Fw: draw near

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2016 7:33 AM
Subject: draw near

Hebrews 4:16 "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Mercy and grace....we need both so much.  We need mercy because there is no way we can approach God unless He provides a way, despite our failures...our rebellion from Him.  We desperately need grace because without God's direct help we cannot find our way in this life or find our way to Him for eternal life.  As the author of Hebrews put it, we need mercy and grace for help in our time of need.  And we stand constantly in that time of need.

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Because Jesus has come and paid the price that we could never pay, with His life, we can approach God's throne with confidence...confidence in Him...and obtain the help we need...to find life and then to go on living.

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Mercy and grace...this is the help we need.

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blessings,

Rob Smith

Fw: More than letters on a page

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2016 7:31 AM
Subject: More than letters on a page

Our words have a certain amount of power.  There is power to comfort and console...power to persuade...power to apologize...power to ask life-changing questions.  God's words carry amazing power.  There is power to create a universe...power to hold that universe together...power to reach inside individual hearts and shine light.

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When we read the Bible we are exposing our minds and hearts to this great power.  More than letters on a page, His Word is more like a vehicle that carries power...something like an intense laser that brings focused energy.

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Jesus is described in the first chapter of John as "the Word" that was with God from the beginning and came in the flesh.

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Here are three verses from the book of Hebrews on God's amazing Word:

Hebrews 11:³ By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

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Hebrews 1:³ He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

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Hebrews 4:¹² For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

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Listening to His Word...reading His Word...contemplating His Word...memorizing His Word...these are ways to meet the One who made it all and desires to reach each one.

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blessings,

Rob Smith

Fw: taking the call

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2016 7:28 AM
Subject: taking the call

Sometimes you have to turn the ringer down on your phone and you may miss a call.  Hopefully, if it's important, they'll leave a message.  Sometimes a call comes in and when you see who is calling you are excited to hear from a family member or friend (and then you pick up).  Sometimes a call comes in from an unknown number and the message left indicates an unwanted sales call.  But how do you respond when the call comes to your heart from Jesus?  Do you have the ringer turned down?  Is your heart on "silent"?  Do you see who is calling and ignore Him?

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Jesus calls us individually.  He knows our number.  He seems to prefer to speak directly to us rather than leave a message.  But if He does call He has a message of freedom for you!

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John 10:3-4 "...The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.  A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."

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blessings,

Rob Smith

Fw: knowledge

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2016 7:21 AM
Subject: knowledge

Ephesians 3:¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

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The apostle Paul is expressing his heart-felt longings for the church at Ephesus.  He caps it off with a play on words.  Knowledge can mean a mental awareness of facts.  Knowledge can also mean actually experiencing something.  We put a lot of stock in 'head knowledge' and invest years in school and work to build our storehouse of information.  But in that sense knowledge is a 'means to an end'.  The availability of information permits us to solve problems, answer questions and accomplish tasks.

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The knowledge that is experience represents not the means to the end...but the end itself.  And, as Paul states, the experience of knowing Christ personally far surpasses 'knowing facts about Christ'. 

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By faith we have experienced the Lord and so we 'know' that we are known...now and forever!

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blessings,

Rob Smith

Fw: the angle on angels

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Monday, December 26, 2016 10:53 AM
Subject: the angle on angels

Luke 2:¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

¹⁴ "Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

¹⁵ When the angels went away from them into heaven.....

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So a great number of angels joined together to make the joyous announcement of the Savior baby's arrival.  A multitude means an army or band of angels.  They were obviously angels to the shepherds and they came to join the single angel who came first.  When the first angel came the shepherds were filled with fear.  Scripture says "the glory of the Lord shone around them".  Can you imagine the awe that swept these humble shepherds on their hillside?

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It's amazing to consider the reality that an army of angels exists in Heaven.  Why don't they show up more often?  Why don't they exercise their supernatural power more frequently?

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Perhaps if we were to see and experience the angels more often we would allow our interest in them to take the place of our need for the Lord.  Angels have a different starting point than we do.  They start from being in the presence of the Lord in Heaven and are submitted to His authority always.  We start from a place of rebellion and are not submitted initially to God's authority.  We do have a great need to be connected to Heaven...but that connection must be centered on our need for forgiveness and cleansing of sin.  If we get too caught up in all the interesting phenomena of Heaven before being reconciled to God we will miss the narrow gate that leads to eternal life.

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We have an eternity to get acquainted better with angels!

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(and yet we may meet some along the way even here!)

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Merry Christmas!

Rob Smith

Fw: Let us go to Bethlehem and see...

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 25, 2016 7:36 AM
Subject: Let us go to Bethlehem and see...

Luke 2:¹⁵ When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us."

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This Christmas morning we should follow the recommendation of the shepherds.  They just had a very "un-shepherd-like" experience with a lot of angels.  It probably started out as a night, like all nights, filled with the blackness of sky and quiet except for the occasional cry of a lamb or crackle of the fire.  Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to them.  Imagine what that was like!  Apparently they were clear that this was an angel and he was from the Lord.  The angel has a specific message telling them of a newcomer to earth.  This newcomer had three key identifying characteristics: He was (1) a Savior, (2) Christ and (3) the Lord.  The shepherds needed a Savior because they were, like all men, sinners who couldn't "self correct" their separation from God.  The shepherds needed one commissioned and specifically sent by God...the Christ...because no one else would have the power or authority to restore them.  The shepherds needed the Lord, Himself, to come because no one else could walk in the flesh without being consumed by it and no one else could pay the price needed to restore them to the Father.

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The angels were the first witness of God coming in the flesh and the shepherds responded to their witness and went to see for themselves.  After they went to find the baby they did two things: they witnessed to Mary and Joseph and others what the angels had told them and they worshiped and glorified the Lord.  They heard the message.  They went to Bethlehem to confirm it.  They believed the message and were changed...they were shepherds who now had become sheep of the Great Shepherd.

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Merry Christmas,

Rob Smith

Fw: Behind the scenes...

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 24, 2016 10:51 AM
Subject: Behind the scenes...

 Luke 2:2 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ And all went to be registered, each to his own town. ⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem...

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Micah 5:2 

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
    one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming is from old, from ancient days.

Sometimes it's the small things that convince you that God has the master plan.  The prophet Micah had prophesied hundreds of years earlier that Bethlehem would be the birthplace of the Messiah.  But the specific reason that Joseph and Mary ended up in Bethlehem was at the direction of the Roman authorities.  Their motive was to get all the taxes they could from the local people.  But God always knew that this would take place.  He is the sovereign ruler over time and events and He guided even the Roman rulers to make sure His plans would be fulfilled.  

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God's plan is greater than man's....and we are grateful...our plans so often have the wrong purpose.  But God can wrap us up in His greater purpose...and He will certainly complete all that He has begun.

Merry Christmas!

Rob Smith