In the New Living Translation Matthew 5:17, Jesus spoke these words:  “Don’t misunderstand why I have come.  I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets.  No, I came to fulfill them.”

No one has ever lived the Christian life but Jesus.  He is the only one who ever did and He is the only one who ever will.  And He will live His life by the Holy Spirit in and through every born again believer by faith.  Galatians 2:20 says “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. “

Now hear this, as Christians we are not free to ignore the law; however, as Christians we are free to fulfill it by allowing Christ to fulfill it through us.  It is called life in the Spirit.  The Apostle Paul commands us to live by the Spirit so we will not carry out the desires of the flesh.  (Galatians 5:16)

Did you know that what we see as true may not be Truth?  It may be a false Truth.  How do we tell the difference between the two?  Teaching that lands at our feet and tells us what we must do is not the Truth.  However, teaching that lands at the feet of Jesus and explains what He does for us, in us, and through us is the Truth.  For Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Now some believe and teach that the Christian standard is higher than any other, and that their job is to raise the bar for all of us.  If that be true, I quit!  I know myself, and in my flesh dwells no good thing.  The standard that Jesus kept is higher because He was the one keeping it, in fact it was perfection and the only hope I have is that He keeps it through me.

That was the Apostle Paul’s “secret” made known to you and me in Colossians 1:27 which states, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.  That’s THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW.  Put your trust in that truth and fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith.

We appreciate your continued prayer and financial support.  We need both to meet the ministry obligations.  Thank you for your faithfulness.

Miracle or Coincidence?  Someone has said that a coincidence is a small miracle where God chooses to remain anonymous.  Hence our title GOD AT WORK through Kyle Aulerich.  

As we enter into our 10^th year of ministry, the ministry team has been praying for ways to expand our purpose and mission statement which is:  To help people… “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To Him be the glory both now and forever!  Amen.”  II Peter 3:18

In the past, as most of you know, we were on the radio five days a week in fourteen states proclaiming the grace of God.  We produced over 200 programs but after two years, we ran out of funds.  So now what do we do with all these programs teaching God’s grace? 

About six months ago, David and Nancy Severson asked permission to video tape our Tuesday night Bible studies to send to family members in Alaska.  I told them they could as long as it wasn’t a distraction.  Each week they gave me a copy, which I really did not want because I have a hard time watching myself.  But I received them graciously to save, perhaps for my grandchildren some day. 

Enter Kyle and Brooke Aulerich, a young couple who had been praying for a ministry to get involved with.  Then one day Kyle asked me what he could do to help our ministry.  He told me his expertise is in the high tech arena of the internet.  I asked him to look at our website and offer suggestions on how to expand our mission purpose through the world wide web. 

Several weeks later, here’s the coincidence, Kyle asked if we happen to have any audio and/or video recordings of ministry messages for applications like Podcasting, YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook.  I replied, “We just happen to have what you are looking for.”  Are you getting a small picture here of GOD AT WORK?  We did! 

It is so exciting to see the hand of God at work in all this.  Kyle has given a whole new look, he has improved and enhanced our logo, rebuilt the website which will now attract the younger generation as well and it is truly amazing!

He has also accepted a position as a director on our board in charge of distributing the gospel of God’s grace through the internet highway www.gigm.org which is a ministry within our ministry.  Check it out; you won’t believe what GOD AT WORK through Kyle Aulerich is doing. 

I Corinthians 3:6,7 reads “Paul planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.”  Well, Len has been planting the seed, Kyle came along and gave us a fresh watering, but we know God will make it grow.

That’s what we believe.  Praise be to God! Thank you Lord Jesus.

Now you know, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story.

We appreciate your continued prayer and financial support.  We need both to meet the ministry obligations.  Thank you for your faithfulness.

Growing in His Grace,

Len Baker 

The Bible says  “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:6

We all have flesh!  The flesh, simply defined, is the body, mind, will, and emotions of man under the control of something other than Jesus Christ.  Believers and unbelievers alike have flesh.  Walking in the flesh is the opposite of walking in the spirit. 

