HE CHOSE YOU . . .

       He CHOSE you before the foundation of the world!

                                       (Ephesians 1:4)!
             

This is the season again when we become busy getting ready for Christmas, visiting family, and traveling.  As I was thinking about these things I was reminded so clearly that God CHOSE to send Jesus to our planet for the purpose of paying for our sins.

God did not have to do this!  But he CHOSE to do it because he loves us so much.

And Jesus CHOSE to obey his Father’s will, even though He knew ahead of time how much He would suffer.  It is just incredible to meditate on these statements!  None of us fully realize how much He loves us.

So . . . as I’ve been thinking about what to say in this Christmas letter it seemed clear to me that I should send you something a little different this year in the form of a word study:

Numbers 16:5

^“ And he spoke unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even tomorrow the Lord will show who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he has chosen will he cause to come near unto him.”

Deuteronomy 4:37

^“ And because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought you out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;”

Deuteronomy 7:6-8

^“For you are an holy people unto the Lord your God: the Lord your God has chosen you to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all people: But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, has the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

 Deuteronomy 14:2

^“For you are a holy people unto the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.”

Deuteronomy 12:11

“ Then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you;”

Deuteronomy 12:26

^“ Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take, and go to the place which the Lord shall choose:” 

Zechariah 2:12

“ And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.”

Deuteronomy 18:5

^“For the Lord your God hath chosen him (Levi) out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever.”

1 Chronicles 16:13

“ O you seed of Israel his servant, you children of Jacob, his chosen ones.”

1 Chronicles 28:4

^“Howbeit the Lord God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel for ever: for he has chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he liked me to make me king over all Israel:”

1 Chronicles 28:6

^“ And he said unto me, Solomon your son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.”

2 Samuel 6:21

^“And David said unto Michal, It was before the Lord, which chose me before your father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel: therefore will I play before the Lord.”

2 Chronicles 6:6

^”But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.”

Psalm 132:13

“ For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation.”

Psalm 33:12

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom He has chosen for his own inheritance.”

Psalm 89:3

“I have made a covenant (ber.eth’: בְּרִית) with my chosen.”

Psalm 105:43

^“ And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness:

Isaiah 48:10

^“ Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.”

Haggai 2:23

^“In that day, says the Lord of hosts, will I take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the Lord, and will make you as a signet: for I have chosen you, says the Lord of hosts.”

Ezekiel 20:5

^“ And say unto them, Thus says the Lord God; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up my hand unto them, saying, I am the Lord your God;”

Zechariah 3:2

^“And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke you, O Satan; even the Lord that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?”

Matthew 20:16

^“So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.”

Mark 13:20

^“And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he has chosen, he hath shortened the days.”

Luke 10:42

“ But one thing is needful: and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”  How much time will you spend this Christmas season sitting at Jesus’ feet?

Luke 23:35

^“And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.”

John 13:18

^“I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.”

John 15:16

^“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”

John 15:19

^“If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Acts 1:2

^“Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:”

Acts 9:15

“ But the Lord said unto him, Go your way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:”

Acts 22:14

^“And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen you, that you should know his will, and see that Just One, and should hear the voice of his mouth.”

1 Corinthians 1:27-28

^“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, has God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:”

Ephesians 1:4

“ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:”

2 Timothy 2:4

^“No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”

2 Thessalonians 2:13

 ^“But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:”

James 2:5

^“Hearken, my beloved brethren, Has not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them that love him?”

1 Peter 2:4

^“To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,”

1 Peter 2:9

^“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;”

Revelation 17:14

^“These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. 

A bullet travels about 600 miles per hour.  By comparison, light travels about 186,000 miles per second.  If, by some amazing feat of mechanics you could soup up your car to fly 186,000 miles per second . . . at that amazing speed you would reach the moon in one and a half seconds.  Eight minutes later you would pass the sun.  To get to the next nearest star, you would travel four and half more years.  Even then, you would not have left our galaxy yet!  Our Milky Way alone contains one hundred million stars (each of which God has named -- Psalm 147:4).  And to go from one end of our galaxy to the other (at 186,000 miles per second) it would take 100,000 years.  And that does not include stopping every one thousand miles to change oil in your vehicle.  To reach the nearest galaxy (and there are more than 200 billion of them), which contains hundreds of millions of stars . . . it would take 2.2 million years.  And then you would only be at the tip of the universe.  Scientists believe that there are more than 2 billion galaxies in the universe.  Only God knows what lies beyond . . . because he made it all!

The vast galaxy we live in is spinning at the incredible speed of 490,000 miles an hour.  But even at this breakneck speed, our galaxy still needs 200 million years to make one rotation.  And there are more than 200 billion galaxies similar to ours in this vast universe.  Some scientists say that the number of stars in creation is equal to all the grains of all the sands on all the beaches of the world.  Yet this complex sea of spinning stars functions with remarkable order and efficiency.

Think about this:  God chose our galaxy from all the other galaxies.  Then he chose planet earth.  From all the places on the earth he chose Israel.  From all the places in Israel he chose Jerusalem. There are myriads of streets and places in Jerusalem . . . but, He chose the Temple Mount.  There are more than 100 structures on The Temple Mount.  But He chose to place the 1^st and 2^nd Temples on a precise location.  Inside the Temple He chose the Holy of Holies for his own divine presence.  And more detailed than that . . . He chose you!

Have a blessed Christmas this year! Thank you for helping us take the gospel to the world.  We stand amazed that people in 74 nations* are listening to our messages and reading our blog.
www.FLC7.com

In His Service,

Wesley Smith


* 74 Nations:  December 2, 2013

Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burma, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Guatemala, Haiti, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Malaysia, Malawi, Mexico, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, St. Martin, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

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