'Grace to You and Peace...'

Sometimes I wonder what the great Apostle Paul thinks when he looks at the church today. Maybe he doesn't look at it at all, very likely he is about other business, but as I look at 2 Corinthians, and the heart of this giant of the faith explodes on the page, I really do wonder what he would think about us down here in 2025. So many times, he opened his letters with these words: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." I heard someone on the radio comment that, "Without grace, there can be no peace," and that kind of stuck in my mind. The grace of the Lord that is given to us. There is no peace without it. I'm listening to Dappy T. Keys piano worship and recognize the old choruses, "Alleluia," "Holy Spirit, Thou Art Welcome in This Place," "Glorify Thy Name (In All The Earth)," "Blessed Be The Name of the Lord," "Jesus, Be the Center," "Spirit of the Living God, Fall Afresh on Me," "Revelation Song," "Worthy is the Lamb," "Light of the World (Here I Am to Worship)," and others. So beautiful. It's a three-hour recording of piano worship music called "Alone With God" if you'd like to listen to it. The Apostle Paul, formerly Saul of Tarsus, who delighted in arresting and killing Christians, until God apprehended him, knocked him off his horse, revealed Christ to him and sent him to evangelize the Gentiles; I can't wait to meet this man. I am so thankful for all the letters he wrote, all the suffering he endured, for whom? For us. For you and me, Christian brothers and sisters, and all who have yet to see the light and come to the cross. I think the Lord is bringing us all back to the basics in these times. Those who are still on the path of destruction prepared for us by the enemy of our soul and his minions. But Jesus came to take away our sins and deliver us from destruction and set us on the pathway to peace, the grace of the Lord Jesus. No one can convince anyone of anything, but God the Holy Spirit has a way of finding his way into people's hearts and lives and opening up their eyes, and this is what I long to see happening in the lives of my loved ones and the lives of everyone I know and those I don’t yet know. Once a person's eyes have been opened by God and they can see who Jesus is, they will never be the same, and there is no turning back. He is the only one who can do it. Jesus said no one could come to the Father unless He draws him. All we can do is be obedient and follow Jesus as he leads us in this life. So I'm going to call it a night, my friends. God bless you with grace and peace in Jesus' name. Amen.