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John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Selecting the Proper Shoes

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John MacArthur

“Stand firm . . . having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Eph. 6:14- 15).

I’ll never forget a game that took place at the Rose Bowl during my college football days. Being winter time and late in the football season, the field was in bad shape from several days of rain and an entire season of wear and tear. However, the grounds crew painted the field green, so it looked much better than it actually was. I had two pairs of football shoes: one with long spikes for bad turf and one with short spikes for good turf. Thinking the field looked pretty good, I opted to wear the short spikes.

On the opening kick-off I caught the ball on the four- yard line, took two steps, and immediately landed on my backside. That’s not unusual after a tackle, but in this case there wasn’t an opponent in sight! I slipped in the mud–my shoes betrayed me.

Since proper shoes are important in athletics, how much more so are they when fighting for your life. Roman soldiers took great care in selecting just the right shoe. Typically they wore a thick-soled semi-boot with straps securing it to the leg. On the bottom of the soles were hobnails that protruded like the cleats of a track or baseball shoe. The thick soles protected the feet from injury; the hobnails provided traction when maneuvering on the soil.

The Christian’s spiritual footwear is the “gospel of peace” (Eph. 6:15). Romans 5:1 says, “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” God has reconciled you to Himself through the death of His Son (v. 10). Once you were His enemy; now you are His child. Once He opposed you; now He is on your side.

No matter how difficult your circumstances may be or how many opponents come against you, realize that the invincible God of the universe is on your side. He makes war against His enemies (Rev. 2:16), and against Him no one can stand. So stand firm in that confidence. Focus on your Great Ally rather than your feeble enemies.

Suggestions for Prayer:

Thank God for His peace, presence, and protection in your life.

For Further Study:

Read Judges 7. How did Gideon demonstrate his confidence that God was on his side?

 

 

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Charles Spurgeon – His name—the mighty God

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“The mighty God.” Isaiah 9:6

Suggested Further Reading: Hebrews 2:10-18

Great is the mystery of godliness, for the passage from which the text is taken says, “Unto us a child is born.” A child! What can a child do? It totters in its walk, it trembles in its steps—and it is a child newly born. Born! An infant hanging on its mother’s breast, an infant deriving its nourishment from a woman? That! Can that work wonders? Yea, saith the prophet, “Unto us a child is born.” But then it is added, “Unto us a Son is given.” Christ was not only born, but given. As man he is a child born, as God he is the Son given. He comes down from on high; he is given by God to become our Redeemer. But here behold the wonder! “His name,” this child’s name, “shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God.” Is this child, then, to us the mighty God? If so, O brethren, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness indeed! And yet, just let us look through the history of the church, and discover whether we have not ample evidence to substantiate it. This child born, this Son given, came into the world to issue a challenge against sin. For thirty years and upwards he had to struggle and wrestle against temptations more numerous and more terrible than man had ever known before. Adam fell when a woman tempted him; Eve fell when a serpent offered fruit to her, but Christ, the second Adam, stood invulnerable against all the shafts of Satan, though tempted he was in all points like as we are. Not one arrow out of the quiver of hell was spared; the whole were shot against him. Every arrow was aimed against him with all the might of Satan’s archers, and that is not little! And yet, without sin or taint of sin, more than conqueror he stood.

For meditation: Here, on the morning of his 25th birthday, Spurgeon gloried in the birthday of his great elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ—God born of a woman, given in the likeness of sinful flesh so that God could condemn our sin in his flesh (Galatians 4:4; Romans 8:3). What an appropriate birthday meditation, remembering how Christ identified with us so that we could be identified with him!

Sermon no. 258

19 June (1859)

 

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Greg Laurie – An ABC Culture

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I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me. —Revelation 3:8

I have never seen a greater biblical illiteracy than we see in the church today. So many go to church, but they want to be entertained. They want to be dazzled. And they want everything except the Word of God.

One thing that has always been at the forefront of Harvest Ministries is the teaching of God’s Word—without apology. Why is this important? Because one of the signs of the last days is apostasy. People living in the end times are going to fall away from the faith. According to 1 Timothy 4, “The Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons” (verse 1). Knowing God’s Word and keeping His Word will fortify you against that.

