Monthly Archives: March 2015

Discovering God’s Design

Discovering God’s Design – Spread the Joy Around

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Malachi 4:2

Have you ever actually watched a cavorting calf? You’d probably think you were witnessing the worst possible case of bovine ADD. Human children act similarly. Position yourself outside an elementary school just before the day’s final bell. Whether a child has to traverse ten feet to queue up for a bus or ten blocks to burst into her door, you can’t fail to miss a common behavior: They run.

When was the last time you leaped? Don’t count the day you were in range of an automatic sprinkler system just chugging into action. When did you dance like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof or like King David upon the return of the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem (see 2Sa 6:14–15)?

In Psalm 28:7 David asserts: “My heart leaps for joy and with my song I praise [God].” That inner jubilation works well for some of us, but we can’t all see ourselves physically leaping. Our hearts, though, alive in Christ and inspired by joy, can bound and jump.

Preacher and writer Oswald Chambers (1874–1917) knew the joy of being right with God:

No language can express the ineffable blessedness of the supreme reward that awaits the soul that has taken its supreme climb, proved its supreme love, and entered on its supreme reward. What an imperturbable certainty there is about the man who is in contact with the real God! Thank God, the life of the Father of the Faithful is but a specimen of the life of every humble believer who obediently follows the discipline of the life of faith. What a depth of transparent rightness there must be about the man who walks before God, and the meaning of the Atonement is to place us there in perfect adjustment to God. “[Walk before me and be blameless (see Ge 17:1)],” not faultless, but blameless, undeserving of censure in the eyes of God.

Chambers concedes that no language can adequately describe such euphoria, but he doesn’t suggest that we hold back in expressing ourselves in whatever way is appropriate. Are you the “let it all hang out” type, immune to easy embarrassment? Do you gravitate like a moth toward the limelight, or are you continuously aware in a public setting of the impression you’re making—or not making, if your goal is anonymity?

The fact is that it doesn’t matter. As Christians, we revere God’s name. And we’ve been healed and forgiven. When God looks at each of us, washed in the cleansing blood of Christ, he sees something incredible—absolute perfection! We’ve been “released.” How can any of us consider keeping such news to ourselves?

Think About It

  • When you think about what God has done for you, what is the first emotion you feel?
  • How does your rightness before God allow you to experience joy?
  • Who needs to hear about this joy of yours?

Act on It

Someone out there needs the kind of joy that you as a Christian experience. Share that joy with someone.

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Simplify!

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 Matthew 7:7-11

“Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father” (James 1:17 NLT).

It’s a beautiful truth. Every good thing in our lives comes from God—every single thing. Promotions and pancakes. Rain showers and relationships. Songs and sunsets. The astounding blessings God gives, and also the things He does so faithfully that we take them for granted.

And since all good things are from the Father’s hand, it is also true that our very existence depends on hearts that pump at a God-guided rhythm, lungs that breathe a recipe of air He created, brains that think thoughts through channels He wired. We can no more will our hearts to beat than we can move the moon. And we live, every second, because of this orchestrated ordinariness. Every single day.

That’s not to say life is or even should be without adversity or problems. But amid the highs and lows, it is good to remember God’s sustaining provision: He commanded rain to fall, guided sunbeams, and designed vegetation to replenish. All of this happens on a planet He holds in infinite space, in perfect position for each of these things to occur. And on this held planet, He endowed talents, granted mental aptitude, and bestowed physical abilities, according to His purposes.

The word from in James 1:17 makes this truth very personal: It implies a Giver of these good things. They are not simply of God, mere overspills of His goodness. They’re from Him—invented, given, and sent from your Father in heaven to you. And, good Father that He is, His gifts are always thoughtful, meaningful, purposeful. He gave you each provision, each ability, each heartbeat with beautiful intent.

When we start to see every good thing for the gracious gift it truly is, we will loosen our grip on life. There is no need to hoard money or belongings. They’re all bestowed by a gracious Father who can provide more if we were to give them away. Every ability and talent we have is a God-sent blessing. There’s no room for arrogance; we can rest in who the Lord made us to be. And we can enjoy the “little things”—the sunshine, the rain, those pancakes on Saturday morning. Because all things, even the “minor” ones, come from Him. And that means we are deeply loved, down to the most minute detail, with our lives resting on a foundation of God’s goodness.

