Author: Phil Rehberg

weekly words of encouragement

The Gift Of The Spirit Is God’s Guarantee – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance” Eph 1:13-14 (NIV) The gift of the Spirit is a mark, a seal, a deposit, and a guarantee! God stamped a mark on us and sees us with his mark that seals us as belonging to him, like a brand on a cow; we are part of his herd, which is the best herd possible. The Holy Spirit is also a down payment from God on all the good he is giving us, which is his kingdom and all the blessings that go with it. We gave our lives to him and showered us with blessings, and he lets us have a down payment now so we can taste our future. And the gift of the Spirit is a guarantee that nothing can stop God from bringing us Continue Reading →

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Transformation Through Abiding in Jesus

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Do you want your daily words and actions to be more Christlike, but you find that you can’t seem to get the right attitude throughout the day? You may want to consider learning to briefly focus your heart on Jesus several times a day. We call this “contemplating Jesus” because it is not meditation (i.e., mulling over, reflecting, gaining understanding), which is important for devotional times, but rather we are gazing on, beholding, giving attention to or abiding in Jesus. Contemplation is just a fancy word for these simple activities. In John 15:5 Jesus says, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (NIV). Abiding in Jesus is a continuous practice, which is very similar to contemplation. The most profound passage on contemplating Jesus is II Corinthians 3:18: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding Continue Reading →

weekly words of encouragement

Suffering Will Bless You – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” Romans 8:35 (ESV) It is interesting that in the same sentence about Christ’s love we have a list of terrible things that our loving God allows in our lives. Why is this? Because God’s first priority is your Christformation, not comfortable circumstances. In vv. 28-29 we learn that all things work to conform you to the image of Christ. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:28-29, NIV). Thus, suffering will bless you! And the truth we always know is that Christ loves us no matter what terrible thing is happening to Continue Reading →

weekly words of encouragement

The Kingdom Of God Is Here Now – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Luke 11:20 (ESV) When God promised his coming kingdom in the Old Testament he promised deliverance from enemies. Here we see Jesus casting out demons, demonstrating the power of God and delivering people from the Enemy of all enemies. Then he makes the most astonishing declaration that a Jew could make: the kingdom of God is here. Devout Jews had waited hundreds of years for the coming of God’s perfect kingdom. Jesus was saying that it had arrived! This was so monumental that it is hard to know what the people thought. We know that Jesus only began the inauguration of the kingdom and it wouldn’t be completed until he left and returned again. But the fact remains that the kingdom of God is here now. We Continue Reading →

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Your Rewards In Heaven Depend On Your Works

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When we think about our blessings in heaven we usually think about the immense pleasure of just being in God’s presence and enjoying his love. We may not think so much about the rewards in heaven God will give because that seems too self-focused. Moreover, how much good is a reward compared to being directly in God’s presence with Jesus? In Bernard of Clairvaux’s (b. 1090 – d. 1153) famous work On Loving God he says that “God is not loved without reward, although he should be loved without regard for one” (Sec. 6.17). Bernard rates loving God because of rewards in heaven as only the second of four levels of loving God. And yet scripture repeatedly uses rewards in heaven to motivate us to be Christlike. God assures us in Ephesians 6:7-8 that we should do “service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good Continue Reading →