Growing in Grace

I had the opportunity to attend our church’s women’s conference today. It was a really nice time to be away from the responsibility of home, to sit at the feet of the Lord in worship, hear the Word of God and visit with my very good friend at lunch. The theme of the conference was “Follow Me” based on the Scripture Luke 9:23 which reads, “Then he said to them all: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Sandy MacIntosh was the first speaker. She talked about the three parts to this verse. First, is the denial of self. She pointed out that it is a choice. The verse says “IF anyone would come after me”. We must choose to give up our way for His will in our life. Her second point was that we are to take up our cross daily. The verb is in the continual form. It is not a once and for all action. She shared a story from A.W. Tozer. He had said that in every heart there is a throne and a cross. We remain on the throne until we put

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29 John was born for the soul purpose of preparing the way for the Lord Jesus Christ. When he was pressed about who he was, he did not give a direct answer. He only told who he was not. Warren Wiersbe points out that “John had nothing to say about himself because he was sent to talk about Jesus. Jesus is the Word; John was but a voice.” Like John, we are chosen by God and God is writing our life story even now. Ephesians 2:8-10 says that “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” We can ask the Lord to help us fulfill our calling. Once Jesus came on the scene, John began to acknowledge Jesus’ ministry. In verse 29 of chapter 1, John says, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”. The Bible speaks of Jesus Christ as the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (R