Daily Archives: December 17, 2015

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – A Relationship With God

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1 John 4:7-10

Intimate relationships are characterized by a close connection to another person and a commitment to his or her well-being. Acquaintances have superficial information about us, but true friends know our deeper emotions, thoughts, and desires.

God, who is perfect and holy, has always desired such a personal relationship with man, but human sinfulness made that seem impossible. We all have rebelled against God’s perfect authority and deserve death (Rom. 3:23; Rom. 6:23). But more than that, we were all born with a corrupt nature inherited from Adam (Rom. 5:12), and neither good works nor moral values can overcome it.

God alone could remedy the situation. His solution is to change our nature so we can be a part of His family. Nonetheless, divine justice must still be satisfied, and only a perfect sacrifice can pay for our sins (Deut. 17:1). God requires the death of someone without a sin nature as the payment for our debt. Throughout history, only one qualified: Jesus, the perfect God-man, who gave His life so we could have a relationship with the Father. Our friendship with God came at a very high price to Him—the death of His beloved Son.

The Father has done everything necessary for us to be in His family and experience intimacy with Him. Have you entered into a relationship with Him through the saving work of His Son? If not, make today your spiritual birthday by receiving Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. This Christmas season, discover the gifts of freedom, satisfaction, and joy found only in Him.

Bible in One Year: Hebrews 1-3

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Christmas Rest

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Read: Matthew 11:28-12:8

Bible in a Year: Amos 7-9; Revelation 8

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened. —Matthew 11:28

As a boy I delivered newspapers in order to earn money. Since it was a morning newspaper, I was required to get up at 3:00 every morning, 7 days a week, in order to have all 140 of my papers delivered to their appropriate homes by 6:00 a.m.

But one day each year was different. We would deliver the Christmas morning newspaper on Christmas Eve—meaning that Christmas was the only morning of the year I could sleep in and rest like a normal person.

Over the years, I came to appreciate Christmas for many reasons, but one that was special in those days was that, unlike any other day of the year, it was a day of rest.

At that time, I didn’t fully understand the meaning of the true rest that Christmas brings. Christ came so that all who labor under the weight of a law that can never be fulfilled might find rest through the forgiveness Christ offers. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). In a world that is too much for us to bear alone, Christ has come to bring us into a relationship with Him and give us rest. —Bill Crowder

What burdens would you like the Lord to carry for you? Ask Him today.

Our soul finds rest when it rests in God.

INSIGHT: The words of today’s passage have been loved and memorized by many: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (v. 28). What more do we need than rest from our difficult and wearying lives? But that rest must be understood in its context. Jesus was speaking to Jewish people in the first century—people who had been raised under the assumption that you had to work to earn God’s favor or to be in right relationship with Him. It is to those who labor under the burden of keeping the law that Jesus says, “Come to me.” We come to know and love God by placing our trust in Jesus’ payment for our sin, and we demonstrate our love for God by doing what He commands (John 14:21).

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – The Silence of God

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Before coming to the narrative of Christ’s birth, there is a dramatic conversation which takes place between a priest called Zechariah and the angel Gabriel. One day Zechariah was serving in the temple when the angel Gabriel appeared to him.(1) Zechariah was very afraid but Gabriel spoke to him saying, ‘Do not be afraid. Your prayer has been heard.’ Gabriel continued to tell Zechariah that he and his wife would have a son and they were to name him John. Ultimately, John would be the one to prepare people for the Lord Jesus.

Instead of rejoicing over the news brought to him from Gabriel, Zechariah objects, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” Gabriel responds by explaining to Zechariah precisely to whom he is speaking and also cites the authority on which he bears this news:

“I am Gabriel and I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”

One only needs to read the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel to find out that this promise from the Lord was fulfilled. Elizabeth and Zechariah have a baby boy and they name him John. It is only after the naming of John that Zechariah is able to speak again.

There are many aspects of this story that are remarkable. First is the context in which the story takes place: the people of Israel, of whom Zechariah and Elizabeth were a part, have not heard from God for a period of roughly 400 years! When Gabriel appears to Zechariah, it is highly likely that this is the first time Zechariah has heard from God in such a way.

To make theological matters even more complicated for Zechariah, Gabriel’s second statement, after telling him to not be afraid, is ‘Your prayer has been heard.’ There is deep irony in this statement primarily because of the theological background leading up to this conversation. For all of Zechariah’s life, he had never heard God’s voice like this. The very act of God speaking to him would seem preposterous. Therefore, it is understandable why Zechariah questions Gabriel. Zechariah and his people have prayed to God, many for their entire lives, and they have never heard anything. How could Zechariah be sure this was truly a message from the Lord? This encounter undoubtedly marked a watershed moment, not only for Zechariah, but for God’s people and the entire world. God would speak now and man would be silent.

