Tag Archives: hebrews 13

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — A Difficult Place

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Our Daily Bread

Acts 8:4-8,26-35

I will never leave you nor forsake you. —Hebrews 13:5

When a sudden change in technology made his job obsolete, a highly trained scientist found himself working in a fast-food restaurant. One evening after our Bible study he described the situation as difficult and humbling. He said, “One good thing I can say is that the young people there seem very interested in my faith.” A member of the group responded, “I admire you for being humble. I know your faith must have something to do with it.”

Like my acquaintance, Philip may have wondered why God would pull him off an assignment in Samaria (Acts 8:4-8) and plop him in the middle of the desert (v.26). But then he found that the Ethiopian needed help understanding the Scriptures (vv.27-35), and his place made sense.

When Jesus promised He would never leave us alone (Matt. 28:20; Heb. 13:5), He meant in the hard times as well as in the good times. Our mission in the difficult seasons of life is to work or serve remembering we are doing it for God, and then to watch as God works to accomplish His purposes.

Look for God in your difficult place and discover what He’s doing in and through you there. —Randy Kilgore

Disappointment—His appointment,

No good thing will He withhold;

From denials oft we gather

Treasures of His love untold. —Young

What’s better than answers to our why questions? Trusting a good God who has His reasons.

Bible in a year: Ecclesiastes 4-6; 2 Corinthians 12

 

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God Surrounds Us

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Max Lucado

God surrounds us like the Pacific surrounds an ocean floor pebble. He is everywhere:  above, below, on all sides. We choose our response—rock or sponge? Resist or receive? Everything within you says, harden your heart. Run from God, resist God, blame God.

But be careful.  Hard hearts never heal.  Spongy ones do! Open every pore of your soul to God’s presence.  Here’s how. Lay claim to the nearness of God. He says in Hebrews 13:5, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Grip this promise like the parachute it is. Repeat it over and over until it trumps the voices of fear. The Lord God is with you, and He is mighty to save. Cling to His character.  Quarry from your Bible a list of the deep qualities of God and press them into your heart. He is sovereign. You will get through this!

From You’ll Get Through This

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.K. – Standing Faithful

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More than likely, they always accompanied her…perhaps for protection, perhaps to keep her company. Any way you look at it, Pharaoh’s daughter had ladies in waiting – always beside her, attending her every need. What a privilege!

Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river.  Exodus 2:5

Few people have others who answer their beck and call. But you are blessed if you have a friend who stands beside you…to comfort you, help you finish a job, or simply fellowship with you. A faithful friend will remain with you in difficult times, especially those periods when all others flee. Is it not a gift of God that He is one friend that will never, ever fail you?

It is possible that a person may abandon the Lord, but the opposite is never true for the believer. Know that God will “never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5) He desires an ever-developing relationship with you – a relationship won by Christ and accepted by faith.

Take time to know Him. Walk beside Him in His Word. Let your prayer time be a heartfelt conversation. Listen to His guidance. Then intercede for this nation and its leaders that they might return to the Lord.

Recommended Reading: II Thessalonians 2:15-3:5

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – False professors solemnly warned

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“For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” Philippians 3:18,19

Suggested Further Reading: Acts 20:18-35

The apostle was a very honest pastor—when he marked anything amiss in his people, he did not blush to tell them; he was not like your modern minister, whose pride is that he never was personal in his life, and who thus glories in his shame, for had he been honest, he would have been personal, for he would have dealt out the truth of God without deceitfulness, and would have reproved men sharply, that they might be sound in the faith. “I tell you,” says Paul, “because it concerns you.” Paul was very honest; he did not flinch from telling the whole truth, and telling it often too, though some might think that once from the lip of Paul would be of more effect than a hundred times from any one else. “I have told you often,” says he, “and I tell you yet again that there are some who are the enemies of the cross of Christ.” And while faithful, you will notice that the apostle was, as every true minister should be, extremely affectionate. He could not bear to think that any members of the churches under his care should swerve from the truth, he wept while he denounced them; he did not know how to wield the thunderbolt with a tearless eye; he did not know how to pronounce the threatening of God with a dry and husky voice. No; while he spoke terrible things the tear was in his eye, and when he reproved sharply, his heart beat was so high with love, that those who heard him denounce so solemnly, were yet convinced that his harshest words were dictated by affection. “I have told you often, and I tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.”

