Tag Archives: christianity

BreakPoint

BreakPoint –  Gospel of Jesus’ Wife Found to be Fake

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Back in 2012 and in 2014 I told you about a papyrus fragment in which Jesus purportedly refers to His “wife.”

On both occasions, I said there were many reasons to be skeptical about the fragment, both about what it said and about the authenticity of the fragment itself.

Well, a recent story in the Atlantic Monthly has so thoroughly debunked the so-called “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife” that even the Harvard historian who has championed its authenticity admits that it’s probably a fake.

And that leaves us with the question: Why were some people so eager to believe in it in the first place?

The fragment was first said to date from the fourth century A.D., which would make it roughly contemporary with the oldest complete manuscripts of the Gospels. The prospect of an “alternative Christianity” was exciting to people who question the veracity of biblical accounts (including the resurrection) and whose definition of Christianity includes everything but the real thing.

Well, further testing concluded that the fragment dated from the sixth to ninth century A.D. long after the biblical canon and the great creeds of the faith had been decided upon. Undaunted, the fragment’s promoters held out the possibility that it could shed light on what Harvard’s Karen King called “questions about family and marriage and sexuality and Jesus.”

Continue reading BreakPoint –  Gospel of Jesus’ Wife Found to be Fake →

Moody Global Ministries

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – FAITH VERSUS SIGHT

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Read GENESIS 13

“This town ain’t big enough for the both of us,” a line made popular by early Western films, is now a stock phrase used to convey the idea that two people cannot share the same space. It could also describe Abram and Lot in today’s reading.

After returning from Egypt, Abram and Lot had grown so rich in livestock that the land could no longer support them both. As they went their separate ways, Scripture portrays a clear contrast between them. Despite God’s blessings, Lot demonstrated no relationship with the Lord. He chose what appeared to be the best of the land—the well- watered and fertile plain of the Jordan. But there was a problem. The area was inhabited by wicked people who “were sinning greatly against the LORD” (v. 13). This apparently presented no hesitation for Lot who quickly “pitched his tents near Sodom” (v. 12).

Abram’s action, on the other hand, demonstrated his faith. Blessed also by God with abundance, Abram returned to one of his original altars near Bethel and “called on the name of the LORD” (v. 4). Although promised the whole land of Canaan, Abram was not anxious to grasp it all for himself; rather he allowed Lot first choice, in order to avoid strife.

In response, God spoke to Abram again, reaffirming His promises, this time with more details. The promise of land is reiterated, described as all that Abram can see in every direction. God even encouraged Abram to walk throughout the land itself. Second, the promise of descendants was reaffirmed, so numerous that they could be likened to the “dust of the earth” (v. 16). Abram’s response to God’s word was yet another act of worship. Lot chose and lived by sight; Abram by faith.

APPLY THE WORD

What might God be calling you to do in faith this week? Give more generously, even when finances seem tight? Speak Christ’s love to a neighbor even when they seem uninterested? Confess a previous sin even when it seems scary to do so? Ask God for the eyes of faith today, then act in response, trusting God’s promises to provide for all your needs.

 

http://www.todayintheword.org

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – DALLAS SNIPER ATTACK: ‘OUR WORST NIGHTMARE HAPPENED’

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Dallas residents are waking up this morning to the deadliest day for police officers since September 11, 2001.

At 7:00 last night, protesters gathered in a Dallas park and began marching through the streets of downtown. They were responding to officer-involved shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota. The rally was peaceful; police officers were present and were conversing with the crowd.

Just before 9 PM, as Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said, “Our worst nightmare happened.” Shots rang out. Ten police officers were shot, along with one bystander. An eleventh officer was later shot during an exchange of gunfire with a suspect. Five of the officers died. Some of the six who were wounded are undergoing surgery.

According to Police Chief David Brown, four people coordinated the attack with rifles, positioning themselves in triangulated locations near the end of the route protesters planned to take. The chief noted that snipers fired “ambush-style” from an “elevated position.” Some of the officers were shot in the back.

At 3:06 AM, authorities announced that a suspect had died after a standoff with police in a garage at El Centro college. Three people are now in custody. K-9 units are sweeping the area for possible bombs; large sections of downtown remain closed this morning.

