive too. Please pray that she will be safe and strong. Rosemary
—-please say an urgent pray for my friend who’s family’s son Ben went missing in Albany who are waiting for their nephew to be recovered from the ocean… Jeanie
—-Please keep me in prayer as I will be in surgery at 7AM PST. Please pray all goes well. Donnell
—-Please pray for my daughter, she had surgery last week, and now she is back in the hospital with a blood clot on her left lung. Tamera
—-Praise the Lord….No surgery, no pacemaker. Buddy does have to go home with a pic-line where we put the antibiotics in. (When he gets to go home.) They said he has to have the antibiotics every day for six to eight weeks. He will also have to wear a heart monitor for a month. Kay
—-Going in for shoulder surgery today. May I have some prayers please? Tracy
—-Please pray for a girl by the name of Lauramae as she’s fighting for her life right now. She’s like a little sister to me and please pray for God’s intervention and to save her. Tui
—-Please pray that Daphne who has been kidnapped will be found soon.
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Dear Friends,
About twenty years ago, when Esther lived in South Dakota, she drove down to our house so we could all go to a family reunion together. Eileen and I decided to meet her in McCook, Nebraska which was about half way. A 750 mile trip can be tiring when one is driving alone and Esther was still a teenager.
Once we met at McCook, I took over driving Esther’s car to give her a rest and soon we were busily catching up on all the “details” since we had seen each other last. Eileen drove our van. Suddenly we saw her signal that she wanted us to pull over to the side of the road. She had been listening to the radio and it was giving the area that was experiencing severe thunderstorms with large hail and damaging winds. There were even reports of a tornado that was on the ground. We looked ahead of us and saw what we should have been able to see all along but were too busy talking. Ahead of us and to the east of us the sky was dark and foreboding. Eileen told us that the little town we were soon to be in was experiencing large hail at that very moment. We had to turn to the southeast and drive many miles around the storm. How thankful we were, however, for the warning that kept us out of the bad weather.
The Bible warns us of a “storm” that is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise. Jesus has given us ample signs of the approaching storm, so we do not have to be surprised. We may have to change some of our plans, just as we had to change our route that day, but that is a small price to pay for our future with Him. Just as He warned His disciples of His approaching death, so He says to us, “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.” John 14:29 Then He gave a brief outline of the future to his disciples. Most of those things have been fulfilled. “And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. . . . Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. . . . Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. . . .But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. . . .Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Matt 24
From cover to cover the Bible is full of all the instruction we need to be ready for that Great Day. Let us search the Scriptures daily that we may be prepared for the coming “storm.” Let us “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Heb 12:1,2 Let us heed the great warnings found in God’s Word that we may be able to stand in that fearful and glorious day is my prayer.
Rose
Salvation Is the Gift of God