WHEN YOU KNOW GOD HAS TOLD YOU SOMETHING, STAY TRUE TO YOUR PURPOSE AND REFUSE TO COMPROMISE.

GOSPEL CORNER

02/11/24

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
TODAY’S WORD

Today’s Scripture
Saul gave in and confessed, “I’ve sinned. I’ve trampled roughshod over GOD’s Word and your instructions. I cared more about pleasing the people. I let them tell me what to do.”
1 Samuel 15:24, MSG

Stay True
Saul was the first king of Israel. He wasn’t raised in wealth and influence, but was suddenly thrust into a position that he never dreamed possible. He started out doing what God asked him to do, but over time he made the mistake of letting what other people thought, how he would be accepted, influence his decisions. Finally, after God gave him a specific instruction, he failed to fully obey, compromised, and then made excuses before admitting he did it for fear of the people. Because Saul was a people pleaser, he ended up losing the kingdom.

The problem with living image-driven is that you can’t please God and please people all the time. Sometimes God will ask you to do something that’s not popular, that other people don’t understand, that your friends might not accept, that causes coworkers to look down on you. Don’t be a Saul. When you know God has told you something, stay true to your purpose and refuse to compromise. Be more concerned about how God sees you than how people see you. He’s the One who matters.

A PRAYER FOR TODAY
“Father, thank You that I don’t have to let other people squeeze me into their mold. Thank You that You speak to me with directions for my life, and Your approval is all that I need. I’m not going to be pressured into compromising what I know is right to do. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

SECTION TWO

God’s blessings are part of our inheritance in the new covenant of grace, which Jesus died to give us. God’s Word tells us that “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us . . . that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

Isn’t it interesting that the Lord is very specific in mentioning that Christ became a curse for us on the cross, so that we can experience and enjoy the blessing of Abraham? He does not want us to simply experience any kind of blessing. He wants us to experience the blessing of Abraham. I think it behooves us then to find out what “the blessing of Abraham” is and who can receive it.

The Bible tells us that “if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:29). Are you Christ’s? Do you belong to Jesus? Then that makes you an heir according to the promise.

Every believer in Christ is an heir. Whenever you hear the word “heir,” it speaks of something good. It speaks of an inheritance that you don’t work for, an inheritance that is yours not because of what you do, but because of whose you are.

In this case, as a new covenant believer in Jesus, you belong to Jesus and you have a blood-bought inheritance in Christ as the seed of Abraham. You, beloved, are an heir according to THE promise!

Now, there are many promises in the Bible, but what is THE promise that God made to Abraham? We can’t claim this promise if we don’t know what it is. We need to go to the Word (use the Bible to interpret the Bible) to establish what the promise is. And we find the answer in Romans 4:13—”For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.”

The promise to Abraham and his seed (you and I) is that he would be “the heir of the world”! In the original Greek text, the word “world” here is kosmos. Its meaning includes “the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments, riches, advantages, pleasures.”

Now, that is what you are an heir to through Jesus’ finished work! In Christ, you are an heir of the world—its goods, its endowments, its riches, its advantages, and its pleasures. This is THE promise that God made to Abraham and his seed. Don’t apologize for it. It is your inheritance in Christ!

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