Continue reading Denison Forum – DALLAS SNIPER ATTACK: ‘OUR WORST NIGHTMARE HAPPENED’ →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – What Is Temptation?

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Matthew 26:41

Everybody experiences temptation. No matter how spiritual you are or how long you’ve followed Christ, you have been tempted. Sometimes this experience seems like a faint whisper, and other times it’s an unbearable shout in your mind. Regardless of how it sounds, you know just what temptation feels like. But if someone asked, could you define the term?

Temptation is simply an enticement to take a God-given desire beyond God-given boundaries. Many people reject this idea, refusing to believe that guilt-instilling allurements could be even remotely related to the Lord. But think about it: In what ways are you most often tempted? In the area of material possessions? Intimacy? Companionship? Food? These are all things that God not only created but also uses to bless His people. The problem comes when we—who still carry around the old “programming” of our flesh nature—take those drives beyond the healthy limits that God has set for our lives.

For example, He created sex for enjoyment within a marriage relationship. However, when this divinely approved desire is corrupted by physical intimacy outside of marriage, then what the Creator designed for His purposes becomes a source of guilt and shame. That is not what God intended.

One of the enemy’s top strategies is to distort a God-given drive for his own vile purposes. You can short-circuit such an attack: Remind yourself where this urge came from in the first place, and then ask God for the strength to use such drives for His glory, as He intended.

Bible in a Year: Psalms 145-150

 

 

http://www.intouch.org/

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Important Reminders

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Read: Deuteronomy 6:1–12 | Bible in a Year: Job 34–35; Acts 15:1–21

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Deuteronomy 6:6

Anthropologist Anthony Graesch says that the outside of a refrigerator reveals what’s important to people. During a research study of families in Los Angeles, Graesch and his colleagues noted an average of 52 items posted on the fridge—including school schedules, family photos, children’s drawings, and magnets. Graesch calls the refrigerator “a repository of family memory.”

The Lord may use a tangible item like a photo, keepsake, or Scripture verse to remind us of His faithfulness and the call to obey His Word. When Moses addressed the Israelites just before they entered the land of Canaan, he urged them to keep all the commands God had given them. “Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road . . . . Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates”  (Deut. 6:7, 9).

Daily blessings are reminders of God’s faithfulness.

Giving God’s Word a visible place of honor in their homes and lives was a powerful daily reminder to “be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you . . . out of the land of slavery” (v. 12).

Today the Lord encourages us to remember that as we obey His Word, we can depend on His faithful care for all that lies ahead.

Father, we are grateful for every reminder of Your faithfulness and loving care. May we honor You by obeying Your Word.

How do you nurture your relationship with the Lord? Share with us at Facebook.com/ourdailybread

Daily blessings are reminders of God’s faithfulness.

INSIGHT:

Today’s reading contains the centerpiece of Israel’s doctrinal beliefs. It is called the Shema, based upon the Hebrew word for hear: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:4–5).

 

http://www.odb.org

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – One Less God

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Among atheist advocates, it has become fashionable to dismiss theism with the mantra that unbelievers, like theists, are atheist with regard to a host of entities considered to be divine at sundry times throughout history. Atheists, we are told, merely acknowledge one less God than theists. If believers understood why they reject Zeus, the argument goes, they would understand why atheists reject their God.

Unfortunately, dismissing theism on such grounds betrays a paltry acquaintance with the very idea of God, let alone the God revealed in the Bible. It is true that many concepts of God present us with entities that are nothing more than glorified human beings. But anyone who is familiar with the relevant religious and philosophical literature on the subject does not need to be told that such untutored notions of God are just pointless red herrings. Popular level atheism may be fodder for invigorating debates on the Internet, but it has little, if anything at all, to do with God.

