Lessons Part 3: You Shall Not Murder

Early this morning I woke up praying and pleading for the lives of unborn babies whose voices cannot be heard. I asked God to move on the hearts and minds of those who would see fit to make their way out to "Choices" the local abortuary. The workers at the clinic, the doctor who shows up in a new luxury vehicle every Saturday, the young women who show up alone (though they weren't alone when they got pregnant), and the cowardly men who blindly come with some women and shirk their responsibility of protecting those same women. I prayed that Christ would grant them the gift of repentance, that He would allow them to believe the Gospel, that their lives would be forever changed. What I didn't realize was a young lady who is 7 weeks pregnant, was also praying...pleading with Jesus to send someone to "Choices" to stop her from doing what she knew she shouldn't do, despite her big sister's efforts to put pressure on her...to murder her unborn child.

I was there with my little sister Khadijah, Pastor Adam Gray and his wife and seven children, Jason, Christine and her little one Jaden, Ms. Lea a determined senior saint, and Chris a brother who goes all over trying to persuade others to believe the Gospel. We also had a Roman Catholic visitor out at "Choices" today with a flag with the virgin Mary on it, walking the line praying the rosary. We know God can use anyone, so we welcome his efforts regardless of how misled the origin of said efforts may be, however I won't go into it...that is a whole other blog post :-). Some of us were there at 8:30AM others came at different times, but we prayed before we proceeded with ministry.  Pastor Gray began by preaching the Gospel and pleading with the workers who were already inside setting up to open at 9AM. Several cars drove by during this time. Khadijah and I were able to minister to one of the clinic workers one on one. We shared law and Gospel with her, pleaded with her to find employment elsewhere, for several minutes. But when it became apparent that there was no real outward conviction we let her know that we wouldn't hold her anymore, that we would be praying for her and her coworkers. We gave her several tracts to share with those on the inside of the clinic, and I specifically let her know that we all will spend an eternity in one of two places, heaven or hell. I personally cannot condemn her but because of her dogged determination to suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom 1:18-32) I let her know she was already condemned (Matt 3:18).

Shortly after that exchange a young lady who had gone to the back of "Choices" to wait for the doors to open, drove back out about fifteen minutes later. On her way in she took some information from Lea about the Crisis Pregnancy Center in Norfolk (Keim Center) and after she read it and heard Chris preaching the Gospel and trying to persuade those in the back to come out, she reappeared crying. We guided her car over to the side and Khadijah and I approached the car to minister to her. We couldn't proceed though because the young lady was so upset all we could do is begin to pray. Once we prayed she stopped crying and I asked her, why was she at the clinic today, what was the reason for her visit? She said she was coming for an abortion and that she was seven weeks but she didn't want to do it. The young lady expressed how she had pleaded with God to send someone to stop her from doing it early this morning. As she continued to wipe more tears she shared with us how her older sister had been putting immense pressure on her to abort her baby because it would be "too hard." Her sister spoke against Christ and His church by exclaiming,  "the Christians will just judge you when you begin to show, you are only 20 years old... you should just go ahead and have the procedure and repent...God would forgive you." We were very sad to hear that her parents had both gone on to be with the Lord...one last year and the other the year before, and her big sister was all she pretty much had. Praise God she shared how her parents were Christians, and how they taught her about Christ and told her that they believed abortion was wrong. This young lady knows that "you shall not murder" includes unborn babies as well (Ex 20:13). Yet even with how their parents attempted to disciple them in the things of the Lord, Christ had not called her sister to faith and though her big sister had been taught the truth, she still tried to convince her not to have the baby. Now mind you, this woman has a college degree, a steady job, and the father of the baby standing with her and saying he wanted to keep the baby, she still considered giving in to her sister. The entire time as she spoke all I could think was wow this woman is ministering to US! She is telling us what we intended to approach the vehicle and say to HER! It was amazing the amount of conviction and clarity Christ gave her as she listened to the Word of the Lord go forth, as she waited in the parking lot in the back. How Christ brought to her remembrance what her parents instilled in her and gave her the strength to stand on those precepts when she needed to the most.

