Grace to You; John MacArthur – Understanding Who Christ Is

 

 “Walk . . . with all humility” (Ephesians 4:1-2).

We are to walk as Christ walked. Our lack of conformity to His standard ought to make us humble.

What was your most humiliating experience? Life is full of embarrassing moments, but the most truly humbling experience I ever had was preaching through the Gospel of John. For two years—eighty-eight sermons, about one hundred hours of preaching, between two and three thousand hours of study—I was constantly faced with the deity of Jesus Christ. Living with the deity of Christ day after day and comparing yourself continually to Him is one of the healthiest—and most humbling—things you can ever do.

That brings us to another step toward humility: Christ-awareness. When we compare ourselves with ourselves, we get proud. But “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” (1 John 2:6). When you can say, “I’m happy to announce that I now walk as Jesus walked,” then you’ll have a right to be proud. But no one will believe you.

Jesus was the perfect man. He was without sin. He gave all the right answers and had the perfect attitude for every situation. He knew exactly how to help everyone who needed help. Reading the Gospels, we see time after time how Christ handled everything perfectly.

Even seeing His humanness, we realize how small we are. But when we look at His deity, we feel still smaller. He created everything (Col. 1:16). He turned water into wine, calmed storms, cast out demons, healed countless people, and brought the dead to life. After His crucifixion, He rose from the dead and sat at the Father’s right hand (Eph. 1:19-20). Someday He will come back, take His people home, and finally destroy all evil.

Despite Jesus’ perfect deity and perfect humanity, He came to serve (Mark 10:45). How can we be proud if Jesus Christ humbled Himself? What righteous thing have we done that compares to His perfect life?

Suggestions for Prayer

Pray that you might know Christ better and increasingly be more like Him.

For Further Study

  • Peter got a glimpse of Jesus’ power in Luke 5:1-7. How did Peter’s sudden awareness of who Christ is affect him (v. 8)?
  • What did he do next (vv. 9-11)?

From Strength for Today by John MacArthur

 

http://www.gty.org/

Joyce Meyer – Trust in the Power of Hope

 

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.

— Proverbs 13:12 (AMPC)

I define hope as “the happy anticipation of good things.” You can hope for something good to happen to you by learning how to celebrate and enjoy life.

Everything in life is a process in motion. Without movement and progression there is no life. As long as you live you are always heading somewhere, and you should enjoy yourself on the way. God created you to be a goal-oriented visionary. Without a vision you become bored and hopeless.

But there’s something about hope that makes people lighthearted and happy. Hope is a powerful spiritual force that is activated through your positive attitude. God is positive and He wants positive things to happen to you, but that probably won’t happen unless you have hope and faith.

Expect God to bring good out of every circumstance in your life. Whatever happens, trust in the Lord…and trust in the power of hope!

Prayer Starter: Father, thank You for hope. Please show me how to celebrate and enjoy my life and help me to keep a positive attitude as I move forward.

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Truth for Life; Alistair Begg – Radical Remorse

 

When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” … He departed, and he went and hanged himself.

Matthew 27:3–5

What happened to Judas after he betrayed Jesus? “He changed his mind.” This phrase has also helpfully been translated, “He was seized with remorse” (NIV). Judas’s heart was altered, seemingly instantaneously—and with it, so was his perspective.

The Judas we see in the Garden of Gethsemane, leading a procession of armed men to arrest Jesus with boldness and barefaced animosity, is not the Judas we see here, hours later, before the chief priests and elders. His hardened heart was replaced by a spirit of regret that gripped his soul.

Consider Judas’s experience for a moment, and let it be a reminder that sin always offers false hope. The moments before we sin very often feel radically different from those that follow. It’s the same drastic change that Adam and Eve felt in the Garden of Eden following their disobedience. All they knew in the moment before eating the fruit, all they anticipated in that act of rebellion, became dust in their mouths (Genesis 3:6-8). In the same way, all that seemed so attractive to Judas in handing over Jesus to His enemies quickly became nothing to him.

When we sin, all of the bewitching, intoxicating influences—all that drew us to rebel—passes away in a moment. What glittered turns out to be fool’s gold. Only the naked fact remains: I have sinned against a holy, loving God.

With such radical remorse, we have a choice: repent and be reconciled to God, or despair and condemn ourselves. Tragically, Judas chose the latter. His guilt was so great that surely every face he saw accused him, every sound he heard pierced him, every reverberation in his soul condemned him. He attempted to alleviate his guilt by returning his payment to the chief priests—yet lifting the weight of the bag of coins off himself wasn’t enough to lift the weight from his heart. Feeling isolated and beyond reach, he died a dreadful death.

Maybe today you’re also feeling weighed down by your sin. Maybe you’ve sought to fix matters yourself, but the weight still bears down. If so, know this: Judas’s story doesn’t have to be yours. You can turn to Christ. He offers freedom and forgiveness: a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light (Matthew 11:28-30). This is what Christ died for—the redemption of sinful betrayers like Judas.

Judas’s example stands as a reminder to us next time sin beckons us. What sins are proving particularly tempting to you at the moment? Remember, how they look beforehand is not how they will feel afterward. For moments of temptation, here is help, and for moments of guilt, here is hope. God’s forgiveness stands waiting for our remorse and repentance. All you must do is turn to Him.

Questions for Thought

How is God calling me to think differently?

How is God reordering my heart’s affections — what I love?

What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?

