"All Things New"
from Steve Todd
With love for his lost creation, God kept his promise to Israel by sending Jesus, the Father’s eternal Son in human flesh. Through his victorious life, death, and resurrection, Jesus defeated God’s enemies and reigns as Lord of all. By his atoning sacrifice on the cross, sinners who repent and receive Jesus by faith are continually freed from idolatry, forgiven of their sins, filled with the Holy Spirit, and given transformed hearts. Today his church follows him, loving everyone, pursuing holiness, discipling the nations, awaiting his return on the Day of Judgment and Resurrection when Jesus makes all things new.
100 words
In April I challenged myself to express the gospel in exactly 100 words. My goal was to convey the heart of the Bible’s good news in one minute, making every word count. After a few days I was done—or so I thought. Many times over the next few weeks I kept thinking of ways to improve it.
I want to give credit to my wife, Tricia Todd, who thought the third sentence needed something more. From that conversation the word “continually” was added. Stephen Rankin, a colleague of mine, made a suggestion that yielded the addition “given transformed hearts.”
I spent 42 years as United Methodist pastor in Nebraska and am now a retired elder in the Global Methodist Church. I plan to post a submitted OMG on this blog every Tuesday and Friday. Other OMGs you will read on this blog will be more personal or poetic than mine. Or they will focus on a unifying theme. I appreciate the variety of approaches I’ve received thus far.
Tuesday, September 5: "Jesus Came and Will Come Again" by Dr. Ben Witherington III
-st
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