It was no small coincidence that we (the entire group) were out at the clinic on this 4th Saturday of the month and that was the day she showed up. I believe God answered her prayers and was so very gracious to her in so many ways. You see her big sister cannot have children, because she had an abortion years ago that was botched, and left her infertile. Today Christ gave this young woman a way out (1 Corin 10:13) this was clear. He gave her the strength to take advantage of the chance to not to murder her child like her sister did years ago and risk suffering a similar outcome.

We exchanged numbers, and contact information, with our new friend and sister in Christ. We began the arrangements to make sure she could get back and forth to her prenatal appointments. Finally we made sure she knew that she was loved and not only that, because she had truly repented, forgiven for her sins against Christ, and that she should not allow ANYONE to condemn her for what Christ has already forgiven.

Please continue to pray for "A" and her big sister. That this young woman will grow in her relationship with Christ and that she would allow us to assist her with anything that she needs so that she can have this baby and raise the baby in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Ultimately that her big sister would come to know the Lord and support "A" in her decision to keep the baby. Pray for the clinic worker that we preached the Gospel to who rejected the message. Pray for  another couple that left but did not speak with us. Pray for an Asian couple that came to abort their unborn baby because they already had two children and felt that they could not handle another. Pastor Gray ministered to that couple and is currently working to make sure we can connect with them and walk with them as well.

Please pray that all involved that are not saved, would be granted repentance by the Holy Spirit, and come to know Christ as Lord AND Savior through the Gospel.. We always want to try to stand in the gap for voiceless babies who cannot cry out or speak for themselves, however we want to make the Gospel known to the lost as well. That Jesus Christ came and died in our place, while we were yet His enemies, because of our sin. That He rose again on the 3rd day and is sitting at the right hand of the Father and because of His sacrifice many have been redeemed and according to His sovereign will alone, many more will repent and come to know Him as well (1 Corin 15:1-5).  He now commands those of us who have been saved to share the Truth and make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:18-20). My prayer is that if you are in the area or live close by that you will join us every Saturday at 8:00AM at 224 Groveland Road Virginia Beach, VA 23452.

Finally, we are all so very grateful and thankful to Christ and we praise Him alone and He alone gets the glory for the lives that were saved today. Please be encouraged by this testimony and I pray that it would reduce you to love others enough to take action, and to be bold in speaking the Truth!

Lessons Part 2: God is Sovereign

As I sat in a training class at my job yesterday preparing to take an exam that will dictate if I can keep the promotion that I received in October... my heart was breaking. Once again senseless violence had broken out on American soil with the mass killing at an elementary school in Newtown, CT. I checked out mentally because so many things were going through my head I just simply needed to pray. Pray for the peace of Jesus to comfort and envelope those families, including the family of the shooter who had lost several of their relatives in one day. Pray for those such as myself who have recently lost loved ones and would hurt all the more with those who are mourning now. Pray for Pastors and church leaders who will have to provide Biblical answers for many questions that will arise in the aftermath of this tragedy. Praying for those who are lost and lack the Hope that we have to mourn in a way that will honor Christ. And finally praying that as Christians we will remember Romans 12:15... "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep."

This morning I woke up in a weird mood after listening to Pastor Albert Mohler's podcast, "The Briefing." Pastor Mohler did a special broadcast yesterday evening regarding the massacre that happened in Newtown, CT.  Something that he shared just resonated with me, I had to share.

I in no way want to diminish the agony that many parents and families are feeling in Newtown, CT. However as Christians we have to engage incidents like this through the lenses of our Biblical Worldview, as with anything else. We cannot start simply blaming gun laws, mental illness, the failures of our government and our public school system, and any other place we can turn to point fingers. We need to assign blame to where it is due per Scripture, human evil and sin. We are talking about someone who coldly calculated, planned, and murdered those he knew and loved and small children who had nothing to do with whatever his issue was. It was an immensely evil act. (Rom 8:3) The reality is that evil of this nature is a part of all of us, we are all capable of unspeakable evil as Pastor Mohler shared and with the testimony of Scripture, I 100% believe to be true. 

