Andrew Wheeler writes...
Christ, our Redemption, unto the glory of God!
While meditating upon the gospel, I have been reminded of the immeasurable
value of Christ! As I have examined myself in the light of God’s holiness, I have
seen more clearly the vileness of my sin—namely, how wicked, rebellious, and
deceptive my heart can be. I have realized how easily I can exchange the truth of
God for a lie.
The reality of my sin has led me to see how much I needChrist—how much I
need to lean upon Him, hope in Him, trust in Him, delight in Him, think upon
Him, treasure Him, and daily cast myself wholly upon Him! When I stand before
God, I have no plea but the blood of Christ formy righteousness. He alone is the
hope ofmy redemption, and yours, and of all people!
How I desire that we would see this! But what has appeared so exceptionally
wonderful to me is that Christ is the only one who can redeem our lives—past,
present, and future—unto the glory of God.
All of us know that we were created for the glory of God; we were created to
bear His image and reflect His likeness. And we all know thatwe have
failed…profoundly. Since this is so, we are now faced with a dilemma: What will
we do with our sin?
I think we have two choices.We could, on the one hand, look upon our failure
and hide from it. We could ignore the ugliness of our lives—turn off the lights,
close the door, and lock it inside. We could sweep all of our dirt under the rug.
The second choice is that we could face our sin head on. We could go right
through it—not around it, not over it, not beside it—but through it. We could own
up to the fact that we have a severe problem. We could embrace our sin.
Whatever we choose, we should acknowledge that life and death, God’s glory,
and the value of Jesus’ sacrifice are at stake in our decision. If we choose to
ignore our sin, we place ourselves in danger before a holy God. If we ignore it, we
are liars and dishonor God. And if we ignore it, we essentially are saying that
Christ’s sacrifice was unnecessary, insufficient, irrelevant, or otherwise
unimportant. On the other hand, if we embrace it, we agree with God and put
ourselves in a place to receive life. If we embrace it, we acknowledge the truth. If
we embrace it, we won’t look good. But Jesus will, and God will be glorified.
If we embrace it, however, what then? How could we possibly bear the reality
of who we truly are so closely to our conscience?
This is what I mean about Christ:
Christ is the only One who can redeem our sinful past. It is Jesus alone who
has accomplished the work that revealed God’s saving power, which is His
giving new life and righteous standing to those dead in their sin. Christ actually
buys back all of our wasted life! He transforms the meaninglessness,
hopelessness, despair, pain, shame, and regret of our sin into an occasion for
praise to God! Christ is reconciling all things to Himself by the blood of His
cross—even the mess of our sinful past.
Christ is also the only one who can bring value to our present lives. It is Jesus
alone who provides us opportunity to display God’s saving power by living
transformed lives. He empowers us by His Spirit to live a God-centered life.
Instead of rejecting God, we find a growing desire to please Him. This is only
possible through Jesus.
And Christ is the only One who can offer value to the future. It is Jesus alone
who overcame death, and by His resurrection we now believe unto eternal life.
We have a sure promise that He who began a good work in us will complete it!
Only Christ could carry us to the end blameless before God.
How does knowing this help us?
As we understand the immeasurable value of Christ, we are able to see this
beautiful truth of our forgiven past! This, in turn, empowers us for obedience in
the present and inspires confidence in our glorious future. Knowing that our past
is redeemed allows us to continue in the present without debilitating shame.
Similarly, knowing our destiny—to be conformed to the image of Christ—
inspires us to live with steadfast hope, since we know that we will be that which
we long to be!
Be encouraged in Christ!
Andrew
News from Kevin and Mary Brunner...
God's Amazing providence and Blessings!
Having the opportunity to serve the Lord in the
Philippines has been a thrilling yet trying experience for
us. We have seen the Lord work in exciting ways and
also have been discouraged at times because of the
seemingly slow progress of the work. But then the Lord
suddenly shows us that He is using the discouragements
to prepare us for the next step in His plan!
Our first six years of ministry had many ups and downs.
We saw the Lord take us through some deep trials in the
church, and we were disappointed by the slow numerical
growth. But over those years, we experienced the joy of
building close relationships with dear, young Christians
we would have never known had God not brought us
here.
As we counseled struggling families, we slowly saw
rebellious children become obedient and
respectful because parents determined to practice Bible
principles such as daily personal and family devotions,
Bible memory, and discipline. We saw struggling
marriages become filled with God's love. We saw
believers who wanted to see others come to know the
Lord but had no idea how to share their faith become
fervent witnesses. It is all new to them! How exciting it
is to work with them. Of course, this is not the case with
everyone, but thankfully with the majority!
Yet we still desired to see more numerical growth,
and we still do! As we returned from furlough last March
to begin a new term, we were excited but fearful about
the new work in Caroyroyan. It seems the Lord is
continuously showing us that He is orchestrating each
step in the process.
For example, we considered buying a small lot and
constructing a temporary building for services. It
seemed like the Lord's will, and the church, after
prayerful consideration, voted 25-1 to buy the lot. But
over the next few days, the purchase was delayed and
the deacons began to have second thoughts. That
week, Dr. Salvador Cruzana (an unsaved friend of mine
who is the Vice President of a local college), told me that
the President of the Philippines and the Governor of our
province are planning to relocate all residents in that
area; it would be a poor decision to buy the lot. Dr.
Cruzana helped us locate a much more ideal meeting
place which we will be voting about this Sunday. Even
the details of renting this location (a house for
rent) have clearly been directed by the Lord.
We have been discouraged at times by the delays we
have encountered in trying to start church services in
Caroyroyan. But now we see that the Lord is using these
delays to build stronger commitment to God and each
other among the believers in Caroyroyan.
How thankful we are for God's providential delays
and His continuous blessings!
Gratefully,
Kevin and Mary Brunner
Philippines
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