As you unclench your hands on your possessions and talents and increasingly use them to glorify their Giver, you will discover the beauty and freedom that come with simplicity. Pressures will fade; joy will remain. So respond in kind, and let your life be read simply as a thank-You note to the Author of generosity.

—Laurin Greco

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — The Go-Between

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Read: Exodus 20:18-26
Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 23-25; Mark 14:1-26

 

The people stood afar off, but Moses drew near . . . where God was. —Exodus 20:21

Imagine standing at the bottom of a mountain, elbow-to-elbow with everyone in your community. Thunder and lightning flash; you hear an earsplitting trumpet blast. Amid flames, God descends on the mountaintop. The summit is enveloped in smoke; the entire mountain begins to shake, and so do you (Ex. 19:16-20).

When the Israelites had this terrifying experience near Mount Sinai, they begged Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (20:19). The Israelites were asking Moses to mediate between them and the Almighty. “So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was” (v.21). After meeting with God, Moses brought God’s messages back down the mountain to the people below.

Today, we worship the same God who displayed His staggering greatness on Mount Sinai. Because God is perfectly holy and we are desperately sinful, we cannot relate to Him. Left to ourselves we too would (and should) shake in terror. But Jesus made it possible for us to know God when He took our sins on Himself, died, and rose again (1 Cor. 15:3-4). Even now, Jesus is the go-between for us to a holy and perfect God (Rom. 8:34; 1 Tim. 2:5). —Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Dear Jesus, thank You for laying down Your life so that I could know God. I worship You as the only one who bridges the gap between God and me.

Jesus bridges the gap between God and us.

INSIGHT: On Mount Sinai, God manifested His presence loudly and visibly through thunder, lightning, the sound of a trumpet, and a smoking mountain (v. 18). Moses explained that this display of power and majesty was to demonstrate God’s incomparable holiness. His power and glory were displayed so that the Israelites would revere and worship Him (v. 20).
Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg –  Be Careful

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Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 10:12

 

It is a curious fact that there is such a thing as being proud of grace. A man says, “I have great faith–I shall not fall; poor little faith may, but I never shall.” “I have fervent love,” says another. “I can stand; there is no danger of my going astray.” He who boasts of grace has little grace to boast of. Some who do this imagine that their graces can keep them, knowing not that the stream must flow constantly from the fountainhead or else the stream will soon be dry. If a continuous supply of oil does not come to the lamp, even though it may burn brightly today, it will smoke tomorrow, and noxious will be its scent.

Pay attention that you do not glory in your graces, but let all your glorying and confidence be in Christ and His strength, for only in this way can you be kept from falling. Be much more diligent in prayer. Spend longer time in holy adoration. Read the Scriptures more earnestly and constantly. Watch your lives more carefully. Live nearer to God. Take the best examples for your pattern. Let your conversation be full of heaven. Let your hearts be perfumed with affection for men’s souls. Live in such a way that men may recognize that you have been with Jesus and have learned of Him; and when that happy day shall come, when He whom you love shall say, “Come up higher,” may it be your happiness to hear Him say, “You have fought the good fight, you have finished the race, and henceforth there is laid up for you the crown of righteousness that doesn’t fade.”

Keep on, Christian, with care and caution! Go on, with holy fear and trembling! On, with faith and confidence in Jesus alone, and let your constant petition be, “Uphold me according to Your promise.”1 He alone is able “to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.”2

1) Psalm 119:116  2) Jude 1:24

Today’s Bible Reading

The family reading plan for March 14, 2015
* Exodus 25
* John 4

 

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – The solar eclipse

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“I form the light, and create darkness.” Isaiah 45:7

