26 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL: WHEN DOES GOD FINALLY GIVE UP ON US?

Loving God of mercy, be with the needs of this dear reader today; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.

Here is today's text from Romans 11:1-10:

1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Eli'jah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life." 4 But what is the divine reply to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Ba'al." 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, "God gave them a sluggish spirit, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day." 9 And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; 10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and keep their backs forever bent."

Paul's question can easily apply to us or those we love: When does God finally give up on us? There are times we have committed such horrible actions against God or against God's creatures that we think we're no longer worthy of God's grace and mercy, but we're wrong. God never gives up on us! I know it's early in the morning, but that's the best news I've heard yet! For that reason I go straight from praying by my bed to my home study to The Upper Room devotional page online, to this devotional: I want the first news I hear to be from God. And in a book that contains the Gospel, I know I will find Good News!

Paul worried a lot for his people, the Jews. He knew they were not coming to faith in Christ as they should, and wondered (The Message version) "Does this mean, then, that God is so fed up with Israel that he'll have nothing more to do with them?" His response? "Hardly!" And then he lists that he himself is a Jew and God was using him. In the same way we could do that with our loved ones, asking that question and then saying, God is using me and I'm one of them!

God is using you, if you let Him. Your words, actions, and attitudes towards your loved ones will go further than any sermon. Your loved ones will begin to see that it is possible for God to be at work even in us, and will begin to seek out that joy and peace that only God can give.

PRAYER: Loving God as I pray I am thinking of those whom I love who have not yet come to full faith in You. May today be a starting day for me to live as I should and act as I should so that my actions would bless these dear to me and precious to You. May they come to faith is my prayer and I lift it up in Christ Jesus' precious Name, amen.

Have a great day in the Lord!

Eradio Valverde

25 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL: NO DISAPPOINTMENT

Loving God, share a message of hope and comfort to this dear reader in all that she or he faces today; in Jesus' Name, amen!

Here is today's text from Romans 10:10-21:

10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11 The scripture says, "No one who believes in him will be put to shame." 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13 For, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." 14 But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? 15 And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" 16 But not all have obeyed the good news; for Isai'ah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?" 17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ. 18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have; for "Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." 19 Again I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, "I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry." 20 Then Isai'ah is so bold as to say, "I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me." 21 But of Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people."

Paul is quoting from the prophet Isaiah in verse 11, which is our key verse today: "The scripture says, 'No one who believe in Him will be put to shame.'" As Paul continues to fret over the lost nation of Israel, he is seeking answers in God's word. Paul knew the scriptures for he was a Pharisee, and as a Pharisee, he knew that in God's word we can find that which comforts and gives hope. Paul knew that the Word also said, v. 13, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved," but also knows others were wondering, "How will they know to call upon the Lord?" Paul is confident that God's word has been and will be preached to all corners of the world so that they may come to believe in God.

In the same way, could today be the day when one of our lost loved ones comes to the saving knowledge of God? Could their days of long separation from God come to an end today in that they come to say, "God, I've been wandering off long enough, come into my life today and make me yours."? It might possibly be, but it will require our prayers and asking of God, for His will to be done. No one wants to be separated from those that they love and in the same way, God does not want to be separated from any of us. As our key verse for today said, we will not be disappointed because of our faith in God.

PRAYER: Loving God, into Your loving care and hands I place those whom I've named in my heart as needing You. If it be Your will help them know again and again of Your love for them and the desire You have to have them in relationship with You. May they come to know You like never before. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!

Eradio Valverde

PS Prayer Request for the family of Ralph Salinas. Ralph's sister died not too long ago of a stroke while caring for their mom; this past weekend, their mom died. This morning is her funeral and we ask you lift Ralph up in prayer during this sad time for him and all of his loved ones.

24 THE GOSPEL OF PAUL: OURS FOR THE ASKING

Gracious God of all days, be with the needs of this dear reader in all they may face today; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.

Last night's watching of 60 Minutes intrigued me about a movie called "Nursery University," all about what parents have to do to get their infants into the "right" nursery. The show's story was precisely that as well, and they showed little "preppie" (is that still a word?) dressed infants awaiting the start of school. These were the fortunate ones, whose parents had fought phone-ins, interviews, selection processes, etc. and could afford (gulp!) the tuition at that one school of $18,000 to $30,000 a year. The reporter on that segment said, "That's more than I paid for college!" The one school mentioned by name was started by the director's grandfather and he would wait by the phone for it to ring with the interest of parents. Now they get 150 applicants for the 20 slots open each year. One hundred thirty kids get turned away. It's definitely not theirs for the asking.