Take, for instance, the idea of God defended by such a prominent ancient philosopher as Aristotle. Whereas Zeus and his associates held sway at the popular level, David Conway notes that Aristotle defended a God who was unchanging, immaterial, all-powerful, omniscient and indivisible; a God who possessed “perfect goodness and necessary existence.”(1) That is a striking parallel to the God worshipped in the major monotheistic religions of the world. Even among the so-called animistic religions, it is a mistake to think that the concept of God is limited to spirits in natural objects and events, even in cases where the latter are venerated. As Timothy Tennent notes, adherents of these religions acknowledge a being who is the ground of all being.(2)

God is not one being among other beings; God is being itself. In philosophical parlance, God exists necessarily—God cannot not exist! Every other entity finds the reason for its existence in God. Spaghetti monsters and teapots in orbit are material objects that would stand in need of explanation, even if they really did exist, since they do not exist necessarily. But we can also dismiss such examples precisely because we know enough about spaghetti and teapots to know what it would take to get them to play the roles detractors of faith in God assign to them. To say they are infinitely under qualified is a gross understatement.

Continue reading Ravi Zacharias Ministry – One Less God →

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Strength for Today – Certainty of Deliverance

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“Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:9-10).

Jesus Christ delivers His brethren not only from sin and its judgment, but also from uncertainty and doubt about that deliverance.

God is a God of wrath. But the wrath due to be poured out on all mankind, Christ took on Himself. That’s what the apostle Paul meant when he said that those who put their faith in Him have been “justified by His blood” and are assured of being “saved from the wrath of God through [Christ]” (Rom. 5:9). As a result of Christ’s atoning work, all Christians are identified with Christ, are adopted as God’s children through Him, and are no longer “children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3).

But Paul doesn’t stop there because the ongoing intercessory work of Christ has great significance for every believer and the security of his salvation. In Romans 5:10 Paul argues from the greater to the lesser to show that it was a much greater work of God to bring sinners to grace than to bring them to glory. Since God brought us to Himself when we were enemies, we will be reconciled continually now that we are His friends. When God first reconciled us, we were wretched, vile, and godless sinners. Since that was not a barrier to His reconciling us then, there is nothing that can prevent the living Christ from keeping us reconciled.

This truth has great ramifications for our assurance. If God already secured our deliverance from sin, death, and future judgment, how could our present spiritual life possibly be in jeopardy? How can a Christian, whose past and future salvation are guaranteed by God, be insecure in the intervening time? If sin in the greatest degree could not prevent our becoming reconciled, how can sin in lesser degree prevent our staying reconciled? Our salvation can’t be any more secure than that.

Suggestions for Prayer

Ask God to reveal to you how you might even now be insecure about your salvation. Then ask Him to make the intercessory work of Christ more real to you each day.

For Further Study

Read John 5:26; 10:28-29; 14:19; Romans 8:34-39; Colossians 3:3-4; Hebrews 7:25; and Revelation 1:18.

  • List all the securities you can find.
  • How does Christ save you by His life?

 

http://www.gty.org

Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – Too Much Stuff! 

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And Jesus said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:15

I don’t particularly enjoy going to the mall. It’s a place that I typically avoid if possible, yet this week I had to return an item at a store that was located inside our local mall. Interestingly, less than 24 hours later, I came across Jesus’s words in Luke 12. With this experience fresh in my mind, I had one clear thought as I read this passage: as a culture we have let our guard down when it comes to possessions!

We scurry from store to store, busily looking for the latest fashion or the next unbeatable sale, and we do so at such breakneck speed that we rarely reflect upon how this lifestyle is shaping our hearts, lives, and desires. Without realizing it, we can create habits of consumption and acquisition that ultimately make us slaves to our possessions.

Simply put, you and I have too much stuff, and Jesus wants us to see how our stuff has too much of us!

In a culture that is driven by the accumulation of wealth and possessions, it’s incredibly easy to fall prey to thinking that our worth and value is tied up in the things we own. If we have lots of stuff, we have worth. If we have limited finances and resources, our value in society and as human beings must be limited as well. While this may be a common way of thinking in our culture, it goes directly against the values of God’s kingdom!

Continue reading Wisdom Hunters – Too Much Stuff!  →

Turning Point

Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – Willing to Wound

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Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Proverbs 27:6

Recommended Reading

2 Timothy 3:1-5

The modern religions of tolerance and pop culture have created a dangerous crossroads: Almost anything is considered to be acceptable behavior. From dress to language to moral boundaries, few people are willing to hold up a hand and say, “Wait! Are you sure that is a choice you should make? Have you considered carefully the implications?” Those who advise restraint are considered old fashioned or intolerant. The danger is this: If we refuse to say “Stop!” we run the risk of going along ourselves.