Have you seriously considered that your flesh will never improve?  It is an important point.  How can we expect the flesh to be something other than flesh?  Flesh is flesh and can do nothing that is of the Spirit.  We have all seen bad flesh and are often on a constant quest to find good flesh in ourselves, our mates, our church family, and our children.  This determining to do better in the flesh will change nothing.

Flesh is hostile to God.  The best of flesh is the worst of it, for it keeps us from humbly seeking Christ.  Why does God leave such a way of living possible for the believer?  Simply, to keep us focused on Him.  We get miserable in our flesh and that misery will always drive us back to the spirit.

Remember the dipstick illustration, people are dipsticks?  In Ephesians 5:18 we are told not to be drunk with wine which leads to debauchery but instead to be filled with the Spirit of God.  Now being filled with the Spirit is not a one time occurrence.  You don’t go to the gas station and fill up, then tell the attendant to seal the tank because you will never need more gas.  That would be a presumption; in fact, it would be foolish and stupid. 

The same is true with engine oil.  A dipstick is used to check the level of oil in your engine.  Well, people are dipsticks!  It’s true, but not in the way you might think.  

The Holy Spirit is the lubricant of the believer’s life.  When fully lubricated, we run smoothly, without friction, quietly and calmly.  But when we are running impatiently, angrily, full of frustration, low on kindness, goodness, and self-control; God sends someone along as a dipstick to check the level of our lubrication.  It may be the driver who cuts in front of us, a rebellious child, that person at church, or the self-centered spouse. 

We think in the back of our minds “People, they are such dipsticks!”  But actually, they have been sent by God.  When we stop and see God in the situation, we turn to Him, acknowledging that we are short of the oil of the awareness of the Holy Spirit.

In that moment we pray, “Father, fill me up!”  He does and we can then thank God for those dipsticks who came along and warned us that we were running low before we blew up. 

Simply put, there is nothing good in the flesh…Flesh will not improve.  Only when Christ…who lived in flesh and overcame it…is flowing through us will we experience power over the flesh.  At that point victory is a natural thing, not contrived, not achieved by the effort toward improving, but through the power of the spirit life within.  

So, stay filled.  Live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. 

We appreciate your continued prayer and financial support.  We need both to meet the ministry obligations.  Thank you for your faithfulness.

What gives sin power in your life?  Well, what does the Bible say?  If you believe the Word of God and I know that you do, read on.

The Bible says: “The power of sin is the law.”  I Cor 15:56

The Bible says “The law was added so that the trespass (sin) would increase.”  Rom 5:20

The Bible says “You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ, you have fallen away from grace.”  Gal 5:4

The Bible says “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”  James 2:10

The Bible says “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse…” Gal 3:10

The law is an impossible standard for us to keep.  It was designed to silence all human efforts to earn God’s favor and blessings. That is why the children of Israel needed the right offerings and sacrifices to cover them.  They could never have kept the law perfectly the way God demanded it.

It was Jesus who taught that the law must be kept inwardly as well as outwardly. 

The Bible says in the Sermon on the Mount “Whoever is angry with his brother without cause and calls him a name shall be in judgment for murder…and whoever looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery in his heart.”  Matt 5:22, 28

You see, no man can be justified by the law.  Now read this carefully, the Ten Commandments were never given to stop sin.  They have no power to stop sin.  God gave the law to expose sin.  If you can grasp this truth, you will understand one of the greatest misunderstandings occurring in the church today.

The Bible says “What shall we say then…is the law sin?  Certainly not!  Indeed I (Paul) would not have known what sin was except through the law.”  Rom 7:7

Let me illustrate.  Pretend you knew everybody on the face of the earth was going to die from a sickness.  And you had the only antidote that could save their lives, but no one believed that they were sick and going to die.  This truly would be frustrating, don’t you agree?  So you invent the x-ray machine, and when the x-ray reveals the darkness within them that will cause their death, they would be lined up for miles around your house to get the antidote. 

Now here is the application.  The x-ray machine is the law, and the antidote is Jesus Christ.  And when they take the antidote, Christ into their lives; the darkness disappears and they now have eternal life in Christ. 