Paul contends with his heart and his people in the verses for today, Romans 9:30-10:9:

30 What then are we to say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith; 31 but Israel, who did strive for the righteousness that is based on the law, did not succeed in fulfilling that law. 32 Why not? Because they did not strive for it on the basis of faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written, "See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." 10:1 Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God's righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. 5 Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that "the person who does these things will live by them." 6 But the righteousness that comes from faith says, "Do not say in your heart, "Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 "or "Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Paul's understanding was that the Gentiles received the greatest gift the world has ever known, and they weren't even looking for it during their history. On the other hand, the Jews, who had and are still seeking, rejected that same gift. The Jews, like some others, were not looking only based on faith, but on what works, signs or wonders, this Messiah might perform to convince them. This Paul says, is the stumbling block, as his scripture called it. Yet his heart's desire is for his people to find Jesus so that they might be saved. He admits the Jews fervor for God is not enlightened; it's misguided and basically self-centered. If they (and us) were to ask the right questions, such as the ones he shares, they would come to that enlightenment and discover Christ and be saved. Read especially verse 9 which still holds true for every person in the world regardless of birth, "if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Our sermon yesterday was on Jehovah Yasha, Jehovah Savior and we preached on being saved. I related the story of an ill-fated canoe trip with my best friend, and how I almost drowned. Had my friend not pulled me from that raging river I would have died. In the same way, whatever "river" of sin, destruction, addiction, bad habits, fear, doubt, etc. we find ourselves in, through our confession (our asking) of Jesus as OUR Lord and belief in our hear that God indeed raised him from the dead, we will be saved. Saved from certain death and a certain eternal separation from God. The Psalmist had echoed this many centuried before in Psalm 103:3ff (The Message):

3 He forgives your sins - every one. He heals your diseases - every one. 4 He redeems you from hell - saves your life! He crowns you with love and mercy - a paradise crown. 5 He wraps you in goodness - beauty eternal. He renews your youth - you're always young in his presence. 6 God makes everything come out right; he puts victims back on their feet.

PRAYER: Loving God, forgive me of my sins and pull me out of the river in which I find myself drowning. I confess I have made wrong choices and decisions for my life and I need Your help in getting pulled out. Put me on the banks of life, restore me to wholeness and healing. Place on me a "paradise crown" and wrap me in goodness. May each day in Your presence renew me to youthful feeling and attitudes towards You and Yours. I pray this in Christ Jesus' powerful and precious Name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!

Eradio Valverde

23 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL: GOD IS IN COMPLETE CONTROL!

God of light, shine brightly in the corners of darkness and need in the life of this dear reader; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.

Here is today's text from Romans 9: 10-29

10 Nor is that all; something similar happened to Rebecca when she had conceived children by one husband, our ancestor Isaac. 11 Even before they had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God's purpose of election might continue, 12 not by works but by his call) she was told, "The elder shall serve the younger." 13 As it is written, "I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau." 14 What then are we to say? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." 16 So it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy. 17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth." 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses. 19 You will say to me then, "Why then does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" 20 But who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God? Will what is molded say to the one who molds it, "Why have you made me like this?" 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction; 23 and what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory--24 including us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hose'a, "Those who were not my people I will call "my people,' and her who was not beloved I will call "beloved.'" 26 "And in the very place where it was said to them, "You are not my people,' there they shall be called children of the living God." 27 And Isai'ah cries out concerning Israel, "Though the number of the children of Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved; 28 for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth quickly and decisively." 29 And as Isai'ah predicted, "If the Lord of hosts had not left survivors to us, we would have fared like Sod'om and been made like Gomor'rah."

When it comes to someone in our family not believing, it really hurts. You can understand Paul's enthusiastic defense of God in these passages because of his family's rejection of God's work in Jesus Christ. His Bible was filled with bibical references to incredible and wonderful things God had done on behalf of his family, and yet, they turned away from God and from Jesus Christ. He lists births where there shouldn't have been life at all. He lists compassion where there shouldn't have been. He even lists those who suffered as a result of their own actions. Through it all Paul declares, God is in control.

We can't sit down after reading this morning's devotional and script out what is going to happen today and expect it to happen just because we want it to. If you want a good laugh go back and see some of my "to-do" lists. I love the sign, and it's probably buried somewhere on my desk-of-no-return that says, "God put me on this earth to accomplish some things and I'm so far behind I'll never die" or something to that effect. Paul says, we need to trust God and accept what God has, is, and will do on our behalf because of God's great love for us. I love how Paul says you never hear the clay talking back to the potter; the potter is in complete control of each project, and in the same way, God is in control of us and how we will be shaped according to His purpose in our lives.