God’s silence is often a challenge to belief. One point I glean from the early part of this story is that God’s silence does not necessarily imply that God is inactive. In Israel’s case, God had been silent for years, yet in this angelic encounter, nearly the first words of instruction from the Lord are, ‘Your prayer has been heard.’ For those of us who are immersed in the urgency of the digital world, we would do well to heed the implicit lesson of patience found in this story. God had been silent for a long time, but God was listening. There are times in our lives in which we do not hear God’s voice. Gabriel’s words tell us that although we might not hear God speaking, God is still listening.

After Zechariah objects to the seemingly audacious promise given from the Lord, Gabriel points out that it is not on his own authority that he speaks, but God’s. Implicit in Gabriel’s statement is the reality that God is bringing help to Israel, not because of what Zechariah or Elizabeth have done, but rather because of who God is. Historically speaking, God was the one who helped, rescued, and saved Israel countless times. The people of Israel knew this history well and they also knew why God had reached down and helped them. This much was clear in the mind of Israel: God’s salvation came only because of God’s character. God’s saving power came, not because of humanity’s effort, but because of God’s nature to save.

Gabriel then tells Zechariah that he will be silent. This is what strikes me most about the story: Gabriel appears to Zechariah in a time during which the people of Israel had not heard from God in years. The Lord speaks to Zechariah and tells him that God will act and fulfill his promise, but while He does so, Zechariah will be silent.

Generally I have viewed the silence of Zechariah as a punishment for not believing in God, and I think that this may well be true. But I also see this act of silence pointing to something deeper than one man receiving a punishment from God for not believing, and here’s why: The people of Israel knew that God had helped them; they knew why God had helped them and they also had learned how God had worked in history. Over time they had realized that God’s grace and salvation would be worked out through quietness and trust. Israel’s strength lay not in activity and being busy, but in silence. This was how God worked.

Zechariah’s silence is a symbol of God’s salvation. John’s life was spent concentrated on preparing people for Christ, the means by which people could be saved. But before John came, the Lord visited his father through Gabriel, telling Zechariah that He had heard his prayer, and was going to rescue his people not in a flurry of human activity, but in a way in which people could only watch him work and hear him speak. Perhaps one of the vital lessons we can learn from the Christmas story is to prioritize silence before God. At the very least, being quiet will remind us of a greater time, one of the greatest in history, when God spoke and humankind was there only to watch and listen.

Nathan Betts is a member of the speaking team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Toronto, Canada.

(1) See Luke 1.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – He Never Ceases to Remember

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I remember the devotion of your youth. Jeremiah 2:2

Let us note that Christ delights to think upon His Church and to look upon her beauty. As the bird returns often to its nest, and as the traveler hurries to his home, so the mind continually pursues the object of its choice. We cannot look too often upon the face we love; we continually desire to have what is precious to us.

This is also true with our Lord Jesus. From all eternity He has been “delighting in the children of man.”1 His thoughts rolled onward to the time when His elect would be born into the world; He viewed them in the mirror of His foreknowledge. “In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them” (Ps. 139:16). When the world was set upon its pillars, He was there, and He set the boundaries of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. Many a time before His incarnation, He descended to this lower earth in the similitude of a man-on the plains of Mamre (Gen. 18), by the brook of Jabbok (Gen. 32:24-30), beneath the walls of Jericho (Josh. 5:13), and in the fiery furnace of Babylon (Dan. 3:19, 25).

The Son of Man visited His people. Because His soul delighted in them, He could not stay away from them, for His heart longed for them. They were never absent from His heart, for He had written their names upon His hands and had graven them upon His side.

As the breastplate containing the names of the tribes of Israel was the most brilliant ornament worn by the high priest, so the names of Christ’s elect were His most precious jewels and glittered on His heart. We may often forget to meditate upon the perfections of our Lord, but He never ceases to remember us. Let us chide ourselves for past forgetfulness, and pray for grace that we might constantly and fondly remember Him. Lord, paint upon the eyeballs of my soul the image of Your Son.