So after one receives the antidote, there is no longer a need for the x-ray machine.  It has done its job. 

The Bible says “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”  Rom 10:4  

The Bible says “If we confess with our mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved.”  Rom 10:9, 10

The Bible says “For sin shall not be our master, because we are no longer under law but under grace.”  Rom 6:14    Remember the power of sin is the law.

Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest writes “The Sermon on the Mount is not some unattainable goal.  It is a statement of what will happen in me when Jesus Christ has changed my nature by putting His own nature in me.  Jesus Christ is the only one who can fulfill the Sermon on the Mount.  He also writes that all of our Lord’s teaching is meant to be applied to the life which He puts within us.  (Sep 25, Oct 6)

The Bible says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves.  It is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.”  Eph 2:8, 9

That’s what THE BIBLE SAYS.

I thank and praise God every day for your prayers and financial support as you partner with Growing in Grace for the glory of God.  You’re the best!  Thank you for your faithfulness.

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see…And without faith it is impossible to please God…”  Hebrews 11:1, 6

What pleases God is to see you and me in every situation, bowing ourselves out and bowing Him in, and saying, “God, I believe exactly what you have told me.  Apart from you I am nothing, have nothing, and can do nothing, for the only way I can please you is by faith.”

God brings us to the conviction that the Word of God is true, but then He waits until we respond with the obedience of faith. 

It is true that our faith is created, cherished, and nourished by God himself.  “For faith comes by hearing the message and the message is heard through the Word of God.”  Romans 10:17

However, our faith is inoperative until we yield our obedience of faith that pleases God which He has produced through His Word. 

So, we mix God’s Word with the obedience of faith, then He moves into action and demonstrates the glorious truth of His Word; otherwise we are like those disobedient ones described in Hebrews 4:2…“For we also have had the gospel preached to us just as they did: but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.”

Now without faith, you cannot do what only Christ can do.  With faith, you allow Christ to do through you what only He can do.  Paul said “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

In Colossians 1:29 Paul says “To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy which so powerfully works in me.”  

Now please ponder this absolute truth, and never forget this one major point.  Our obedience does not change God’s view of us; Jesus changed God’s view of us. 

“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith.”  I John 5:3, 4

Remember, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith-and this not from yourselves.  It is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one boasts.”  Ephesians 2:8, 9

Romans 1:17 reminds us that “the righteous shall live by faith.”  Well, there it is.  Obedience of faith…that pleases God.

I thank and praise God every day for your prayers and financial support as you partner with Growing in Grace for the glory of God.  You’re the best!  Thank you for your faithfulness.

Preaching pure grace makes everything of Jesus and nothing of man.  Grace takes control away from us and forces us to live in the place of constant faith.  Some men don’t like that.  Truth is God never intended us to be in control.  Controlling things is His role, not ours.

The book of Galatians exposes the most popular substitute for spiritual living that we have in our churches today…legalism, living under the law.  Millions of believers think they are spiritual because of what they do and what they don’t do, or because of the group they belong to or the leader they follow. 

The Lord shows us in Galatians how wrong we are…and how right we can be if only we would give up control and let the Holy Spirit be in control.  When we give control to the Holy Spirit, there will be freedom not bondage, cooperation not competition, glory to God not praise to man.  The world will see true Christianity, and the lost will come to know the Savior living His life in and through His body of believers, and they will be drawn to Him in us.  That is the mystery. (Col 1:27)

Legalism leads to some very odd but logical conclusions.  Legalism as a means of control, teaches that Jesus gave you a standing with God, but it’s your job to keep it.  It further teaches that the gift was free, but it is up to you to hold on to it through performance.  Actually, under legalism you would be performing much harder than you would be in any religion because the standard which is Jesus Christ is much higher.  And Jesus is the only one who can keep that standard.

If you are a born again believer, you have been given the very nature of Jesus Christ. 

