Daily Archives: September 10, 2024

News and Info

Don’t Be Silent: The 1st Amendment Was To Keep Government Out Of The Church, Not The Church Out Of Government

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Why is the church quiet? The revolutionary pastors fought and urged congregants to be involved. Why has the church lost its zeal today?

Speaking of revolutionary pastors, back in 1776, a pastor in Woodstock, Virginia, John Peter Muhlenberg, stood up in front of his congregation and preached from Ecclesiastes chapter 3. When he got to verse 8, he talked about how there was a “time for war and a time for peace,” and he unzipped his black clerical robe to reveal an officer’s uniform in the Continental Army. He marched to the back of his church, and he called the men of his congregation to fight. They formed the 8th Virginia Brigade, which is still in active duty today.

James Madison, one of the great founding fathers in Virginia, was running for the first Congress in 1789. While he was running for the fifth district to sit in Congress, he met with the Virginia Baptists in Richmond. They told him that he wouldn’t get their support unless he wrote a Bill of Rights for the First Amendment protecting religious Liberties. Madison did just that, and he won that seat in Congress.

My point is that the church has always been involved in the past, so why be silent today? I think there are a few reasons.

Some have misinterpreted the First Amendment—the idea of a separation of church and state. The First Amendment was intended to keep government out of the church, not the church out of government.

When Thomas Jefferson wrote his letter in 1802 to the Danbury Baptists in Connecticut, he was interpreting the constitutional rights that churches had to be involved in politics. The separation of church and state was intended to help churches and Christians realize that the government can’t intrude, not the other way around.

Then, in 1959, the Johnson Amendment came into law. It muzzled Pastors in the Pulpit from endorsing candidates.

Today, you have pastors who just don’t want to be controversial. Let me tell you something: anytime you step into the arena of truth, it will sound controversial to some people. As pastors, we must continue to urge our congregations. And as Christians, you must be active, not silent, in the pews. Get out and make your voices heard and your values known.

Be involved in the political process today. We’re called to be salt and light. Get out there, please, and be salt and light to this world.

Gary Hamrick is the senior pastor of Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, VA. Pastor Gary is also on the Advisory Board for The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., and serves as the Chief Chaplain for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.

Source: Don’t Be Silent: The 1st Amendment Was To Keep Government Out Of The Church, Not The Church Out Of Government – Harbinger’s Daily

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread – Spiritual Royalty

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Bible in a Year :

To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

John 1:12

Today’s Scripture & Insight :

John 1:9-13

When Jay Speights of Rockville, Maryland, took a DNA test, nothing could have prepared him for the results he received. They contained a big surprise—he was a prince of the West African nation of Benin! Soon he boarded a plane and visited the country. When he arrived, the royal family greeted and showered him with a festive homecoming—dancing, singing, banners, and a parade.

Jesus came to earth as God’s good news announcement. He went to His own people, the nation of Israel, to give them the good news and to show them the way out of darkness. Many received the message with apathy, rejecting the “true light” (John 1:9) and refusing to accept Him as Messiah (v. 11). But unbelief and apathy weren’t universal among the people. Some people humbly and gladly received Christ’s invitation, accepted Him as God’s eventual sacrifice for sin, and believed in His name. A surprise awaited this faithful remnant. He “gave [them] the right to become children of God” (v. 12)—to be royal children of His through spiritual rebirth.

When we turn from sin and darkness, receive Jesus, and believe in His name, we discover we’re children of God, adopted as royalty into His family. May we enjoy the blessings as we live up to the responsibilities of being the King’s kids.

By:  Marvin Williams

Reflect & Pray

How should being a child of God affect you? What will you do this week to live out your status and responsibility as His child?

Father, it’s amazing that through Jesus’ death You invite me into spiritual royalty. I’m humbled and grateful.

 

 

http://www.odb.org

 

 

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Build Your Life on God’s Certainties

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The works of His hands are [absolute] truth and justice [faithful and right]; and all His decrees and precepts are sure (fixed, established, and trustworthy).

Psalm 111:7 (AMPC)

Because of the promises in the Word of God, there are some things we can be sure of. Not maybe, not probably…we can be sure they are true.

  • We can be sure we are children of God, and that we are loved, called, anointed, and appointed by Him.
  • We can be sure that we have righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
  • We can be sure that we are forgiven for all of our sins and our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
  • We can be sure that we have been guaranteed an inheritance, for it was purchased with the blood of Jesus.
  • We can be sure that Jesus has gone before us to prepare a place for us in heaven.

These promises (and many others) are certainties that we can build our lives upon. They are sure to be true!

Prayer of the Day: Father, thank You for the promises found in Your Word. Help me to trust that all those promises are for me and my life, as I wait for Your leading and guidance, amen.

 

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – Catherine completes chemotherapy and Johnny Gaudreau’s widow is pregnant

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A reflection on the privilege and urgency of sharing God’s love

Catherine, the Princess of Wales, announced yesterday that she has completed chemotherapy for her cancer. However, she added, “My path to healing and full recovery is long and I must continue to take each day as it comes.”