We need friends—and need to be a friend—like the one described in Proverbs 27:6. We need to be a friend who will run the risk of wounding another for the sake of their temporal and eternal well-being. We need to be a source of salt and light, illuminating the path of righteousness and preserving a friend’s safety. Our biblically-based counsel may not be heeded or appreciated, but we would be wrong not to offer it.

Which would be better when Jesus Christ appears: to be loved by our friends because we approved their choices or to be commended by our Lord? If separating ourselves from impurity is the only way to maintain our own purity, then so be it.

For the Christian, to do wrong, is to wound his Friend.

William Temple

Read-Thru-the-Bible

Proverbs 24 – 26

 

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – How Hiding Keeps You From Seeking

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Today’s Truth

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in sprit and truth.

John 4:24

Friend to Friend

In John 4, we see a tired Jesus who stopped to rest at Jacob’s well where He begins a conversation with a Samaritan woman, ignoring the cultural, racial, and social norms of that day. (Jews did not associate with Samaritans and often tried to avoid Samaria all together on their journeys. In addition to that, respectable Jewish men did not talk women whom they didn’t know.) But Jesus was not concerned with public opinion. He was on a mission of mercy.

The woman’s name is never mentioned, but He knew it.

He knew not only her name, but also her insecurities, her reputation, her fears, her failures, and her needs.

Jesus asked this unnamed woman for a drink, then engaged her in a meaningful and purposed conversation. They talked of practical thirst, and then Jesus spoke of living water that satisfies eternally.

Not realizing who in the world she was talking to or what He was really chatting about, this woman asked for a full-to-the-tippy-top jar of living water so she would never be thirsty again. “Show me the money, Jewish man. I want some of that water because I am SO over making these constant trips to the well.” (Bless her! I mean, who wouldn’t want that? I get this woman. If I never had to buy groceries again I would be one happy girl!)

Then, in order to lovingly introduce this thirsty girl to the Living Water she longed for, Jesus redirected the conversation and asked her to go call her husband and come back (v. 16). Why? Because she didn’t have a husband and He knew it. She’d had lover after lover.

“I have no husband,” she replied.

Continue reading Girlfriends in God – How Hiding Keeps You From Seeking →

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Riches in Glory

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“And it is He who will supply all your needs from His riches in glory because of what Christ Jesus has done for us” (Philippians 4:19).

God has faithfully met the needs of this great worldwide ministry since its inception. He met our needs when there were only two of us – Vonette and I – on the staff. He meets our needs today (1983) with more than 16,000 full-time and associate staff members serving in most communities of America and in 151 other countries.

He met our needs when our budget was a few thousand dollars a year. He continues to meet our needs when our budget is approximately $100 million a year. During this exciting, incredibly rich and rewarding adventure with our gracious Lord, we have never had an extra dollar at the end of any day. We get only what we need – and no more.

During these years, there have been many dramatic demonstrations of His faithfulness, when He has led us to undertake major and frequently expensive projects. He has always supplied the funds to pay for what He orders. We have learned many lessons concerning God’s faithfulness.

First, whatever He leads us to do He will enable us to do by supplying the manpower, the finances and the know-how – oftentimes dramatically – if we continue to trust and obey Him.

Second, “we have not because we ask not” (James 4:2 KJV).

Continue reading Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Riches in Glory →

Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – The Underlying Principle

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Read: Acts 16:1-9

Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. Acts 16:1-3

Paul is back at Lystra, the city where he had encountered the most severe opposition of his first missionary journey. There he had led a young man to Christ on that first occasion, who now was still a boy, only about sixteen years old. Paul thought he observed in him various gifts — gifts of ministry, perhaps of wisdom and of knowledge in the Scriptures, of teaching, and of preaching. He wanted to take Timothy with him, using that marvelous means of discipling which has never been superseded, the process and method by which Jesus himself trained men, taking him along with them and teaching him as they ministered together.

