How Cool is That?

God smacked me on the forehead today. Don't worry. It was a good smack. One of those, "WOW!" moments.

I'm reading Romans, one chapter a day. Chewing on it. Thinking about it. Really trying to digest what I'm reading...Is anyone hungry now?

Today's reading was chapter 5. Heavy stuff.

Do you have a commentary that you read along with your Bible? I love mine. It is called
Believer's Bible Commentary by William MacDonald. God used this book to bring home His truth to me this morning. It helps my feeble brain wrap around some big concepts.

God can have nothing to do with sin. Yet while we were all still dead in our sins, He sent Christ.

His only son. The God and creator of the universe.

To die for us.

For me....

He paid the cost of my sins.

If God called me while I was dead in my sins, and I know that sin makes me an enemy of God, if He called me to Himself in that condition, how much more will He do for me as a precious child?

Wow.

Next came verse 12. Death came through Adam. Sin was now in the world. All man now lived in separation from God due to their sin, which all began with Adam. Even before the law was given. They were still sinners....

Hmmm....

Okay, I gotta say it. My brain asked the question that every "good" Christian shrinks from.

Why did God allow sin? If He had never allowed sin, then He would never have had to make the immense sacrifice of dying and bearing the burden of the entire world's sin!

Why did He allow it?

Then, God gave me this answer: THROUGH ADAM'S SIN, AND THE EVENTUAL DEATH, BURIAL AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST, GOD RECEIVED MORE GLORY. AND MAN RECEIVED MORE BLESSING.

More blessing?

That's right! More BLESSING.

All Adam had to do was follow God's one command to him "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (Genesis 1:16b-17)

We all know he ate it.

The big dummy. I get irritated with him and Eve every time I read it. Probably because I'm just like them. My husband says a sure fire way to get me to do something is tell me I can't do it. Don't you just hate when you are all mad at some idiot, then realize you are a whole lot like them?

But what if Adam hadn't eaten the fruit?

Man would still be living in the Garden of Eden. Life would be easy. Every little need provided. We'd still be meeting up with God every so often for an occasional stroll and chat.

BUT man would not have hope of eternity spent in HEAVEN with Jesus Christ, as an heir of Christ, being like Christ forever.

These blessings came only through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.

Which would never have been necessary without the fall of man.

So through one tragic event, the first sin of man, God planned the blessing of every man who will come to Him through His son: Jesus Christ.

How cool is that?

Say Tennis Ace Teen King Lyre

We have an evangelist at our church this week. The title of this here post is on a t-shirt my daughter bought from his ministry...Say it really fast, and you will figure out the riddle...

Anyhoo, we have GREAT news to share with you!

Remember Popcorn, my little homebody?

She did NOT want to go to church Tuesday night.

Satan did not want her to go to church....

I drug her little complaining tale to church and told her "you have fun once you get there, and this is only for two more nights."

"I know. I just don't have time to play this week! And I want to play!"

"I know Baby. It will be over soon."

So. We went to church.

We ate a delicious meal of spaghetti and salad with french bread and sugar cookies for dessert.

We heard a fabulous sermon with the theme "It's all about the heart. What is in the heart comes out of your mouth. What you say is what you mean." It was great...

At the end of the sermon, we had an invitation... Of course. What would be the point of a crusade, if you don't invite people to know Jesus personally?

Every head bowed, every eye closed...

At the end, I looked up, and what do I see? Yes! I see a crowd of people. I think over 25 made decisions for Christ...But guess which one I was most excited about!

Popcorn asked Jesus into her heart!

Hallelujah!

Now, just for background, when Popcorn was 5 on Good Friday of 2008, she told me she wanted Jesus in her heart. I blew her off, initially, because I wasn't sure she truly understood she needed a savior. However, she said to me, "But Mommy, how do you know if I die I won't go to hell?" Well, I decided she had a good understanding of her need of a savior, and figured I'd better not try to quench the Spirit.

Well, I know why Satan did not want her to go to church Tuesday night.

Tuesday night, she felt the Holy Spirit.

Calling her.

She went and spoke with one of the counselors, who happened to be her first grade Sunday School teacher, and she said that while she always understood she needed Jesus, she never felt Him in her heart. She prayed with the pastor that night during the invitation, and she wept big drops of tears down her cheeks, off her chin and onto her shirt as she told me, "Jesus is my savior."

She got Jesus out of her head. She moved Him into her heart.

And that, Gentle Reader, is worth a big ole Hallelujah!