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Hi!
I'm
Bruce Collins. I am an evangelist and teacher of the Bible. I
became a child of God by faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus
Christ on November 24, 1963 and have tried to serve the Lord in various
capacities since then. I am presently an itinerant minister of
the Gospel. I do not work for an organization but I try to
serve the Lord in the best way that I can wherever He leads. That
means that my wife and I have our financial needs met by the Lord as we do
not have a salary from any church or organization. We believe
that the Gospel is free so we have never made a charge for our services.
I
am available for Bible studies, conferences, Gospel meetings, children's meetings
and camp work. I have traveled throughout much of the United States
and Canada in my service for the Lord. My wife helps me, and
we attend the Bethany Bible Chapel in Cedar Falls, Iowa. They have encouraged us
by commending us for this work.
My
wife, Geneva and I live in Waterloo, Iowa. We have four children.
One of them is married and has provided us with two grandchildren.
This
web site has a weekly meditation that I hope will encourage you. It
has links to literature and organizations that I think are helpful.
You can also listen to my weekly radio program here.
Yours
because of Calvary,
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Meditation--updated
weekly
If
you would like to comment go to
http://bdcministries.com/
Full
of Grace and Truth
John 1:14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth.
The
Incarnation
John
1 gives us a theological explanation of the incarnation of Christ.
We find out that the the Lord is the Word.
A word can be the vehicle that delivers a message or it can be
the message itself. The Lord
was both. He delivered the
message of John 3:16 where He says, “For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
That summarizes the Lord's purpose and the message of the Bible.
We either believe or trust what the Lord says or we question it.
If we trust it, we have everlasting life.
If we question it, we are going to perish.
Full
of Grace and Truth
But
I digress. What I like about
the message of John 1 is that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
The Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us.
The Lord represented God and reflected God.
His attributes are the attributes of God.
And He was full of Grace and Truth.
The
word full in the Bible often means controlled by.
If we are filled with anger or rage or jealousy, it controls us.
The Lord was controlled by grace and truth.
I
like to think of truth as the engine in a car.
I like to think of grace as the oil that keeps that engine
running smoothly. If you
drain the oil out of the engine of a car and then start it, the engine
will run for a while. But
ultimately, it will begin to make lots of noise and will “freeze
up.” The engine will be
destroyed. Notice that there
was nothing wrong with the engine. However,
there was something lacking, and it was the oil.
The Lord did not give up the truth in order to manifest His
grace. The truth is that we
are all sinners. The truth
is that God loved us and provided for the punishment that our sins
deserved by punishing Christ for us.
The truth is that God manifested His grace by providing for a
fallen race in that way. Grace
is a free unmerited gift. You
don't have to ask for it. You
only have to receive it by believing in the authority, character and
reputation of the Lord. See
John 1:12.
Grace
is Amazing
I
have always liked the song Amazing Grace.
I understand the sentiments of John Newton who wrote it.
But the song can be misunderstood.
It says, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a
wretch like me. I once was
lost but now am found. Was
blind but now I see.” Those
lyrics are an accurate reflection of how one is saved if we understand
that grace doesn't save us but Christ saves us by His grace. So
when we sing the song, most of us are thinking about the amazing grace
of Christ because we are saved by grace through faith in Christ.
What
is grace? We have already
likened it to the oil in a car. It
is defined as a gift that is freely offered and that is unmerited.
It is probably more fully defined by the fruit of the spirit
which is found in Galatians 5:22-23:
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
One who is full of grace would be gracious and that was true of
the Lord. He grew in grace.
People marveled at the gracious words that He spoke.
The
only times the Lord wasn't gracious was when He was dealing with
religious hypocrites and with people who used the worship of Jehovah as
a business. He healed, He
fed, He calmed storms, He
willingly died on a cross in order to offer us the free gift of
salvation. We by contrast
try to work our way to heaven but Paul reminds us that wages of sin
(what we get for working) is
death but the gift (grace) of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord (Romans 6:23). That
grace will not be available after we die if we reject it now.
The Lord is longsuffering when it comes to reaching unbelievers,
but that grace is only available now while we are living.
My
Prayer
I
love the fact that the Lord has manifested the grace of God without
giving up the truth. My
prayer is that I can do the same thing as a believer who has received
His grace.
Meditation
for the week of September 17, 2017
Archived
Meditations
If
you would like to be on the email address list for these meditations
write to me at
mail@bdcministries.faithweb.com
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