Love Fulfilled Ministry

through his plan, he brought us forth through the word of truth to the extent we exist a kind of first fruit of all he created (James 1:18) There is so much in this verse that we could spend time on, like the phrase "through his plan." But we want to focus primarily on what it means for us to be the first fruit of all that God created. he has made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time (Ephesians 1:9) Paul writes one of the spiritual blessings that we receive in Christ is that God has made known to us the mystery of his will. A plan for fullness, in which he is working out according to what he purposed in Christ for our good, that we are being conformed to the image of Christ. We relate this to the phrase in our featured verse, "of all he created."  Now God's glory was manifested through creation since the beginning of time. However, God's purpose and plan that is bein...

Compare what Moses says and what Paul says about righteousness.  Moses: "The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deuteronomy 30:9‭-‬10 ESV) If you do these you will live and be prosperous. "Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them..." (Romans 10:4‭-‬5 ESV). If you do not you will surely perish (Deuteronomy 30:17 ESV). "For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say...