For meditation: What effect do you have upon your pastor (Hebrews 13:17)?

Sermon no. 102

4 August (Preached 24 August 1856)

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – The mission of the Son of man

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“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10

Suggested Further Reading: Luke 15:1-7

It is strange what unusual places Christ finds some of his people in! I knew one of Christ’s sheep who was found out by his Master while committing robbery. I knew another who was found out by Christ, while he was spiting his old mother by reading the Sunday newspaper and making fun of her. Many have been found by Jesus Christ, even in the midst of sin and vanity. I knew a preacher of the gospel who was converted in a theatre. He was listening to a play, an old-fashioned piece, that ended with a sailor drinking a glass of gin before he was hung, and he said, “Here’s to the prosperity of the British nation, and the salvation of my immortal soul;” and down went the curtain; and down went my friend too, for he ran home with all his might. Those words, “The salvation of my immortal soul,” had struck him to the quick; and he sought the Lord Jesus in his chamber. Many a day he sought him, and at last he found him to his joy and confidence. But for the most part Christ finds his people in his own house; but he finds them often in the worst of tempers, in the most hardened conditions; and he softens their hearts, awakens their consciences, subdues their pride, and takes them to himself; but they would never come to him unless he came to them. Sheep go astray, but they do not come back again by themselves. Ask the shepherd whether his sheep come back, and he will tell you, “No, sir; they will wander, but they never return.” When you find a sheep that ever came back by himself, then you may hope to find a sinner that will come to Christ by himself. No; it must be sovereign grace that must seek the sinner and bring him home.

For meditation: We all like sheep have gone astray; we have all gone our own way (Isaiah 53:6); we have all ended up like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). The Lord Jesus Christ is the great shepherd (Hebrews 13:20), the good shepherd (John 10:11,14) and the giving shepherd who gave his life for his sheep (John 10:11) and who gives eternal life to his sheep (John 10:28). Have you been found by him and returned to him (1 Peter 2:25)?

Sermon no. 204

11 July (1858)

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; C.P. – Divine Dependability

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When European settlers came to North America, they didn’t come to an unsettled land. Millions of indigenous people were already there. Many of the newcomers treated these people fairly. Many did not. Many of the native people reached out in friendship. Many did not. But as the government of the United States became stronger, promises were broken to the native people. God is not like that. He never breaks a promise. He’s always good, right and holy. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever.

A merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God. Hebrews 2:17

Jesus came to Earth to reconcile all people to God (Revelation 5:9, Romans 14:11). God the Father’s desire is to be in loving fellowship with His creation. That’s why He sent His Son and then sent His Holy Spirit (John 3:16, Luke 11:13). The promise is to all people who believe. “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)

Unlike humans, God never breaks promises. Come to the merciful and faithful high priest, receive His help and forgiveness, and pray for the leaders of this nation to treat all people with fairness and justice.

Recommended Reading: Hebrews 13:1-8

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – He Never Fails nor Forsakes

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“Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, ‘I will never, never fail you nor forsake you'” (Hebrews 13:5).

Malcolm Muggeridge, one of England’s leading intellectuals, came to our Christian Embassy headquarters for lunch one day. Together we talked about the things of God – the Christian adventure. On that day, he offered little hope for the future of the Western world.

“We are,” he said, “like a pan of frogs in cold water placed over a low flame. As the flame warms the water, the frogs relax. And by the time the water is boiling, it is too late for them to jump out of the pan. They are boiled alive. In contrast, if the frogs were placed in a pan of boiling water, they would leap out instantly.”

He continued by explaining that the average person in America and in Western Europe was being destroyed by materialism, the love of money and the love of things. People are greedy and are grasping for more than they have. Our appetites know no bounds; we have become insatiable.

As a result, no doubt there is more vital Christianity in Eastern Germany than in Western Germany, in Poland than in Italy, in the Soviet Union than in England. The Christians who are willing to pay the price of persecution in these countries have learned to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and to be satisfied with what they have.