Suggested Further Reading: Ecclesiastes 1:1-10

Since God has made the ecliptic, or the circle, the great rule of nature, it is impossible but that eclipses should occur. Now, did you ever notice that in providence the circle is God’s rule still. The earth is here to-day; it will be in the same place this day next year; it will go round the circle; it gets no further. It is just so in providence. God began the circle of his providence in Eden. That is where he will end. There was a paradise on earth, when God began his providential dealings with mankind; there will be a paradise at the end. It is the same with your providence. Naked you came forth from your mother’s womb, and naked you must return to the earth. It is a circle. Where God has begun, there will he end; and as God has taken the rule of the circle in providence, as well as in nature, eclipses must be sure to occur. Moving in the predestined orbit of divine wisdom, the eclipse is absolutely and imperatively necessary in God’s plan of government. Troubles must come; afflictions must befall; it must needs be that for a season you should be in heaviness, through manifold temptations. But I have said, that eclipses must also occur in grace, and it is so. God’s rule in grace is still the circle. Man was originally pure and holy; that is what God’s grace will make him at last. He was pure when he was made by God in the garden. That is what God shall make him, when he comes to fashion him like unto his own glorious image, and present him complete in heaven. We begin our piety by denying the world, by being full of love to God; we often decline in grace, and God will bring us back to the state in which we were when we first began.

For meditation: This sermon was occasioned by the anticipation of the solar eclipse on the following day. Meditate on the significance of the most important solar eclipse in all history. Remember this was not an astronomical eclipse, since it occurred at Passover—full moon (Luke 23:44-46)!

Sermon no. 183
14 March (1858)

 

John MacArthur

John MacArthur –Looking Beyond the Temporal

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“Our Father who art in heaven” (Matt. 6:9).

With God as your Father, your life has eternal significance.

Author H.G. Wells wrote of a man who had been overcome by the pressure and stress of modern life. His doctor told him that his only hope was to find fellowship with God. The man responded, “What? That—up there—having fellowship with me? I would as soon think of cooling my throat with the Milky Way or shaking hands with the stars.” Poet Thomas Hardy said that prayer is useless because there’s no one to pray to except “that dreaming, dark, dumb thing that turns the handle of this idle show.” Voltaire described life as a bad joke. He added, “Bring down the curtain; the farce is done.” Such is the blasphemy and despair of all who insist that God is uninvolved in human affairs.

The Greek and Roman philosophers of Jesus’ day rejected the fatherhood of God because it contradicted their philosophical systems. The Stoic philosophers taught that all of the gods were apathetic and experienced no emotions at all. The Epicurean philosophers taught that the supreme quality of the gods was complete calm or perfect peace. To maintain their serenity, they needed to remain totally isolated from the human condition.

Scripture refutes all such heresies by declaring that God is an intimate, caring Father. The significance of that truth is staggering. He conquers your fears and comforts you in times of distress. He forgives your sins and gives you eternal hope. He showers you with limitless resources and makes you recipients of an imperishable inheritance. He grants you wisdom and direction through His Spirit and His Word. He will never leave or forsake you.

When you humbly approach God as your Father, you assume the role of a child who is eager to obey his Father’s will and receive all the benefits of His grace. Let that take you beyond your present circumstances and motivate you to dwell on what’s eternal.

Suggestions for Prayer

  • Thank God for the joy and purpose He gives you each day.
  • Commit yourself to pursuing His will today.

For Further Study

  • Read Exodus 3:1-5 and Isaiah 6:1-5. What attitude should you have when you pray to God?
  • What does Hebrews 4:16 say you can receive when you approach God in prayer?
Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Avoid Comparisons

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Not that we [have the audacity to] venture to class or [even to] compare ourselves with some who exalt and furnish testimonials for themselves! However, when they measure themselves with themselves and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding and behave unwisely.- 2 Corinthians 10:12

Advertising is often geared to make people strive to look the best, be the best, and own the most. If you wear “this” particular brand of clothes, people will admire you! Try “this” new diet and lose those few extra pounds—and then you will be accepted and noticed. The world consistently gives us the impression that we need to be something other than what we are.

A confident woman avoids comparisons. Confidence is not possible as long as we compare ourselves with other people. No matter how good we look, how talented or smart we are, or how successful we are, there is always someone who is better, and sooner or later we will run into her. I believe confidence is found in doing the best we can with what we have to work with and not in comparing ourselves with others and competing with them. Our joy should not be found in being better than others, but in being the best we can be. Always struggling to maintain the number-one position is hard work. In fact, it’s impossible.

