Tag Archives: Salvation

2013 Day 125 – Romans 4-6, Proverbs 20:16-30

05 Sunday May 2013

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I guess one could argue, if God loves to forgive, why not give Him more to forgive. Romans 6:1-2 says, 1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? The purpose of salvation is to free us from the power of sin and the hold it has on us. Once we are saved, we should no longer want to be controlled by sin. Does this mean we need to be perfect? No, but we should seek righteousness through the saving power of Jesus Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

2013 Day 124 – Romans 1-3, Proverbs 20:1-15

04 Saturday May 2013

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Yes, we are saved through grace. Yes, Christ’s sacrifice atones for all our sin. But we are still called to be a reflection of Christ and to be changed by His mercy and grace. In Romans 2:6-8 it says, 6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. We must be persistent in doing good because it honors God and glorifies Him.

2013 Day 123 – Judges 19-21, Proverbs 15-29

03 Friday May 2013

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We finished the book of Judges today. I don’t have a lot to say about the reading, but I do have a couple of observations. First, God requires total righteousness. The mistake comes in thinking we can achieve righteousness on our own without the saving grace of Jesus. In the book of Judges, they had to be righteous on their own and relied on the sacrifices by the priest. We are fortunate and blessed that we have Jesus’ to sanctify us from our unrighteousness. The second observation comes from the very end of the book where the author talks about the fact that Israel had no king to rule over them. As we progress in the Old Testament and begin to read about all the Kings of Israel, it is important to realize that God never intended Israel to have an earthly ruler. He gave Israel a ruler because they wanted it, but God was supposed to be ruler of His people. The same goes for us when we look to earthly leaders such as pastors. While pastors are ordained to shepherd God’s people, we must never forget where their authority comes from. God is our authority and we should always make Him the ultimate guide for our lives.

2013 Day 120 – John Piper – The Gospel in 6 Seconds

30 Tuesday Apr 2013

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Today’s Reflection post is a six (6) minute video by John Piper. It is a great reminder that no matter where we are in our life, no matter how close or far we are from God, we never outgrow the need to have the Gospel in our lives. I hope you enjoy the video. Please comment below any thoughts you may have.

 

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.

2013 Day 110 – Matthew 17-19, Psalm 65

20 Saturday Apr 2013

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I’m not gonna lie… I hate reading through these passages so quickly. Next year, once we finish this reading plan, we will take a much slower approach. There is so much information in these passages in Matthew. Jesus is having so many discussions and giving so many meaningful parables, it is difficult to digest all Jesus is saying. The main theme that stood out to me was how much Jesus kept pushing everyone, especially the rich young man, to do more. Jesus is not saying we must do more to be saves, He is saying we cannot do enough to be saved. There is nothing we can do, it must come from Him; through His sacrifice and gift of salvation.

2013 Day 105 – Matthew 1-4, Psalm 60

15 Monday Apr 2013

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Today we begin the Book of Matthew. This book is one of the four Gospels and it is written by Matthew the tax collector. Matthew is not one of the disciples but he has been changed because of Jesus and is a believer of Jesus as the Messiah. One of the things I love about this book is the way it begins. It shows the precision of God and how God’s perfect plan brought Jesus into being. Matthew 1:17 says, Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah. with all that history from the time of Abraham, I’m sure no one in that timeline would have guessed they were part of the direct line of the Messiah, yet God knew exactly what He was doing. If God can plan something as immense as the delivery of the Savior to the world, He can certainly plan my life to fulfill my part of His will for His kingdom. My part is simply to be obedient and willing to be used by Him when the Holy Spirit directs me to act.

2013 Day 89 – An Easter Prayer

30 Saturday Mar 2013

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I received the picture and prayer below from my alma mater this morning in an email. I thought I would share it today as we approach Easter this weekend. I pray you have a blessed Easter weekend. I hope you enjoy it.

Easter_Prayer_2013

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.

2013 Day 88 – Skit Guys – Good Friday

29 Friday Mar 2013

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The most amazing days of our faith are upon us. We are about to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. But first we have to experience a day of sadness; the day our King was beaten, tortured, and killed because of our sin. I guess by now you all have figured out that I love the Skit Guys, and this Good Friday video is one of the best. I hope you enjoy it.

 

If you ever come across anything you’d like me to post on this blog, please fee free to contact me at dino.evangelista@gmail.com.

2013 Day 77 – Galatians 1-3, Psalm 38

18 Monday Mar 2013

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Today we begin the book of Galatians. Paul, as the author of this book, was clear in his purpose for writing it, which was to refute the teachings of the Judaizers (who taught that Gentile believers should obey the Jewish law in order to be saved). Paul explains his position in Christ very clearly in Galatians 2:20-21, 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” No matter how hard we may try to fix ourselves by following a bunch of rules, we cannot attain salvation without accepting God’s grace through Christ’s sacrifice. When we try to make ourselves better for God’s acceptance of us, we throw God’s gift back at Him. While we should always strive for righteousness, it is not righteousness that saves us. Righteousness is a product of salvation, not the other way around.

2013 Day 62 – Hebrews 7-10, Proverbs 26

03 Sunday Mar 2013

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It’s amazing to have just gone through Leviticus where the Laws were established and to now go through the book of Hebrews. We better understand how Christ became the ultimate sacrifice. In Hebrews 9:14 it says, How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! We must pay special attention to the last part of that verse where it says “so that we may serve the living God!” It does not say “so we can do whatever we want”. The purpose of our salvation is to give us the freedom to serve God without the baggage of a sinful life. As a side not, I also see too many people who become believers only to dwell on their past and how far they have come. While it is important to recognize how much the Lord has blessed us, our salvation should free us to move forward and serve a loving God who freely gave us mercy and grace. Our sinful past should no longer be the focal point of our lives.