The Grace of Moral Restraint

Why doesn't this happen more often? If we are capable of such evil? The Word of God makes very clear that God restrains evil in all of us. It is by His grace alone and the gift of the Law of God, which though it cannot save us, restrains us from acting on our evil inclinations, that things like this do not happen every single day. The conscience that God has given us is used to restrain us from doing the evil that we all can do, and this is a gift from God. (Rom 2:15-16) Finally the sovereignty of God limits Satan in what he is allowed to do, limits us in what we would seek to do to one another if we were not restrained by the Holy Spirit. (Job 1:6-12) He holds us fully accountable though, for the sins that we do commit. God is a righteous and just judge and He will judge every one of us, justly, for the evil we have done. (James 4:12) Some who He has called to salvation will not be consigned to an eternity in Hell, yet each one of us will have to answer for the things we have done regardless of our eternal destination in Heaven or Hell. (Matt 12:36-37)

A Different Vantage Point

Life was difficult growing up in my immediate family for many reasons but one that came to mind in the aftermath of what happened yesterday in Newtown was living with a brother who has bipolar disorder.  I have an older brother, Clement Jr., who we lovingly called simply, Junior, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder as a teenager. His mental illness had a profound effect on our family. My father had a difficult time dealing with it because I believe he did not understand the nature of Junior's illness and thus was very impatient about dealing with the symptoms and working with my mother so he could be treated correctly. My mother was always caught between a rock and a hard place regarding his treatment because of my fathers ambivalence towards traditional medicine and his reluctance to sign off on him being in any mental institutions or taking anti-psychotic drugs. 

I was very young when Junior started to present with symptoms so I vaguely remember the first days, but all I knew was something was very wrong and my mother was torn between honoring my father and protecting her children.  You see Junior always became very violent in his manic state, especially towards family. I remember as a teenager, when he would go off of his medicine, he would show up at my high school and pace outside waiting for me and my brother Levar to get out of school. I remember waking up in the middle of the night with him standing over me with a knife, yet he walked away every time and did not use it. The worst incident of all that I remember, is when my father and brother had to defend my mother...and a gun, ironically, is what kept him from taking her life. Unfortunately there were many more things that happened and even though it hurts me to recall the memories, all I can think is Thank You Jesus for I know he could have killed us all at any time really, but it was by the grace of God that he was restrained.

For me it's interesting to recall all the debate about mental illness: is it demonic, is it something that God can simply deliver someone from, is it all chemical, on and on. The reality is God can do whatever He wants for He is Sovereign. Nevertheless Junior is still living in a home for people who suffer from mental illness, being supervised to make sure he takes his medicine, and to my knowledge has not had a manic episode in many, many years. He has a church home in Illinois where he is an active member of the family of God and worships every Sunday. It still pains my father that he suffers from bipolar, my mother still stands with Junior in treatment and support, and unfortunately many of my siblings including myself are not very close to him due to the memories of the terrors that happened during his manic episodes. This is something I am not proud of and am dealing with, with Christ to this very day. I still deal with fear whenever I am around a person who is not mentally stable because of my past, yet because of what I know about Christ now I believe that going forward I will be able to walk more upright in this area. 

There is Hope in Jesus  

So as I look at what has happened in Newtown, CT my perspective is a little different. It pains me to see people passing judgment on the killer, via social networking etc. We do not know the circumstances of his illness, or if he knew Christ. But what we do know is Jesus is still on the throne and fully in control of EVERYTHING that happens, or does not happen for that matter. Our responsibility as Christians is not to pontificate about his judgment or his motives but to proclaim hope that can only come from Jesus. Jesus died because of sin, sin that includes unspeakable evil such as that which was perpetrated against many in Newtown, CT on yesterday. As I said my brother is still walking through this illness today and though Christ has not healed him for whatever reason, however He has restrained Junior from doing unspeakable evil to my family and the families of others. Many families deal with this same issue and Christ in His infinite grace and mercy has been faithful to keep their families as well. This is the lesson I have learned from this incident that never occurred to me regarding this issue with my brother Junior, until today.  We must focus on the sovereignty of God and trust that all He does is for a reason and we should not question that. And like God showed us with Job, He is not required to answer our questions about why He allows, what He allows. As His children we must continue to trust Jesus for protection, and look to Him for comfort in times like this.