But there was a bit of a problem. Timothy was half Jewish, half Greek. His father was a Greek but his mother was a Jew, and, according to the Jews, this made him a Jew. The Jewish people had a very practical way of thinking about this. They said anyone knows who a man’s mother is, but you can’t be as sure of his father. So they reckoned the line of descent through the mother and Timothy was therefore considered a Jew.

The amazing thing is that Paul circumcised Timothy, while earlier he had refused to do the same to Titus. This is not recorded in Acts, but from a parallel passage in Galatians we have learned that he had taken Titus, who was a Greek, with him up to Jerusalem. The Jewish brethren there wanted to circumcise Titus, but Paul absolutely refused. He was adamant because to have permitted it would have been a concession to the idea that you had to become a Jew to become a Christian.

Continue reading Ray Stedman – The Underlying Principle →

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Waiting for a Vulnerability

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Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.—1 Peter 5:8

When Hitler invaded the European nations during the early years of World War II, he attacked on a weekend in almost every situation. Hitler knew the various parliaments would not be in session, making it more difficult for a nation’s leaders to react swiftly to an invasion.

The same thing happened to Israel in 1973 on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is the holiest day of the year on the Jewish calendar. Backed by the Soviet Union, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel. But because God had grace on the Israelis, they were able to turn back their enemies. And not only that, they even gained ground.

That is what the devil does in the lives of Christians. He waits for a vulnerability. He waits for a time when our guard is down, when we think it isn’t going to happen, and then he will hit us with everything he has.

Temptation will come at inopportune times, often after times of great blessing. After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, God’s Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove. It was a glorious moment. But then came the attack as Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness.

Don’t be surprised when, after you have spent time in church studying the Bible and worshiping, you get hit with heavy-duty temptation. That is the way it works. Or sometimes you might lower your guard and think, I wouldn’t give in to any temptation now after spending time in God’s Word.

Yes, you could. You could be very vulnerable. Often temptations and attacks come after mountaintop experiences. Whenever God speaks, the devil will be there to oppose.

Be careful. Even if you have reached great heights in your spiritual life, know this: you’ll never outgrow being tempted.

 

Harvest.org | Greg Laurie

Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Owns Me

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“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

Virtually anyone who has any Christian upbringing at all has heard the very first verse of the Bible. And anyone who claims to be a Christian accepts the truth it teaches, that God created us! But how many of you have ever sat down to think just how that fact affects how you live and act every day?

Anytime a person creates something, he has a purpose for that creation. For example, your mom never just goes into the kitchen and starts throwing together some flour, sugar, and milk without having something very specific in mind that she plans to create with those ingredients. A potter never begins spinning her wheel until she knows what she wants to mold that clay into. And a carpenter never begins cutting up a new shipment of lumber into an odd assortment of shapes and sizes until he has some idea of the type of furniture he plans to build. God did not just create you on a whim with no design for you. Instead, when God created you, He had a very specific purpose in mind for you.

Since God created you for a purpose, He has a right to demand that you fulfill that purpose. Back to the illustration of the potter: If you were the one who purchased the clay, took the time and effort to spin the wheel, and used your skill to carefully shape the clay into a ceramic bowl, you would then be the owner of that bowl. You would have every right to decide whether it ought to be used for your morning cereal, or to hold a potted plant! Because God created you, He owns you and has every right to decide your purpose. But you do not have to wonder what that purpose is. Scripture identifies that purpose for you: God called you to salvation even before He created you. Why did He? “That we should be to the praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:12)

God owns me and has the right to demand that I act in a way that brings glory to Him.

My Response:

» Have I been acting today in a way that gives God the glory He deserves as my Creator and Owner?

 

http://kids4truth.com/home.aspx

The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – Desperately Dependent

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Today’s Scripture: Galatians 5:25

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

Progressive sanctification is not a partnership with the Spirit in the sense that we each—the believer and the Holy Spirit—do our respective tasks. Rather, we work as he enables us to work. His work lies behind all our work and makes our work possible.

The Holy Spirit can and does work within us apart from any conscious response on our part. We see this in the initial act of sanctification when he creates within us a new heart and a new disposition toward God and his will. He’s not dependent on us to do this.