Lord, I refuse to compare myself with others and compete to be better than them. My only interest is to be the best I can be with the gifts and talents You have given me. Amen.

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Supernatural Wisdom – by Faith

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“If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask Him, and He will gladly tell you, for He is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask Him; He will not resent it” (James 1:5).

Often – many times a day – I need divine wisdom, not only in the multitudes of decisions that I must make daily, but also in the witnessing situations the Lord brings across my path. No doubt you recognize a similar need in your life.

All I have to do to have His presence guide me, if my heart is right with Him, is to ask in faith, and He promises the wisdom I need for each day and for each moment of the day.

If we are going to live supernatural lives, and if we are going to demonstrate to others that they, too, can live such a life, then we must begin to think and act differently. And that is possible only as we go to the source of all divine wisdom.

This verse from Scripture assures us that God’s ear is always open to this kind of prayer. And of course the wisdom to which James refers is more than factual knowledge. It is the light of life, in which we can walk without stumbling.

Why does one need to pray to gain this wisdom? Perhaps because prayer is humbling and involves an acknowledgment of our inadequacy. Prayer opens our hearts and lives to the transforming influence of the Spirit of God.

Bible Reading: James 1:6-12

TODAY’S ACTION POINT:  Knowing that I need God’s wisdom if I am to serve Him effectively and please Him today, I will obey Him – and claim His supernatural work in my life – by asking for His wisdom when I face a decision.

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; H.L.M. – Thirst for God

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In the book of Revelation, God addressed the church in Laodicea, one of the wealthiest of the seven cities written to by John. However, the city had a problem with its water supply. An aqueduct was built to bring water from hot springs. Yet when the water reached the city, it was lukewarm. When God confronted the people’s spiritual apathy, He said, “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3:15-16)

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.

Proverbs 14:27

The commodity of hot water, which is precious in many other countries, often flows freely in homes in the United States. However, when it comes to genuinely embracing the Christian faith, the majority of Americans seem to be lukewarm.

As you consider the spiritual condition of this nation, look at your own reflection in the fountain of God’s truth. Are you thirsting after a relationship with God with all your heart, mind and soul? As you pray, also ask the Lord to unite Christians in prayer for America to desperately thirst after His truth and righteousness.

Recommended Reading: Revelation 3:14-22

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Are You a Birdbrain?

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“God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart. . .”

—Ecclesiastes 3:11

Have you ever used GPS? Many cars come equipped with it today, and you can get it on an iPhone or other mobile device. The problem is, sometimes GPS can lead you in the wrong direction!

I read about a motorist relying on GPS in Milwaukee who ended up on a snowmobile trail. Several miles down the frozen path, she stopped and couldn’t turn around. In about a foot and a half of snow, she had to call 9-1-1. The officer responding said, “People shouldn’t believe everything those things tell you.”

Take this sophisticated technology and compare it to birds. There are some amazing little birds God has created that have an internal homing instinct which is more sophisticated then the latest GPS technology.

Consider the Manx Shearwater. These amazing birds nest off of the coast of Wales. They are noted for their outstanding homing instinct. Scientists tagged and released a number of them at different points around the globe to see whether they could find their way back to the coast of Wales.

One bird was released in Boston, some 3,200 miles from home. In just over 12 days, that bird returned to his nest, having traveled 250 miles per day from a place it had never been before to reach its home again.

Then there is the Golden Plover. Native to Hawaii, the Plover migrates during the summer to the Aleutian Isles, 1,200 miles away. There they mate and lay their eggs, and their little fledglings are born. Then the Golden Plovers return to Hawaii, leaving their fledglings to grow up a little. What is amazing is that these little birds later make the 1,200-mile journey—to a place they have never been!

Try doing that with GPS!

That is an amazing homing instinct. So the next time someone calls you a “birdbrain,” you might take it as a compliment.

