Daily Archives: November 16, 2013

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Guilty No More

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Charles Stanley

Romans 5:8-9

How can we say that the Lord has declared us “not guilty” of our sin? The first thing we have to understand is that this act was completely God’s doing. We can do absolutely nothing to remove the stain of our own sin. It is for this reason that the Father sent His Son into the world.

The one satisfactory payment for sin is death (Rom. 6:23), and because God wanted to spare us that punishment, He provided the only way out. He gave the perfect sacrifice: His son, Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:8).

What did this loving act accomplish? It enabled us to approach almighty God as clean, pure, and holy men and women. Our purity is not related to anything we ourselves have done; it is due exclusively to the fact that we have been purified in Jesus’ blood. That’s why we can say we have been “washed in the blood,” which is the only way the stain of sin can be removed.

When we come into a saving relationship with Jesus, the first thing to happen is that we are justified—in other words, God declares us “not guilty.” This means that as believers, we can stand in the presence of a perfect, holy God, because He now sees us as His own children.

Am I saying we’ll never sin? No. However, when we place our faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, the penalty for all of our sin—past, present, and future—has been paid, and we will never face God’s condemnation (Rom. 8:1). Thank your heavenly Father today, not only for forgiving your sin, but also for freeing you from the burden of guilt.

 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — To Whom It Is Due

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Our Daily Bread

Romans 13:1-10

Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. —Romans 13:7

My husband and I live in a rural area surrounded by farms where this slogan is popular: “If you ate a meal today, thank a farmer.” Farmers definitely deserve our gratitude. They do the hot, hard work of tilling soil, planting seeds, and harvesting the food that keeps us from starving to death.

But every time I thank a farmer, I also try to remember to offer praise to God, for He is the One responsible for producing the food we eat. He gives light, sends rain, and creates the energy within the seed that gives it the strength to push through the soil and produce fruit.

Although the earth and everything in it belong to God (Ps. 24:1), He has chosen humans to be its caretakers. We are responsible to use the earth’s resources as He would use them—to do His work in the world (115:16). And just as we are stewards of God’s physical creation, we also are stewards of His design for society. We do this by respecting those He has placed in authority, by paying taxes, by giving honor to those who have earned it, and by continuing to pay our debt of love (Rom. 13:7-8). But one thing we reserve for God: All praise and glory belong to Him, for He is the One who makes everything possible (Ps. 96:8). —Julie Ackerman Link

Sing praise to God who reigns above,

The God of all creation,

The God of power, the God of love,

The God of our salvation. —Schütz

God’s unsearchable ways deserve our unbounded praise.

Bible in a year: Ezekiel 3-4; Hebrews 11:20-40

 

 

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Our All-Sufficient Portion

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Alistair Begg

‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul.

Lamentations 3:24

It does not say, “The Lord is partly my portion,” nor “The Lord is in my portion”; but He Himself makes up the sum total of my soul’s inheritance. Within the circumference of that circle lies all that we possess or desire.

The Lord is my portion. Not His grace merely, nor His love, nor His covenant, but Jehovah Himself. He has chosen us for His portion, and we have chosen Him for ours.

It is true that the Lord must first choose our inheritance for us, or else we will never choose it for ourselves; but if we are really called according to the purpose of electing love, we can sing-

Lov’d of my God for Him again

With love intense I burn;

Chosen of Him ere time began,

I choose Him in return.

The Lord is our all-sufficient portion. God fills Himself; and if God is all-sufficient in Himself, He must be all-sufficient for us. It is not easy to satisfy man’s desires. When he dreams that he is satisfied, instantly he wakes to the perception that there is still something more, and his longings remain unfulfilled.

But for the believer all that we can wish for is to be found in our divine portion, so that we ask, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.”1 We can then delight ourselves in the Lord who allows us to drink of the river of His pleasures.