(II Peter 1:4).  You have been “created in righteousness”.  (Eph 4:24)  It isn’t up to you to improve yourself, but instead to recognize and appropriate the truth concerning your new identity.  For years I believed that we should strive toward becoming more righteous by doing the things I believed were expected of us by God.  But the fact is there is nothing we can do to become more righteous.  It has all been taken care of by Jesus Christ. Our place is simply to receive His gift and then rest in the reality of His indwelling life.

There is only one who has ever lived the Christian life and there is only one who ever will.  His name is Jesus and He will live His life in and through His body of believers by grace through faith, not by our works lest any man boast.

“But don’t we have to do our part?” the legalist will ask.  Of course we do.  Our part is to trust and obey.  It isn’t a passive life style at all.  If you think it is, I challenge you to try it.  Trusting continues to be one of the most challenging aspects of our faith.  It is easier for us to do something, to do anything, than to trust.  We’re like Abraham, when he thought going to Haggar made more sense than waiting on God to give him a child. 

Or we are like Peter chopping off a soldier’s ear, blind to the big picture.  Do something, even if it’s wrong.  That fits more comfortably for many.  However, that isn’t what we’re called to do.  We’re called to trust.  We act when, and only when, God says to act.  Anything more is wasted efforts that fall under the wood, hay and stubble category. 

The Christian life isn’t a test, it is a rest!  Rest = spirited directed activity.  Jesus died for us to give His life to us to live His life through us.  That’s why we’re called the body of Christ.  Get it?  “It is for freedom that Christ set us free!”  Rest in the Way, the Truth and the Life.  It doesn’t get any better than that.  Glory be to God!

I thank and praise God every day for your prayers and financial support as you partner with Growing in Grace for the glory of God.  You’re the best!  Thank you for your faithfulness.

Understanding that Christ died for us to give His life to us to live His life through us is made clear in the Scripture.  Sadly, what is not so clear is the fleshly belief that we can add to His life in us with our own fleshly abilities; and by so doing we somehow enhance the kingdom of God and perhaps our own standing in the eyes of God.

We know the truth of God’s Word, but knowing the truth is not the challenge.  Practicing the truth is the hard part.  The Apostle Paul said very clearly, “to put no confidence in the flesh “ (period).  Phil 3:3.

Now believing that your life is now hidden with Christ in God and that Christ is your life is the pure truth of God’s Word  (Col 3:3, 4).  However, the temptation we have to add to this declaration of truth, our successes, our abilities, our talents and our contacts is at times overwhelming to us.  Before we know it, it is no longer “Jesus Christ plus nothing.”  It becomes Jesus Christ plus us and all of our good works.

The Apostle Paul came to understand that anything he contributed to God’s work was derived from his fleshly abilities apart from Christ’s life within him.  Paul stated emphatically in Philippians 3 that any gain based upon his own credentials (work in the flesh) failed to endorse Christ and Christ alone as the source of life.  As Paul considered this, he likened it to something our modern translators have determined is impermissible to write in a cultured letter written to mixed company.  They called it rubbish.  But in the King James translation, it is called what it is, DUNG. 

Any effort to hang on to the least bit of our flesh will only serve to diminish the life of Christ within us.  Why do we always attempt to find good in our flesh when the best of our flesh is the worst of it?  There is no USDA Choice flesh.  It’s all by the grace of God.  Let me give you a definition of grace from a friend of mine, Michael Wells.  It need not be preached, but it has been proven by the experience of many believers. 

GRACE:  At my point of need, God is everything to me that I thought He was not!..That’s grace…

Moses had spent 40 years being trained to be everything…a god, a Pharaoh.  He spent another 40 years in the wilderness discovering what he was not.  Finally, he was prepared to lead, having realized that he was a “not”.  God told him what to go do, and Moses accurately responded, “I am not able.”  God’s response was, “What is that to Me? I am!”

God is to me all that I am not.  First I must acknowledge that I am not.  Next He tells me what He is.  He is everything to me of which I might have need that I am not.

I am not a good father, a good husband, a good Christian, or a good witness!  This is my point of need!  Grace comes and meets me at my point of need!  I didn’t think He could be those things to me. However, as I recognize abiding, He is to me all that I thought that He was not.  There is a life in me that is a good father, a good husband, and a good witness.  It is HIS life and He is everything to me that I am not.

