I just put up this post (Righteousness in the law 3/21/2011) on I'm glad you asked....
...in it Pastor Ron made a statement that was a WOW! moment for me. I love to be wowed! by the Word--anytime, anywhere. That statement was:
"Notice Paul was the chief of sinners, which means he was the first in the line of many others! He was at the head of the line! Notice that he says that he was the pattern! Pattern of what? How God would save people in this dispensation of Grace! He was the first man to receive eternal life without works."
"...the first man to receive eternal life without works." Now then, I had already known that--and am persuaded that the Church, the Body of Christ, began with Paul's Road to Damascus experience, but I'd never hear it phrased quite that way and it really resonated within me. "Wow! Paul was the first! The first to EVER receive salvation by grace...alone--free! Everybody else had to add works to obtain their salvation. " (That should say a lot to someone that wants to listen.)
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I enjoy America's Got Talent and last season Howie Mandel (one of the judges) mentioned over and over to the contestants that he was looking for an act that would "WOW" him—something that would “stand out, make him sit up and take notice.” That got me to thinking about my first 'WOW! moment' in the Lord.
It dawned on me one day that I'd gotten spiritually “WOW!ed” in 1975. I visited a Baptist church in Worthington, MN, and the preacher there mentioned "graves opening up and bodies going up in the air." Now that ‘stood out’ from anything I'd ever heard in my life! It sure got my attention and made me sit up and take notice!” I'd been churched all my life and had never once heard such an outlandish thing! I distinctly remember wondering to myself: where in the world did that guy get his information!? Well, when I discovered it was from the Bible...
Acts 17:11 ...they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
...I decided I wanted to know more--the rest is history!
Long story short: I started going after everything that even smacked of being Christian. But it wasn’t long before I noticed a lot of conflicting and confusing and unsatisfying messages. Then I learned that it was actually possible to understand the Bible and how to that my WOW! moments once again kicked in full force, full time. It was a revelation to me that my WOW! moments are and always have been from Pauline doctrine, rightly divided!
Now, each day I look forward to finding a WOW! moment. I don't have to worry of ever being disappointed, because there will always be something to learn.
Ephesians 3:17-19
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Have a wonderful day in the Lord!
I know exactly what you mean, Jan, because I have had the same experience. Many 'wow moments' came from truths that you shared with me from the word rightly divided. I too ran after anything with the Christian label, but never had the peace I have now that I understand how to separate God's earthly plan and purpose from his heavenly plan and purpose (and people ; ). The religious blinders are off, praise the Lord!
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