Roots by the River

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Infinite Riches of Grace

“How much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!” (Romans 5:15). This is the cure for the trespass and the death that entered the world through Adam. Notice that it is the grace of God and of the one man Jesus Christ. Notice, too, that this grace and gift both overflow to the many. This agrees with verse 20: “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more...” Isn’t that wonderful? If some little kid threw a mudball and hit a white sheet hanging on a clothesline, the housewife would not take a little soap and water to wash out that amount of mud. She would use much more soap and water and wash the whole sheet. That is the way with the grace of God. God uses more than enough. His love has no limit; His grace has no measure. His pow’r has no boundary known unto man. For out of His infinite riches in Jesus He giveth, and giveth and giveth again. -Annie Johnson Flint This post coordinates with toda...

Keeping His Promise

Here are some thoughts on the character of God. “By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore” (Hebrews 11:11-12). “They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation’…. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:4, 9). The first passage has to do with God’s promise to Abraham when he was 100 years old, because Abraham knew that God was faithful and would keep his promise. God kept his promise! The second passage has to do with the promise of Jesus to return to Earth. He gives us the reas...

Called to Suffer (What Would Jesus Do?)

“But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:20-21). Do you have a calling? Yes! What is it? To this you are called : Do good. Suffer for it. Take it patiently. If we do good, suffer for it and take it impatiently , this is not commendable before God. Two out of three is not good enough. Christ, in His suffering, left us an example that we should follow in His steps . We are to imitate Jesus in His goodness, sufferings and patience. The book In His Steps was written more than 100 years ago. It is a novel about a group of people who wanted to follow Jesus by asking the question, “What would Jesus do?” The fallacy in the book is that it took imagination to come up with the answer. The answer is in the text—do good, suffer for it, and take it patiently. We already know what Jesus would do. He has already...

How the Church Grows

“They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand” (Acts 4:3-4). “Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord” (Acts 9:31). These two passages have something in common. The church grew in numbers in both cases. There was a difference, though. In the first case, the church was persecuted, and in the second the church enjoyed a time of peace. The conclusion is that church growth is not related directly to persecution or peace . It is related directly to the preaching of the gospel in power . The church can die under persecution, but it does not have to. The church can die in peace, but it does not have to. The church died in the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey because of persecution. Over the last c...

Each of You

“While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them: ‘Men of Israel, why does this surprise you ? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you . You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see. “Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled...

How to Be Free from Bitterness

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Eph. 4:31–5:2). In this text, we are instructed to get rid of all bitterness. Before we begin discussing how and why this must be done, it is crucial to realize that the basis for all our actions in this regard must be what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. In all our actions, we are to be imitators of God. In the Old Testament, there was a woman whose name meant Pleasant. Her name was Naomi, and she had moved from Israel to another land with her husband and sons. But her husband had died, and within the next ten years both of her sons died. She made some comments to her recently widowed da...