 29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deut 29:29 ESV)

    "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort."
(2 Corinthians 1:3-7 ESV)

Well That's Not Loving?!

The skewing of the true biblical meaning of love has been used by Satan to cause havoc in the Kingdom of God. Many Christians (or so-called Christians AKA the "UnLost"), believe that the world's version of love is the same as the biblical version of love. Those who are familiar with Scripture know this is a false concept.

The world's version of "love" tells us that it is unloving to confront falsehood. However we know the Bible teaches us to speak the truth in love (Eph 4:14-15). The Bible also teaches that "all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, and correcting (2Tim 3:16).Titus 1:9 clearly states to refute those who oppose sound doctrine. The world tells us never to confront anyone about their salvation, that is a "private thing." To ask a flat footed question about Christ or someones eternal destination is considered judgmental, unloving, and confrontational, especially if that person verbally professes faith in Christ. However to challenge said profession of faith due to chronic sin (Gal 6:7-10), and habitual pagan activity in a persons life would be considered grossly unloving. Despite the fact that the Bible says " Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted." (Gal 6:1). Also in Ezekial 33:6 it says that if we are silent and do not tell someone the truth, then their blood is on our hands. 

The Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20) clearly commands all Christians to proclaim the Gospel many Christians do not regularly. Why? Because they have been taught directly or indirectly that saying that Jesus is the only way and that without salvation you go directly to hell is "unloving." "How can we teach the lost about the love of Christ if we are being mean!" they say! "They already know they are sinning, why keep telling them...," they say. Regardless of what many people say, I would argue that it is grossly unloving to sit back and watch anyone (much less your own children, relatives, and friends) go to hell for all eternity (Hell is HOT, and eternity is a LONG TIME!) and not even attempt to proclaim the WHOLE Gospel to them! Yet this is what many Christians believe, if they are being honest...that to confront sin, salvation, or anything that may cause strife and ultimately possible rejection is to be avoided at all costs. Instead many have twisted the message to suit the felt needs of people. Many have brought pragmatism into the church to manipulate a verbal "yes" from the lost, yet many remain lost, and have not repented and believed the Gospel to this very day. I'm sorry but there is nothing loving about leaving people in a lost or in some cases, ignorant state in order to avoid conflict. (Gal 1:10) We must go over the law and make it clear that we've all broken the law (Ex 20:1-17), none of us can keep the law (Rom 3:23), we are all guilty (James 2:10), none of us are good (Rom 3:10). Thus we all need a Savior and His name is JESUS! (Rom 5:20-6:1-2; Gal 2:19-21). Even knowing all of this, as many Christians do, they still say, "come to Jesus and your life will be better." Which isn't patently false, however perception is definitely an enemy here. To a lost person "your life will be better" = "my CIRCUMSTANCES will change for the better." Meaning more money, bigger house, better car, better job, perfect spouse, perfect children, less problems...yay Jesus!!! Unfortunately that is not always the case, sometimes your life may get worse! Persecution will come (2 Tim 3:12), and many fall away from the Church when that happens. (see the parable of the Sower Matt 13:1-9)

Now are you seeing why this false ideal of love has been so destructive in the Church? It has basically yielded a generation of people who say they believe, yet many are false converts. I've read too many blogs in one week exposing different sides of this fallacy and I praise Jesus for the boldness of those writers. My question to you is now what will you do? Will you read this and continue with life BAU (Business As Usual)? Or will you act accordingly, depending on where you personally fall on this issue? If you believe with 100% assurance, will you tell others about Christ and stand in prayer with me regarding this issue? If you are part of the Unlost and are willing to admit you are not sure you are saved after reading this post, will you seek Godly counsel and seek Christ in hopes that prayerfully you will be called into true fellowship with Christ through repentance and grace through faith (Eph 2:8-9)? If you know you don't believe will you repent and believe the Gospel (1 Corin 15:1-5)? Admit that you've broken God's law and if judged today you would spend an eternity in hell? Please confess your sins and put on the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray if it be Your will Lord, do it today! Wherever you land on this issue do not remain stagnant, but take action! I Love you!

