Look inside this book.Where the Bush is Burning: A Daily Devotional by [Thomas Tice]

Tag: Adoption
‘Loved With Everlasting Love’

‘Loved With Everlasting Love’

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‘Loved With Everlasting Love’

I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

John 17:23

It is a blessing and benefit to have someone love us. It is more marvelous when the one who loves, bestows it upon another with whom he or she has no natural connection. Christ alludes to this type of love in our text for today. In His High Priestly prayer He says, ‘that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.’ Verse 24 identifies clearly of whom Christ is speaking. They are those, ‘whom You gave Me,’ according to Christ. We want today to consider this love of which Christ speaks. The end of verse 24 tells us that this love is an ancient love. Christ declares that God His Father ‘loved Me before the foundation of the world.’ If God has so loved us, as He has loved Christ, then He has loved us from ancient eternity. If God loves Christ deeply, then He loves us deeply. If God loves Christ unswervingly, then He loves us unswervingly. If God loves Christ completely, then He loves us completely. We may pile description upon description of the characteristics of this Divine Love, yet words will fail us to sound the depths, measure the broadness, and find the limits of this Love. We who were, ‘by nature the children of wrath,’ have become the recipients of this Everlasting Love, all for the Sake of Christ Our Elder Brother by adoption.

Our Gracious and Loving God,
we rejoice that You have loved us with an everlasting love.
We praise You that Your love for us will never fail,
and that it will culminate in an eternal glory, which fadeth not away.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
Family Unity

Family Unity

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Family Unity

I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

John 17:23

God aims at the perfect completion of all His work in all His people. As we continue to consider the privileges and benefits of adoption we come to consider the total unity of the Church of Jesus Christ, that is, all of the redeemed of all ages. Christ was keenly aware, and wholly committed to this concept of the unity of the people of God when He uttered these words during His ‘High Priestly Prayer,’ on the night before He went to the cross. He said, ‘I in them, and you in Me that they may be perfect in one….’ God intends to unify His Family. Unpleasantly, we do not see that unity on display today, nor have we seen it at any time during the history of the church thus far. What will ultimately effect the unity of the Family of God, which He so much desires? Christ indicates the answer in His preceding remark. ‘I in them, and You in Me, that they may be brought to complete unity.’ It is Christ who truly unifies the Family of God.  We see, today a church divided by many things, forms, ceremonies, interpretations, personalities and practices. Who is the One Person Who can bring all these people together? Christ both can and will unify His people. Christ is overwhelmingly committed to Family Unity. In that purpose He is utterly at One with His Father, and the Holy Spirit. They will finish what they have started, and the Father will answer the prayer of the Son, ‘that they may be made perfect in one.’

Our Gracious and Loving Father,
we rejoice that You are wholly committed to all of Your Ransomed people.
We praise You that You will bring them all savingly unto Christ,
and unify them in Him.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
Preparing for Worship

Preparing for Worship

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Sunday Worship

9:30 am

650 Kennedy Drive, Northglenn

Scripture

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.  Revelation 3:12

As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.  Psalm 103:13-14

For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?  Hebrews 12:6-7

Sermon – Benefits of Adoption – Tomm Tice

  1.  God names us and claims us.
  2. God has compassion upon us.
  3. God lovingly corrects us.

Catechism – Westminster Shorter Catechism – Question 83

Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?

Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.

Ezekiel 8:6, 13, 15. He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations…. He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do…. Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. Matthew 11:20-24. Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. John 19:11. Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

Worship

Before the Throne

In Christ Alone

Psalm 100
Compassion For His Children

Compassion For His Children

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Compassion For His Children

As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.

Psalm 103:13-14

As we continue to consider the blessings and benefits of adoption, we come to dwell upon our text for today, ‘As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.’ Here we find one of the overwhelming benefits of our adoption into the family of God.  Working backward from the reason He gives in second portion of the text, let us consider that God understands us, and is fully aware of our frailty. No One of the Trinity understands this more thoroughly than Christ. He has the personal experience of this frailty. He ‘took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.’ Therefore, Christ, ‘can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is beset with weakness.’ We see in the Character of Christ, the compassion of God for His children. Behold, the compassion of Christ upon children, how they gathered around Him; how He defended them from those who would drive them away; how He lifted them up, and drew them unto Himself. So in a larger sense does God do to us who are His children by adoption. He is fully conscious of how weak and frail we are. He, the Good Shepherd, has great compassion upon the most feeble of His flock. We have an utterly sympathetic Savior; a Compassionate God; a Kind and Loving Father. Let us rest our weary head upon His Bosom today.

O, Christ our Savior,
Great Shepherd of the Sheep,
we praise You, that You are the Instrument of God’s peace.
We praise You that You take up in Your arms, the lambs of Your flock,
and carry them in Your Bosom.

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice
Loving Correction

Loving Correction

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Loving Correction

For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

Hebrews 12:6-7

As we continue to consider the privileges of adoption into the family of God, we come to consider the matter of correction. Because correction may involve some unpleasantness, we often do not think of it in terms of it being a privilege. Our natural inclination is to continue in whatever behavior we have begun, without having anyone call us into account. God, Our Father, however, loves us too much to allow us to behave badly without correction. Hence our text for today declares, ‘For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?’ This puts correction within the context of sonship. A parent, in wisdom, sees the consequences of bad behavior. We, as parents, see that there will be disaster ahead, in the life of this child, if that little one continues to throw tantrums and act out. So, with great love, and carefully considered action, we correct the child’s behavior. God will conform us to the Image and Likeness of Christ. That will drastically alter our natural inclinations and the behavior which is the logical outgrowth of those inclinations. To that end, He corrects us in various ways using a variety of means. Even though, as the verses which follow our text indicate, this is not a presently enjoyable experience, it produces in us a good effect in the long term. So today, let us recognize this correction as a privilege of our adoption.  God our Father, would have us, the adopted sons of God, to be more like Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God.

Our most Holy and Wise God,
and our Loving Heavenly Father.
We praise You, that You in love, correct us,
and that You will continue Your work of Grace in us
until we are all that You want us to be.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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