In other news, the widow of hockey star Johnny Gaudreau announced her pregnancy with their third child at yesterday’s memorial service for Johnny and his brother, Matthew Gaudreau. Matthew’s widow is pregnant with their first child. The brothers were killed while riding their bikes the day before their sister was to be married.

These stories remind us that life is fragile and unpredictable for us all. Royalty and celebrity are no guarantee that the hardest parts of our broken world will not find us.

But in those hard places, God will.

How?

“To meet people where they are”

The Baltimore Orioles recently held their first-ever Faith Night event. Six players shared the story of their commitment to Christ and a band led thousands of fans in worship. At least eighteen Major League Baseball teams hosted similar nights last year.

The media campaign “He Gets Us” is working with many of these events and advertises at various games as well. A spokesman explains that their goal is “to reintroduce people to the Jesus of the Bible and his confounding love and forgiveness.” He adds: “The best way to do that is to meet people where they are. That is why you see our ads at a variety of events, including sporting events.”

Christian filmmakers are following a similar strategy. The Wall Street Journal reports that “religious movies are sweeping Hollywood,” surprising the world with “a series of box office hits.” From The Chosen, one of the most popular series in the world, to a variety of films about various aspects of faith, such content is becoming so popular that “rich investors are pouring in millions.”

And, as Ryan Denison reports in a recent Denison Forum article, Christian music is also growing in remarkable ways at a time when many in secular radio are struggling. He notes that when Christians record music with excellence, this “earns the chance for [their] message to be heard.”

When the church will change the culture

Yesterday, we discussed the privilege of using our personal influence to take the gospel to our broken culture. The urgency of doing so is highlighted by this day in history.

On September 10, 2001, nineteen jihadists were making final preparations for launching the deadliest terrorist attack in US history. Obviously, none of their victims had any idea on this day that they would die in such a horrific manner.

This fact should cause us to ask: What about tomorrow don’t we know today?

The answer: everything.

One day will be the last day for each of us, either because of our death or our Lord’s return. None of us knows when that day will come. But all of us can know that we are one day closer than ever before.

The best way to prepare for eternity tomorrow is to live for eternity today. It is to love our Lord so fully that his love transforms and empowers us to love our neighbor (Matthew 22:37–39). Such transforming love is vitally urgent for this simple reason:

The church will change the culture to the degree that Christ changes the church.

Why is this?

When “missions will be no more”

Noted pastor and author John Piper famously wrote: “Missions exist because worship doesn’t.” He explained:

Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more.

Piper is right, as any reading of Revelation 7 and other biblical glimpses of heaven will demonstrate. But I think his oft-quoted words can be taken another way as well: If we truly worship Jesus, we will love him so deeply that we will share him with the world out of the natural overflow of our lives. The programs and strategies we call “missions” will then be less needed because billions of Christians will be missionaries where they live, as they live.

As a result, we will become the change we need to see. Our lives will be the powerful and persuasive proof of our message, drawing others to Christ through his magnetic and magnificent work in and through us (cf. Colossians 1:27).

And we will be empowered to share the gospel sacrificially. When we truly love Jesus, we love everyone he loves—and he loves everyone. We then pay any price to share his grace with those we love.

A closing question

How can we love Jesus in such a transforming way? When we submit fully to his Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), he manifests “love” in our lives as the first of his “fruit” (Galatians 5:22). And this love is not only for our neighbor—it is also for our Lord.

So, when last did you invite the Holy Spirit to help you love Jesus more deeply than ever before?

Why not today?

NOTE: The countdown is on! North Texas Giving Day is September 19, and through your generous donation, you’ll help provide biblically grounded and civil content that inspires, informs, and transforms lives for Christ. And remember, you don’t have to live in North Texas to make a difference! Your generous donation will be DOUBLED by a $75,000 Matching Grant to guide more Christians through these challenging times with a steady, nonpartisan voice. Don’t miss this chance to double your impact and help reclaim our culture for Christ!

Tuesday news to know:

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.” —Corrie ten Boom

 

Denison Forum

Days of Praise

Days of Praise – The Power of the Gospel

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by Henry M. Morris III, D.Min.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)

In this verse we are told that God’s power resides in the gospel and that the purpose of this power is the salvation of both Jew and Greek. This passage is intended to incorporate spreading the gospel to all humanity, which is specifically commanded by the Lord Jesus: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

Evidently, the event that takes place when one is twice-born is nothing less than a supernatural “creation” by the Creator Himself (Ephesians 4:24)! There is no need for salesmanship or psychology or finesse or technique; the dunamis (power) of the living God is transmitted, applied, and exercised as the gospel is spoken and a person listens.

  • Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”
  • Romans 10:17: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
  • John 6:63: “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”
  • 1 Peter 1:23: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”
  • 1 Corinthians 15:3-4: “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

To be successful (not to mention obedient) to the Lord’s command, we must most surely use the power of God that has been made available to us in the Scriptures! HMM III

 

 

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

My Utmost for His Highest

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers – Worshipping as the Occasion Arises

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I saw you while you were still under the fig tree. — John 1:48

We imagine that we’ll rise to the occasion when a big crisis comes along. But a big crisis only reveals what we’re made of; it doesn’t put anything new into us. Are you telling yourself that you’ll do what’s necessary if God gives the call? You won’t—not unless you’re already rising to the occasion. You have to be the real thing with God before the big event, in the workshop of your private life with him.

Every day, God is giving you small, seemingly insignificant things to do, things which may go entirely unnoticed by the world. If you don’t believe God has engineered these things and therefore you aren’t using them as opportunities for worship, you’ll be revealed as unfit when the crisis comes. Crises always reveal character.

A private worshipping relationship with God is the great essential of spiritual fitness. The time will come when you have to step out from “under the fig tree”—out from your sheltered, private place—and go forth into the glare and the crowd. If you haven’t been worshipping in private, as the occasion arises, you’ll find you have no value to God in the outside world. But if you have been worshipping in private, you will be ready when God sends you out, because in the unseen life—the life no one saw but God—you’ve become perfectly fit. When the strain arrives, God will know he can rely on you.

Do you think you have no time for worshipping or praying or reading the Bible? Do you say to yourself, “I can’t be expected to live a worshipful life in the circumstances I’m in right now; my opportunity hasn’t come yet. When it does, of course I’ll be ready”? You won’t be. If you haven’t been worshipping where you are right now, as the occasion arises, then in the crisis you’ll be useless to yourself and an enormous hindrance to those around you. The workshop of the disciple’s life is the hidden, personal time spent worshipping God.

Proverbs 8-9; 2 Corinthians 3

Wisdom from Oswald

Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples. Approved Unto God, 11 L

 

 

https://utmost.org/

Billy Graham

Billy Graham – Dream Great Dreams

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Be thou faithful unto death . . .
—Revelation 2:10

In our day much of the world believes little or nothing. People are broad but shallow. Agnosticism, anxiety, emptiness, meaninglessness, have gripped much of the world—and even the church. Our youth are desperately searching for a purpose and a meaning in their lives. They are searching for fulfillment which they are not finding in sex and drugs. By contrast, our Pilgrim forebears stand as shining examples of men who were narrow but deep, certain of what they believed, unswerving in their loyalty, and passionately dedicated to the God they trusted, and for whom they would willingly have died. I say to you, more than 350 years after the Pilgrim Fathers landed in the New World: Dream great dreams, embrace great principles, renew your hope, but above all, like them, believe in the Christ who alone can give total meaning and an ultimate goal to your life. “For in Him we live and move and have our being.”

Listen: Billy Graham shares there is hope for the future.

Lea este devocional en español en es.billygraham.org.

Prayer for the day

May I always be faithful to my belief in You, Lord Jesus Christ. Where there is despair, use me to bring Your hope.

 

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GuidePosts

Guideposts – Devotions for Women – God Is on Your Side

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Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.—Psalm 20:7 (NIV)

When you feel overwhelmed with stress, repeat, “God is on my side.” Be confident and ready to face any situation that life presents, knowing that He has designed your life’s journey specifically for you. Embrace each moment and every lesson that the experience offers.

Heavenly Father, everything will be okay because You are on my side.

 

 

https://guideposts.org/daily-devotions/devotions-for-women/devotions-for-faith-prayer-devotions-for-women/

Every Man Ministry

Every Man Ministry – Kenny Luck – Hearing His Voice

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After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ––1 Kings 19:12

Holy hunches, sensing the Spirit, trusting insight over eyesight, all this talk sounds ethereal and spooky to a lot of men because it requires faith––and risk.  If you are God’s man, author and speaker Malcolm Gladwell’s research confirms what you should already know: God’s Spirit is not failing in your life. In fact, He is constantly providing direction and communication.

So when we think He’s silent or not listening, the problem is not with Him; it’s with us. God speaks to our minds and provides opportunities for spiritual rapid cognition. The disparity between intuition and impulse lies in our familiarity with His voice. If we’re hearing His voice, we cannot give in to our impulses. He might be speaking loudly, but we often press the mute button out of the habit of serving impulses rather than spiritual intuition.

Here’s how to know you are keeping in step with the Holy Spirit: You’re saying no to impulses and feelings and yes to your intuition – you’re taking God at His Word without delay — You’re experiencing freedom from habits that frees your relationships — You’re recognizing rather than rejecting the conviction of the Spirit.

Great decisions do not require great deliberation. For God’s man, great decisions require simple cooperation in the first few seconds. That voice will always say, “Honor God and love people.” So the next time you encounter a complex situation, listen to your godly instinct and obey it––quickly.

Father, thank You for Your still, small voice.

 

 

Every Man Ministries