BBD 03.12.09 A New Life
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 11,000 subscribers across the world.
Join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is made up
of over 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive prayer
requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 269 new subscribers since January 1, 2009!!
03.12.09
A New Life
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have
passed away; behold, all things have become new. - 2 Corinthians 5:17.
Do not marvel that I said to you, "You must be born again." - John 3:7.
We remember the horrific crash of two passenger trains in west London near
Paddington Station in 1999. Karl Hackett watched the crash and saw it as an
opportunity to start another life under an assumed identity. Pretending to
be his supervisor, he called an emergency line and reported himself missing.
Just to be sure he called again posing as his brother and again reported
himself missing. His family attended a memorial service at the site of the
train crash believing he had perished and the body was unrecoverable.
However, Hackett's new life did not work out quite as he had hoped, and he
was given a five month suspended sentence for his deception. His attorney,
Michael Ivers, said at that time: "His employment in the field of computer
graphics has come to an end. He is now effectively humiliated in terms of
his employment."
Many others have tried similar deceptions in order to gain a new life. In
the United States in January of this year, Marcus Schrenker, attempted to
fake his death by reporting problems aboard the plane he was piloting. He
reported that he was bleeding profusely from injuries received during severe
turbulence; then while leaving the plane on autopilot, he parachutes to
safety. The plane crashes but the pilots of military jets that intercepted
the plane see that the door is ajar and that the cockpit is dark prior to
the crash. The plan was for the plane to crash at sea, but it crashed on
land and there was not any sign of blood in the wreckage. Schrenker had
hoped to leave behind the financial fraud that he had perpetrated, but he
has been arrested and will be forced to face trial and receive punishment
for his crimes. It seems that eventually it always fails, and it is never
quite what they had hoped. However, we do not have to assume someone else's
identity in order to have a new life. No, we can be "born again." By
receiving Jesus as our Savior, we will become a "new creation" and "old
things" will have "passed away." We will also receive a "new name."
Revelation 2:17 tells us "and I will give him a white stone, and on the
stone a new name written no one knows except him who receives it."
Sometimes we may not feel like we are a new creation. That is because we are
designed for a new heaven and a new earth. Our citizenship was transferred
from earth to Heaven at the moment that we received Christ Jesus as our
Savior, and we were "born again." Until we actually arrive in our Heavenly
home, we are "ambassadors of Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:20) here on earth to
share with others the joy and hope of the new life. Contemplate the fact
that you are a representative of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. It
may not always feel like such a wonderful thing at the present time when we
sometimes suffer for our faith but consider what the apostle Paul says about
this time while we are still on earth, "For I consider that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which
shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18)."
Copyright © 2009. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Prayer Requests: Please pray for Malachi, Cody, and Mica who are young boys
with cancer. Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the
Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they
will be forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always
in need of prayer - please pray for me.).
If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.
If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org
Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube at:
http://www.godtube.com/Wrather
You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
http://www.kkbifm.com/
There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.
You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.
You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.