Our faith stretches her wings and soars like an eagle into the heaven of divine love, her proper dwelling-place. “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”2 Let us rejoice in the Lord always; let us show the world that we are a happy and a blessed people and cause them to exclaim, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”

1 Psalm 73:25 2 Psalm 16:6

 

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – God’s barriers against man’s sin

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“Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? But this people hath a revolting and rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.” Jeremiah 5:22-23

Suggested Further Reading: Isaiah 1:1-4

God here contrasts the obedience of the strong, the mighty, the untamed sea, with the rebellious character of his own people. “The sea,” saith he, “obeys me; it never breaks its boundary; it never leaps from its channel; it obeys me in all its movements. But man, poor puny man, the little creature whom I could crush as the moth, will not be obedient to me. The sea obeys me from shore to shore, without reluctance, and its ebbing floods, as they retire from its bed, each of them says to me, in the voices of the pebbles, ‘O Lord, we are obedient to thee, for thou art our master.’ But my people”, says God, “are a revolting and a rebellious people; they go astray from me.” And is it not, my brethren, a marvellous thing, that the whole earth is obedient to God, save man? Even the mighty leviathan, who maketh the deep to be hoary, sinneth not against God, but his course is ordered according to his Almighty Master’s decree. Stars, those wondrous masses of light, are easily directed by the very wish of God; clouds, though they seem erratic in their movement, have God for their pilot; “he maketh the clouds his chariot;” and the winds, though they seem restive beyond control, yet do they blow, or cease to blow just as God wills. In heaven, on earth, even in the lower regions, we could scarcely find such a disobedience as that which is practised by man; at least, in heaven, there is a cheerful obedience; and in hell there is constrained submission to God, while on earth man makes the base exception, he is continually revolting and rebelling against his Maker.

For meditation: Jonah, a great wind, a great fish, a plant, a worm, an east wind (Jonah 1:3,4,17; 2:10; 4:6-8)—which is the odd one out?

Answer: God’s servant Jonah—the rest obeyed God at once. This should humble us!

Sermon no. 220

16 November (1856)

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Stepping out in Faith

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John MacArthur

“By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Heb. 11:8).

Abraham is the classic example of the life of faith. As the father of the Jewish nation, he was the most strategic example of faith available to the writer of Hebrews. But the people to whom Hebrews was written needed to understand that Abraham was more than the father of their race; he also was, by example, the father of everyone who lives by faith in God (Rom. 4:11).

Contrary to popular first-century Jewish thought, God didn’t choose Abraham because he was righteous in himself. When called by God, Abraham was a sinful man living in an idolatrous society. His home was in the Chaldean city of Ur, which was located in ancient Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

God’s call to Abraham is recorded in Genesis 12:1-3: “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Note Abraham’s response: “So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him” (v. 4). He listened, trusted, and obeyed. His pilgrimage of faith began when he separated himself from the pleasures of a pagan land to pursue God’s plan for his life.

So it is with you if you’re a man or woman of true faith. You’ve forsaken sinful pleasures to follow Christ. And as your love for Christ increases, there’s a corresponding decrease in worldly desires.

I pray your focus will continually be on fulfilling God’s will for your life, and that you’ll always know the joy and assurance that comes from following Him.

Suggestions for Prayer:

Ask God for the grace and spiritual fortitude to walk by faith today.

For Further Study:

Memorize 1 John 2:15 as a reminder to remain separate from the world.

 

 

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Steps In The Right Direction

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Joyce meyer

Let each one of us make it a practice to please (make happy) his neighbor for his good and for his true welfare, to edify him [to strengthen him and build him up spiritually].—Romans 15:1, 2

Today’s scripture give us great advice, but we usually do the opposite of what it advises us to do. We want others to live to make us happy and do what pleases us. The result is that no matter what people do, we are rarely happy and satisfied.

The ways of the world, which are focused on “self,” do not work and the condition our society is in today proves that. In general people are more selfish than ever; they are also more dissatisfied. God’s ways do work and His way is to genuinely love other people. If we do as He instructs we may make some sacrifices, but we will have a kind of joy that cannot be found anywhere except in the center of God’s will. We will also be obeying His great commandment, which is to love one another.

Will you be honest and ask yourself some questions that may be difficult to answer but will bring you face-to-face with where you are in the whole theme of loving other people? How much do you do for others? Are you trying to find out what people want and need so you can provide it for them? Are you sincerely trying to know the people in your life in a genuine way? How well do you really even know the people in your own family?

As I answered these questions a few years ago, I was appalled at the level of selfishness in my life even though I had been a Christian minister for many years. The bottom line was that I was selfish and self-centered and I needed to change. These changes did not come easily or quickly, neither are they completed, but as I press on daily I am making progress and I am happier all the time.