Five Reasons Why I'm Happy Being Single

Long Disclaimer: My references for marriage are based off of heterosexual couples who have been married 20 or more years and biblical examples of godly marriage. I have NO ISSUE with marriage in fact I hope to be happily married in Jesus as soon as the Lord wills it. Lastly I am doing this totally off the top of my head so if I miss something...by all means share in the comments section. This applies to married and single folk... I am sure my married readers can remember some things they miss about being single :-)

My List in No Particular Order:

1) I love eating my meals whenever I want, whatever I want, and in no particular order. ie. Cheerios for dinner, liver and onions for lunch, dinner for breakfast etc.

2) I always wonder what it is like to come home everyday and most likely know you have little hope of a moment alone. (depending on your situation) I love being able to retreat with no explanations.

3) I enjoy being able to fast, pray, and read my Bible by my schedule. I don't anticipate being able to maintain this schedule married and then with children.

4) Similar to reason three I don't anticipate being able to continue my current pace in the areas where I serve the body of Christ. Though I am not sure that I would mind giving up some things for more time with my husband I may miss some things terribly too.

5) All the habits I take for granted now like what I do, or do not watch on TV, music I enjoy, when I do my chores at home, and how I do things in my regular routine (pay bills, go to the grocery store, go to the gym, violin practice at home etc) are all up for grabs as another person comes into the picture. Being a HIGH D creature of habit I am ecstatic to think of these happier times when I don't have to compromise with someone else on these habits on a regular.

Now mind you, I could get into a lot more detail but these are just the things that come to mind readily that I think about all time. Things that I believe are good solid reasons to rejoice in being unmarried in Jesus. All the time, there is just this constant barrage of melancholy from unmarried Christians about all the fabulous reasons they want to be married and hate being single. I wanted to give a few reasons to REJOICE in being single for the time in which we are called and return the focus to where it should be for any unmarried Christian... the things of the Lord (1Corin 7:32)... not in languishing about not being married. I hope this little list of mine encourages someone and if you can think of anything else...again please share! God bless!

Roslyn M. Nevers 11/05/75-01/08/11

I've been doing a lot of reading the last few days as I don't have much to say. So I'll share the song that the Lord blessed me with that has kept me as I mourn the loss of my siblings. I continue to listen to it to this day when the pain sets in and I pray the lyrics will bless you as it has comforted me. Pray for me and my family as we continue to mourn.

Wonderful, Merciful Savior

Wonderful, merciful Savior
Precious Redeemer and Friend
Who would have thought that a Lamb
Could rescue the souls of men
Oh you rescue the souls of men

Counselor, Comforter, Keeper
Spirit we long to embrace
You offer hope when our hearts have
Hopelessly lost the way
Oh, we hopelessly lost the way

You are the One that we praise
You are the One we adore
You give the healing and grace
Our hearts always hunger for
Oh, our hearts always hunger for

Almighty, infinite Father
Faithfully loving Your own
Here in our weakness You find us
Falling before Your throne
Oh, we're falling before Your throne

Piles of Ashes

This week was an extremely rough week. However I received this AW Tozer devotional from a co-laborer in the Lord (co-worker at my place of employment as well) and it provided much needed comfort. So for those who have lost someone close to you or may be suffering in other areas, I pray you would be encouraged as well.

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. --Hebrews 12:11

If God has singled you out to be a special object of His grace you may expect Him to honor you with stricter discipline and greater suffering than less favored ones are called upon to endure....

If God sets out to make you an unusual Christian He is not likely to be as gentle as He is usually pictured by the popular teachers. A sculptor does not use a manicure set to reduce the rude, unshapely marble to a thing of beauty. The saw, the hammer and the chisel are cruel tools, but without them the rough stone must remain forever formless and unbeautiful. To do His supreme work of grace within you He will take from your heart everything you love most. Everything you trust in will go from you. Piles of ashes will lie where your most precious treasures used to be.

"Lord, give me the grace to withstand 'the saw, the hammer and the chisel.' I want the finished product; I often chafe under the process. I submit myself today to Your working. Amen!"

