JOHN & ACTS

It's Saturday in Washington.  I'm at a lodge near Mt. Ranier with snow on the ground in heaps all around.  The snow is like hard ice since it has been on the ground for many, many weeks..  Yesterday it was in the high forties here, but the ice remains and I saw little evidence of much melting.  We are at a couple's retreat, and it has been fun and educational.  I have been teaching and today, I and my wife will teach some more in combined and split sessions.  Here is a truth or two from today's reading: 1) LOVED TO THE END- In John 13:1 it says:  "having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end."  It means He loved His followers unto the very end of His stay on earth, but... we know that Matt. 28:20 says:  "and lo, I am with you alway even unto the end of the earth."   So, the love of Jesus is not until His eartly ministry was over, but until the end of the earth."  But, since "heaven and earth shall pass away"  and we will have a "new heaven and a new earth", He loves us longer.  The Bible tells us that "I have loved thee with an everlasting love"  (Jer. 31:3)  So indeed, Jesus will love us til the end.... and since there is no "end".... His love will keep coming our way forever.  Praise God!! 2) WE ARE UNCOMMON-  In Acts 10:15, we see the phrase: "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common."   He was speaking of the food that God placed before Peter and told him to "Rise, Peter:  kill, and eat."  But, the truth is still here!  We were once "common", but we have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, and our sins have been forgiven and taken away.  We are no longer "common", we are "peculiar people"!  How wonderful to know that in God's sight we are His very special people.  Not common at all.  Today, rest and rejoice in the knowledge that God thinks you are very special!  Got to go for now!  Have a blessed day!   Pastor Mike Mutchler