Further Reading

Psalm 51

Topics: Easter Effects of Sin Forgiveness Repentance

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotionals by Alistair Begg

 

 

http://www.truthforlife.org

Kids4Truth Clubs Daily Devotional

 

Jesus Made Room for Us

“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2)

Before Jesus went to the cross, He spent an evening talking with His eleven closest followers, preparing them for what was about to happen. John 14 records part of what Jesus said that evening. A well-known part of that conversation is John 14:2: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2).

There are two things that we need to understand about what Jesus said that night. First, the word “mansion” doesn’t mean “big house,” which is the way we use the word today. “Mansion” in John 14:2 means “room” or “place to live.” The point that Jesus was making is this: Don’t worry; there’s plenty of room for all my followers to live with the Father. I’m not going back to live there alone.

To understand the second important part, we have to remember what Jesus was about to do: He was about to go to the Father. His path to the Father was difficult: He had to die, be buried, and be raised from the dead. Then He would go up in the clouds. So when Jesus said, “I’m going to prepare a place for you,” He didn’t mean, I’m going to heaven to start a building project. He actually meant, I’m about to die. You’ll be upset, but you shouldn’t be. The reason I’m dying is to make a place for you where my Father lives.

Now why does Jesus say first, “There is plenty of room,” and then, I’m going to make a place for you?” Well, even though there is plenty of room for people like us to dwell with the Father, there would be no way that we could join Him, unless Jesus first made a place for each of us–by dying for us.

Jesus’ work is done now. When He died and was raised from the dead, He made a place for all of His disciples, for everyone in the past and the future who would ever believe in Him.

When Jesus died, He made room for us to dwell with the Father.

My Response:
» Am I one of Jesus’ followers?
» Have I said “no” to my sins and made Jesus my Master?

 

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Denison Forum – Princess of Wales admits to editing family photo

Kate Middleton has been in the center of a media firestorm since abdominal surgery on January 16 removed her from the public eye, leading to rampant speculation regarding the severity of her condition. A photo of her with her children posted on Sunday was intended to calm the waters, but media outlets discovered that it had been edited and removed it from their sites, which only fanned the flames. She admitted yesterday that she edited the photo personally and apologized for the confusion.

If you’re like most of us, this is a “tempest in a teapot.” You likely follow news about the Princess of Wales and her family with some degree of interest. But knowing about the royal family and knowing them personally are two very different things.

Satan does everything he can to confine our relationship with Jesus to the former. Choosing the latter is the single most important decision in all of time and eternity. It changes our lives and, through us, our world.

We are not radical enough

The transformation of America must begin with the transformation of America’s Christians. We must prove that biblical morality is relevant today by demonstrating its relevance in our personal lives. We then become our best argument for persuading others to join us. And we are empowered to share biblical truth with bold, courageous compassion as we display the “fruit of the Spirit” to the world (Galatians 5:22–23).

Consequently, you and I need to seek nothing less than a daily, intimate personal experience with the risen Christ.

Substituting a religion about Jesus for a transforming relationship with him is a deception of Satan himself. When we fall for this trap:

  • We don’t seek to know Christ more fully (Jeremiah 29:13).
  • Rather, we seek to be our own God (Genesis 3:5), in control of our own lives.
  • We are inoculated spiritually with just enough of a relationship with God to keep us from experiencing the real thing.
  • Our witness is enervated since the world sees no difference between our lives and theirs.

In this way, religion is dangerous, but not for the reasons post-Christian progressives think. It’s not that we are too radical, but that we are not radical enough:

  • We should oppose abortion, despite the accusation that we are part of a “war on women,” but we must also love women considering abortion and the children we encourage them to bring into the world.
  • We should oppose same-sex marriage, despite the claim that we are “homophobic,” but we must also model biblical marriage by rejecting pornography and adultery while loving all people as Christ loves us.
  • We should oppose euthanasia, despite the claim that we oppose “death with dignity,” but we must also care for the infirm and honor the elderly.
  • We should bemoan the divisiveness of our politicized culture, but we must also “love [our] neighbor as ourselves” (Matthew 22:39) whatever their political positions.

Why I love to talk about my grandkids

Here’s why today’s conversation is so crucial for our broken culture: when you and I experience the risen Christ in a daily, intimate, transforming way, we must tell the world. Just as Jesus “had” to pass through Samaria (John 4:4), not because this was a geographical necessity but because he was compelled by his love for Samaritans, so the Samaritan woman he led to himself had to tell her fellow villagers about him (vv. 28–30, 39–42).

She was not alone:

  • The demoniac healed by Jesus had to tell his fellow residents in the Decapolis “how much Jesus had done for him” (Mark 5:20).
  • The disciples on the road to Emmaus, when they had a transforming encounter with the risen Christ, had to tell the apostles “what had happened on the road” (Luke 24:35).
  • Early Christians, when they were “filled with the Spirit,” had to share the gospel with the Pentecost crowds (Acts 2:4–41).
  • When Peter was “filled with the Spirit,” he had to testify for Christ before the Sanhedrin at the risk of his life (Acts 4:8–12).
  • When Paul met the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he had to proclaim Christ in the synagogues there (Acts 9:20).
  • When John met the risen Christ on the prison island of Patmos, he had to give the Revelation to the world.

We often see evangelism as a duty and even a chore. But in fact, when we truly experience the risen Christ, we must share him. We cannot help it—we want everyone we know to know the One whose love has changed our lives.