Take time right now to enjoy the touch of God's fingers at work on your body. God is smoothing out the rough edges and is make right the blemishes and marks that should not be on us. God is at work in our spirits making us exactly who we wants us to be, but we have to be still; we have to be obedient and trusting. You and I are works in progress. Make that wonderous works in progress!

PRAYER: Loving Potter, help me to sit obediently still while You finish me. I tend to fidget when I'm uneasy. I tend to want to run because I am impatient. I have a tendecy to be easily distracted. You work on me and help me realize that I attempt or have attempted relies only on Your strength and power, not mine. I pray this in Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!

Eradio Valverde

22 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL: LOVED ONES WHO DON'T YET BELIEVE

God of peace and power, share exactly what this dear reader needs in their life today; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.

Here is today's text: Romana 9:1-9:

1 I speak the truth in Christ--I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit-- 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen. 6 It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." 8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."

To the Christians in Rome, Paul begins to share his heart. His heart was broken that not more Jews were believing in Christ. He lists their blessings and what should be joys in their history and heritage, yet they were missing the greatest gift, and that was Jesus Christ Himself. Paul cannot believe how for their sake, God acted and sent His Son and yet they still rejected Him. Paul confesses his sorrow to the point that he would take being "cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people." Sometimes we find ourselves thinking that about people in our own families. They know all that God has done for them and yet they do not receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. They know the blessings that have been theirs and should be theirs and yet they do not claim Jesus as He who can enter in and live in their hearts. Could we say that "God's word had failed?" No. They have failed God's word.

Paul knows that those who do believe become the children of God and thus our brothers and sisters. This however, does not mean we give up praying and inviting those loved ones for whom we care and want in the fellowship of Christ. It should make us work all the harder.

PRAYER: Loving God, today in my mind I have named ____________________ of my family. Lord, if it be Thy will, let today be a day in which she or he gets closer to You and realizing all that You have done on his/her behalf. I ask that I may draw closer too, and be the person You would have me be. I pray this in complete faith, in Christ Jesus' Name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.

Eradio Valverde

21 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL: THAT LIST!

Loving God bless and protect the needs of this dear reader. I ask this in Christ Jesus' name, amen.

Dear friends, this comes a bit late and it comes from the Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix as I await the plane that takes me home after a meeting of all the conferences' board of ordained ministry chairpersons. Great meeting if only for an overnight, 24 hour meeting. But here is today's reading.

Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. 31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? 33 Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There is perhaps no greater passage on the strength and presence and workings of God's Holy Spirit as this one. We have to admit that we are weak. And sometimes that weakness comes through when we feel so weak that we can no longer pray. It comes to many of us when we are hurting or beat down so badly that we have no other option but to look upward towards God. And Paul says it is at exactly then even if we can only sigh, that God's Spirit "intercedes" for us. God knows what is behind those sighs that come out of our soul. A dear woman in a previous church lost her daughter to cancer. It was the most agonizing thing she or any of us could ever dread to experience. After weeping and hurting and praying and mourning, she reached that point and it alarmed her. She said to me, "Pastor, I can no longer pray..." I rememberd this verse and told her she had never stopped praying for her child; it was just that she stopped using words and began using the Holy Spirit to interpret the sighs to God as her prayer.

Paul further says that "all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." That is to say that both good and bad, everything, all things, work for good if we love God and who know of our relationship with God. Not all things are pleasant or good, but because of our relationship with God, we're going to understand more deeply and be able to bless others more deeply because of that. Paul reminds us of what God suffered in letting His Son experience what He did on our behalf. Then the awesome declaration, "If God is for us, who can be against us?"

Throughout our lives, if we love God and enjoy that relationship with God, we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. Then the list! Who or what could possibly separate us from God? Death? No! Life? Even Angels? How about Presidents (okay, Paul says rulers) No again! What about things we're experiencing or fear that may come? No! What about powers? No! What about height or depth? No! "Nothing in creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

PRAYER: Awesome, Loving Father, what a promise and what a blessing is ours. My prayer is that You would be with me as I face what I face. Let me be the person You would have me be even in the midst of this which I am experiencing. Let me be faithful, let me be more than a conqueror, let me be one who gives witness and praise to You in all things. I ask all this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!

Eradio Valverde

20 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL: FAST FORWARD TO GLORY?

Loving God, pour out a generous portion of love, peace, joy, and compassion to this dear reader in whatever it is they face today. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

Here is today's text from Romans 8:

18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

We are a society of instant gratification. We expect and want instant results in all things. Who's to blame? I blame whoever invented instant coffee. Was it Sanka? Or Maxwell's? Some scientist working in one of the coffee manufacturer's labs decided that if they tinkered long enough and hard enough, they could come up with instant coffee. Of course I can't say anything because just this morning I made instant oatmeal. Within one minute my breakfast was fully "cooked." I added my fruit, sweetner, milk, and I was happily eating my big, most important meal of the day. I know I would rather as would most of you, have steel cut (whatever that means) oatmeals, slow cooked for, get this, five minutes. And there are those coffee purists who would rather slow brew their coffee and then enjoy the fullness of that taste. And don't get me started on microwaves!

