10 Sunday May 2015
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Today at church, in honor of Mother’s Day, we were shown this short but beautiful video of God’s miraculous power. The couple in the video goes to our church and after receiving almost 3 Million views on YouTube, they were even featured in a story on Inside Edition. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, and I hope you enjoy it too!
Happy Mother’s Day!!!
If you ever come across anything you’d like me to post on this blog, please feel free to contact me at dino.evangelista@gmail.com.
09 Saturday May 2015
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One of the most important ways to stay strong in our journey as believers is through community. When Paul was in Corinth, the Lord reminded him of this in Acts 18:9-10, 9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in the city.” This is a great reminder to us of the importance of community and relationship with others as we live our lives as believers. We are there to pray and encourage one another and to remind each other that God is with us through it all. If you are not part of a community group through your church or on your own, let me encourage you to find one. There is nothing more valuable than walking with other like minded and loving people.
08 Friday May 2015
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In today’s reading, we are back in the book of Acts, and we find Paul speaking with the Greek Philosophers in Athens. Many of these people somehow managed to make a living spending their day talking about new ideas (good work if you can get it). As Paul is speaking with these philosophers, he takes the opportunity to use something he finds in Greek worship to point to the one true God. Acts 17:22 says, 22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens!” I see that in every way you are religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with the inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. Too often we expect non-believers to come to a relationship with God by finding their own way. The reality is God meets them where they are. We are called to help them find their way. God can use any circumstance and any scenario for His glory and to bring people into relationship with Him. There is nothing so un-sacred that He cannot use it for good.
07 Thursday May 2015
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The world wants us to be arrogant about our accomplishments. We are supposed to measure our success against the accomplishments of others. But the only true measurement is that of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, in this final chapter of this book, says in Galatians 6:14, May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. The only thing that should matter to us is our relationship with Christ and how that affects our lives and service to Him. The less the interests of this world matters to us the better off we are.
06 Wednesday May 2015
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God is interested in every aspect of our lives, not just the spiritual part. When we submit every aspect to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, then we are guided by His power and wisdom. Galatians 5:25, Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the guide for our life saved by Christ. Let us keep in step with His guidance and live a life worthy of His sacrifice. Our value comes from Christ and Christ alone. Don’t let anyone else determine your value and standards for your life.
05 Tuesday May 2015
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Under Roman law, and adopted son was guaranteed all legal rights of his father’s estate. He was not treated as a second class child, even if he was born a slave. In Galatians 4:7 Paul talks about this in reference to our relationship with God when we accept the gift of salvation through Christ’s sacrifice, So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. Likewise, as adopted children of God, we share all the rights as heirs of the Kingdom of God. We have a full identity as His children. Let us all try to remember this as we live our lives; we are children of the King.
04 Monday May 2015
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I find it interesting that we, as believers, still struggle with the things Paul talks about to the Galatians 2,000 years ago. People who are supposedly strong believers still relying on what they do for Christ rather than what He did for us. In Galatians 3:24 Paul says, So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Nowhere does it say we are justified by the work we do for Christ, yet that is what we classify as a “good Christian”. Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to say we don’t need to be good people. God created us to serve Him by serving and loving others, but that is not salvation. It is obedience and a byproduct of loving God and wanting others to know that love. Let us work to be a reflection of Christ and recognize that He does not expect us to be perfect or even strive for perfection, but rather to simply be a reflection of Him and His love.
03 Sunday May 2015
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The video below is my daughter’s senior project. I’m not gonna lie, when I first watched it, I cried like a baby. I remember the day we brought her home from the hospital and it has been an amazing journey watching her grow into the woman God created her to be. I hope you enjoy this video as much as I did. I love my little girl.
If you ever come across anything you’d like me to post on this blog, please feel free to contact me at dino.evangelista@gmail.com.
02 Saturday May 2015
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The beauty of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is He crucified our sins with His death. Paul describes this beautifully in Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God. When Christ died for our sins, our sins died with Him. Because our sins died with Christ, we are no longer condemned and have relationally become one with Him. Our old life no longer exists.
01 Friday May 2015
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To be a true follower of Christ we cannot stand around and wait for the approval of people around us. Paul made this clear in Galatians 1:10, Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. We all want to feel we are doing the right thing in the eyes of the people we know and care about. But the reality is we only need to be concerned with what Jesus thinks about us and commands us to do according to His will and for His glory. Walking with Jesus is not always easy, but it is the only journey that matters.
Daily Devotion 