I think, in a sense, all of us have a homing instinct as humans. It is a homesickness for heaven. God has essentially wired us this way; the Bible says that God has “set eternity in our hearts” (see Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Just like those Manx Shearwaters and Golden Plovers, we have this built-in GPS. So follow that instinct!

 

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Stanley – The Power of Grace

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1 Timothy 2:1-6

One of the most humbling aspects of the Lord’s love is His desire for everyone to know Him personally. The same God who created the universe—and who interacted with Abraham, Moses, and Paul—wants us to know Him intimately.

How tragic it is that so many ignore Him or look the other way, distracted by friends, family, celebrities, sports, careers, and the endless details of day-to-day life. But the good news is, no matter how distant we may have been until now, the door is open to a relationship with the Father.

First Timothy 2:4 says that the Lord “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Notice the writer doesn’t say God wants “some” or a certain number to know Him. Rather, He wants everyone on earth to be saved. It’s not His desire that any perish; rather, He longs for all of mankind to know Him (2 Peter 3:9). And that includes you.

Unbelievers sometimes look at their sins and assume there’s no way God could grant them forgiveness. But the moment a person is willing to acknowledge his wrongdoing, the Lord is there to accept the sinner as His child. Regardless of what you’ve done, whom you’ve hurt, or where you’ve been in life, God is ready and willing to forgive you.

Even for those of us who have been Christians a long time, it’s humbling to reflect on God’s goodness. The same grace that saved us is available on every step of our faith journey. Each day, we can move forward, safe in the knowledge that no mistake can ever put us beyond the reach of God’s love for His children.

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – Giving Up Our Mirrors

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Read: Philippians 2:1-5
Bible in a Year: Deuteronomy 20-22; Mark 13:21-37

 

[Bezalel] made the laver of bronze and its base of bronze, from the bronze mirrors of the serving women. —Exodus 38:8

When Moses gathered the children of Israel together to begin work on the tabernacle (Ex. 35–39), he called on Bezalel, a gifted artisan, to help make the furnishings. We’re told that certain women were asked to give their precious bronze mirrors to make the bronze basin he was constructing (38:8). They gave them up to help prepare a place where God’s presence would reside.

Give up our mirrors? For most of us, that would be hard to do. That’s not something we’re asked to do, but it makes me think about how too much scrutiny and self-examination can be disconcerting. It can make us think too much about ourselves and not enough about others.

When we can forget about our own faces quickly and remember that God loves us as we are—in all our imperfections—then we can begin to “look out not only for [our] own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Phil. 2:4).

Augustine said that we get lost in loving ourselves but found in loving others. Put another way, the secret of happiness is not getting our face right but giving our hearts away, giving our lives away, giving our selves away, in love. —David Roper

Father, may I think more of others today than I think of myself. May I lose my thoughts about myself in my thoughts of other people and their needs.

A heart that is focused on others will not be consumed with self.

INSIGHT: Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians while he was under house arrest. He was waiting for a verdict that would either set him free or result in his execution. It was in these circumstances that he wrote about “consolation,” “comfort,” and “fellowship” (v. 1). Paul reminds the Philippians (and us) that these things come from our commitment to Christ. We have consolation in Christ, comfort from His love, and fellowship with the Spirit. All of our love for each other comes from following the example of Christ (vv. 2-5), which Paul explains in verses 6-11.
Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Right Circles

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I know what the Corinthians were thinking when they fought over theological allegiances. Paul describes the discordant sounds of the Christian community in Corinth: One was saying, “I follow Paul” and another, “I follow Apollos” and another, “I follow Cephas” and still another, “I follow Christ.” I remember a time when these words seemed so strange, and with Paul, I agreed the Corinthians were in need of reprimand. But I know how this happens; I have seen it happening in me.

The longer I study theology and its varying schools of thought, the more I realize how much I do not know. Mapping all of the types and categories, trends in thought and history, and the emerging theologies today seems nearly impossible. And even if it was possible to make sense of every school of thought, it would hardly mean that every theologian today and in history would fit neatly into one such school. The more I study theology, the more I fear being able to soundly navigate through the noisy choruses. I fear the blind spots that I likely have—and nurture. And so I find myself wanting to stand behind one or two trustworthy theologians in particular, drawing a line between us and all the rest, declaring myself a follower of his or her theological camp, and following my safe theological leader through the labyrinth of good and bad theologies.