The things of this world cannot be fast forwarded (there's another invention that helped us become who we are!). Sadly, that includes the not-s0-pleasant things of this world. There are things we wish we could fast forward. My wife would have loved to have been able to fast forward the nine months we awaited the arrival of our first baby. Our daughter is counting the days to November/December whenever our third grandbaby comes along. Sorry. We cannot fast forward that. We wait and hopefully in a patient mode, for that which is to come. Paul knew that the sufferings of those who were suffering because of their faith were more they could or wanted to endure. Yet, Paul knew of the coming glory, he had experienced it and knew what lay ahead for the faithful; yet he himself was guilty of not being able to wait as patiently as he knew he should.

What are you going through? Do you wish it were over that you could at least see the end of it coming faster than it seems it is? God is with you. God has revealed, through His Holy Word, all that awaits us for being faithful and patient. Make use of the time to share with others who are also awaiting what is coming. This Saturday, our church is going to help re-roof and install a four-ton air conditioning unit in a home that presently only has a window unit. The owner of the home is a paraplegic and needs to be in a cool room. I imagined from the day we dropped off the unit how he must feel and the excitement he must have towards the day the unit is finally in and working throughout his home. (What a neat way to invite those of you who can to help us with our Home reBuild this Saturday. Meet in our east parking lot at 8 a.m. Bring tools, hats, etc. Be in prayer for the success of this time doing for others!).

PRAYER: Loving God, thank You for the joys and the not-so-joyful things of today. Guide us in the way we should face each day and each challenge and blessing of each day. Help us share with others the joy we feel towards that which is coming to us soon. We pray this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!

e.v.

19 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL: FRIDGE RIGHTS FOR GOD?

God of new life, breathe into the life of this dear reader exactly what is needed for their life today. In Christ Jesus I pray, amen.

Here is today's text from Romans 8:10-17, using The Message version of the Bible:

10 But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells - even though you still experience all the limitations of sin - you yourself experience life on God's terms. 11 It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's! 12 So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. 13 There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. 14 God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go! 15 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" 16 God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. 17 And we know we are going to get what's coming to us - an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!

Do you have friends with "refridgerator rights?" A "fridge friend?" One who, once he or she is inside, does not need your permission to go and open your fridge, help him/herself to leftovers or sandwich makings and then a cold beverage? I would suspect our list on those is very short, if any. We tend to limit those type of rights to immediate family. Does God have fridge rights to your life? Have you come to a new life on God's terms and not yours? Paul is stressing quite clearly that God does have fridge, oven, closet, drawer, nightstand, garage, et al, rights to your life. Once you've looked through your peephole and seen that it is God knocking on the door to your heart, if you let Him in, He has the run of your life's house. And you have the benefits and blessings of having the world's most important and powerful guest. Can you imagine life like that? I hope you would and move beyond just imagining and have it become real for you.

Our having repented of our sin is equal to our having died to a sinful way of life and coming to new life in Christ Jesus. That means we have not only invited God into our lives, but have made God the head of our life. Back when my dad still traveled, I can't explain it, but whenever he was in the house with us, I believe we all slept more soundly. The same was true for my Mom's visit and my mother-in-law's stays. Just having a person we loved and trusted, with more life experience than us made us know that hey, someone is "watching" over us and no harm will befall us! Talk about persons who had more than fridge rights to our homes.

Those times Nellie and I had moved to a new setting, with our parents visiting us, we loved showing them around what little we knew of our new town and attractions and enjoyed seeing life through their eyes and new experiences. As this version says, "It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next Papa/Mama?" So it is with God. As we have moved into a new dwelling of life in the Spirit, each day should be that adventure of newness, joy, peace, love and comfort, going and doing exactly what God wants and expects from us.

PRAYER: Dear God, I thank You for Your presence here in my life. I thank You for those precious memories of days past when dear loved ones could visit and stay with us. Stay with me and help me to enjoy this day as a precious gift. Help it truly be as I have just read, an adventurously expectant day. I ask and pray this in Christ Jesus' precious Name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.

Eradio Valverde

18 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL: PUTTING ON CHRIST

Spirit of the Most High, bless and protect this dear reader in all of today's challenges. In Christ Jesus, amen.

Here is today's text (and by the way, you may be getting this on Tuesday night and that's because I have no internet connection at the retreat center where I am attending a Stewardship event sponsored by the Texas Methodist Foundation, and I have borrowed their office computer! My thanks to the nice folks at Vintage Villas outside Austin!).

