These are all wonderful and amazing gifts that have been given to meby my good Father in heaven, and I believe they are signposts thatpoint to His grace. - P143
Every good gift in creation is undeserved. It is theLord who causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendsrain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matt. 5:45). This is all byHis grace and His grace alone. - P143
Father, pour out more of Your grace into my life to help me to obey You. MayI find my identity not in my works, but in the grace by which You have savedme and called me Your child. In Jesus‘ name, amen. - P143
13 When they finished, James spoke up. "Brothers," hesaid, "listen to me. 14 Simon has described to us howGod first intervened to choose a people for his namefrom the Gentiles. - P144
15 The words of the prophets are in agreement withthis, as it is written: 16 After this I will return and re-build David‘s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and Iwill restore it, 17 that the rest of mankind may seek theLord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says theLord, who does these things‘- 18 things known fromlong ago. - P144
27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirmby word of mouth what we are writing.
28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not toburden you with anything beyond the following re-quirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificedto idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animalsand from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoidthese things. Farewell. - P145
James supports what Peter has said by quoting the prophets. He suggestsasking Gentile believers to only abstain from food polluted by idols, sexualimmorality, meat of strangled animals, and blood. - P145
The council agrees andwrites an official letter declaring that Gentiles do not need to get circumcised,
but that they are to avoid the few things James mentioned. - P145
James quotes from the prophet Amos to show that even ancient Scrip-ture foretold that the Gentiles would be saved. - P146
The church decides toask the Gentiles to observe four elements from the Mosaic Law: tonot eat foods that have been sacrificed to idols, strangled, or contain-ing blood, and to abstain from sexual immorality. - P146
These four rules arewisely chosen, not only to help the new believers resist sin but alsoto promote healthy fellowship with Jewish Christians who may stillobserve some elements of the Law. - P146
Likewise, while we are not savedby any kind of law-keeping, let us strive not to be a stumbling blockto others but bear with their weaknesses under the guidance of God‘sWord and Spirit. - P146
Father, I often face challenging moments in my life where I feel lost and afraid.
May Your Spirit teach me what to do and say in these moments. I trust You togive me the wisdom I need. In Jesus‘ name, amen. - P147
schedule into our calendars, or what kind of career to pursue. Thesesituations where the Bible does not provide black-and-white answerscall for wisdom and discernment.
- P147
The book of Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginningof wisdom (Prov. 1:7). And the fear of the Lord is not only wisdom‘sbeginning but its purpose as well. - P147
In order to gain godly wisdom,
we must learn to fear the Lord. However, the word "fear" does notmean that we are to be frightened or scared in the ordinary sense. TimKeller gives the helpful definition that, "fear‘ in the Bible means tobe overwhelmed, to be controlled by something. To fear the Lord isto be overwhelmed with wonder before the greatness of God and Hislove. - P147
It means that, because of His bright holiness and magnificentlove, you find Him ‘fearfully beautiful."" - P147
We will gain true wisdom asChristians when we live each day in awe of the magnitude of God‘sbeauty and love. - P147
It will teach us to seek after God, depend upon Him,
and put Him first in all of life‘s most difficult questions and decisions. - P147
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