06/07/24
JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
Today’s Word
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
“Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
Genesis 18:14, NIV
The Appointed Time
It had been twenty-five years since God promised Abraham “to become a great nation,” and now at ninety years old, Sarah laughed at the seeming impossibility of having a son. God said in effect to her, “You may be doubting, and you don’t see how, but I have already set the right time.” Even though the fulfillment took far longer than they thought, at the appointed time it happened just as God said.
Whatever God has promised you, He’s already set the right time. It’s already in your future, but you have to understand that God’s timing is not our timing. On the way to your promise being fulfilled, there will be opportunities to get discouraged and give up on what you’re believing for. Don’t live with an “it’s never going to happen” mentality; live with a “right time mentality.” If you knew your right time was coming in one month, you wouldn’t waste time trying to figure it out or be worried. God doesn’t tell us when, but He promises that when the time is right, He’s going to make it happen.
A PRAYER FOR TODAY
“Father, thank You that I am not limited by my circumstances or seeming impossibilities. Thank You that what looks as though it’s too late to be fulfilled is not a problem for You. I believe that You have the right time, an appointed time, and that You will make it happen. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
SECTION TWO
There is power in the blood of Jesus to forgive you of all your sins, and understanding this is crucial to living a victorious life. The enemy fears this truth the most and that is why he attacks this teaching on the forgiveness of sins so vehemently.
If the enemy can get you to believe the lie that you are not completely forgiven and keep you sin-conscious, he will be able to keep you defeated, condemned, fearful of God, and caught in a vicious circle of failure.
The writings of the Gnostics are malevolent because they propagate the lie that Jesus was a mere mortal, which means that His blood has no power to cleanse us from all our sins. This is a lie from the pit of hell!
Jesus is the Son of God and His blood is untainted by any sin. That is why the shedding of His pure and innocent blood is able to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
His blood does not cover sins temporarily like the blood of bulls and goats in the old covenant. His blood blots out and completely erases all our sins.
This is the blood of God Himself, shed for the forgiveness of all our sins! We need to start to realize that this is not a “basic teaching.” This is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In the end times, people will not be anti-God, but they will be anti-Christ. The anti-Christ movement in the end times will attempt to devalue Jesus’ deity, the cross, and His power to forgive all our sins.
That is why, in these last days, we need more preaching about Jesus, His finished work, and the new covenant of His unmerited favor. We need more new covenant, Christ-centered preachers who will put the cross of Jesus as the focus of all their preaching.
The only way to stem this deception from creeping into the church is to focus on exalting the person of Jesus and the central tenet of the new covenant, which is the complete forgiveness of sins! This is the gospel and when the gospel truth is preached, people will be set free.
There should be no compromise when it comes to the gospel of Jesus. Forgiveness of sins is based on His grace (unmerited favor) alone, and we have access into this grace by faith. Our part is to only believe!
This is what makes the gospel the good news. Take away the complete forgiveness of sins and it is no longer the “gospel,” which means “good news.”
Beloved, believe that all your sins are forgiven. That is your part in the new covenant. That is how you become established in the new covenant of grace and experience the fullness of His unmerited favor!
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