Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

June 30
Saturday

HEART TROUBLE

READ:
Ephesians 2:1-10
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Create in me a clean
heart, O God.
__Psalm 51:10
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What's the most common affliction that plagues peopple in the US? Heart trouble. More than any other ailment, it's the disease that causes an early death.

But there's an afflication even more deadly than a malfunction of the organ that pumps blood through our bodies. It's a spiritual heart disease from which everyone suffers. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23.

Here's the diagnosis made by Jesus Christ, the greatest of all heart specalists: "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man" (Matt. 15:19-20).

His words echo the verdict of Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" That diagnosis includes all who are dead in their sins (Eph. 2:8).

Ask Him for a spiritual heart transplant. __Vernon Grounds
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Now rest, my lnong-divided heart,~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Fixed on this blissful center, rest,~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Nor ever from my Lord depart,~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~With Him of every good possessed. __Doddridge~~~~~~
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We need more than a new start; we need a new heart.

**************Today's Bible Reading___Ephesians 2:1-10***********

1 And you He made alive,
who were dead in trespasses
and sin, 2 in which you
once walked according to
the course of this world,
according to the prince of
the power of the air, the
spirit who now works in
the sons of disobedience,

3 among whom also we all
once conducted ourselves
in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and
were by nature children of
wrath, just as the others.

4 But God, who is rich in
mercy, because of His great
love with which He loved
us, 5 even when we were
dead in trespasses, made us
alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been
saved), 6 and raised us up
together, and made us sit
together in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus,

7 that in the ages to
come He might show the
exceeding riches of His
grace His kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus.

8 For by grace you have
been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, 9 not
of works, lest anyone
should boast. 10 For we are
His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared
befroehand that we should
walk in them.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Paul wrote this letter to remind us of the immeasurable blessings
(Eph. 1:3) of being a member of the church, and to admonish us to
live in a manner that is worthy of these privileges. He wrote of our
spiritual possessions in Christ (ch.1) and our spiritual position in
Christ (ch.2). In 2:1-10) Paul tells about our salvatin by God's grace,
showing what we were in the past (vv.1-3), what we are in the
present (vv.4-6), and what we will be in the future (vv.7-10). _-SKT