1) Proverbs 8:31

Family Bible Reading Plan

  • 2 Chronicles 19, 20
  • Revelation 8

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

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – A blow at self-righteousness

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“If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me; if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.” Job 9:20

Suggested Further Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

Let me just utter a solemn sentence which you may consider at your leisure. If you trust to your faith and to your repentance, you will be as much lost as if you trusted to your good works or trusted to your sins. The ground of your salvation is not faith, but Christ; it is not repentance, but Christ. If I trust my trust of Christ, I am lost. My business is to trust Christ; to rest on him; to depend, not on what the Spirit has done in me, but on what Christ did for me, when he hung upon the tree. Now be it known unto you, that when Christ died, he took the sins of all his people upon his head, and there and then they all ceased to be. At the moment when Christ died, the sins of all his redeemed were blotted out. He did then suffer all that they ought to have suffered; he paid all their debts; and their sins were actually and positively lifted that day from their shoulders to his shoulders, for “the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” And now, if you believe in Jesus, there is not a sin remaining upon you, for your sin was laid on Christ; Christ was punished for your sins before they were committed, and as Kent says:

“Here’s pardon full for sin that’s past,

It matters not how black their cast;

And oh! my soul with wonder view,

For sins to come here’s pardon too.”

Blessed privilege of the believer! But if you live and die unbelievers, know this, that all your sins lie on your own shoulders.

For meditation: To boast of the sincerest faith and the most thoroughgoing repentance is to exhibit the most sophisticated form of self-righteousness. Repentance and faith are both gifts from God so that sinners can receive his greatest gift, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:12).

Sermon no. 350

17 December (Preached 16 December 1860)

 

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Christ’s Superior Destiny

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“To which of the angels has He ever said, ‘Sit at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet’? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?” (Heb. 1:13-14).

The destiny of Jesus Christ is that ultimately everything in the universe will be subject to Him.

“At the name of Jesus every knee [will] bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth” (Phil. 2:10). That great promise confirms that Jesus Christ is destined to be the ruler of the universe.

Yet notice this about Christ’s rule: “When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28). Christ is subordinate to His Father, but only in His role as the Son. While the eternal Son is equally divine, He is officially in subjection to God.

Eventually God will put all kingdoms, authorities, and powers of the world in subjection under Christ when He comes in glory at His second coming. “He will rule [the nations] with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, ‘KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS'” (Rev. 19:15-16). Christ’s eternal destiny is to reign over the new heavens and the new earth.

But what about the angels? While Christ has the greater destiny, it is their destiny to serve forever those who will inherit salvation (Heb. 1:14)—and that’s us!

Angels protect and deliver the believer from temporal danger. They rescued Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom. They went into the lions’ den with Daniel and protected him. In addition to being forever in God’s presence, our destiny is to be served by angels forever—service that begins the moment of our salvation.

Suggestions for Prayer

Thank God for the many ways He takes care of you: by saving you, having Christ intercede for you, giving you the Holy Spirit to teach you, and sending His angels to serve you.

For Further Study

Read 2 Kings 6:8-23 and note the amazing way that angels served the prophet Elisha.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Pray for the Right Friends

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Don’t link up with those who will pollute you.—2 Corinthians 6:17 (The Message)

True friends don’t try to control you—they help you be what God wants you to be. Put your faith in God, and ask Him to give you friends who are truly right for you. Perhaps you never thought of using your faith for right friends, but God offers us a new way to live. He invites us to live by faith. There is no part of your life God is not concerned about, and He wants to be involved in everything you want, need, or do.

I cannot make myself acceptable to all people, and neither can you, but we can believe that God will give us favor with the people He wants us involved with. Sometimes we try to have relationships with people God does not even want us to be associated with. Some of the people I really worked hard to be friends with in the past, often compromising my own conscience in order to gain their acceptance, were the very ones who rejected me the first time I didn’t do exactly as they wanted me to. I realize now I wanted their friendship for wrong reasons. I was insecure and wanted to be friends with the “popular” people, thinking my association with important people would make me important.

We should put our faith in the Lord to help us choose right friends, as well as everything else that concerns us.

From the book New Day, New You by Joyce Meyer.

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; A.W. – On Your Knees

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Billy Graham said, “To get nations back on their feet we must first get down on our knees.” He leads by example. He’s been on his knees praying for the United States for most of his life. In 2013, in a USA Today report he shared, “Our country’s in great need of a spiritual awakening. There have been times that I’ve wept as I’ve gone from city to city and I’ve seen how far people have wandered from God.”

Hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants.

