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APRIL 2019 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15 EVERY GOOD AND PERFECT GIFT A ministry of TODAY WITH MARK JOBE President of Moody Bible Institute Have You Been Born Again? John 3:16 is perhaps birth, a spiritual birth. He said that unless the most memorized you are born again you can’t see the verse in the entire kingdom of God. Bible. I’ve seen “3:16” posted at football Jesus challenged the belief that you games, on the back could ever become good enough for of trucks, even on God. Many still today assume that their T-shirts and hats. I first learned it as religious tradition or even their respect a child in Sunday school: “For God so for Jesus or the Bible will guarantee loved the world that he gave his one them entrance to heaven. But Jesus and only Son, that whoever believes told Nicodemus, a respected religious in him shall not perish but have eternal leader, that he was missing something. life” (John 3:16). Without a spiritual rebirth, “no one can enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). This famous verse was first spoken This rebirth is possible only through faith during a private nighttime conversation in the message about the Person and between a very religious individual and work of Jesus (John 3:16). Jesus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, one of the strict religious groups that existed We are all sinners in desperate need of in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus. a Savior. Salvation comes only through He was also part of the Sanhedrin, the death and resurrection of Jesus. the highest council in the Jewish Because of who He is and what He has government. Yet this very religious, done for us, anyone who believes in important, and educated man was Jesus Christ will have eternal life. God struggling to understand Jesus’ teaching gave His only Son, His most precious that we must be born again. Certainly possession, so that our sins would be Nicodemus had a valid question. How fully paid before God. can anyone be born a second time? God’s only Son, Jesus Christ, died and As a parent, I remember every single was resurrected so you and I could one of our children’s births. Our experience new life. He came for you. birthdays are listed on every important He came for me. He came so we could document. It is the moment that marked live. If you haven’t done so already, will our entrance to this world. But what you receive this most important gift Jesus referred to here was a second today? n 800 3566639 THEOLOGY MATTERS by Dr. John Koessler The Gifts of Grace he New Testament word for Grace itself is also a gift. The New gift (charisma) has often been Testament concept of grace includes T translated as grace. All God’s the idea of a dynamic power that gifts reflect His grace, and the fact enables those who have been saved that they are gifts means that they to live the Christian life and serve God. are free and cannot be earned. The The apostle Paul saw this power as New Testament’s theology of grace is the explanation for his own successful rooted in the Old Testament idea of ministry. He worked harder than others God’s favor, which is shown to those because the grace of God was “with” who do not deserve it and cannot help him (1 Cor. 15:10). themselves. Our efforts to serve God are like the The psalms often plead for grace or gifts a child might give to a parent God’s favor. This might take the form of using money that the parent has a cry for comfort in a time of affliction, provided for the purchase. The gifts forgiveness for sin, or rescue from we give to God are really a kind of one’s enemies (Ps. 25:16–20). Usually re-gifting. Both the opportunity and a power disparity exists between the the ability to serve Him are matters of one who shows grace and those who grace. Because of this our efforts are experience it. (In human relationships not really our own. They are a result of this is often the action of a superior God working through us (Gal. 2:8; Eph. toward an inferior.) But the theological 3:20). This is God working in us “to will concept describes God’s gracious act and to act in order to fulfill his good of providing for those who look to Him purpose” (Phil. 2:13). The Christian life for help. is a life of grace from beginning to end. We enter it by grace, live it by grace, God’s grace is the foundation of the and receive rewards at the end by Christian’s salvation. We are saved grace. n not because of the righteous things we have done but because God has shown us mercy through Jesus FOR FURTHER STUDY Christ (Titus 3:5). Salvation is by grace To learn more, read All of Grace because it is a gift. by C. H. Spurgeon (Moody Publishers). TODAYINTHEWORD.COM FROM THE EDITORS by Jamie Janosz Share the Word! Encourage others with Twitter, or Instagram and share truth Today in the Word from God’s Word with your friends Would you like to share online. Together, we can scroll into Today in the Word with something more hopeful. others? We have free countertop displays of Send God’s Servants Today in the Word, with to a Hurting World 25 sample copies of our Did you know that more than 49,000 devotional in each box. Moody alumni live and serve across These displays are perfect to share at the globe? Moody education is donor your church, business, or maybe even supported. Your gift to Moody helps at your local medical office! You can send students into the mission field or request your displays by contacting a ministry position following graduation. us at (800) DL MOODY. We hope you will join us on April 16 Share the Word on Social Media for Moody’s Launch a Leader Giving Social Media can be overwhelming Day. We are asking God to provide these days. We’d like to add some $300,000 toward students’ tuition. Will biblical encouragement to your timeline. you help Launch a Leader? Send your Find Today in the Word on Facebook, gift today! Visit launchaleader.com. A Thankful Farewell Please join us in thanking Heather Moffitt who has faithfully served as managing editor of Today in the Word for 20 years. As Heather moves into new endeavors of her life, we want to express our appreciation of her leadership and her work to deliver a high quality monthly devotional that offers theological depth accessible to all. Heather has recruited excellent authors and edited Today in the Word issues of in-depth studies of books of the Bible and Bible characters, as well as some fascinating topical studies such as Take and Eat: Food and Faith in Scripture (February 2015), I Want: Where Desire Belongs in the Life of Faith (September 2014), and Animals in the Bible (May 2011). She has also authored many studies over the years, including God Works in Humorous Ways (March 2010) and Our Identity in Christ (April 2016). Thank you, Heather! 800 3566639 VOLUME 32 • ISSUE 4 MANAGING EDITOR Heather Mott SENIOR EDITOR Elena Mafter CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Jamie Janosz Every Good and Perfect Gift John Koessler WRITER Jamie Janosz O. Henry was a master of short stories with unexpected ART DIRECTOR endings. The Last Leaf, published in 1907, tells the story Lynn Gabalec of a young woman dying of pneumonia. Her friend, an GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Larry Bohlin, Rachel Hutcheson old artist, painted his “masterpiece”—a leaf on the ivy MARKETING & PRODUCTION plant outside the young woman’s window. This leaf gave Paul B. Currie her a hope, a will to live and to overcome her fatalistic MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE notion that she’ll die when the last leaf is carried away PRESIDENT by the winter wind. Only when the woman recovers Mark Jobe does she find out what a gift of love her friend had given INTERIM PROVOST John Jelinek her. And in a typical O. Henry twist, she also finds out EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT that the artist had caught pneumonia while painting the Mark Wagner leaf in the cold and died. SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Greg Thornton CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER This tale, as well as countless others in literature and Ken Heulitt through history, echo the biblical narrative of God’s CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER Samuel Choy gift of love and salvation. This month in Today in the Word we’ll read about God’s gifts: His divine wisdom, VICE PRESIDENTS Tim Arens His creation, His hope, and His faithful provision. We’ll Larry Davidhizar thank Him for giving us His Holy Spirit and the gifts of Jim Elliott Bruce Everhart the Spirit that equip us for ministry. And above all, we’ll Doug Hastings Frank W. Leber Jr. praise Him for the gift of eternal life and the ultimate Bryan O’Neal gift of His Son who gave His life on the cross. Paul Santhouse Heather Shalley (Interim) Janet Stiven We pray that God’s gift of sacrificial love will fill you Debbie Zelinski with gratitude and hope this month. Thank you for TRUSTEES using Today in the Word as a Bible study guide. Christopher Denison Orbelina Eguizabal Thank you for supporting this ministry! n T.