Romans 8:

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law—indeed it cannot, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

Not guilty! Oh, the relief of hearing those words in a court of law. Now multiply that times an infinite number and you'll begin, I repeat, begin to understand how awesome it is to hear that said about you and me when it comes to our sinfulness. Not Guilty! You see, Paul says, we're living under a different law, not a law of sin and death, but a law of life, a law of the spirit of Christ Jesus. We talked about it being like leaving the old country of death and destruction and moving to a new country of life and freedom. This new life requires our being in Christ Jesus; that is to say Paul saw it as a way of life. Every morning along with the proper clothing we can put on Christ as He who guides our living and guides our day. If we dress with and like Christ, shouldn't we act as Him? The world needs to see Jesus alive and walking down the avenues of their lives. A large part of our discussion this afternoon centered and how the church has shifted from one time being the center of daily life to a corner off to the side where we no longer provide or are sought after for the answers of daily life challenges. I remembered the days when my pastor would get into the movie theatre for the same discount rate as a military person and my first trip to DisneyWorld as a college student I was surprised to see on their price list: Clergy/Military Discount. What a world it was then! Now most folks would rather charge the minister double to come in! What has not changed is that we as a church still offer the eternal answers that a temporal world does not want to hear. We offer He who died to defeat sin and death once and for all, for our sake.

So, if we belong to Christ Jesus, live like Him and show the world just what could be theirs as well.

PRAYER: Living God, help me to live a life that gives you honor and glory in all things. May I seek to abide in Christ and He in me. May this be for the blessing those around me need to see and receive. I pray this in Christ Jesus' precious name, amen!

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.

Eradio Valverde

17 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL: THOSE PESKY MIRRORS!

Loving God, create in us a clean heart, for all that we might face today. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

Some people love mirrors. Some people don't. Some people cannot pass a mirror without pausing to get yet another look and fix their hair, makeup, etc. Some people hurry past mirrors. Regardless of which type of person you may be when it comes to mirrors, mirrors have their purpose. I believe they were created to help us dress, prepare us for the day and that's all they do. A good mirror is one that makes you look good. But are there such things as "good" mirrors? Don't they just reflect back what image is presented them? Well, we could argue angle, shape, we could even throw in circus or carnival mirrors, but when you get a decent mirror, it just shows you you!

In today's passage Paul is saying something similar about the Law. The text is from Romans 7:7-13:

7 What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived 10 and I died, and the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. 13 Did what is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, working death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. 15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17 But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23 but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.

The Law of God helped humanity know how to identify sin. God shared the commandments and the laws as a way of instilling self-restraint, control of violence, and a measure of compassion and respect towards others and the property and relationship of others. A mirror does show when we need to redo or cut our hair; at best, when we need to comb our hair. A mirror also shows when we need to exercise more and lose weight; it may even reflect a sadness or guilt that a previous action on our part has placed on our face. Paul said that the Law helped him know sin and what sin caused, namely death. Paul, as a man, struggled just like you and me, with daily temptations and situations in which we respond with actions that are not spiritual, but physical and hurtful. Paul said that the Law helped me know what sin is, yet he still sinned. The Law as our mirror shows us the things we don't want to know about ourselves; but we look beyond the image to what is not seen. Jesus, our Savior and Lord, who has deemed us worthy and loved, beyond what we may think or hear about what is "worthy and loved" by the standards of this world. In the same way, Paul knew that beyond our bodies, and how out of control we may be because of them, Jesus Christ our Lord has stepped in and delivered us to God!

So, after you read this, you will walk by or directly to a mirror. Use the eyes of God to see in that reflection a new you, made so by love, the love of God for you. As you pray and do your daily things, use the word of God as that which reminds you of what sin is and how we best should stay away from it.

PRAYER: God of eternal love, help me today see me as You do. Help me today live as You would have me live. Deliever me from the enslavements of sin to the freedom and peace of grace. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.

Eradio Valverde

16 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL: FREE TO LIVE LIFE

Gracious God pour out a rich blessing on the life of this dear reader; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.

One gets the idea that Paul was up against some very hard-headed and hard-minded traditionalists when it came to changing their views on things related to their Christian life. Hmm, we don't have those in the church anymore, do we? You would think Paul was suggesting changing the color of the carpet in the sanctuary! In today's passage, Romans 7:1-6, we find Paul's teaching about the Gospel:

1 Do you not know, brothers and sisters--for I am speaking to those who know the law--that the law is binding on a person only during that person's lifetime? 2 Thus a married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is discharged from the law concerning the husband. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress. 4 In the same way, my friends, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are slaves not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.