Jesus promised the same: “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:38). Like the waters of an artesian well forced by underground pressure to pour up from the ground, so our love for Jesus will flow into our words and actions as we naturally fulfill his commission to “be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).

Because I love my family, I love talking about them. And, like a typical grandparent, I am always ready to convince you that my grandchildren are perfect (with pictures as evidence). Because I love them, I want you to love them.

So, here’s the question:

Do you want to share Jesus with someone today?

If not, why not?

Tuesday news to know:

Quote for the day:

“Jesus did not say that the whole world should go to church, but he did say that the whole church should go to the world.” —Greg Laurie

 

Denison Forum

Hagee Ministries; John Hagee –  Daily Devotion

 

He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

Proverbs 28:13

When Jesus forgives our sin, it is a full pardon, a fresh start, and a new beginning. It is the lifting of a heavy burden and the canceling of an enormous debt.

Make no mistake though: forgiveness demands change. God’s forgiveness is filled with compassion, but it demands a change in our conduct. To forgive us without demanding a change in our conduct would make the grace of God an accomplice to evil.

When the Pharisees flung the adulterous woman at Jesus’ feet, they demanded a decision. They knew the Law of Moses called for her death by stoning. But Jesus knew what was in their hearts. After kneeling to write in the dust, He challenged: “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first” (John 8:7).

One by one, they dropped their stones and slunk away. They knew what was in their hearts too. Turning to the relieved woman, Jesus instructed, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). The point is clear. Jesus expected her to change.

Absolute grace that allows people to sin indefinitely and to still be in the favor of God is not a doctrine found in the Bible. When we confess and forsake our sins, we obtain mercy. Christ makes us new creatures, and He expects to see the change.

Blessing

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you and give you His peace. As the beloved child of God, imitate Christ. Walk in His love and forgiveness as you become more and more like Him.

Today’s Bible Reading:

Old Testament

Numbers 16:41-18:32

New Testament

Mark 16:1-20

Psalms & Proverbs

Psalm 55:1-23

Proverbs 11:7

 

https://www.jhm.org

Turning Point; David Jeremiah – When Things Get Hot

 

When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.
Isaiah 43:2

Recommended Reading: Isaiah 43:1-7

One night last year, Shane McCrea, a retired Marine, was driving down a North Carolina highway when he saw a car on fire. He and another passerby ran to the burning car and saw a man inside, unconscious. They struggled to get the man out, and then gave him CPR. The man survived. One of the rescuers said he is seldom out late at night, but that evening, he said that it was God who sent him there.1

The Lord has a million ways of getting us through the fiery crashes of life. When the three Hebrew boys were thrown into the fiery furnace, the Fourth Man came and walked among them.

God promises to be with us when we walk through the fire. He is with us in whatever circumstances we find ourselves: illness, divorce, financial issues, joy, loss, and so on. He promises to be with us, and He keeps the flames from harming us. Offer God a prayer of thanksgiving that we’re never alone—we can experience the presence of God even when things get hot.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.
“How Firm a Foundation”

  1. Michael Hennessey, “‘God Sent Me There’: Men Reunite After Saving Unconscious Driver From High Point Car Fire,” Fox8, September 29, 2023.

 

 

https://www.davidjeremiah.org

Harvest Ministries; Greg Laurie – How God Sees Us

 

 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 

—Romans 8:1–2

Scripture:

Romans 8:1–2 

As Christians, we’re going to mess up. We’re going to sin. But when He died on the cross of Calvary, Jesus took upon Himself the condemnation and the judgment that we should have faced.

Romans 8:1 tells us, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (NLT). A Spirit-led believer lives a condemnation-free life.

We see a classic example of how this works in John 8 when the religious leaders brought a woman caught in the act of adultery to Jesus. Obviously, a man was involved, but he was gone, and the religious leaders had set up a trap. They said, “This woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” (verses 4–5 NLT).

But Jesus knew exactly what they were doing. And instead of answering right away, He stooped down and wrote in the dirt. Now, we don’t know what Jesus wrote, but whatever it was, it had a profound effect. Then He stood up and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” (verse 7 NLT).

The Bible tells us that one by one, they all left, from the oldest to the youngest. So Jesus said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” (verse 10 NLT).

She replied, “No, Lord.”

Then Jesus told her, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more” (verse 11 NLT).

This woman knew she was going to die that day. But instead, everything changed when she looked into the eyes of Jesus and looked at the others who had condemned her. And she believed on the spot. That’s how long it takes to believe in Jesus.

When we come to believe in Christ, we don’t understand everything about Him. We don’t understand all the intricacies of the theology of conversion, justification, sanctification, adoption, and so forth. But we know that we need Jesus, and we put our faith in Him. Then He says, “Go and sin no more.”

God always sees us for what we can become. Think of Simon Peter. When he was still known as Simon, Jesus gave him a new name, Peter, which means “rock.” Now, if there was anything that Simon was not, it was a rock. He was hotheaded, vacillating, and argumentative. Yet Jesus was saying, “From now on, you’re a rock.”

Maybe the other disciples were laughing at this, thinking, “Rock? Does Jesus actually know Simon?”

Yes, He did. But Jesus wasn’t calling Simon what he was; He was explaining what he would become. Where we see failure, God sees potential.

We see a Simon. God sees a Peter. We see the past. God sees the future. We see a mess. God sees a message. God sees us for who we are in Christ, not what we were in sin. God does not see us in our sin; He sees us in His Son. God can change everything in your story—if you’ll let Him.