Love Others Today: How are you doing on your love walk? Take a few extra steps today.

 

 

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – He Gives the Victory

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dr_bright

“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57, KJV).

In our busy lives, yours and mine, there are days when victory seems an impossibility. Heartaches, trials, burdens, or just the ordinary cares of the day, all seem foreign to the idea of being victorious.

And yet the fact remains that we are “more than conquerors” even when we do not feel like it. God graciously allows His children to be human and to express our doubts and fears when suffering and pain and testing and trial seem to overwhelm us.

“I have to be very honest,” confessed Joyce Landorf, well-known Christian author and speaker, during a long period of illness. “One of the things I have learned from severe pain is that I have felt totally abandoned by God. I didn’t think he’d let that happen to me, but He has.

“And maybe the feeling of abandonment when pain is at its writhing best..maybe that’s what makes it so sweet after the pain goes and the Lord says, ‘I was here all the time. I haven’t left you. I will never forsake you.’ Now those words get sweeter to me because I know what it has felt like to not feel His presence.”

We do not have all the answers, but we know one who does. And that is where our victory begins – acknowledging (1) that God is a God of love, one who never makes a mistake, and (2) he will never leave us or forsake us.

Bible Reading: Romans 7:18-25

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will consider myself a victor, whatever may transpire, because I serve the victorious one

 

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.R. – Strong Strands

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Imagine a strand of wire about as thick as the lead of a pencil. It might be strong enough to support the weight of a few hundred pounds…maybe. Now think about the Brooklyn Bridge. It weighs about 15,000 tons, stretches for more than a mile, and has stood for 130 years. You would consider the wire ordinary and the bridge magnificent. But the Brooklyn Bridge is made mostly of those thin strands of wire, thousands of them intricately laid together. “The strength of the finished cable,” wrote historian David McCollough in The Great Bridge, “would depend on getting each strand into its exact, particular position.”

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

Colossians 3:15

Christians often overlook the importance of unity, but believers in Jesus are “called in one body.” You are an integral part of God’s plan to bring people into relationship with Him, and others will be drawn to the Savior through you…but only when you are in the particular position God has for you. Your spiritual strength is maximized when you work with other believers as the Lord intended.

May America’s Christian leaders and citizens not be seen as frayed and splayed, but as one body – united and strong!

Recommended Reading: Ephesians 2:11-21

 

 

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Why Jesus Had to Die, Part 3

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greglaurie

Last weekend we looked at Jesus in Gethsemane. Today we look at Jesus on the cross.

On the cross, Jesus gave seven statements—each one significant and necessary. One of the most arresting is “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” No fiction writer would have his hero say words like those. They surprise us, disarm us, and cause us to wonder what He meant. In many ways, this is virtually impossible to fathom.

No man has ever experienced loneliness and isolation as Jesus did at this point. First Judas betrayed Him, but His other disciples still stood with Him—until Gethsemane; then they too fled. But Simon Peter was still following, albeit at a distance. Then he too turned away from the Lord, openly denying Him.

But there was still the Father, who was always there. In John 8:29 Jesus said, “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone.” Jesus said to His disciples, “Indeed, the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet, I am not alone, because the Father is with Me” (John 16:32).

But at the cross, God the Father turned away His face from God the Son. Why? Because God, in all His holiness, could not look at sin. So holy is God that we are told that He is “of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness” (Habakkuk 1:13).

So the holy Father had to “turn His face” and pour His wrath upon His own Son. Understand, for Jesus that was the greatest sacrifice He could have possibly made. It is my belief that His greatest pain occurred at this moment.

He felt forsaken of God because this is the consequence of sin. For a person to be forsaken of God is the penalty which naturally and inevitably follows separation from God because of sin. Jesus was forsaken of God so I don’t have to be. Jesus was forsaken that I might be forgiven. Jesus entered the darkness that I might walk in the light! Jesus was forsaken of God for a time that I might enjoy His presence forever!

As Christ hung there, he was bearing the sins of the world, dying as a substitute. To Him was imputed the guilt of our sins, and He was suffering the punishment for those sins on our behalf. The very essence of that punishment was the outpouring of God’s wrath against sinners.

“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the punishment for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4–5).