GOSPEL CORNER:GOD IS YOUR SOURCE. WHEN IT’S YOUR TIME, WHEN GOD SHOWS UP IN HIS POWER, NOTHING CAN STAND IN HIS WAY. CHAINS WILL BREAK, DOORS WILL OPEN, AND OPPORTUNITY WILL COME.

21/12/23

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
TODAY’S WORD

Today’s Scripture
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
Luke 1:34, NIV

WHO’S YOUR SOURCE?
The angel told Mary she would conceive and give birth to Jesus, the Messiah, without knowing a man. He was talking about the physical, but this has meaning for us as well. God was showing us that you’re not dependent on people. What you’re believing for can happen without getting your manager at work to like you or talking your friend into giving you a good break. You don’t need who you think you need. People are not your source; God is your source. When it’s your time, when God shows up in His power, nothing can stand in His way. Chains will break, doors will open, and opportunity will come. It can happen without a bank, without the treatment, without the experience, without the resources, without the connections. God is about to surprise you. As with Mary, it’s going to be something you’ve never seen.

*** Something that’s never happened in your family. Something that defies the odds, that catapults you into your destiny. Just stay focused on your true source.***

A PRAYER FOR TODAY
“Father, thank You that You are my provider, the source of everything good in my life. Thank You that I am not dependent upon other people, but it is Your favor that brings me the right people and the right connections. I will stay focused on You, knowing You make happen what no person can make happen. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

The account of the woman caught in adultery demonstrates something very important. What enables someone to have the power to overcome sin?

The threat of the law obviously didn’t stop the woman from committing adultery. But receiving Jesus’ acceptance—knowing that even though she deserved to be stoned to death, He did not condemn her—that gave her the power to “go and sin no more.”

Notice that Jesus saved the woman righteously. He didn’t say, “Don’t stone her. Show mercy to her.” What He said was, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” And on their own accord, the Pharisees and religious mob all left.

Notice also that Jesus did not ask the woman, “Why did you sin?” No, what He asked was, “Has no one condemned you?”

It seems as if Jesus was more preoccupied with the condemnation of the sin than the sin itself. He made sure that she walked away not feeling the condemnation and shame.

Let’s not reverse God’s order. When God says something comes first, it must come first. God says “no condemnation” comes first, and then you can “go and sin no more.”

Christian religion has it in reverse. We say, “Go and sin no more first, then we won’t condemn you.”

What we need to understand is that when there is no condemnation, people are empowered to live victorious lives, lives that glorify Jesus. Grace produces an effortless empowerment through the revelation of no condemnation.

It is unmerited and completely undeserved. But we can receive it—this gift of no condemnation—because Jesus paid for it at the cross.

Truth be told, none of us could have cast the first stone. We have all sinned and fallen short. In Christ, we are all on equal ground.

If a brother or sister gets tangled in sin, our place is not to judge them, but to restore them by pointing them to the forgiveness and gift of no condemnation that are found in Jesus.

The only person who is without sin and who could have exercised judicial punishment on the woman was Jesus, and He did not. Jesus was in the flesh to represent what was in God’s heart. It wasn’t judgment. His heart is unveiled in His grace and His forgiveness.

I like to say it this way when describing what happened as the Pharisees waited to stone the woman: The Pharisees would if they could, but they could not. Jesus could if He would, but He would not. That’s our Jesus!