But we’re dependent on him to do our work; we cannot do anything apart from him. In the process of sanctification there are certain things only the Spirit can do, and certain things he has given us to do. For example, only he can create in our hearts the desire to obey God, but he does not obey for us. We must do that, but we can do so only as he enables us.

So we must depend on the Spirit to do within us what only he can do. And we must equally depend on him to enable us to do what he has given us to do. Whether his work or our work, we’re dependent on him.

We aren’t just dependent on him; we’re desperately dependent. Because we so often equate Christ-like character with ordinary morality, we fail to realize how impossible it is for us to attain any degree of conformity to Christ by ourselves. But if we take seriously the many Christ-like character traits we’re to put on, we see how impossible it is to grow in Christ-likeness apart from the sanctifying influence and power of the Spirit.

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

Turning Point

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – His Power in Our Weakness

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Today’s Scripture: Amos 6-7

For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory. – Deuteronomy 20:4

What does it take to be used by God in a special way? Read the prophet Amos’s description of his background: “I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel’” (7:14-15).

Amos was a plain country boy engaged in country work, gathering figs and following the flocks. In spite of his humble background, God had a job for Amos to do. And when God told Amos what it was, he got right at it. He didn’t waste time complaining about his lack of training in the art of prophesying. He trusted the Lord to give him the ability and wisdom he needed for the task.

Many years ago, I attended a weekend Navigator conference and heard Dawson Trotman speak on vision. He stressed the fact that God could use any Christian to make a serious impact on this world.

Daws had been driving a truck for a lumberyard when God touched his life through some Bible verses he’d memorized. From that point on, Daws obeyed the Lord and moved ahead. He never sat around bemoaning the fact that he’d never attended college or seminary. He studied hard, learned from others, and put into practice what he learned.

What kind of background does it take to serve God effectively? Whatever kind you have. Christian, if God is calling you to serve Him, then say yes, and get started right where you are today.

Prayer

Lord, with the Holy Spirit’s help, may I exercise my gifts and talents for Your glory. Amen.

To Ponder

The Holy Spirit strengthens our weaknesses.

 

https://www.navigators.org/Home

BreakPoint

BreakPoint –  Iowa: Pastors’ Religious Freedom is Threatened

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In 2007, Iowa enacted a law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The law applies to what are known as “public accommodations.”

Now, federal law typically considers “public accommodations” to be facilities like restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, retail establishments, and parks.

But recently, the Iowa Civil Rights Commission added something atypical to that list: church services.

In its “Provider’s Guide,” the Commission offered an answer to the question, “Does this law apply to churches?” with a resounding “Sometimes.” What follows is troubling: “Iowa law provides that these protections do not apply to religious institutions with respect to any religion-based qualifications when such qualifications are related to a bona fide religious purpose.”

I say troubling because implied in that statement is that the state gets to determine what is and what is not a bona fide religious purpose.

And what follows that goes from troubling to outrageous: “Where qualifications are not related to a bona fide religious purpose, churches are still subject to the law’s provisions. For example, a child care facility operated at a church or a church service open to the public.” Which, as the Alliance Defending Freedom rightly pointed out, “encompasses most events that churches hold.”

If the Commission interpretation stands, then churches—at any service open to the public—would be prohibited from doing or saying anything that would “ ‘directly or indirectly’ make ‘persons of any particular . . . gender identity’ feel ‘unwelcome’ in conjunction with church services, events, and other religious activities.”

Continue reading BreakPoint –  Iowa: Pastors’ Religious Freedom is Threatened →

Moody Global Ministries

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – Read GENESIS 12

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THE CALL OF ABRAM: OUT OF UR

Anyone who has moved knows the stress of packing up, saying goodbye to loved ones, and then transitioning into a new city, neighborhood, and home. It is one thing to move to a new city; how much harder to move to a new country!

The call of Abram was no small thing. It was a radical call to leave country, family, and friends for a foreign land. Earlier, Abram’s family had already moved from Ur to Haran. Now God called Abram to travel hundreds of miles farther to the land of Canaan. This was a time of decision. Abram could remain comfortable in Haran with his own people and customs, or he could take a step of faith in God’s call. God had promised Abram land, descendants, and great blessing—but all of this was still promise, not yet reality.