Nehemiah 1:6

This is how Nehemiah must have felt about Israel in today’s verse when he prayed for God to help him get the nation of Israel back to being His “servants.” Nehemiah asked God to listen and confessed the people’s sins. God responded by not only helping him rebuild the wall, but by leading the Jews to once again obey His commands.

Today, stop to give thanks for the privilege and the power of prayer. Remember that you, like Nehemiah, can get on your knees on behalf of the nation’s leaders and people. There’s no better time to do this than during this blessed Christmas season.

Recommended Reading: Luke 18:1-8

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Forget Something?

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He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”—Matthew 2:4

Imagine for a moment that you are living in first-century Israel. You hear mysterious visitors from the east speak of a star that has been leading them. Now, don’t you think it might be a good idea to make the short journey of about five miles from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to check it out?

Herod was right in expecting an answer from the chief priests and scribes as to where the Messiah would be born, and they interpreted the writings of Micah properly. Yet they should have known better.

These men were the theological scholars of their day and knew the Scriptures inside and out. It was their job to study the Scriptures and number the letters and lines to ensure careful copying. They knew the Scriptures so well, but they cared so little. They knew where the Messiah would be born, but they didn’t care about a baby king as much as an adult monarch who could line their pockets with gold. They were too busy to bother with Him.

Do you know one thing that can keep you from Christ more than anything else? It’s religious pride. When you say, “I already know that” or “I’ve already heard that,” it could actually dull your spiritual senses to the Word of God.

Sometimes when you hear the Word of God again and again, you can essentially enter into a place of complacency, a place of apathy. You might even find yourself asleep. I find it interesting that many of the Bible’s warnings about waking up are actually addressed to believers. Believers can be asleep like these religious scholars who missed out on that epic event.

Even at Christmas, with all our celebrating of the birth of Christ, we can forget about Christ and fail to give Him a passing thought.

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Don’t Leave Feeling Unforgiven

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If only I could believe God’s forgiveness. How can it be? If He truly knows all about me—why would He ever forgive me?

To believe we are totally and eternally debt free is seldom easy. We doubt! And as a result, many are forgiven only a little—not because the grace of God is limited—but because the faith of the sinner is small. God is willing to forgive all! He is willing to wipe the slate clean! God invites you into a pool of mercy and invites you to bathe. Plunge in! Don’t just touch the surface! Don’t leave or live feeling unforgiven.

Where the grace of God is embraced, forgiveness flourishes! And what you’ll discover is—the more you immerse yourself in grace, the more likely you are to give grace!

From Grace for the Moment

Night Light - James & Shirley Dobson

Night Light for Couples – Words of Hope

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“In his word I put my hope.” Psalm 130:5

Like anyone else, I have days when discouragement seems to get the better of me. At such times I try to remember that the Lord has provided me with a source of continuing inspiration and hope. To tap into that source I need simply to open the pages of my Bible, God’s letter of hope to me.

I’m reminded of a story about an elderly woman who had lost her husband, George, some years earlier in an automobile accident. Theirs had been a long and happy marriage, and she missed him terribly. When she suffered a broken leg, she felt more confined and alone than ever. One particularly blue day, she found herself longing once again for her husband’s company. She sat in her living room and began to weep. “Dear God,” she prayed, “please give me the strength to get through this hour.”

Get your Bible, a quiet voice inside her said. But her Bible was in the bedroom, and, with her leg in a cast, she thought it would be too hard to retrieve. Then she remembered a small travel Bible on a nearby bookshelf. She reached for it and turned the pages to find a favorite Scripture.

Suddenly a letter fell into her lap. She carefully unfolded the yellowed pages. It was a love letter from George. In it, he expressed his deep affection for her. His words of comfort went straight to her lonely heart.

In the back pages of the Bible she found more notes from George. He had written them in the hospital while awaiting an operation, apparently fearing he would not return home. After he recovered, the notes were forgotten.

That woman spent the rest of the afternoon basking in the company of her husband’s letters and in the certainty that the Lord cared for her.

When you’re feeling short on hope in your marriage, ask yourself if you’ve spent enough time lately reading your “mail” from God. Jeremiah wrote, “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight” (Jeremiah 15:16). As we go about our days, we can draw on the same delight… if we’ll just read the Bible for a few minutes and wait for His Word to meet our need.

God loves you with infinite compassion and tenderness. He knows just what you need and when you need it. In the pages of Scripture, you’ll find example after example of His wisdom, comfort, and love— all meant for you. It’s the kind of “mail” that will really make your day!

– Shirley M Dobson

From Night Light For Couples, by Dr. James & Shirley Dobson