Paul asks, "Who are you married to? The Law or Christ?" It's a valid question and a good question. It's as if to say, "Who are you living for? The Law or Christ Jesus? Such was the hold of the Law on some people that Paul had to use the illustration about marriage. And you ask, why was Paul so set on setting people free? Paul saw the need and place for the Law. He was trained in it, in fact the first part of his career, he served the Law and was even a Pharisee when it came to the Law. But that all changed on that dusty Damascus Road when the Risen Lord Jesus knocked him off his high horse and Paul experienced a near-life experience. Jesus revealed to him all that He needed Paul to do for the sake of Christ's Kingdom. Part of that revelation was to set people free from the restraints of the Law and its hold on traditions and customs, and to get people to live an inviting life that would bless people and allow others, new converts, to come to the fullness of life. Paul knew the Law had served to show humanity what was right and wrong; now people needed to see the love behind the Law. God gave the Law out of love and out of concern for how people would live without the Law, but once God gave Jesus, God gave the fullness of life beyond the Law.

You and I are free to know God's love and to share that with others. We still do need to share what we know to be eternal truths when it comes to right living, but we do it in a positive, encouraging way that leads to people coming to the possibilities of living a life in Jesus.

PRAYER: Loving God, set me free from all that has had me bound to just traditions and customs and other restraints; free me for joyful obedience to You so that my life may sing a tune that attracts others to You. I ask this in Jesus' Name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!

Eradio Valverde

15 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL: EMBRACING LIFE AND PLEASING GOD

Loving God, morning by morning, let this dear reader see Your mercies. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.

I had a Sunday school teacher who was a rocket scientist. He really was. We lived in Houston and he worked at N.A.S.A. He was a brilliant man who somewhere, somehow, had picked up a quote from one of the Patriarchs and he would say, "Love God and do as you please." The quote is attributed to St. Augustine (other say Martin Luther), and it means in the right relationship with God we are free to live life guided by that relationship. St. Paul says something similar in today's passage from Romans 6:15-23:

15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, 18 and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. 20 When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Yesterday we talked about moving to a new country. Well, that move there takes us to a land where we learn to live as the others who live there. We left the land of sin, so we no longer live as blatant sinners, we live as grateful new residents of the land of grace. We live, Paul would say, modeling our lives after our "Master," presenting ourselves as righteous people who are on the journey we call sanctification. We now live as those who will never die; we've left behind those who live just to die. Paul closes this section with verse 23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

We now live as those who are proud to belong to Christ Jesus as the people of life and love. We have left behind the things that shamed us and made us people of self-centeredness and death. Are you inviting others by the way you live?

PRAYER: God of endless love and eternal life, thank You for the gift of Jesus Christ. May my life reflect one who has moved away from the things that used to embarrass me and You to the place where my actions are pleasing to You. Help me to leave behind the things that I embraced as a self-centered person, to live in a place where You are glorified. I pray in Christ Jesus' Name, amen!

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.

Eradio Valverde

14 GOSPEL OF PAUL: MOVING TO A NEW COUNTRY

Loving God of grace, allow this dear reader to abide in You and You in him/her on this day. In Christ Jesus, amen.

I've never lived in another country, unless you count the state of Colorado, and even then back in the 70s it was a bit different from what it is now. I have traveled in Mexico, England, and Spain, and drove through Maryland. With my windows rolled up and doors locked. But the Message version of the Bible has this to say about chapter 6:1-14:

1 So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? 2 I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? 3 Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace - a new life in a new land! 4 When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. 5 Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country. 6 Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the Cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life - no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: 7 8 If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. 9 We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. 10 When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. 11 From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did. 12 That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. 13 Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time - remember, you've been raised from the dead! - into God's way of doing things. 14 Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God.

We have left our old home in the land of sin, through our conversion and relationship with Jesus, and moved into a new home in a new land, the land of grace. What a difference that should have made in our lives. I imagine the land of sin to be a bleak land where the sun seldom shines and there is no breeze to speak of; the grass is dead and no hope of rain to perk it up. What's more all of this is spiritual, a place where we know we are dying spiritually unless we allow God to do something about it. On the other hand, the land of grace is the exact opposite: a place of life, a place of bright home and a sense of the presence of God; we celebrate not being alone and knowing that with God with us, we fear nothing. And our desire is to do works of grace and we leave sin behind.

Paul knew we all sin and still do, but to continue in the same sin without trusting God's power to deliver us from that makes no sense. In the older version of verse one, Paul asks, "What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? " No! We leave that behind and move towards the place God would have us be.

It's not easy leaving behind the familiar and the things and people we're used to; but in order to live and live fully, we leave behind the past, the sinful, the things that mark us as good as dead.