The Corinthian mindset is not so different from my own.

During his tenure as a professor at Magdalen College in Oxford, C.S. Lewis delivered a memorial oration to the students of King’s College, the University of London. It was titled, “The Inner Ring.” Addressing his young audience as “the middle-aged moralist,” Lewis warned of the natural desire to find ourselves a part of the right inner circles, which exist endlessly and tauntingly throughout life. He cautioned about the consuming ambition to be an insider and not an outsider, on the right side of the right camp, though the lines that distinguish the camps are invisible, and the circle is never as perfect from within as it looks from without. Like the taunting mirage a weary traveler chases through the desert, noted Lewis, the quest for the Inner Ring will break your heart unless you break it.(1)

Of course, the desire to be seen inside the right camp is a desire that reaches well beyond the bounds of theology. The longing to belong and belong to the right group is an intense motivator of human behavior. It is how we make sense of the world around us; it is how we navigate through the recesses of conflicting thoughts, ideas, and worldviews. But it is also misleading. Membership can lead to blind allegiance, thoughtlessness, and persecution of those deemed outside. One only has to watch a group of kids to see how easily our desire to belong can be corrupted by our need to exclude. The inner circle is not inner if there are no outsiders. Choosing to follow Cephas is just as often about not choosing to follow Apollos or associate with his followers.

My choice of theological leaders bears similar qualities. Paul’s question rings in my ears the same way it did for the Corinthians: “Is Christ divided? Was Paul [or C.S. Lewis or your seminary professor] crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul [or John Calvin or your favorite preacher]?”

The kingdom in which Christ invites us to participate is in fact far greater than any one theologian pretends to describe, and it is not one of these, but Christ himself who reigns within it. “We go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle—and Greeks pass it off as absurd. But to us who are personally called by God himself—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God’s ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so tiny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s ‘weakness.’…But everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.”(2) The camp to which we want most to belong is his.

Following anyone other than Christ, we may find words of human wisdom, but we have emptied the cross of its power. Likewise, we find not the kingdom of God, but an inner circle with which we will eventually grow weary. Following Christ Jesus is something else entirely. Following Christ, we find a wisdom that is foolishness to many and a kingdom whose very description continues to crumble the walls we neatly build. Following Christ, we are repeatedly jarred awake to the realities of God’s reign, the inadequacy of our circles, and one far worthier of our boasting.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1980), 154.

(2) The Message, 1 Corinthians 1:22-31.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – For the Non-Christian

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Why are we sitting here until we die?  2 Kings 7:3

 

Dear reader, this little book was mainly intended for the edification of believers, but if you are still unsaved, we are concerned for you, and we would like to say something that would be helpful to you. Open your Bible, and read this story of the lepers, and note their position, which was similar to yours. If you remain where you are, you must perish; if you go to Jesus you will live.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained” is the old proverb, and in your case the venture is not great. If you sit still in sullen despair, no one can pity you when your ruin comes; but if you were to die seeking mercy, if such a thing were possible, you would be the object of universal sympathy. None escape who refuse to look to Jesus; but you know that others are saved who believe in Him, for certain of your own friends and neighbors have received mercy. So why not you? Why not taste and see that the Lord is merciful? To perish is so awful that if you could only clutch at a straw, the instinct of self-preservation should lead you to stretch out your hand.

We want to assure you, as from the Lord, that if you seek Him you will find Him. Jesus casts out none who come unto Him. You shall not perish if you trust Him; on the contrary, you shall find treasure far richer than what the poor lepers gathered in Syria’s deserted camp. May the Holy Spirit embolden you to go at once, and you shall not believe in vain.

Then when you are saved, share the good news with others. Do not hold back; tell your friends at church first, and join with them in fellowship; let the watchman of the city, the pastor, be informed of your discovery, and then proclaim the good news in every place. May the Lord God save you before the sun goes down this day.

