Category Archives: The Navigators

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The Sacrifice for Our Sins

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Today’s Scripture: Isaiah 52-57

Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. – Acts 8:35

Isaiah 53 is one of the clearest Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah, depicting Him as the suffering servant who endured the punishment we deserve. Perhaps you can quote verses 5-6 from memory: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Years ago, I was holding some evangelistic meetings with college students in Halifax, Nova Scotia. One night after I had shared the gospel and a word of personal testimony with some students in a dorm, a young woman told me how she had recently come to faith in Christ. She was of Jewish descent and had been a vocal opponent of the Christians on her campus. But as she read her Old Testament one day, she came to Isaiah 53. For the first time, she saw what the Christians in her dorm had been trying to tell her. The Messiah had come–and died for her. Through the reading of this passage and through the witness and prayers of Christians on her campus, she gave her life to Christ and became an outspoken witness for Him.

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Faith and Holiness

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Today’s Scripture: Hebrews 11:8

“By faith Abraham obeyed.”

Obedience to the revealed will of God is often just as much a step of faith as claiming a promise from God. In fact, one of the more intriguing thoughts from the book of Hebrews is the way the writer appears to use obedience and faith interchangeably. He spoke of the Old Testament Hebrews who would never enter God’s rest because they disobeyed (3:18). Yet they were not able to enter because of their unbelief (3:19). This interchange of unbelief and disobedience also occurs later in the book (4:2,6).

The heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 were said to be “still living by faith when they died” (11:13, NIV). But the element of obedience—responding to the will of God—was just as prominent in their lives as was claiming the promises of God. They obeyed by faith. And since obedience is the pathway to holiness—a holy life being essentially an obedient life—we may say that no one will become holy apart from a life of faith. Faith enables us to claim the promises of God, but it also enables us to obey the commands of God.

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Watchmen on the Wall

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Today’s Scripture: Isaiah 21-23

“When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.” – Ezekiel 3:18

In Isaiah’s time, watchmen were posted on the city walls or on the hilltops near the city. Their purpose was to stay awake, stay alert, and warn the people of danger. In Isaiah 21:11, we read of a man approaching a watchman and inquiring about the current state of things, “Watchman,” he asks, “what of the night?” And the watchman gives him an answer.

As Christians, this may happen to us. In 1 Peter 3:15, the apostle Peter said, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (KJV). If you are walking in fellowship with Christ each day, you’ll find people coming to you wanting to know why you can cope with things that are dragging them down.

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Request or Command?

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Today’s Scripture: John 15:14

“You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

Under the reign of grace, is the moral will of God (considered as a whole) a request or a command? The word request connotes desire; whereas the word command connotes authority to require. Response to a desire is optional; response to a command is not.

So when Jesus said we love him by obeying his commands, was he using the word command as we ordinarily understand it, or was he using it as an expression of God’s desire? In the realm of grace, does the moral will of God express the desire of God as to how he would like us to live, or does it express the requirement of God as to how we are to live?

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Savior of the World

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Today’s Scripture: Isaiah 9-12

The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. – John 1:41-42

In Isaiah 9, we find a prophecy portrait of the coming Messiah, painted more than seven hundred years before Jesus was born. Let’s compare Isaiah’s prophecies and their fulfillment.

Isaiah 9:2 says, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.” When Jesus came, He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Isaiah referred to the coming Messiah as the mighty God (Isaiah 1:24). When Jesus came, He lived a life of power in the things He said, the miracles He performed, and most of all, in His resurrection from the dead. The New Testament says that the Spirit that raised up Christ from the dead shall also give life to your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you (Romans 8:11, KJV).

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Self-Control

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Today’s Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:7

“God gave us a spirit . . . of power and love and self-control.”

Self-control is the governing of one’s desires. D. G. Kehl described it as “the ability to avoid excesses, to stay within reasonable bounds.” George Bethune called it “the healthful regulation of our desires and appetites, preventing their excess.”

But self-control involves a wider range of watchfulness than merely control of bodily appetites and desires. We also must exercise self-control of thoughts, emotions, and speech. Self-control says yes to what we should do as well as no to what we shouldn’t. For example, I seldom want to study the Bible when I first begin. There are too many other things that are mentally much easier, such as reading the newspaper, a magazine, or a good Christian book. A necessary expression of self-control, then, is to set myself down with Bible and notebook and tell myself, “Get with it!” This may not sound very spiritual, but neither does Paul’s exclamation, “I beat my body and make it my slave” (1 Corinthians 9:27).

