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forgiven

Double Blessing

by TerryLema November 27, 2022

I think I will spend the remainder of November thinking about the blessings we have in God. So why not start with a double blessing day?

“Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.” [Ps 32:1-2]

The word for “blessed” is ‘esher in the Hebrew. It could simply be described as “How Happy!”

“How happy!” we are when our sins are forgiven and covered.  John reminds us that “If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” [1 John 1:9]

God is faithful to us. He forgives all our sins in Christ Jesus. They are covered by the blood shed by God’s very Son on that cross nearly 2000 years ago. Forgiven. I can think of no greater blessing than to know that because of Jesus, nothing now stands between my Father God and me.

“How happy!” we are when the LORD does not count our sins against us ever again. I have often heard it said that the LORD will both forgive and forget our sins. How can the All-Knowing God forget anything?

When we say that God forgets our sins, it means exactly what the Psalmist says here. God does not count them against us. Once they are forgiven in Christ, they are gone. We need never worry that one day God will remind us of them or change His mind and condemn us because of them.

Maybe the blessing that is at least equal to or possibly greater than having my sins forgiven in Christ is that assurance that they are forever buried in His love, never to be resurrected.

November 27, 2022 0 comment
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How Joyful!

by TerryLema December 15, 2020

I have been thinking more about Norman, the 7-year-old- who told Santa that he is ‘good all of the time.’ I, of course, am not a ‘norman.’ I am pretty much an ‘un-norman,’ needing the forgiveness of God repeatedly.  I am much more like the prodigal son than I am Norman. It does not take much to remind me that I am just a sinner saved by God’s amazing grace.

But as Romans 4:7 reminds me, there is much joy in being a sinner saved by God’s amazing grace. “How joyful are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered!”

I am especially awestruck at this time of year when I consider the babe in the manger and what it cost God to bring that forgiveness to me.

Philippians tells us Jesus, the Word, left the glories of heaven to come to this earth, taking on our human flesh, taking on our human condition, taking on our punishment. He did it for the “joy that was set before Him.”

Now that joy is mine as I see all my sins covered by the Blood of the Lamb of God on that cross. That joy is mine knowing that I am forgiven and forgiven again. Every time I come to my Precious Savior in repentance, I know that His forgiveness will touch my sorrowing heart.

When I fail, the Father calls me to sorrow and to repent, and when I do, I am forgiven – again.

Bill & Gloria Gaither – Forgiven Again [Live] – Bing video

 

December 15, 2020 0 comment
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Go in Peace

by TerryLema February 21, 2020

The last event in Luke 7 always makes me want to weep. It begins with verse 36 and ends at verse 50, and is the account of a Pharisee, Jesus, and a woman who had lived a sinful life.

Jesus was invited to the home of a Pharisee. Common courtesy was to provide water so that visitors could wash the dust of the road from their feet and to greet an honored guest with a kiss. This Pharisee did neither, but a woman snuck into the room with an alabaster jar of perfume. She came to Jesus and washed His feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, kissed them and then poured the expensive perfume upon them. The Pharisee recognized her as a “sinful woman” and wondered why Jesus would even allow such to touch Him.

A sinful woman. What would it have been like to know that everyone knew your sins and that you bore a label that forever linked you with them?

A desperate woman. A woman desperate enough to give her the courage to enter the presence of men who knew all about her and scorned her for her life.

A woman of repentance and faith. Jesus saw beyond the label. He saw the actions of her faith – seeking Him out, weeping in repentance, showing her thankfulness for His acceptance and love.

A forgiven woman. “Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ … Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’” [Luke 7:48-50]

What a wonderful Savior.

February 21, 2020 0 comment
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Pastor Terry Lema

Pastor Terry Lema has been married for 53 years, and has 3 children and 3 grandsons. Terry graduated from Trinity Bible College, and and recently retired as Lead Pastor at The Way Church in Middleton, Idaho.

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