Today’s Bible Reading    

The family reading plan for March 13, 2015
* Exodus 24
* John 3

 

Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Christ precious to believers

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“Unto you therefore which believe he is precious.” 1 Peter 2:7

Suggested Further Reading: 1 Peter 1:18-21

This text calls to my recollection the opening of my ministry. It is about eight years since as a lad of sixteen, I stood up for the first time in my life to preach the gospel in a cottage to a handful of poor people, who had come together for worship. I felt my own inability to preach, but I ventured to take this text, “Unto you therefore which believe he is precious.” I do not think I could have said anything upon any other text, but Christ was precious to my soul and I was in the flush of my youthful love, and I could not be silent when a precious Jesus was the subject. I had but just escaped from the bondage of Egypt, I had not forgotten the broken fetter; still did I recollect those flames which seemed to burn about my path, and that devouring gulf which opened its mouth as if ready to devour me. With all these things fresh in my youthful heart, I could but speak of his preciousness who had been my Saviour; and had plucked me as a brand from the burning, and set me upon a rock, and put a new song in my mouth, and established my goings. And now, at this time what shall I say? “What hath God wrought?” How hath the little one become a thousand, and the small one a great people? And what shall I say concerning this text, but that if the Lord Jesus was precious then, he is as precious now? And if I could declare then, that Jesus was the object of my soul’s desire, that for him I hoped to live, and for him I would be prepared to die, can I not say, God being my witness, that he is more precious to me this day than ever he was?

For meditation: Is the Lord Jesus Christ precious to you? If so, the feeling is mutual (Isaiah 43:4; Psalm 116:15).

Sermon no. 242
13 March (1859)

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Recognizing God’s Fatherhood

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“Our Father who art in heaven” (Matt. 6:9).

Prayer begins with the recognition that God is your Father and has the resources to meet your needs.

The term Father is one of the most commonly used terms in our prayers, and rightly so because that’s how Jesus taught us to pray. But as common as that term is to us, it was very uncommon to the people of Christ’s day.

Then, most of the people who worshiped false gods thought of them as distant, capricious, and immoral beings that were to be feared. Even the Jewish people, who should have understood the fatherhood of God, had removed themselves from His Fatherly care through their sin and apostasy. Consequently He seemed remote to them. Even some who did claim God as their Father were rebuked by Christ, who called them children of the devil because they rejected the Son (John 8:44).

Against that backdrop, Christ’s teaching was revolutionary. He proclaimed God as a caring and gracious Father who desires intimate fellowship with His children. That fellowship can come only through faith in the Son.

Beyond that, Jesus revealed the Father’s character in everything He said and did. When Philip asked Jesus to show him the Father, Jesus replied, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

Jesus also proclaimed God as a Father who has all the treasures of heaven at His disposal and who makes them available to His children so they might glorify Him: “Your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him. . . . Do not be anxious then . . . but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all [you need] will be added to you” (Matt. 6:8, 31, 33).

Your faith in Christ is what makes God your Heavenly Father. He loves you, listens to your prayers, and supplies your needs according to His abundant resources. Look to Him today and live as a thankful, obedient child.

Suggestions for Prayer

  • Thank God that He is your gracious and loving Father.
  • Praise Him for the abundant blessings He gives to you.

For Further Study

Read Proverbs 3:5-6 and Matthew 7:7-11.

  • What are you exhorted to do?
  • What specifically will God do for you?
  • How should those passages affect your relationship with God?
Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – He Will Tell You What’s Ahead

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He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future]. – John 16:13

One of the many benefits of hearing from God is that listening to His voice helps us prepare for the future. The Holy Spirit gives to us the messages the Father gives to Him, and He often tells us things that will happen in the future.

We find many instances in the Bible in which God spoke to people and gave them information about the future. He told Noah to prepare for a flood that would come to destroy the people of the earth (see Genesis 6:13–17). He told Moses to go to Pharaoh and ask for the release of the Israelites and that Pharaoh would not grant this request (see Exodus 7). Obviously, God does not tell us everything that will happen in the future, but His Word promises He will tell us some things.

