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When there is a calamity in the world, somebody will
seek the Lord. Everything that happens is redemptive. God
gets glory from the wicked and the unwilling but, in a special
way, He gets glory if we cooperate with Him. John 15:4&5,
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of
itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you
abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides
in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you
can do nothing.” John 15:8, “By this is My Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” He
said that His Father was glorified if you bring forth much fruit.
He gets glory because He is sovereign but He gets a
special glory if we agree with Him and work with Him.
Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before men in such a way
that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who
is in heaven.” Others see your fruit and they glorify your
Father.
Galatians 1:15&16, “But when He who had set me
apart, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through His
grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach
Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with
flesh and blood…” The apostle Paul said that God revealed His
Son in Him. Galatians 1:24, “And they were glorifying God
because of me.” They were glorifying God because of Paul.
What I want to do is to look at redemptive living from
the standpoint of those who want to work with God; not when
we resist and not when we try to do our own thing and not when
we seek our own will or glory but when we choose to glorify
God. 1 Corinthians 6:19&20, “Or do you not know that your
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you
have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have
been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.”
The Holy Spirit lives in you and there is a way to glorify God.
1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether, then, you eat or drink or
whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense
either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God; just as I also