 

 

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Days of Praise – Glorified in the Saints

 

by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“And they glorified God in me.” (Galatians 1:24)

It is amazing to read in the Scriptures that the God of glory can actually receive yet more glory through His people. But that is what happened in Paul. When he became a Christian, his life changed completely, and those who saw the change glorified God in Paul.

Jesus prayed that this would be so, not only in Paul but in all His followers. In the upper room before His crucifixion, He prayed: “I pray for them…which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them” (John 17:9-10).

He is glorified when we, like Paul, become His. But then He is further glorified as we grow in Him. Paul himself prayed for those whom he had seen come to Christ: “Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him” (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12).

Finally, He shall be glorified when He comes again. “When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven…he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).

As we give glory to Christ in word and deed, He truly was, and is, and will be glorified in His saints. This is a privilege greater than can be measured that more than compensates for any opposition this generates from the world. “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified” (1 Peter 4:14). Therefore, “let your light so shine before men, that they may…glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). HMM

 

 

 

https://www.icr.org/articles/type/6

Our Daily Bread — Remember the Creator

 

Bible in a Year :

Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.

Ecclesiastes 9:7

Today’s Scripture & Insight :

Ecclesiastes 9:7–10

I recently read a novel about a woman who refuses to acknowledge she has terminal cancer. When Nicola’s exasperated friends force her to face the truth, the reason for her avoidance emerges. “I’ve wasted my life,” she tells them. Though born with talents and wealth, “I made nothing of my life. I was sloppy. I never stuck at anything.” The prospect of leaving the world now, feeling she’d achieved little, was too painful for Nicola to contemplate.

I was reading Ecclesiastes around the same time and found the contrast stark. Its Teacher won’t let us avoid the reality of the grave, “the realm of the dead, where you are going” (9:10). And while this is hard to face (v. 2), it can lead us to value every moment we have now (v. 4), intentionally enjoying our food and families (vv. 7–9), working purposefully (v. 10), taking adventures and risks (11:1, 6), and doing it all before the God we’ll one day answer to (v. 9; 12:13–14).

Nicola’s friends point out that her faithfulness and generosity to them proves her life hasn’t been a waste. But maybe the Teacher’s advice can save us all from such a crisis at the end of our lives: remember our Creator (12:1), follow His ways, and embrace every opportunity to live and love that today He provides.

By:  Sheridan Voysey

Reflect & Pray

How will you take delight in today’s simple, God-honoring joys? What one good thing have you yet to do or attempt?

Loving God, thank You for today and the gifts it holds. I’ll enjoy its simple joys and embrace its opportunities as an act of worship to You.

 

 

http://www.odb.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grace to You; John MacArthur – Understanding Who We Are

 

 “Walk . . . with all humility” (Ephesians 4:1-2).

The first step to humility is understanding our sinfulness.

I’ll never forget a meeting I had at my house with some seminary students. One student asked me, very seriously, “John, how did you finally overcome pride?” I said jokingly, “Well, it was two years ago when I finally licked it, and it’s never been a problem since then. It’s so wonderful to be constantly humble.” Of course, I have not completely overcome pride; it’s a battle I face every day. Satan makes sure we always struggle with it.

Overcoming pride in even one area is difficult, but Ephesians 4:2 requires “all humility.” Having some humility isn’t enough. We must have total, complete humility in every relationship, every attitude, and every act.

So we all have a lot of work to do. But where do we start? How can we become humble?

Humility begins with self-awareness. We need to look at ourselves honestly. We can mask who we really are and convince ourselves that we’re something wonderful. But we are sinners and need to confess our sins daily before God (cf. 1 John 1:9). Even Paul called himself the foremost of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15) and realized he had not yet reached the goal of Christlikeness (Phil. 3:12-14). Whenever you’re tempted to be proud, remember you haven’t arrived yet spiritually.

And don’t fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others. Paul said, “We are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding” (2 Cor. 10:12). If we’re to be honest with ourselves and with God, we need to evaluate ourselves by an outside standard—God’s standard. Humility starts when we take off the rose-colored glasses of self-love so we can see ourselves as unworthy sinners. We must recognize our faults and confess our sins daily.

Suggestions for Prayer

  • Confess any known sins to God, and ask for help in overcoming them.
  • Ask God to keep you from comparing yourself to others instead of to His perfect standard.

For Further Study

  • Many consider Paul to be the greatest Christian who ever lived, but he viewed himself very differently. Read 1 Timothy 1:12-17. How did he see himself?
  • As he saw his sinfulness, what was his response to God?

From Strength for Today by John MacArthur

 

http://www.gty.org/

Joyce Meyer – Forgiving Others and Forgiving Yourself

 

And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you.

— Ephesians 4:32 (AMPC)

I once heard that medical studies indicate 75 percent of physical sickness is caused by emotional problems. And one of the greatest emotional problems people experience is guilt. They are refusing to relax and enjoy life because, after all, they feel they don’t deserve to have a good time. So, they live in a perpetual strain of regret and remorse. This kind of stress often makes people sick.

Two of the things that cause us to get all knotted up inside are meditating on all the negative things done to us by others, and the sinful and wrong things we have done. We have a hard time getting over what others have done to us, and we find it difficult to forget the mistakes we have made.

In my own life I had a choice to remain bitter, full of hatred and self-pity, resenting the people who had hurt me, or I could choose to follow God’s path of forgiveness. This is the same choice you have today. I pray that you will forgive others and receive God’s forgiveness for yourself. You will be healthier and happier if you do!