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Trusted Standards

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Today’s Scripture: John 14:15

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

A loving obedience to the commands of God is one clear evidence that we’re living by grace. Anyone who thinks, since God’s love is not conditioned on my obedience, I’m free to live as I please, is not living by grace, nor does he understand grace. What he perceives as grace is really a caricature.

Jesus said that if we love him, we’ll obey his commands. The term command suggests clear direction. We’re told what to do or not do. We are not left in doubt how we’re to live. The commands in the Bible provide a clear set of moral standards.

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The Work of Our Hands

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Today’s Scripture: Exodus 28-31

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. – 2 Corinthians 9:8

Today’s passage shows Moses demonstrating humility in what could have been a very sticky situation. His brother, Aaron, is appointed high priest, and his descendants after him will fill that role. At the same time, the descendants of Moses are assigned the menial work of the Levite. They carried the Tabernacle about from place to place. They became janitors. They put up the tent. They assisted the priests in their various responsibilities, yet Moses didn’t balk at this arrangement. It is clear evidence of his humble spirit and sincere commitment to the glory of God.

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Grounded in Mercy

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Today’s Scripture: Titus 3:5

“He saved us . . . according to his own mercy.”

It was in view of God’s mercy that Paul urged us to commit our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1). Undoubtedly Paul had in mind the mercy of God as he had displayed it in the preceding chapters of Romans. He could have been thinking of the righteousness of God that comes to us by faith, of justification freely by his grace through the redemption that’s in Christ Jesus, or of God presenting Jesus as a propitiation for our sins that turns aside God’s just and holy wrath from us.

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – We’re in This Together

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Today’s Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1-5

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up. – Ephesians 4:11-12

I know some people who feel that Christian ministry is the job of the pastor and the paid church staff. The rest of us are like spectators in the bleachers. We cheer on the team, but we don’t play the game.

How do you think the apostle Paul viewed the Christian ministry? Here are his words from 2 Corinthians 4:1: “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.” Then in verse 7, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – How Thankful Are You?

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Today’s Scripture: Psalm 9:1

“I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.”

Most of us acknowledge that everything we have comes from God, but how often do we stop to give thanks to him? At the end of a workday, do you take time to say, “Thank you, heavenly Father, for giving me the skill, ability, and health to do my work today”? Do you ever physically or mentally go through your house and say to God, “everything in the house and the food in the cupboard and the car (or cars) in the driveway are gifts from you. Thank you for your gracious and generous provision”? When you give thanks at mealtime, is it routine and perfunctory, or is it a heartfelt expression of your gratitude to God for his continual provision of all your physical needs?

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – For the Common Good

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Today’s Scripture: Jeremiah 11-15

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:8

Thousands of prayer breakfast gatherings are held in towns and cities across the United States. Perhaps you’ve even attended one. But do you know where the whole thing began? Back in the late 1940s, a man named Abraham Veradi organized a prayer breakfast for the leaders of Seattle. As he saw the positive, continuing results from that outreach, he became concerned about the spiritual welfare of our national leaders in Washington, D.C. In the early 1950s, Veradi moved to D.C. and began to reach out to various members of Congress and others in government. It didn’t look like much at first, but out of it grew what we know today as the National Prayer Breakfast. And from that small beginning, the concept has spread across America and literally around the world. It all began with the vision of one man who saw a need and took it to heart.

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – God’s Hatred

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Today’s Scripture: Psalm 11:5

“The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked.”

Reconciliation by definition assumes a previous state of alienation and hostility caused by the offensive actions of one or both parties. Our sin has separated us from God (Isaiah 59:2) and caused us to be “God’s enemies” (Romans 5:10, NIV), those hated by God. Does God actually hate people? Yes, the psalmist wrote, “you hate all who do wrong” (Psalm 5:5, NIV). So when Paul described us as God’s enemies, he was describing not our sinful hatred of God but rather his righteous hatred of us because of our sin.

It’s difficult for us to conceive of God’s holy hatred toward people. But this is simply his just and holy revulsion against sin and his holy antagonism toward those who rebel against him.