PRAYER: God of life, grant to me the power to move right now away from my sin. I want to leave behind this land of sin and move to my new home in the land of grace. I know the house is ready, the door is open and the fridge is stocked. Let me not even turn back to close this old house's door. You do that so that no one is tempted to walk in and live in this place. I pray this in Jesus' Name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.

Eradio Valverde

13 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL: ONE MAN BROUGHT DEATH, ONE MAN BROUGHT LIFE

Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on this dear reader's life and needs. In Christ Jesus, amen.

It's Adam's fault! How easy it is to blame this first man for the dilemma in which we find ourselves. I know that takes the spotlight off the president and other elected officials (dream on!). Actually, Paul says that through Adam sin made its way into the world. Our disobedience towards God was first found in this first man. And from the time of Adam until the time of Moses there was no way of knowing what was considered a transgression against God and what was not. The Message version of the Bible says, "That sin disturbed relations with God in everything and everyone, but the extent of the disturbance was not clear until God spelled it out in detail to Moses." But we do know that because of sin, death made its debut on the face of the earth. And death plagued us with fear and sorrow and uncertainty, and it wasn't until Jesus, that we began to better understand God's grace and plan for us during life and upon our earthly death.

It's Jesus' fault that we no longer need fear death and the consequences of sin. God's grace was made clear to us and offered to all who would believe and receive. The Message continues, 5:18 "Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! 19 One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right. "

It is through all that Christ Jesus did on our behalf that we can have life; here on earth an abundant life, and upon our death, a neverending life in Glory with God the Father. It would be Paul who would say, "For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain." (Phil 1:21). Friends, let us live life in a Jesus, not Adam way! Let us live in a way that invites others to the fullness of life.

PRAYER: Loving God, we thank You for Jesus and His mighty acts of salvation. Help me to be a part of the continuing work of Your Holy Spirit in touching and inviting lives to come to You. I ask this in Jesus' precious name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!

Eradio Valverde

12 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL: A CHECKLIST OF FAITH BLESSINGS

Loving God of all, pour out Your blessings upon the needs of this dear reader. In Christ Jesus I pray, amen.

During the "glory days" of campus ministry in Texas, campus ministers were allowed to teach Bible in state universities for university credit. It was a great money-maker for the state school because we would teach the three hour credit course, they would collect every cent of the tuition, the student would get university credit for an elective, and we would have the exposure to our ministries from which we could draw for our programs and ministries. Just as I left campus ministry, one certain attorney general ruled that this was not indeed separation of "church and state," and ruled that this nice set-up could no longer exist. But during my time at this university, I enjoyed the enrollment of young men who were exploring the call into the priesthood. Unless I was misinformed, these guys were encouraged to take my class, to better understand the Protestant mind. Hmm, they chose poorly! During the days we talked about justification (salvation) we took separate paths. It was the "works vs. grace" debate. I had lived that during my year at Southwestern University, a classmate was studying to become a teacher, receive her vows as a nun, and thus pay off a "sin." Her sin I discovered was not hers at all; a priest grabbed her and kissed her after school when she was in high school. She felt responsible and felt the only way to be forgiven this sin was to work it off. Paul would have told her, as I did, that we are forgiven our sins simply by grace and faith, not by works.

Romans 5:1-11 reads: Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access [by faith] to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9 Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11 But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

This young woman simply needed to ask God to forgive her and she would be forgiven and that would be the end of it. Paul says it in verse one, "we are justified by faith," and as a result "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," and a new standing with God. Paul goes on to share a faith checklist of that which we receive from whatever it is we face: Suffering produces endurance (hang in there!); endurance produces character (a better man/woman!); character produces hope (this too shall pass in God's time!); "and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." In our times of weakness (at the right time!) Christ died for us ("the ungodly") and the classic, "But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us."

That young woman from a report heard about her, did not enter an order nor did she take vows, other than the ones she took with her husband. She did become a teacher and a mother. God granted her a peace that she needed about that unfortunate incident in her young life. In the same way, peace can be ours regardless of past actions we have done or were done to us. God is a merciful, loving God who will forgive us our sins and grant us peace. If we are suffering check off the things that are coming your way because of where you are and what you are enduring. We are never alone and we are never in a state where we say we are not being blessed. Receive your blessing today! Receive the hope that is ours!

PRAYER: Lord, only You know the needs that I face right now. You know the stress and frustrations that have come to me while facing this, but I pray that that which You revealed to Paul be mine today. Let the suffering give way to endurance, to character and to hope, and I claim that hope will not disappoint. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.

Eradio Valverde

11 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL: HOPE AGAINST HOPE

God of our faith, grant a double-portion of faith to the heart of this dear reader in all they may face today. In Christ Jesus' name, amen.

