Biblical Principle #2

Anyone can be totally transformed by God’s grace and live a holy life.

Anyone?! Whatdayamean, anyone? There’s NO WAY

• the drunk on the street,
• the mafia guy in the big Mercedes,
• the esoteric librarian who dabbles in witchcraft,
• the old lady next door who would NEVER change her ways,

could EVER be transformed. They are so far from it!

Yeah, well. To what extent do you want to limit God? To what limit is God NOT able to make a difference? To what degree are you and I willing to be satisfied with the status quo? 

OK, OK. God is pretty powerful. He did a lot as recorded in the Bible. But I’ve just not seen enough of His transforming power to be convinced!

Right! That’s the problem. But just because you and I haven’t seen it doesn’t meant it can’t happened in the POWER and GRACE of the Lord Jesus Christ!! 

Well, then, maybe the librarian. Maybe she will turn over a new leaf and her life will be changed, yeah, transformed. Here’s a start! Let’s start with one!

“And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord

will be saved.”

Acts 2:21

And everyone or anyone means this librarian and the one who you are just about to give up hope. I gave up on some people. I’ve felt like giving up on others. But Jesus refuses to give up.

Jesus came for all. 

"This is good, and pleases God our Savior,

who wants ALL men to be saved and

to come to a knowledge of the truth."

I Timothy 2:3-4.

This means our neighbors. All of them. It means those who live down the street, those classmates in school, our teachers, our little grocery store clerks, our government officials, the street cleaners, and every person we know and don't yet know, and won't ever know. 

But this means that when we talk to any ONE person, we know that God our Savior wants this person "to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth." We may never see this person become saved, but we can hope it, pray it, believe it and hold on to it for as long as possible.

Because you and I are bridges of hope! We are the holders of hope for the one and the all. We have experienced and are experiencing the knowledge of the truth! We stand between this truth and the host of lies, deceits, empty promises, delusions, despair and the like. 

"You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals,

because you were slain,

and with your blood you purchased men for God

from EVERY tribe and language and people and nation"

Revelation 5:9

My daily prayers include a small map of the world I pull out and lay next to my Bible. I also pull out my prayer cards of people I specifically pray for by name. I've been to a number of countries on this map before me, but I've seen only a very small part of the whole. Yet God knows each one. He knows each and every of the people from each tribe, language and nation. He loves each one. Jesus purchased the souls of each one with his own blood. So there's not a one we will meet for whom God hasn't first loved, first given, first hoped, first interceded. 

With one sacrifice 2000 years ago, Jesus sets EACH AND EVERY, ALL free! He has come to set the captives free!

Stand there. Intercede. Hope for awhile.  Help this one connect. Connect with God through Jesus. Pray for the 730 million people in Europe. Believe. Reach out and hold this person's hand while God holds yours. Someone did for you. There is not one person for whom we cannot still believe, still hope, still love. 

Anyone can be totally transformed by God’s grace and live a holy life.

• When do you tend to give up hope?
• What people do you have difficulty believing God could ever redeem?
• If all this were true about EACH and EVERY and ANYONE, how would it affect our belief system, our judgment of others around us and our active ministries? 

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