Daily Bread_January 10, 2014

Title: A Sure Hope in a Trouble Filled World

Text:

1 Corinthians 15:50-58 (ESV)
⁵⁰ I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
⁵¹ Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
⁵³ For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
⁵⁴ When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
⁵⁵ "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Observation:

You don't have to have lived long to come to the realization that this world is filled with trouble. The twin enemies of sin and death are lethal. To deny that they are real is to live in denial, and to live without hope for a better future. This does not have to be your destiny. The Lord Jesus Christ has conquered sin and death.

John 11:25-26 (ESV)
²⁵ Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

Can you say this prayer; can you shout this praise to our heavenly Father?

1 Corinthians 15:57 (ESV)
⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

If your answer is yes, then you can rest in this hope and blessed assurance.

1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV)
⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Prayer:

Our Father in heaven, my dear Father, I am so thankful that in this troubled world that I can live with the blessed assurance that the best is yet to come; that this world is not my home. Father, I am so grateful that in my Savior's arms I am happy and blest. Lord, this is my story, and I love to tell it; in Jesus name I pray with thanksgiving. Amen.

"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine;
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

• This is my story, this is my song,
  Praising my Savior all the day long.
  This is my story, this is my song,
  Praising my Savior all the day long."

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn.php/h/308#ixzz2pznaTZq0

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Psalm 119:105 (HCSB)
¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.

Psalm 2:8 (HCSB)
⁸ Ask of Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance and the ends of the earth Your possession.

My blog: Sharing the Word of God Daily:

http://herbcotton.blogspot.com/