As we get closer and closer to Christ’s return, it will be more and more difficult to be a Christian. Things are going to get spiritually darker in our world. Today in America, we live in what I would describe as an ABC culture: anything but Christ. People are cool with whatever you want to believe—unless it is the Bible and unless it is Jesus Christ. Then suddenly you are in trouble. Suddenly you are the bigoted one. You are the narrow-minded one. You are the intolerant one. You are the hateful one. And it is just because you believe that the Bible is true, and you want to live for Jesus Christ. God will give you the strength to live this life, but you will be opposed.

So whether you want to go high-tech or low-tech, read God’s Word. Know God’s Word. And more importantly, keep God’s Word.

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Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Walk in the Light

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“Later, in one of His talks, Jesus said to the people, ‘I am the Light of the world. So if you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, for living light will flood your path” (John 8:12).

The living room of our home was dark when I quietly slipped a key into the lock and opened the door one night, walking slowly and softly so as not to awaken Vonette and our sons who were very young. Though they had been trained to put away their toys, somehow in the rush to get ready for bed that night they had left cars and a train and other favorite play things scattered throughout the living room.

You guessed it! I stepped on one with wheels that almost threw me to the floor before I could regain my balance. Many a person has broken a leg or an arm under similar circumstances, and some have even fallen and hit their heads on sharp objects, resulting in a fatal accident.

So it is in the spiritual realm. If we insist on walking in the darkness, we will inevitably stumble and take risks that can greatly jeopardize our spiritual health and, in some cases, lead to our spiritual death by cutting ourselves off from God.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness.” In the first epistle of John we are told, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not tell the truth. If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses [and keeps on cleansing] us from all sin.”

There is only one person who qualifies to be the light of the world. That is Jesus. So how do we follow Him? What does it mean to walk in the light? Basically, it means that there is no unconfessed sin. It means that we are filled with the Holy Spirit, that we are feasting upon the Word of God and obeying His commands which include sharing our love for Christ with others.

Bible Reading: I Thessalonians 4:5-8

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Through the enabling of the Holy Spirit, I shall walk in the light with Christ who is the light of the world, and reflect His light in such an attractive way that those who walk in darkness will be drawn to the light as moths are drawn to a burning candle.

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Charles Stanley – How can I endure in my faith during hard times?

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Zephaniah 3:17

You are God’s masterpiece, and He has given you His Word as a testimony to the love and joy He has for you. Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The LORD your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.”

God rejoices over you and is transforming your life to reflect His goodness to others. He has an awesome plan for your life. You are not yet what you will be when you step into the eternal presence of God (1 Cor. 13:12; 1 John 3:2). Until that time, God is patiently molding and shaping you into the image of His Son. Therefore, you never have a reason to give up (Gal. 6:9). You are not alone! Jesus is with you, cheering you on to victory. He is at your side to strengthen and encourage you. When you fix your eyes on Him and not on your circumstances, you will begin to see life differently. Instead of thinking negatively, the Holy Spirit will teach you to think about the things of God—pure thoughts that honor Jesus Christ.

God also makes it clear that He loves you with an everlasting love and has pledged to never leave or forsake you (Deut. 31:6, 8; John 14:18; Heb. 13:5). He walks with you through disappointment, and when you confess your sins, “He is faithful and righteous to forgive [your] sins and to cleanse [you] from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). He has seen the finished portrait! While on your own you can do nothing, He knows that through Christ you can and will succeed (Phil. 1:6; 4:13). This does not mean that you won’t suffer or feel pain. Jesus endured both, and yet He did not give up. He knew that in order to complete His mission He would have to endure until the end, and He wanted more than anything else to accomplish the Father’s will.