Prayer Starter: Lord, I know that Your way is forgiveness, so please help me to forgive others, forgive myself, and receive Your forgiveness once and for all.

 

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Truth for Life; Alistair Begg – As He Planned

 

What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

1 Corinthians 4:7

We call it by different names, disguising it in many ways—but jealousy is often one of the “tolerated” evangelical sins. You are unlikely to find it on a “Top Ten” list of sins that a pastor is warning his church against or mentioned very often when believers share their struggles with each other. It is on God’s list, though, and it is often mentioned in the Scriptures. In fact, jealousy is found in the midst of some of the most sordid sinful behaviors that the New Testament epistles address, because it is meant to be taken so seriously (see, for instance, Romans 13:13).

Not much has changed since Paul wrote to the Corinthians. The average local church still contends with far too much chaos and division caused by jealousy—and one of the dangers of jealousy can be the way it causes us to doubt that God knows what He is doing in apportioning gifts.

Everything you have, Paul tells these proud, disunited, envious church members, you received—and the Giver of the gifts, the Creator of the universe, does not make mistakes. So how could they—and we—walk around arrogantly as if they would make a better job of being in control of creation? Did we determine our height, girth, speed, or any of our abilities? Who made us unique? God! Our DNA is divinely planned. Our circumstances are exactly as God intends, and He does not make mistakes. Envy is a sin because it is the attitude that suggests that God is not good or does not know what would be for our good. Envy is how idolatry feels.

When we are playing piccolo in the orchestra of life, we may find ourselves looking across at a big tuba a few chairs away, being played with deep, loud notes, and be tempted to say to ourselves, “Nobody can hear me. My sound is not good enough.” From there flows a sense of bitterness about our place and a sense of envy of the tuba player’s. But ours is the piccolo sound for a reason. It is the instrument we were meant to play—so let’s play it with joy and excellence!

In our endeavors to use the gifts God has given, why are we jealous of one another? Why do we let discontentment rob us of the joy He has freely offered? Why do we allow what He has done for someone else to blind us to what He has done for us—not least in giving us eternal riches in His presence? Here is the truth that we each need to rehearse: “God gave to me exactly what I require, I am composed exactly as He planned, and all that He has, and has not, given me is for my good and His glory.”

Do not allow jealousy to consume you. Instead, live out joyfully the role for which you were created. For you are His workmanship, recreated in Christ Jesus for good works, which He has prepared for and gifted you to do (Ephesians 2:10). Let that be enough for you today.

Questions for Thought

How is God calling me to think differently?

How is God reordering my heart’s affections — what I love?

What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?

Further Reading

1 Timothy 6:6–12

Topics: Grace of God Jealousy Sin

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotionals by Alistair Begg

 

 

http://www.truthforlife.org

Kids4Truth Clubs Daily Devotional – God Is Our Stronghold

 

“Blessed be the LORD my strength…my goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust.” (Psalm 144:1-2)

There is a place in Israel near the Dead Sea called Masada (muh-SAH-duh). It looks like a mountain with a flat, square top. Masada was once a huge getaway palace for Herod the Great. In the first century after the time of Christ, Jewish people used it as a fortress. Men, women, and children lived there for three years, hiding from the Romans who had attacked and destroyed their cities. “The Romans cannot get to us here,” they thought. “We are safe in Masada.”

But they were not safe. The Roman army built a siege ramp all the way up the side of the mountain. Day after day, the Jews saw the Romans working on the ramp, and they knew that they had only a little time.

When the Romans finally stormed up the siege ramp to take the fortress, they found all of the Jewish people dead. The Jews had decided to kill themselves rather than lose their freedom. Their Masada had not protected them after all.

The word “Masada” comes from a Hebrew word that is often translated “fortress,” “defence,” or “stronghold.” This word is used in the Psalms to describe God. God is a stronghold for people who put their trust in Him. Because believers belong to God, they have a natural enemy, Satan, who is the enemy of God. Satan would like us to turn away from God and live in sin, doubt, and defeat.

But when Satan and his forces attack our minds and hearts, God is a safe fortress where we can hide. When we believe God’s Word and depend on His help to obey it, He will keep us from sin. God is stronger than Masada. He will never fail or be taken by the enemy. Satan can never defeat us when we make God our stronghold.

God is a stronghold for us when Satan tempts us to sin.

My Response:
» Am I abiding in God as my stronghold?
» Is there something or someone less than God that I’ve been trusting to take care of me?
» Am I struggling with something right now that I could ask God to help me with?

 

 

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Denison Forum – Oppenheimer wins seven Oscars: What “a movie of the moment” says about our cultural future

 

Oppenheimer won last night’s Academy Awards for best picture, best director (Christopher Nolan), best actor (Cillian Murphy), and best supporting actor (Robert Downey Jr.), as well as for film editing, score, and cinematography. As you know, the movie tells the story of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer’s quest to build the world’s first nuclear weapons.

One reviewer explained its appeal, calling the film “very much a movie of the moment—a feel-bad hit for our feel-bad age, perfectly calibrated to capture the imagination of an audience perpetually scanning the horizon for the bloom of some new mushroom cloud.”