There are times when I sense that something good, or perhaps something challenging, is going to happen. When a challenge awaits me and I have some prior knowledge of it, that knowledge helps to cushion the blow when the difficult situation comes. If an automobile with good shock absorbers hits a pothole, those absorbers protect passengers in the car from the jarring impact that would result and no one gets hurt. God’s giving us information ahead of time works the same way.

Part of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to tell us things to come. He knows the mind of God and He knows God’s individual plans for our lives. He will reveal what we need to know when we need to know it in order to fulfill the good plans God has for us.

God’s word for you today: Trust the Holy Spirit to tell you what you need to know about the future.

 

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Truly Rich

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“Do you want to be truly rich? You already are if you are happy and good. After all, we didn’t bring any money with us when we came into the world, and we can’t carry away a single penny when we die” (1 Timothy 6:6,7).

If you had the choice of choosing between great wealth and good health and a happy, joyful relationship with our Lord, which would you choose? Though many would choose wealth, I am sure that if you are a Christian, you would gladly choose to live modestly the rest of your life if necessary in order to experience daily the joy of your salvation.

During all of my career, I, an agnostic, had worked hard to successfully develop my business interests. Then, in the providence of God, I was brought face to face with Christ and His Word. “What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”

It was as though God touched my mind to enable me to understand that I could eat only one meal at a time, wear one suit of clothes at a time and take nothing with me when I die. I understood for the first time that being truly rich does not involve the accumulation of vast wealth, but it involves knowing and doing the will of God – in walking in intimate, vital, personal fellowship with Him daily as a way of life.

Fanny Crosby, the hymnwriter, gave us more than eight thousand gospel songs. Although blinded at the age of six weeks, she never held any bitterness in her heart because of it.

“I think it is a great pity that the Master did not give you sight when He showered so many other gifts upon you,” a friend once said to her.

“Do you know,” she responded quickly, “that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I should be born blind.”

“Why?” asked the astounded clergyman.

“Because,” she replied, “when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior.”

Bible Reading: Luke 12:25-31

TODAY’S ACTION POINT:  As I figuratively sit at God’s banquet table today, I will feast upon His spiritual bounties and not be satisfied with the crumbs of materialism.

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; C.H. – Life and Death Sayings

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“Loose lips sink ships.” This well-known line became famous when it was plastered across World War II propaganda posters in America. The war department cautioned both civilians and servicemen to choose their words carefully to curtail those who may inadvertently share secure information that would help the enemy. The British, Swedish and Germans all had their own version of this phrase.

Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

Proverb 13:3

Today’s key passage, written many years earlier, also shares the same sentiment. Whether you realize it or not, you are at war with Satan. “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (I Peter 5:8) Watch what you say. Your enemy would love to use your words against you – and against Christ.

Does everything you say bring glory to God? Remember, words are powerful and can promote both life and death to the hearer. Ask Him to help keep a guard over your mouth and make your loose lips tight again. Pray for the wisdom to know when to speak and when to be quiet…then make the same request for your national leaders.

Recommended Reading: James 3:2-12

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – The Perfect Book

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The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.—Psalm 19:7

Do you ever go back and look at your old yearbooks from high school and wonder, What was I thinking? The hairstyles are always entertaining. Remember when mullets were popular? What was the fascination with mullets?

Even as styles change and our culture changes, the Word of God never does. The Bible is never out of date.

The psalmist David declared, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7). The phrase “the law of the Lord” is a Hebrew term used to define the Scriptures. It’s a word that speaks of the perfection of the Scriptures. The verse could be translated, “The Word of God is whole; it is complete” or “The Word of God is efficient.”

We are told in 2 Timothy 3:16–17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” We know that God’s Word is sufficient. It is infallible. The original autographs, the first copies, were without error.

Not long ago I was watching a pastor being interviewed on a news show. He was being pressed on what the Bible says about some issues that aren’t popular in our culture today. The interviewer asked, “Don’t you think it’s time for us to drag the Bible kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century?”

I thought, Oh my. That is the whole problem: we’ve ignored the Bible. The Bible never goes out of date. The news goes out of date—quickly—but never the Word of God. The Word of God is an adequate book. It is a sufficient book. And it is a perfect book.