In fact, Scripture tells us that there were clear threats to God’s promises. Sarai was infertile (11:30) and the land of promise was already occupied. Moreover, a famine soon forced Abram out of the Promised Land into Egypt. There, the promise of descendants was further jeopardized by Pharaoh. Would God’s word hold true?

The early picture of Abram is a mixed one. On the one hand, as Hebrews 11 tells us, Abram was a man of great faith who believed in God’s promises, left his old ways, and embarked on a new journey in response to God’s call, erecting altars and worshiping the Lord as he journeyed (Heb. 11:8–10). Yet Abram was also a man who faltered, particularly in his dealing with Sarai in Egypt. Yet despite Abram’s weak faith at this point, God’s treatment of Pharaoh demonstrates that God was still in control. The promises of God were secure in the Lord’s hands.

APPLY THE WORD

What things might God be calling you to turn from in order that your faithful obedience might bring blessing? Make a list of such activities or habits, and commit to leaving them behind to follow God’s leading. Then ask God to make that choice a blessing for yourself and others.

 

http://www.todayintheword.org

Denison Forum

Denison Forum – MINNESOTA OFFICER SHOOTS BLACK MAN DURING TRAFFIC STOP

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“He let the officer know that he had a firearm and he was reaching for his wallet and the officer just shot him in the arm.” This is how Lavish Reynolds described the shooting of her boyfriend, Philando Castile, in a video posted last night to Facebook. The video has been viewed nearly two million times and is generating national controversy this morning. Mr. Castile died at a Minnesota hospital.

This is the second officer-involved shooting to make headlines this week. Early Tuesday morning in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a bystander’s cellphone video showed a black man named Alton Sterling being tackled by a white police officer. He was then held to the ground by two officers. One of them shouted, “He’s got a gun!” An officer then opened fire. The coroner later stated that Mr. Sterling died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and back.

The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the shooting. Protests are continuing today in Baton Rouge; both officers have been placed on paid administrative leave.

The Minnesota video is just making news, but you have probably seen coverage of the Louisiana shooting. When you heard the story or saw the video, what was your first response? Did you assume that the officers’ actions must have been justified? Or did you see this tragedy as another example of racially-motivated violence in America?

Now consider these facts:

  • There are nearly seven times as many black adult males in prison as white adult males.
  • Quartz reports that black people are three times more likely than white people to be killed by police.
  • According to a Pew Research Center report, eight in ten blacks say black people are treated less fairly than whites in dealing with police.

Do you interpret these statistics as indicating that black people are more likely to commit crimes than white people? Or do they indicate to you that police and the criminal justice system are biased against blacks?

Continue reading Denison Forum – MINNESOTA OFFICER SHOOTS BLACK MAN DURING TRAFFIC STOP →

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Can You Trust Your Conscience?

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1 Timothy 1:5-7

“Let your conscience be your guide.” This bit of folk wisdom seems to make sense because our conscience is designed to help us discern right from wrong. However, people cannot always trust their internal radar to steer them correctly; this is the case particularly with unbelievers, who don’t have the Holy Spirit to reveal truth and offer guidance for wise decisions. And while Christians do have God’s indwelling Spirit, they should be careful not to harbor sin, as that can interfere with the way their morality sensors function.

For a conscience to be trustworthy, it must be programmed with scriptural teaching. Believers build a stable and sensitive spiritual radar system by applying God’s truth to their life. They are committed to thinking and acting in ways that honor and please the Lord. Then, when sinful thoughts or choices come across that radar, it will deliver a sharp warning.

Those with a reliable conscience will have a strong desire to obey God. Instead of settling for what feels right or looks good, they seek the Lord’s will. In other words, they do not rely solely on their conscience but incorporate all of the Holy Spirit’s tools—including Scripture and prayer—into their daily activities. Moreover, when their spiritual radar sounds the alarm, they are quick to draw back and reject unwise choices.

A conscience isn’t designed to be our guide; it is a tool of the Guide. The Holy Spirit not only convicts us of sin, but He also brings to mind godly principles and leads us on a righteous path. He uses a variety of tools to conform us to the likeness of Christ (Rom. 8:29).

Bible in a Year: Psalms 139-144

 

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