Lessons

There isn’t much that I can say about my relationship with Levar that many of you don’t already know. We were twins and so inseparable that many people believed we were married in our adult life only to discover we were twins who were very close. He was many things a sweet, sweet man who was there for me through many difficult times and circumstances that only we knew about. I have never had a closer friend even to this day and never loved anyone but God more. No one could ever take his place or be who he was to me, and for that I will never be the same. And despite the fact that we talked very few times over the last five years I thank God we were able to repent to one another two years ago for things we had done and said that were wrong that caused the rift in our relationship. Right now my heart is broken but I know that God is still able so I praise Him and I know He is sovereign and Levar is no longer with us for that was the will of God. I praise Jesus that I was able to see him, kiss him, tell him I love him forever, say goodbye and pray blessings over him before he passed.

My heart is also heavy for Levar now because I cannot say with great assurance that he is with the Lord and that is destroying me right now. (I have many biblical reasons why I feel that way) However when I go through difficult situations I now ask the Lord in light of said suffering or pain… “Lord what are you trying to teach me through this situation?” I honestly believe it’s a lesson for many who are reading this today. My prayer is that you would be concerned about where you would be if you passed today. We sit in many many funerals listening to religious platitudes about people being in heaven who showed no real proof of salvation, no scriptural proof of good fruit in their lives to attest such statements, rebellion, and willful disobedience to God. We cannot witness people transgressing God’s Law habitually, living for themselves, living out of their own so called “goodness” (Rom 3:10 NO one is good no not one) and then when they pass assume they are in heaven because that is what we would like. How many of us have lied, stolen, used the Lord’s name in vain, dishonored our parents? We are all guilty of breaking the Law (Deut 5:6-21) and if you have broken one part of the Law you are guilty of breaking the whole law (James 2:10). So my questions to you AGAIN in light of Levar’s untimely death…if you left the earth today would you go to heaven or hell? Are you innocent or guilty before a holy God? And if you cannot say with total assurance that you are covered by the blood and your life is a testimony to that…does this fact concern you? And more importantly are you willing to admit that you need a Savior to stand in your place before a holy God that will judge you and find you guilty, for no one is able to keep the Law (1Jn 1:8,10)?

You are still here today reading this, alive and able to get right with God and put on the Lord Jesus. Pray earnestly that He may call you to repentance; call you to truly be one of His own and LIVE FOR HIM. Do it today because as you can see tomorrow is not guaranteed! And a man who everyone would say is a nice/good person, loved others, did good works, lived a healthy life-never drunk never smoked is now gone and we don’t know with great assurance if he is with the Lord or in Hell. Is that a chance that you want to take with your eternal destination? I love Levar I would say more than anyone else that will set eyes on this and I am sorry if what I have shared upsets you but the reality is this, the lesson we should take from this is to… assess our lives and be honest about if we are truly living for ourselves or living for Christ.

• Does your life reflect the life of someone that is a child of God?
• Children look and act like their parents, do you look, act, and live like your heavenly Father would want you to, according to the Holy Scriptures?
• Do you love what He loves and hate what He hates?
• Do you keep His commandments (John 14:15) or abuse His grace (Rom 6:1)?
• Do you say Lord Lord and do not do the things He says, hearers of the Word and not doers only deceiving yourself (James 1:22)?
• Did you walk an aisle one day and make a profession of faith and you think that covers you as you continue to live like you do not know the Lord (1J0hn 1:6)?
• Do you go to church every Sunday and live like you do not know Him the rest of the week?

Scripture says you will know my disciples by their fruit (Jn 15:18) and that a student will be like their teacher (Matt 10:25). Please I pray don’t let this lesson escape you today. Take time with the Lord, open a Bible, and be honest with Him about who you are and where you are with Him. Repent and believe the Gospel. Jesus is God and became flesh simply to deal with the sin problem, He was crucified, buried, rose again on the 3rd day so that by His sacrifice we one day could be redeemed and be His disciples (1 Corin 15:1-5, Matt 28:18-20). As you ponder these things, I pray that it would be the will of the Lord for you to be redeemed today.