Pastor Terry Lema's Daily Devotions
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New Birth

Freely Given

by TerryLema October 8, 2022

In the past few years there have been enormous lottery payouts.  A few have been over $1.5 billion. Much of the world was captivated by the idea of spending $1 on a ticket and walking away with over $1.5 billion. Of course, if you decide to take the money all at once (and most do) that payout is reduced by nearly half. Then the government gets its share. Still, that is a lot of money.

A lot of money and very few who end up with it. Most walk away with a worthless piece of paper and a hope that next week’s drawing will be different – they’ll be winners.

It would be nice to get billions for a buck, but it will never happen to me. I think you actually have to play a lottery to win one, and since I don’t, I guess I’ll always be a loser.

I am okay with that because I am a winner in a much bigger event than the drawing for $1.5 billion. One of my daily verses reminded me of that this morning.

“Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” [1 Peter 1:3 HCSB]

I have been freely “given a new birth.” Praise God.  That “new birth” is a “living hope.” Living hope, not wishful thinking.

That “new birth” into a “living hope” is backed by the power that resurrected Christ Jesus from the dead.

Today: I am so thankful for that powerful living hope that infiltrated my old life and brought me to a new birth.

October 8, 2022 0 comment
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Great Mercy, New Birth, Living Hope

by TerryLema October 7, 2021

“Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” [1 Peter 1:3 HCSB]

This verse was my daily verse last Sunday. Peter was praising God the Father for the new birth he was given through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. As I read it, I was once again captured by two small phrases.

The first was “great mercy.” Everything about this new birth – really everything we receive from God is given according to “His great mercy.”

The word for mercy is eleos, and it means mercy, kindness, or good will toward the miserable and afflicted, joined to a desire to relieve them. God does not want us miserable or afflicted, and yet so many people think that is His aim. I lived under that lie for years. I thought God was looking for ways to keep me out of heaven, all the while He was looking to bring me into His family through “His great mercy.”

The second phrase that caught my attention was “living hope,” especially that word “living.” The hope that is ours at the new birth is not wishful thinking. It is not the kind of wishing we do about the lottery or a big inheritance from a long-lost relative. The hope we have as God’s children is a “living” hope. It is alive, full of life and breath.

I like to think of it this way. The wishful thinking the world calls hope is a dead hope. The hope we have at the new birth is every bit alive as our Resurrected LORD and Savior. His resurrection from the dead breathed life into our hope.

Bless His Holy Name! Amen

October 7, 2021 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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