We don’t have to look far to find such “clouds” in the news:

  • Today marks the fourth anniversary of the WHO’s declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic; the global death count from the virus now exceeds seven million.
  • The largest wildfire in Texas history was apparently ignited by a power company’s facilities; the conflagration has left at least two people dead, killed thousands of animals, and scorched more than a million acres of land. (For a theological reflection on this ongoing tragedy, please see my new website paper, “The Texas wildfires: What we know, what we don’t know (yet), and what to do with what we know.”
  • The proliferation of AI, cloud computing, crypto-mining, and electric vehicles is making unprecedented demands on America’s aging and increasingly inadequate power grid.
  • An epidemic of anxietyloneliness, and technology-induced isolation continues unabated.

But I think an even deeper force is at work in our culture, one to which the gospel can uniquely respond with the hope we long to embrace today.

“There are no national principles”

In an article published Saturday, New York Times contributing opinion writer Christopher Caldwell analyzes America’s shift from a consensual, objective moral worldview to a relativism that is unable to “distinguish facts from wishes.” Using our fracturing response to Russian aggression in Ukraine as an example, he writes:

Fighting a war based on values requires good values. At a bare minimum it requires an agreement on the values being spread, and the United States is further from such agreement than it has ever been in its history—further, even, than it was on the eve of the Civil War. At times it seems there are no national principles, only partisan ones, with each side convinced that the other is trying not just to run the government but also to capture the state.

There was a day when our “national principles” were clear and compelling. As set forth in our founding creed, the Declaration of Independence:

  • Truth is “self-evident,” not subjective.
  • All people are “created equal” by God, not the product of chaotic or evolutionary coincidence.
  • We are “endowed by [our] Creator with certain unalienable Rights” which the government does not bestow but protects.
  • We each have the right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” a claim that contradicts the culture of death embraced by abortion and euthanasia advocates.

These declarations contributed directly to our national character, purpose, and astounding success on the world stage. However, as Ronald Reagan warned:

“We’ve gone astray from first principles. We’ve lost sight of the rule that individual freedom and ingenuity are the very core of everything we’ve accomplished. Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”

The good news is that these “first principles” were not the invention of Founders long dead. To the contrary, they are as available to us today as they were to them.

“For correction or for his land or for love”

As I and many others have noted, our nation was birthed within the consensual morality of the Judeo-Christian worldview. Whether particular Founders were committed Christians or not, they lived in a culture where the biblical principles espoused in the Declaration were prevalent.

Now it falls to us to embrace these principles anew, to think biblically and act redemptively in all we do. When we make this lifestyle commitment, we join our omnipotent Lord as he continues to advance his kingdom today.

Scripture declares: “God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend” (Job 37:5). He does his work in the world for three purposes: “Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen” (v. 13).

  • “Correction” in the Hebrew refers to a measuring rod used to convict us of our sins and to guide us into our best lives.
  • “His land” refers to the entirety of his creation.
  • “Love” translates the Hebrew hesed, referring to God’s unconditional, faithful, passionate love for us (agape is the Greek New Testament equivalent).

By his word and the ongoing work of his Spirit in the world, God continues to correct us, provide for us, and demonstrate his love for us. However, he requires our holistic commitment to holiness and can give only what we will receive with humble dependence on his Spirit: “Justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate. . . . he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit” (vv. 23–24).

“If you will, you can be healed”

St. Theophilus of Antioch (AD 120–190) wrote:

A person’s soul should be clean, like a mirror reflecting light. If there is rust on the mirror his face cannot be seen in it. In the same way, no one who has sin within him can see God.

But if you will, you can be healed. Hand yourself over to the doctor, and he will open the eyes of your mind and heart. Who is to be the doctor? It is God, who heals and gives life through his word and wisdom. . . .

If you understand this, and live in purity and holiness and justice, you may see God. But, before all, faith and the fear of God must take the first place in your heart, and then you will understand all this.

Will you “see God” today?

Monday news to know:

Quote for the day:

“Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end of man” (Oswald Chambers).

 

 

Denison Forum

Hagee Ministries; John Hagee –  Daily Devotion

 

Psalm 5

Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies.
Psalm 5:8

Recommended Reading: Psalm 5

Life doesn’t always go our way from the looks of things. Satan attacks us in ways we can hardly discern; problems arise from nowhere; burdens descend in multiples; and sometimes our own emotions work against us, causing layers of sadness, weariness, or discouragement to radiate through us.

That’s when we need Psalm 5! David begins by asking God to hear his voice (verses 1-3). He reminds the Lord of His righteous power (verses 4-6), and offers himself as a worshiper who prays, “Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies” (verses 7-8). David describes his enemies to the Lord, and then he exhorts himself and all of us to rejoice and put our trust in our Almighty God (verses 9-12).

When we find ourselves attacked by the enemies of God, we should remember our Lord is in control. You can do that today by turning Psalm 5 into a personal prayer. Remember God’s character of faithfulness and remind yourself of His constant care. Make up your mind to rejoice today.

In singing these verses, and praying them over, we must engage and stir up ourselves to the duty of prayer, and encourage ourselves in it, because we shall not seek the Lord in vain.
Matthew Henry

 

https://www.jhm.org

Turning Point; David Jeremiah – Psalm 5

 

Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies.
Psalm 5:8

Recommended Reading: Psalm 5

Life doesn’t always go our way from the looks of things. Satan attacks us in ways we can hardly discern; problems arise from nowhere; burdens descend in multiples; and sometimes our own emotions work against us, causing layers of sadness, weariness, or discouragement to radiate through us.