Look at what you are not.  Don’t determine to work harder.  Call on the grace of God.  At your point of need, He is everything to you that you thought He was not…That’s grace.

So, PUT NO CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH…IT’S JESUS CHRIST PLUS NOTHING. 

We appreciate your continued prayer and financial support.  We need both to meet the ministry obligations.  Thank you for your faithfulness.

Paul writes in Galatians 2:20…“the life I live in the body I live by faith…”

I received a letter years ago that got me thinking about the life we live.  Can we determine whether or not God is pleased with us by evaluating the circumstances in our lives?

Example:  if our children are doing well and our business is good, then God must be pleased with us.  If our world is in relative peace and everything is going our way, then God is blessing us.  But if the opposite is our experience, then we conclude that God is not pleased, and He desires for us to do more, to do more trusting, to have more faith, to pray more, to have more Bible study, more spiritual discipline, more consistency in our walk and so forth.

Frankly stated, if life is as we want it to be, then God is pleased with us.  If it is not, then God wants us to do differently.  Is that true?

Here’s a problem with that thinking.  We read in the scriptures that people of profound faith trusted God, and He delivered them from the lion’s den, unscathed.  But we also know from history that other people of profound faith trusted God and the lions tore them to pieces.  Both trusted God, both demonstrated faith.  God delivered one and let the other die a torturous death.  Was He pleased with the one and displeased with the other?

For those of us who live in the United States, we are privileged to dwell in the wealthiest, most advanced nation in the world.  Does this mean that we are more pleasing to God than those who do not live in our nation?

What about those who pray for God to enlarge their business, their influence, their contact list, their car, or their house; and God blesses them with these tangible things?

But then…what about those who pray and trust and do not receive tangible evidences of God’s blessing?  Is God less pleased with them?  Absolutely not!  Our heavenly Father’s love, blessing, and pleasure cannot be measured, determined, or observed by our circumstances.  Our significance, importance, acceptance, worth, and standing with Christ Jesus cannot and must not be appraised circumstantially. 

If we miss this point, not only will we subject ourselves to disappointment and disillusionment if circumstances don’t fall our way, but we will compromise our role in God’s story.  Life is not about you and me.  It is about Jesus.  The life we live is not about our story, but the part we play in His story.  And remember history is all about His story. 

What is God’s purpose and will for our Christian life?  It is to allow Christ to live out His story in our bodies.  God’s word says, “Don’t you know that you yourself are God’s temple, and that God’s spirit lives in you?”  I Corinthians 3:16

Christians have been crucified with Christ and we no longer live, but Christ lives in us, and the life we live in the body we live by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us.  In II Corinthians 4:11 Paul writes:  “we who are alive are always giving ourselves over to death for Jesus’ sake so that His life may be revealed in our mortal bodies.”  The Apostle Peter calls it participating in the divine nature. 

That’s THE LIFE WE LIVE!

Amen!

“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel.”  Philippians 1:4

We appreciate your continued prayer and financial support.  We need both to meet the ministry obligations.  Thank you for your faithfulness.

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but here is a good one.  

“What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

First God gave the Ten Commandments, followed by the Law.  Some people at least in their own estimation, kept them.  They didn’t understand that we need a life, not a list.  Jesus intentionally set a standard that we could never achieve.  Jesus said, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”  (Matt 5:20)

It was not a challenge to try harder to succeed, but a challenge to give up.  He wanted us to see that a righteousness that would please God is unattainable.  He came along and raised the bar so high that all men would give up trying to jump over it.  Jesus said, “I am the Vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me, you can do nothing.”  (John 15:5)

Well, there it is!  Abide in Him, and all that He is and has is yours, just as the branch receives the full life of the Vine.  Don’t abide, and you will immediately be in the flesh.  It doesn’t matter if your flesh is educated, rich, respected, admired, or refined.  It is still flesh.  The world has so many classes by which it appraises man.  But among Christians we have only one class struggle…to abide or not, to be spiritual or carnal, that is our struggle.  To make sub classes out of the carnal or the spiritual is ignorance rooted in ego, and pride.  Remember EGO is edging God out.

