BBD 06.30.16 A New Life (Classic)
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>
Classic from 2009
Burning Bush Devotional
30 June 2016
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 NKJV.
Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.” – 1 John 3:7 NKJV.
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 (2009), Marcus Schrenker, attempted to
fake his death by reporting problems aboard the plane he was piloting. He
reported that he was bleeding profusely after receiving injuries during severe
turbulence; then while leaving the plane on autopilot, he parachuted to safety.
The plane crashed, but the pilots of the military jets that intercepted the
plane saw that the door was ajar, and that the cockpit was 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 (2 Corinthians 5:17). 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 © 2009-2016. Ed
Wrather. 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.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of those
first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to
prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.
Visit the
Burning Bush websites:
The Burning Bush websites are celebrating
18 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 14,000
subscribers across the world.
The Addictions Kit - Biblical Help for Addictions by Ed Wrather is now available
for download from Amazon. The
Addictions Kit provides practical Biblical steps to defeat your addiction that
actually work.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VIYLNLM
The New Pastor's Training Manual is available for download on Amazon. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PJ8UTGS If you prefer a paper copy of the book you can order it from
the Burning Bush website at http://bit.ly/1uXDBnk
You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at http://www.theburningbush.net.
There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top right hand corner of all of the pages.
Check out the Scripture Index being constructed for the
Devotionals at the Burning Bush website. The Links are in about the middle of
the home page. Topics for each devotional are now being added to the Index.
Prayer
Requests:
Please continue to pray for McCoy Greer, Michelle Abetz,
Shane Hall, Brad, Reta (my sister), Beverly (Jeanie’s sister), Loretta Brewer
and Jeanie.
Please pray for an end to the
racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace and love. Many
prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page.
You can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for me.).
You can contact Ed Wrather at edwrather@yahoo.com or
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105
If you enjoy the devotional
please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank
email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org
There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.
Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.
You can unsubscribe to the burningbushdevo devotional group by
sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email.
You may subscribe to the html text group (Because of time
constraints the devotional is only being sent now in html format) by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by
sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.
--
To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org