That’s when we need Psalm 5! David begins by asking God to hear his voice (verses 1-3). He reminds the Lord of His righteous power (verses 4-6), and offers himself as a worshiper who prays, “Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies” (verses 7-8). David describes his enemies to the Lord, and then he exhorts himself and all of us to rejoice and put our trust in our Almighty God (verses 9-12).

When we find ourselves attacked by the enemies of God, we should remember our Lord is in control. You can do that today by turning Psalm 5 into a personal prayer. Remember God’s character of faithfulness and remind yourself of His constant care. Make up your mind to rejoice today.

In singing these verses, and praying them over, we must engage and stir up ourselves to the duty of prayer, and encourage ourselves in it, because we shall not seek the Lord in vain.
Matthew Henry

 

 

https://www.davidjeremiah.org

Harvest Ministries; Greg Laurie – Is Anger Ever Justified?

 

 And ‘don’t sin by letting anger control you.’ Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry. 

—Ephesians 4:26

Scripture:

Ephesians 4:26 

The Bible clearly teaches that God is a triune being. He is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Yet, it’s difficult for many of us to grasp such a concept because there’s no real parallel we can point to. Whatever analogy we try to use ultimately breaks down.

For the most part, we can wrap our minds around the idea of God the Father and God the Son. However, God the Holy Spirit is a little tough for us. Yet the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit has a distinct personality.

In fact, Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as a He, not as an it. For example, in John 16:8, Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, “And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment” (NLT).

This is evidenced by the fact that we are capable of quenching, resisting, blaspheming, lying to, and grieving the Holy Spirit.

One of the various ways we can grieve the Holy Spirit is by acting out in unjustified anger. The apostle Paul warned the Christians in Ephesus, “And ‘don’t sin by letting anger control you’ ” (Ephesians 4:26 NLT).

There is a difference between unjustified anger and righteous indignation. Jesus, for instance, showed anger. But let’s not misunderstand. When God is angry, His anger is not like ours. When we are upset, we might throw a tantrum. Can you imagine God doing that? I’m so glad that God doesn’t give in to the same things that we would. He isn’t capable of it. It isn’t in His nature.

So, when God does show anger, His anger is always righteous. It is there for a purpose. Jesus felt anger toward the Pharisees who misrepresented God to the people. He was angry with the money changers in the temple, so he overturned their tables and drove them out using a whip.

Of course, there are things we should be righteously indignant about as well. We should be angry when we see our country in a downward spiral, both morally and spiritually. And we should be angry enough to vote for the right policies and the right candidates.

We should be angry when we see too much compromise in the church, thus making our witness ineffective. And we should be angry when we see marriages and families falling apart. This is what we would call righteous indignation.

But then there is unjustified anger in which we lose our temper, say something unkind, or do things that are outright wrong. And when we sin in anger, we need to apologize to the person or people we have offended.

Paul went on to say, “Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry” (verse 26 NLT). If you’re married, you should never go to bed when you’re angry with your husband or wife because you don’t want that anger to turn into bitterness.

We need to learn how to disagree—even argue—and then forgive.

 

 

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Days of Praise – Setting Up an Ebenezer

 

by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.

“Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.” (1 Samuel 7:12)

Many Christians have joined in the singing of a familiar verse in an old hymn without knowing its great meaning: “Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by thy help I’ve come.” When the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines, the old priest, Eli, and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas, all died the same day, as did Phinehas’ wife in childbirth. It was a tragic day for Israel.

But then the people returned to God under Samuel, and 20 years later the Lord gave them a miraculous victory over the superior armies of the Philistines. In commemoration of this deliverance, Samuel set up a stone monument in the same place where the Philistines had captured the Ark 20 years before, calling the stone “Ebenezer,” a name that was always associated thereafter with the site (1 Samuel 4:1; 5:1).

Now “Ebenezer” means “Stone of Help,” and seeing it would always remind the people, whenever they might later come to fear the circumstances around them, that God had been their “help in ages past” and thus could be trusted as their “hope for years to come.” Only God is truly able to help in times of great need, but He is able! “From whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2).

It is well to remember those times in our own lives when God has helped us in some special way. We forget so easily, and the sin of ingratitude is cited by God as one of the first harbingers of imminent apostasy (note especially Romans 1:21). A physical token can help us remember, but whatever it takes—remember! God will hear and answer our prayers for future help, too, but “with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6). HMM

 

 

 

https://www.icr.org/articles/type/6

The Greatest Scam in All of Human History 

The Greatest Scam in All of Human History

 

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.  — Ephesians 5: 11

The left-over expression vectors used to manufacture the mRNAs are at contamination levels 100-fold higher than originally proposed and imply trillions of DNA molecules per dose. This has implications for integration into our genome. — Jessica Rose

 

The old saw tells us it takes only one bad apple to spoil the barrel. Unfortunately, one good apple in a barrel of bad apples does not have a corresponding positive effect. There are, be it said, a small number of good apples in a vast Covid-scam barrel of absolutely horrendous and rotting bad apples, but it has taken an inordinately long time for the better influence to be felt.

Quantitative biologist Alex Washburne, an extremely good apple, has posted a major essay, “Scientists For Science – the “boys will be boys” of science,” in which the tactics, strategies, intentions, and deceptions of the globoid villains are laid out plain to see. The con they have promoted is almost beyond belief, both in its scope and its success. Almost every country in the world, the financial elite, corporate Pharma, and the political class as a whole are implicated, with only a few exceptions like Sweden and Belarus. Professors Fredrik Andersson and Lars Jonung revel in the fact that Sweden, almost unique among nations in its pandemic policy, recognized that “China’s authoritarian government should not have served as a guide for a liberal democracy.” Belarussian President Aleksandr Lukashenko claims that the World Bank and the IMF offered him $940 million to impose “extreme lockdown on his people,” force them to wear face masks, decree strict curfews, establish a police state, and ultimately crash the economy.

