“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” -1 Peter 2:9
We are made much of so that we will make much of Him! -Jared C. Wilson in “Gospel Deeps”
“I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” -Isaiah 48:10
This has long been the motto fixed before our eye upon the wall of our bedroom, and in many ways it has also been written on our heart. It is no mean thing to be chosen of God. God’s choice makes chosen men choice men. Better to be the elect of God than the elect of a whole nation. So eminent is this privilege, that whatever drawback may be joined to it we very joyfully accept it, even as the Jew ate the bitter herbs for the sake of the Paschal Lamb. We choose the furnace, since God chooses us in it.
We are chosen as an afflicted people and not as a prosperous people, chosen not in the palace but in the furnace. In the furnace beauty is marred, fashion is destroyed, strength is melted, glory is consumed, and yet here eternal love reveals its secrets and declares its choice. So has it been in our case. In times of severest trial God has made to us our calling and election plain, and we have made it sure: then have we chosen the Lord to be our God, and He has shown that we are assuredly His chosen. Therefore, if today the furnace be heated seven times hotter, we will not dread it, for the glorious Son of God will walk with us amid the glowing coals.
[from Faith’s Checkbook by Charles H. Spurgeon]
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…” -Ephesians 2:8
The fact that salvation cannot be earned is demonstrated by who were chosen to hear the announcement of the Savior’s birth and who weren’t. -Paul Tripp
Sunday Evening | Pastor Anthony Vance | The Sovereign Work of God Before You Were Born | Jeremiah 1:4-8
“Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love” -Ephesians 1:4
When did God choose you? The verse right before Genesis 1:1.
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*Click here for Sunday Morning Sermon Audio: Paul’s Heart Cry to His Children (Galatians 4:12-20)
*Click here for Sunday Evening Sermon Audio: The Sovereign Work of God Before You Were Born (Jeremiah 1:4-8)
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love…” Ephesians 1:3-4
Stagger not at electing love; it is one of the highest notes of heavenly music. -Charles Spurgeon (via Twitter)
New Life Baptist Church 