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – This Little Light of Mine

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Today’s Scripture: Jeremiah 7-10

“I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” – Hebrews 6:14

A lot of people look around today and feel like Jeremiah did nearly three thousand years ago. As he watched the moral and spiritual decline of his country, Jeremiah wondered if anything could be done to heal the sin of his people and prevent the judgment of God. Had the darkness become so great that it could not be overcome? Could the condition of the people be set right? The answer to the latter question was yes, and that’s the answer for us today. Something can be done about the darkness if we’re willing to let the work begin in and through us.

Every year a few weeks before Christmas, we have a candlelighting service in our church. The entire sanctuary is dark except for one candle at the front. As a few people light their candles from that one, and then pass the flame to the candles around them, the entire sanctuary is lighted. To me, it’s a beautiful picture of God’s plan for conquering the spiritual darkness of the world.

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – A Dangerous Statement

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Today’s Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:14

“The love of Christ controls us.”

One issue believers frequently struggle with is the relationship between living by grace and obedience to God’s commands. When I state that nothing you ever do or don’t do will make God love you any more or any less, and that he accepts you strictly by his grace through the merit of Jesus Christ alone, such unqualified statements sound exceedingly dangerous—leaving me open to the charge of saying in effect that God doesn’t care whether or not you sin.

But consider the alternative: “God loves you if you’re obedient and doesn’t love you if you’re disobedient. Since God’s love is conditioned on obedience, and you’re never perfectly obedient, God never loves you perfectly or accepts you completely.” Such a bald description puts the issue into focus.

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Walking in the Way

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Today’s Scripture: Jeremiah 4-6

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. – 2 Corinthians 11:3

If you want to be an effective communicator of the gospel, take a close look at the prophet Jeremiah. Three factors about his life made him a dynamic spokesman for the Lord.

First, Jeremiah heard the voice of God with his soul. In Jeremiah 4:19, he says, “Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry.”

Christian, when we read the Bible, we need to ask God to speak to our hearts and our souls. It is not our ears that need changing, but our hearts.

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Any Room for Grace?

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Today’s Scripture: Romans 12:1

“By the mercies of God . . . present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.”

Some may ask, “Who can possibly keep a commitment to pursue holiness without exception for even some ‘small’ sins? If there are no exceptions, is there any place for grace? Is God really this strict?”

Yes, God really is this strict because he cannot compromise his holiness the least bit. His goal is to conform us to the likeness of his Son, and Jesus was completely without sin, though tempted in every way that we are (Hebrews 4:15). No, we cannot, or perhaps will not, keep our commitments to God perfectly, but that should at least be our aim. In a battle, some soldiers will always be hit, but each one makes it his aim not to be hit. A lesser aim would be the height of folly for the soldier, and it’s just as dangerous for us in our battle with sin.

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Spiritual Multiplication

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Today’s Scripture: Isaiah 58-66

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5

I heard a speaker at a national convention say that the church is losing ground today because we’re adding people to the kingdom of God while the population of the world is multiplying.

For example, if you were to lead one person to Christ every day for the next thirty-two years, by the end of that period there would be 11,680 people in the kingdom of God as a result of your witness. But, let’s say you led one person to Christ and then spent an entire year helping that person grow to maturity. You showed the person how to walk with Christ each day and to lead others to Him. By the end of year one, there would be two of you.

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The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Fulfilled in the Family

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Today’s Scripture: Ephesians 2:1

“You were dead.”

In the story of redemption, deliverance from the penal curse of the law is the major part of the story, but not the whole story. Peter told us, “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers” (1 Peter 1:18). Without Christ we lived in futility and emptiness. Regardless of whether it was a decent life or a wicked life judged on a human scale of morality, it was a vain, futile, empty life.

We find a good description of this emptiness in Ephesians 2:1-3, where Paul described us as having followed the ways of the world and of Satan, and of having continually gratified the cravings of our sinful natures. Christ’s ransom, then, secured for us redemption not only from the law’s curse but also from bondage to sin. These two aspects of redemption always go together: redemption from the curse infallibly secures redemption from the bondage.

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The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – To the Ends of the Earth

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Today’s Scripture: Isaiah 49-51

May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised! – -Deuteronomy 1:11

Did you know that the Great Commission appears in the Old Testament? Notice the words of Isaiah 49:6: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

This passage speaks of Jesus Christ. His objective is to bring God’s salvation to the ends of the earth. And Christ made that possible by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. It was the risen, triumphant Christ who commanded His disciples to “Go and make disciples of all nations.”

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