Last Letters to Christian

Douglas A. Weigent

Description

Last Letters to Christian is a spiritual discovery of the work of God showing how we reflect His image in our salvation.
The purpose of this book is to share the great work that God does in our souls for eternal life. We are always on a journey, outlined and empowered by the love of God. He provides the spiritual fountain we drink from to be like Christ. For the new creation, we are transformed into the image of Jesus. God builds into our lives the fruit of His own Spirit. The discussion of God’s attributes in these letters allows the comparison to be made between the transfiguration of our hearts, and the reflection of His image. We are not gods, but we can be godly. I include letters on God’s power, wisdom and providence, proving that only God is able to do this heart work. I include letters on the fruit of the Spirit for patience, goodness, faithfulness, freedom and holiness, establishing our reflection of God’s handiwork. In God’s time and way, He brings us to places in our lives where we experience and better understand His goodness.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Spirituality
• Religion
• Christian

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 20 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664278189
• Langue: English

Extrait

LAST LETTERS to Christian
 
The Workmanship of God in Our Salvation
 
 
 
 
DOUGLAS A. WEIGENT
 
 
 

 
Copyright © 2022 Douglas A. Weigent.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org
 
Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7817-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7819-6 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7818-9 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022916943
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 10/19/2022
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Power
Wisdom
Providence
Patience
Goodness
Faithfulness
Heart
Freedom
Holiness
Questions for Reflection
Invitation to Receive Jesus
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
I acknowledge the help of previous Christian authors, whose writings on occasion have provided hints and guided my thoughts. They confirm my spiritual journey. Helpful authors included Thomas Brooks, Watchman Nee, Stephen Charnock, Arthur Pink, and Charles Spurgeon. The most helpful has been The Whole Bible Commentary by Matthew Henry. Some books have been consulted and these are listed in the back as selected references for additional reading. Most scripture quotations in this book are from The New American Standard Bible (The Open Bible, 1977). A few scripture quotations are from the King James version of the Bible. I have written from my memory and previous lessons taught in Sunday School and for the Jails. I share my understanding and experience in the Lord over the past 60 years. I acknowledge the generous support of my wife, Diane, my daughter, Rachel and my grandson, Christian. I gratefully acknowledge many friends, that over the years have been important pieces of my life. I gratefully acknowledge my wife for editorial assistance, and the publisher for help in the preparation of this book. The most important acknowledgement I have, is for the lovingkindness of God. I believe I have been led and blessed by the Lord. To God be the glory. Amen.
Introduction
Dear Reader,
After I retired from work, I planned on writing one book about Jesus to my grandson. That book, entitled “Letters to Christian,” was about the grace of God in the battle for the future of his soul. The letters described how to equip and protect the soul against temptation and sin with His armor of truth. After I finished the book, I was surprised by the feeling of being lonely and empty. It turned out that I missed being with the Lord in worship, and reading and writing about the Bible. The blessing of being with the Lord spurred me onto writing a second book entitled “More Letters to Christian.” The second book described the gifts that God provides for our souls that establish us in Jesus, help us grow in grace and delight in our Christian experience. The gifts of God become an experiential truth. We are His workmanship (Eph. 2:10). The Lord works out our journey into His heart. We have been blessed, and God is the reason and the source of amazing grace. Again, the time spent with the Lord was the stimulus to write another book. This one I have entitled “Last Letters to Christian”. I think this book will be my final written words. God has been faithful and good to me with His presence and grace to accomplish this task. If you read them and are spiritually nourished in Jesus, I will consider my effort a great reward.
In part of my journey as a Christian, I found the experience to be a battle. I spent some time struggling with my responsibility for salvation. I knew I was a sinner and that holiness was important, but I was weak and never had a peace about where I was at. At the same time, I failed to understand and appreciate the meaning or role of God’s sovereignty in salvation. Today, I know that human responsibility and God’s sovereignty are both important and true for salvation. Early on, I knew about the Bible, but I never read it in any kind of detail where it helped me. I think the world, my flesh and the Devil combined their effort to keep me ignorant. I knew the Bible said “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32), but I was not free. Eventually, God sent me deeper into the Gospel of John, the book of Ephesians and finally Romans; by the grace of God, I woke up. Bible study has been an indispensable part for me to understand my salvation and to know the Lord. Thank you, Jesus.
There are at least two passages in the Bible that have meant a lot to me in writing books. The first is, “For by grace you have been saved through faith and not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:8-10). The second passage is “work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13). The two scripture passages cited above highlight the importance of God’s gifts and work, and our part for salvation. Jesus Himself said, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him who He has sent” (John 6:29). God requires that we believe in Jesus. The only work that God accepts is faith in His Son (Acts 16:31). The natural man does not have the heart or mind to come to Jesus, he must be drawn by God. “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). To be drawn by Christ is for us to believe in Christ. In believing in Christ, we come to Jesus as Savior. In this way, we are born again and made spiritually alive (John 3:3). We become a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), and a partaker of the Divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). “It is the Spirit who gives life” (John 6:63). The convicting power of the Holy Spirit works in our heart to lay hold of Jesus for salvation. With the heart, man believes that God raised Jesus from the dead, resulting in righteousness (Rom. 10:9-10). By the grace of God, the convicting power of the Spirit is the source of the gifts of faith, repentance and eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 6:23). In believing, we receive in our heart a motive for holy living and walking by faith in freedom. We come to know and behold the work of God in our heart, soul, mind and strength. Amen.
The Bible tells us that, “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth so that we might be, as it were, the first fruits among His creatures” (James 1:18). Peter tells us, “You have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23). Christ is the Savior appointed by God, and faith in Him is what God approves and accepts for salvation. We must only accept the work already done by Christ, and not try to be saved by ourselves. Believe and then see. It becomes our responsibility to discover what God has already built up into us, by fear and trembling, after we were born again. We must read the Bible to know God, because this is where He has chosen to reveal Himself. The Bible tells us that “God hast magnified Thy word according to all Thy name” (Ps. 138:2). In the Bible, we learn about God’s attributes and His workmanship to save us from the penalty of sin. In the Bible, we learn about Jesus and that God is good. Amen.
In His goodness, He chose to save us and make us holy children through the Gospel or Word of truth. God acted in love according to His own good pleasure. He made us (Job 33:4) and fashions within us a new heart (Ps. 33:15, Ezek. 11:19). He works for us (Eph. 3:20, Phil. 1:6, 2:13, Ps. 57:2). He accomplishes the work that concerns us and causes all things to work together for good (Rom. 8:28). From the new birth we are brought forth in character, by the grace of God, as first fruits, consecrated to God and holy to the Lord. Grace is the first-fruit of glory begun. We have groans within ourselves, as evidence of life as a first fruit waiting for our adoption (Rom. 8:23). As God’s first fruits, we are to bear fruit for Him. God’s goal for us is to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). The fruit of the Spirit are characteristics Jesus displayed that appear in the life of a believer through the power of the Holy Spirit. Some attributes of God are considered “communicable”; that is, they are qualities that both God and man can possess though only God possesses them perfectly. Some of the communicable qualities include wisdom, faithfulness, goodness, patience, mercy, lovingkindness and holiness. This book is about the attributes of God that He communicates to us as fruit of the Holy Spirit. They reflect His im