“The best definition of the two that I have encountered is this: ‘Grace is especially associated with men in their sin: mercy is especially associated with men in their misery’…while grace looks down upon sin as a whole, mercy looks especially upon the miserable consequences of sin.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones
“”OUR CHURCH IS A MISSION CENTRE NOT A PARISH. THE PARISH MODEL, (WHICH MANY OF US WERE TRAINED FOR,) ONLY WORKS IN SOCIETIES WHERE CHRISTENDOM PREVAILS. A MISSION CENTRE PRIORITISES THE NEEDS OF THE “NON-CHURCHED” WHILE HONOURING AND MEETING THE NEEDS OF THE EXISTING CONGREGATION.””
Rev Mark Chapman, minister of CLEVELAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH quoted in Hands On in an article entitled “Missional Hearts”
That’s how Andrew Ramsbottom (Scripture Union) starts his letter I received today. I copied the quote exactly how Andrew wrote it!
“books / gift a great read this Christmas” I am reading in THE WAREHOUSE mailer I picked up yesterday.
Yesterday I also received the WAR CRY ( Issue 6532) and in his Christmas Greetings Commissioner Don Bell is writing that his grandfather had a significant spiritual influence on his early life. He was a retired Salvation Army officer.
He says that one of the first Christmas gifts he received from his grandparents was Hurlbut’s Stories of the Bible. He says that they also gave him his first Bible, having long proved its wisdom in their lives.
When I read that for the first time in THE RURAL ADVOCATE, Friday, December 16, 2011, it did not mean very much to me.
But it came back to me later on and I think I know now why it did not mean very much to me when I read it for the first.
LIKE MANY OTHER THINGS, I TAKE WATER FOR GRANTED!
I think we must learn not to take things for granted. It is only the grace of God that I have it as good as I have it. Let us learn to be thankful.
BUT I AM GLAD THAT I DON’T TAKE THE LIVING WATER FOR GRANTED! I never have!
We are reading about the LIVING WATER in the Bible, the word of God.
1. The LIVING WATER comes from the temple of God, it comes from the house of God. Read Ezekiel chapter 47.
2. LIVING WATER will flow out from Jerusalem. It will flow in summer and in winter. With other words it will flow all the time. And all the time means all the time. Read Zechariah 14:8
3. Who is the source of the LIVING WATER? It is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says so in John 4:10. In John chapter 4 the Lord is talking with a Samaritan Woman.
4. The LIVING WATER quenches the thirst of the thirsty. We have needs. We have deep needs. Where do we go to satisfy our deepest needs. Go to the Lord Jesus Christ. Read what the Lord says in John 7:37,38!
5. There is also an endless supply of LIVING WATER. We cannot exhaust it. In Revelation 7:17 it says that the lamb at the center will be our shepherd. Our shepherd will lead us to springs of LIVING WATER. There it says also that God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
6. Who does not want a fruitful life? The LIVING water makes life fruitful. Revelation 22:2 says that “On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are the for the healing of the nations.”
7. And lastly we are called to take the WATER OF LIFE. The call to do so is universal. Everybody is called to drink from the WATER OF LIFE.
Revelation 22:17 “The spirit and the bride say, ‘COME!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of THE WATER OF LIFE.”