How could He possibly bear the weight of all our sins and still remain victorious? Because He had an eternal perspective (Heb. 12:2). Long before it happened, Jesus saw the Resurrection as a completed fact (Matt. 20:18, 19)—that after three days, He would rise from the grave to walk in victory over sin and death (1 Cor. 15:55–57). You can walk in confidence and triumph because Jesus is your example and His Spirit lives in you. Like colors on an artist’s palette, God can work through every situation in your life—even the one you are facing right now—to bring you closer to Himself (Jer. 29:11–13; Rom. 8:28).

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Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – The Holy Spirit Enlightens

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“But the man who isn’t a Christian can’t understand and can’t accept these thoughts from God, which the Holy Spirit teaches us. They sound foolish to him, because only those who have the Holy Spirit within them can understand what the Holy Spirit means. Others just can’t take it in” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Though I have been a Christian for more than 35 years, I still have much to learn. I am far from perfect. And I do not ever expect to be – in this lifetime. Only our Lord Jesus Christ was without sin.

However, I know from experience that the more time I spend with God through reading, studying, memorizing and meditating on His Word, with the help of the Holy Spirit to interpret God’s truth to me, the more I become like our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

When you spend time daily in Bible reading and study, your life will change. After reading God’s Word consistently for several months, you will be amazed by the things God has done in your life.

How can we understand the Bible? How can we experience its life-changing influence in our lives?

The non-believer and the disobedient, carnal Christian have difficulty in understanding the Bible because they must rely on their human faculties in their attempt to understand things that are of a spiritual nature in God’s Word.

As Paul writes to the church at Corinth,” …the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (KJV).

Bible Reading: I Corinthians 2:9-13

TODAY’S ACTION POINT:  Since the Holy Spirit inspired holy men of old to record God’s Word, the Bible, I will ask Him to interpret God’s message to my own life, and today I will encourage someone, or several others, to depend upon the Holy Spirit and to join me in living a supernatural life for the glory of God.

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Biblical Listening: Trust and Obey – Charles Stanley

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James 1:19

Yesterday we looked at the various ways people approach God’s Word. If you assessed how you listen to His instructions and determined there’s room for improvement, be encouraged—that realization is the first step toward becoming more sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Now, commit to . . .

• Listen carefully. By an act of your will, choose to listen purposefully when you read the Bible or hear it preached. Decide to “pray without ceasing” as you go through your day (1 Thess. 5:17).

• Resist all outside clutter. One of Satan’s strategies is to get our minds so occupied with peripheral concerns that we compromise our reliance upon Christ. So much of what we deem important plummets down the priority scale when held against the light of truth.

• Evaluate your life against what you’re hearing in Scripture. This means taking the initiative to hold up your life against the standard of God’s truth—and agreeing to making any necessary changes.

• Apply the truths that the Holy Spirit impresses upon your heart. This is a decision you make—one that indicates just how serious you are about walking with Jesus Christ. God will honor your stepping out in faith, and you’ll see that He can be fully trusted.

Listening to what the Word of God says is important, but life transformation won’t happen unless you personally apply its teachings. Strive to obey Scripture and the Lord’s leading every time. When you do, He takes responsibility for the results, and you will find Him trustworthy.

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Don’t Waste Your Pain – Greg Laurie

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All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.—2 Corinthians 1:3–4

Personal adversity and suffering give us a new compassion for others who are in pain. Someone who has suffered can minister with great compassion to another person who is experiencing the same kind of adversity.

I believe the most effective person to minister to someone who has been diagnosed with cancer is a cancer survivor, because he or she can say, “I know what you are going through. I know what it is like to hear that news. Let me tell you what I did. Let me tell you how I have gotten through this.”

A person with a disability can minister more effectively to another person with a disability than someone who doesn’t have one at all. They can say, “I, too, struggle. I, too, have to deal with this. But let me share with you how God has helped me.”

A person who has lost a loved one often can minister more effectively to someone else who has lost a loved one. They know what it is like.

The apostle Paul wrote that God “comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:4–5).

Don’t waste your pain. If you have gone through hardship, if you have gone through adversity or are going through difficulty, God can use you to help someone else. God can open up your heart and give you opportunities to minister to people in ways you never have had before.

This is one of the things that suffering can bring about in a person’s life. And nothing ever happens accidentally to a child of God.