 

The sordid affair begins with bum science. A group called Scientists For Science, which Washburne dubs the “pathogenic academic lobby,” includes such prestigious figures, among others, as National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Francis Collins, Peter Daszak at EcoHealth Alliance and Jeremy Farrar, head of the Wellcome Trust. All have “financial conflicts of interest connecting [them[ to the Wuhan labs” and “ties directly to the researchers of concern [who] may have caused the pandemic.” Washburne is being ginger here, relying on a modal rather than a declarative, but the purport of his 16-page thesis leaves no doubt that such was the case.

In 2018, Washburne writes, Daszak raised the ante “by inserting a furin cleavage site in a bat SARSr-COV infectious clone.” In 2019, he continues, “a bat-related SARSr-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, emerged in Wuhan, walking distance from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, containing a furin cleavage site never before seen in a SARS-CoV, leaving no trace in animal trade networks, emerging with remarkably high affinity for human receptors, and containing unusual stitches in its genome consistent with an infectious clone.” The damage had been done. Despite the standard run of bastard fact-checks to the contrary, something was created not found in nature, which no vaccine could effectively combat.

 

These scientists insisted they were not practicing gain-of-function research, that is, deliberately enhancing a pathogen, and that the virus was of zoonotic origin and not a bioengineered phenomenon. But they lied. “Scientists For Science corrupted scientific power,” Washburne laments, “and used their positions in unethical ways such as prompting, ghostwriting, and promoting the false claim that a lab origin is ‘implausible.’” Fauci brought a network of highly conflicted funders and scientists together “and surgically excluded experts without these conflicts of interest.” These actors “formed research cartels defined by shared beliefs, and they despised the people who tried to regulate them.”

What is actually terrifying is that they “engaged in unfathomable risk-taking and likely caused a pandemic resulting in 20 million deaths without adding anything of industrial value to the world. They admitted there was nothing of known industrial value down this path, but they went down that path anyways…They just wanted to enhance the pathogenicity of pathogens for papers, grants, fame, and an esoteric understanding on the mechanisms of disease without direct application to industry or biodefense.”

Accordingly, they proceeded to mobilize an extensive media and iatric campaign to promote the claim that lab origin theories were conspiracy theories and to denounce their critics as charlatans. They represented themselves as “the science” and their adversaries as “anti-science” when the opposite was the case. They used their “official positions of power to overturn [an earlier] moratorium on this risky research.” History, Washburne concludes, “could even hold Fauci, Collins, and Farrar responsible for this outbreak through a mix of their funding for Daszak and their support of Scientists For Science.”

 

As noted, Washburne accuses these faux scientists of taking so massive a risk under the pretext of discovering antidotes, none of which even remotely existed or were hypothesized. But there is clearly a political aspect to this confidence game as well. As Jeffrey Tucker writes, the Covid virus and the associated pandemic was “an industrial plot to impose a vast censorship regime on the planet.” Tucker’s devastating critique of pandemic science should be studied by everyone with a functioning mind and a responsible stake in the culture. The regulations the authorities imposed on a fearful, ignorant and compliant public were insane and contra real science. “Finally, they said they had a magic potion that would fix the problem. It’s a new thing, a gene therapy that comes wrapped in little capsules that we inject into your skin. It’s been tested as 95 percent effective, and you know that’s true because it is a number with a percent. There are no side effects even though there was no way they could know that regardless.”

Similarly, in the words of Dr. Toby Rogers, the biowarfare industry has captured capital itself. Pandemics, chronic disease, and response is a growth industry—one of the only growth industries on Earth at this point. DNA is the new terra nullius to be conquered and colonized.” What is striking about Covid, he continues, “is that every step was designed to inflict maximum harm. Actual science was always ignored. Every action by government for four years degraded the health of the public.”

 

The partial list he provides of such venal and internecine measures is sobering: Blocking access to hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. Respirators that kill 90% of patients. Seeding nursing homes with Covid+ patients. Closing schools for two years. Masks that reduce oxygen. Keeping liquor stores open while closing the churches. Closing hiking trails, beaches, and parks, thus preventing people from getting vitamin D. The application of useless and deadly drugs like Remdesivir and Paxlovid. Firings, censorship, and blacklisting of critical thinkers. And what we might regard as the follow-up strategy to the lab-generated virus, i.e., the most toxic and deadly “vaccines in history—which are not vaccines but gene therapy substances intromitted by an mRNA lipid shell delivery system.

“A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land,” thunders the prophet Jeremiah, when leaders and priests speak falsely, enrich themselves and lead people astray. So it is today. Spurious science, political motives, and vaccine treachery obviously go together in a composite bundle of extortionate artifice: reputations were to be made, increasing control over the public arena to be secured, and immense fortunes to be amassed. The pandemic itself was not what it was made out to be. One wonders how long it will take, if ever, for the public to shed their masks, refuse the boosters, and demand that the bad apples who inflicted this unnecessary catastrophe upon us be brought to justice.

 

By DAVID SOLWAY

 

 

 

Source: The Greatest Scam in All of Human History – PJ Media