Romans 4:13-25: 13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified; 15 for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation. 16 For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 (as it is written, "A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU") in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. 18 In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, "SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE." 19 Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; 20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. 22 Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. 23 Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, 24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.

Heir of the world! How would you like that as a title? "I'm so glad to meet you, my name is Abraham, and I am 'heir of the world.'" So Paul saw the title given to the Father of the Faith, Abraham. And Paul says, it was because of faith not the Law or anything that Abraham did or could have done, that the whole world was promised to him. Such is our title indeed; for all that Jesus did on our behalf, we are heirs of something better than just the world, we are heirs to the Kingdom of God. And it is nothing that we did or could do, other than to believe. And notice that Paul knows, as we should as well, just Who this God is that has made such a relationship with Him possible; "God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist." I don't know about you, but I'm impressed! Would not this God with such powers be one to hold onto His promises to us?

The next verse is interesting as well. Paul knew the difficulty of believing in something that required a lot of faith on our part. Paul writes, "In hope against hope he (Abraham) believed, in order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken,"So shall your descendents be." At a point where Abraham was as good as dead, and so was his wife, Sarah, he believed and trusted, and he was blessed.

What "hope against hope" do you need today? Sunday I shared but a short list of the things that come into our lives that show how weak we really are, and we shared about how God's Word speaks of God being our strength. Our call today is to hope against hope, to rise above what the world or science or medicine might say, to that which God says. This Sunday I spent all afternoon alone with Saraí Evangelina, my two-year old granddaughter. I was surprised she heard that I was going to stay home when all the rest were to go shopping. My plan was to get some rest, perhaps a nap. She promptly came and sat next to me on the sofa and said, "I'm staying with Granpa!" What a delightful afternoon we spent, watching "Nemo," playing with Granma's exercise ball, and her favorite sitting at the table and playing with PlayDoh. One of the canisters of the clay was rolling off the table and I quickly grabbed for it and said, "Hey, get back over here!" That made Saraí laugh with delight. So, I said it again. More laughter. Yesterday, Tuesday, after coming home for school she ran through the house saying, "Hey, get back over here, Granpa says!, Hey, get back over here, Granpa says!" And laughing.

What do we remember that God says, especially about what we may be facing right now?

PRAYER: Loving God of hope, speak to our hopelessness and our brokeness; truly let us hope against hope, for we put our trust in You. May Your Spirit move in and through and in spite of us, towards that which You have promised. We ask that You have the last word in that which we face. We pray in Christ Jesus' name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!

Eradio Valverde

10 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL: A MOST PERSONAL FAITH

God of Heaven and earth, be found near to the heart of this dear reader in all they may face today. In Christ Jesus' name, amen.

For the Jews a decision is made for the male child that he be circumcised. It is a sign of the covenant between God and them. It began with Abraham and made it the most personal sign of their new faith. From the oldest to the youngest, God commanded, will bear upon their bodies this mark of the covenant. It always strikes me as humorous, though I know it probably wasn't, that those who did not hear the conversation between God and Abraham, had to hear the old man say, "Good news fellas, we have a God! The bad news? Drop your pants!"

What impact does a physical procedure have on faith? For the Jewish male child, the decision is made on his eighth-day birthday. The parents decide for that child that he will bear upon his body the mark of his faith. For the first part of our history as Christians, the great debate between Paul and the Disciples was on requirements for becoming a Christian. The Jewish Christians wanted circumcision as a part of formal entrance into the Christian faith, one must be a Jew, with all rights and privileges thereof (read, circumcision), then that person could be a Christian. Part of that debate is found in today's passage found in 4:9-12 of Romans:

9 Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We say, "Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness." 10 How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, 12 and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Faith came to Abraham first, Paul claims and rightly so. So, was circumcision required before faith? No. So, is Abraham father even of the uncircumcised? Yes! Those who come to faith do so spiritually. Paul knew the truth. It is not the marks we bear on our bodies that determine if we have faith or not. And to be a Christian does not require our becoming a Jew first. Yes, we do hold the scriptures of the Hebrew faith as sacred and that which introduces us to God and God's involvement in our history, but as Paul would argue, when Christ came, we received a new covenant open to all.

Let our life in Christ be one of honest and genuine faith. One that trusts God and allows us to walk and serve God like never before. God will not be interested in what we have done or not done to our body in obedience to Him, but how because of our obedience we have done for others.

PRAYER: Loving God, so personal and private is our faith that sometimes it becomes so easy to hide it from others and yes, You. Let me not hide my faith, let me joyously live it in a way that brings glory to You. I ask this in Jesus' Name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!

Eradio Valverde