July 31, 2015 … Lost and Now Found

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2015 - Day 212

Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK  … Please once again take the time to take in a video of Chris Tomlin singing the modernized version of the classic John Newton hymn Amazing Grace proclaiming the reality of Christ’s wondrous saving grace and why He became incarnate to save mankind.

Highlight Passage Luke 19: 10 [NKJV] … 
10 ... The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. 
… Clear statement as to Jesus’ mission as our Good Shepherd
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Highlight Context - Luke 19: 1-10 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus saved Zacchaeus and his family because of their faith
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Reference Passage #1 - Isaiah 53: 6 [NKJV] … 
6 All we, like sheep, have turned astray. We have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 
… We are His lost sheep; and He will call us to Himself.

Reference Passage #2 - Luke 4: 18-19 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK ... 
… Jesus restates His Messianic purpose in God’s house of worship [see also the Prophet Isaiah’s Messianic prophesy in Isaiah 61: 1-2].

Reference Passage #3 - Luke 15: 1-7 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK ...
… Jesus illustrates His purpose eternally with the parable of the lost sheep.

Reference Passage #4 - John 10: 11-16 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK ... 
… Jesus clarifies His role as our Good Shepherd.

My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Bill Crowder, used a story from a movie from the life of William Wilberforce to illustrate the main point of his devotional on this date. 

Crowder wrote: The film Amazing Grace was set in the late 1700s. It tells the story of William Wilberforce, a politician who was driven by his faith in Christ to commit his money and energy to abolishing the slave trade in England. In one scene, Wilberforce’s butler finds him praying. The butler asks, “You found God, Sir?” Wilberforce responds, “I think He found me.” 

And that’s the way of Christ, my friend, isn’t it? We are his lost sheep; and He, Jesus, is our Good Shepherd. Over 700 years before Jesus came to save His lost sheep, the Prophet Isaiah prophesied the coming of the Messiah to save us (see Isaiah 53: 6 and 61: 1-2). And then when Jesus came, He spoke clearly of His mission, repeating Isaiah’s words in Luke 4: 18-19; and then as the Messiah, Jesus, The Christ, set about doing exactly what He came to do, … become God’s sacrificial Lamb to save mankind from our sin.

 As the old hymn, written first by John Newton and then renewed by Chris Tomlin, who sings the more modern version (linked above], … the grace of our Lord is truly amazing to save all who come to Him in repentance and to receive His “Amazing Grace.”

My Prayer Today: Oh, my Lord, … You came to save me as Your lost lamb; and as You’ve called me, I follow You, dear Good Shepherd. … Amen

Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.