With the apostle Paul, they are able to say, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content” (Philippians 4:11, KJV). You will observe that the admonition was to stay away from the love of money. There is nothing wrong with money. Thank God for able, dedicated, godly men and women to whom God has given the ability to make money, but who recognize that there is no satisfaction or fulfillment in making money. It is in the stewardship of that which God has entrusted to them that they find fulfillment and true meaning to life.

Bible Reading: Ephesians 5:1-5

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: With the certainty that God will never, never fail me nor forsake me, I will seek to find fulfillment and meaning in my life in Christ and not in materialism. I will encourage others to do the same today.

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Charles Spurgeon – A present religion

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“Beloved, now are we the sons of God.” 1 John 3:2

Suggested Further Reading: Hebrews 13:1-8

We need not talk of walking righteously, and soberly, in the world to come—

“There all is pure, and all is clear, There all is joy and love.”

There will be no duty to discharge between the tradesmen and the customers, between the debtor and the creditor, between the father and the child, between the husband and the wife, in heaven, for all these relationships will have passed away. Religion must be intended for this life; the duties of it cannot be practised, unless they are practised here. But besides these, there are other duties devolving upon the Christian. Though it is every man’s duty to be honest and sober, the Christian has another code of law. It is the Christian’s duty to love his enemies, to be at peace with all men, to forgive as he hopes to be forgiven; it is his duty not to resist evil, when smitten on the one cheek to turn the other also; it is his duty to give to him that asketh of him, and from him that would borrow of him not to turn away—he is to be a liberal soul, devising liberal things. It is the Christian’s duty to visit his Master’s children when they are sick, so that it may be said to him at last, “I was sick, and naked, and in prison, and ye visited me, and ministered to my necessities.” Now, if religion be not a thing for this world, I ask you how it is possible to perform its duties at all? There are no poor in heaven whom we can comfort and visit; there are no enemies in heaven whom we can graciously forgive; and there are not injuries inflicted, or wrongs endured, which we can bear with patience. Religion must have been intended in the very first place for this world, it must have been meant that now we should be the sons of God.

For meditation: Faith in Christ is the qualification for a place in heaven; work for Christ is the qualification for rewards in heaven in addition to a place in heaven (Matthew 10:40-42).

Sermon no. 196

30 May (1858)

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Greg Laurie – Not That Bad?

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“You must not commit adultery.” —Exodus 20:14

Can you imagine what our culture would be like if we obeyed the single commandment, “You shall not commit adultery”? Can you imagine how different our world would be? How many divorces would have been avoided? How many families would still be together? How many fathers would be home to raise their children?

Most social ills can be traced to the breakdown of the family and specifically to the absence of the father in the home. And often marriages fall apart because of the sin of adultery. What is adultery? It is sex with someone besides your spouse.

God has established marriage for there to be fulfillment and a oneness between a man and a woman. Sex is not some toy that we play with to satisfy our desires. The Bible says, “Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery” (Hebrews 13:4).

Yet this sin is committed so often. Some will say, “Come on, it is not that bad! It was just a one-night stand. We were just having a little fun! As long as it is between two consenting adults, why is it wrong?” Because when a man and a woman come together sexually, a oneness takes place—even when someone comes together with a prostitute.

We are told in 1 Corinthians 6:15–16, “Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, ‘The two are united into one.’ ”

Adultery hurts you. And it hurts others as well.

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Presidential Prayer Team; J.R. – Continual Quality

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Leona Helmsley was a spectacularly successful businesswoman and hotelier. When she died, however, that’s not how she was eulogized. Legions of former employees remembered how she had treated them ruthlessly, berated them endlessly with vile profanities, acted vindictively and fired them unfairly. Dubbed the “Queen of Mean” by the media, Helmsley’s empire had begun to collapse before her death when she was convicted of tax fraud. The government had no trouble finding witnesses…people practically lined up to testify against her.

What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness. Micah 6:8

Kindness is a rare quality in America today. This is sad – but also a great opportunity. When you act justly and show kindness to those around you, your testimony will shine and afford you openings to show others the source of your compassion. It’s okay, too, for acts of kindness to be random, but they should also be continual.

Today, pray for – and look for – ways to help others. Perhaps God will use you to spark a fire that will forever change your neighborhood and your nation! Intercede, too, for your leaders and submit to their authority, letting your goodness show in a way the best honors the Lord.

Recommended Reading: Hebrews 13:1-3, 15-21