It may surprise some to discover that success has nothing to do with what you have and everything to do with who you have. 

When we are abiding in Christ, there is no one better than us.  At that moment we are an earthly vessel with a perfect life, His life, flowing in and through us.  It doesn’t get any better than that.  “God made Him who had no sin, to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”  (II Cor 5:21)  So remember, there are two ways in which you can go about your life.  The first is to depend entirely on your self efforts, and the other to depend completely on the life of Christ within.  (Col 1:27)

God has promised never to leave us or forsake us, and it is His presence, not our works, awards, trophies, titles, or accomplishments that make us successful.  “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”  (I John 5:12)  It’s all about Him…

So, STAY CONNECTED.  “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”  Now that’s a resolution for life!

We appreciate your continued prayer and financial support.  We need both to meet the ministry obligations.  Thank you for your faithfulness and partnership in the Kingdom’s work.

Perhaps you’ve heard something like this before, but it is one that is well worth repeating.  God loves to work through regular ordinary people.  In fact, ordinary people seem to be the most often singled out by God for the most extra-ordinary purposes.

Take Abraham, a migrant traveler, a childless man in later years of life, who is called by God to birth a nation that would one day produce the savior of all mankind.  Consider David, a young teenager who tended sheep and wasn’t even considered as a possibility when God’s prophet came to anoint a new king.  But this young man would not only slay giants, he would become one of the greatest kings in Israel’s history and be called a “man after God’s own heart.” 

How about Peter?  A working man, a fisherman with little education, a short temper, and always putting his foot in his mouth, ends up as a primary leader in God’s new movement on earth called the “church”. 

Hopefully you’re getting the picture here?  God specializes in ordinary people. 

In I Corinthians we are told part of the reason why:  God deliberately chooses things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise.  And He chooses those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 

If God’s pattern involved the use of the wise, the talented and the powerful, the truth is most of us would be left out.  But consider even the well-educated, highly talented Saul of Tarsus’ great credentials and superior pedigree.  God decided that to make use of one so gifted, He would first have to break him, humble him, and teach him the most important lesson of all.  That lesson:  it’s all about God and not about Paul. 

And that’s what I love so much about the saga of Christ’s advent and birth.  All the major players are so very ordinary.  Who would you pick for Jesus’ earthly father?  How about Joseph, a carpenter from a small rural village?  And where to send the greatest birth announcement in all of history? 

Well, God had it air mailed by way of angels to shepherds outside of Bethlehem.  You won’t find a more lowly, under the social radar group than shepherds.  And then there’s Mary, she’s young, most likely a young teenager.  She possesses no previous mothering experience; she has received no formal training or schooling; her resume and list of credentials would be noticeably empty.  That is, she had none.  All except for one critical factor, she was willing. 

The angel Gabriel tells Mary she will give birth to the Son of God.  This news astounds her because she has remained pure in her engagement to Joseph.  But the news of her upcoming pregnancy is not as alarming as the means of it.  She will be impregnated by the Holy Spirit.  To be the mother of the Messiah was to be her divine destiny.  How this young teenager accepts this news is a lesson for us all.  In Luke 1:38, Mary says to Gabriel, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be unto me as you have said.” 

Life lesson:  did you know all born-again believers are impregnated by the Holy Spirit?  That’s right.  And just as Christ grew in Mary until he had to come out, Christ will grow in you and I until the same occurs.  He will come out in our words, in our deeds, and in our actions.  Every day we live can be a Christmas.  You and I, ordinary people, just like Mary can deliver Christ into the world.

Now hear this…God was with Abraham, God was with David, God was with Peter and the Apostles, but God is not just with us; He is in us to live His life through us…our hope of glory.  Well, Amen!

As this year comes to an end, would you prayerfully consider a year end contribution to Growing in Grace Ministries?  We need your help to continue spreading the truth about the wonderful grace of God, Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Merry Christmas with a Capital C.

We appreciate your continued prayer and financial support.  Thank you for your faithfulness.