Tag Archives: jesus christ our lord

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – In the “Deep End”

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Now to Him Who is able to keep you without stumbling or slipping or falling, and to present [you] unblemished (blameless and faultless) before the presence of His glory in triumphant joy and exultation [with unspeakable, ecstatic delight]—to the one only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory (splendor), majesty, might and dominion, and power and authority, before all time and now and forever (unto all the ages of eternity).- Jude 24–25

Just as a little three-year-old girl in the middle of a swimming pool can feel in over her head, at various points in our lives, all of us feel we’re getting “out of our depth” or “in over our heads.” But the reality is that without God we’re always in over our heads.

There are problems all around in this life: a job is lost, someone dies, there is strife in the family, or a bad report comes from the doctor. When these things happen, our temptation is to panic, because we feel we’ve lost control. But think about it—just like the child in the pool, the truth is we’ve never been in control when it comes to life’s most crucial elements. We’ve always been held up by the grace of God, our Father, and that won’t change. God is never out of His depth, and therefore we’re as safe when we’re in life’s “deep end” as we were in the kiddie pool.

Lord, I’m glad that I am safe in Your arms, even when I feel I’m in over my head. Hold me by Your grace. Amen. .

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.K. – Your Defender

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The judgment has been pronounced: Guilty…every one! There is no chance for appeal. The verdict stands. Listen to the very words: “None is righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10)

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Romans 7:25

The decision of the Supreme Court of the universe is that all have sinned…all have missed the mark and have fallen short of God’s standard. Do not take this lightly! Don’t compare yourself with others. You may not have fallen as short as them, but you are “short” as far as the Lord is concerned.

Thanks be to God that there is a defender…Jesus Christ the Lord! It is He that stands and pleads your case. He has paid the price and set you, the prisoner, free. Take hold of that fact and apply it to your life. Yield your life to Him. It will be the new standard for your life…living to do all to the glory of God. The apostle Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)

Pray for a new standard in the lives of those who serve as leaders of this country. May they yield to Christ, being thankful to God for His grace.

Recommended Reading: Romans 7:21-8:6

 

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Reigning grace

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“That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:21

Suggested Further Reading: Romans 5:12-17

An awful contemplation is that of the reign of sin. Permitted to come into this world as a usurper—having mounted its throne upon the heart of man by flattering blandishments, and crafty pleasantries, it was not long before it fully developed itself. Its first act was to smite Eden with blast and mildew by its breath; its next act was to slay the second child of man and that by the hand of the eldest born. Since then, its reign has been scarlet with blood, black with iniquity, and fraught with everything that can make the heart of man sad and wretched. Oh sin, thou tyrant monster, all the demons that ever sat upon the throne of Rome, were never such as thou art; and all the men, who from the wild north, have come forth as the scourges of man, the destroying angels of our race, though they have waded up to their knees in the blood of mortals, have never been so terrible as thou art. Thou hast reigned unto death, and that a death eternal—a death from which there shall be no resurrection—a death which casts souls into an eternal grave—a grave of fire. Our apostle now changes the subject, and represents man under the gracious state, as rejoicing in another government, ruled by another king. Just as sin has reigned, and with despotic and irresistible power has ground his subjects in the very dust, and then cast them into the flames, so does grace with irresistible goodness, constrain the chosen multitude to yield obedience, and thus prepares them for eternal bliss. See, it lifts up the beggar from the dunghill, and makes him to sit among princes. Mark its shining course, and behold it blessing the sons of man wherever it stretches out its silver sceptre, chasing away the misery of night, and giving the joy of gospel day.

For meditation: Refugees from the dominion of darkness are accepted as citizens of the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Colossians 1:13) and they will never be sent back to their former home.

Sermon no. 330

27 August (Preached 26 August 1860)

 

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Free Gift

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“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

One night I was speaking to several hundred men gathered in a skid row mission for an evangelistic meeting. I had been invited to bring the address and as always my heart was deeply stirred when I realized that these men needed the Lord so very much. In the spiritual sense, though, their lot was no worse than the leaders of the city, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death whether one is rich or poor, old or young, sick or well. It makes no difference. The wages of sin is death.

In an effort to communicate to these men the love of God and His free gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, I pulled a ten-dollar bill from my pocket and said, “The first person who comes to take this from my hand, can have it as a free gift.” This was my way of illustrating God’s gift of grace. Out of the hundreds of people seated before me, not a single person moved as I extended the bill, repeating several times, “The first one who will come and take this bill from my hand can have it.”

Finally, a middle-aged man, shabbily dressed like the rest, stood timidly to his feet and with an inquiring expression said, “Do you really mean it?” I said, “Sure, come and get it; it is yours.” He almost ran to grasp it and he thanked me. The rest of the crowd began mumbling, as if to say, “Why didn’t I have the faith to go and accept the gift?”

This gave me a marvelous opportunity to emphasize that we do not earn God’s love. He loves us unconditionally – not because of who we are, but because of who He is. God proved His love for us in that while we were all wretched sinners, He sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross for us and give to all men who will receive Him the gift of eternal life. Oh, what an attractive gift. Who could refuse to accept such a wonderful gift?

Bible Reading: Romans 6:17-22

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will trust the Lord to help me make His offer of this marvelous free gift, the gift of His only begotten Son who is eternal life, so attractive that no one can refuse to accept it.

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – His Ways Will Satisfy

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“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how His ways will really satisfy you” (Romans 12:2).

“The trouble with living sacrifices,” someone has well said, “is that they keep crawling off the altar.” That may be true. We “crawl off the altar” when we sin, and the only way to put ourselves back on the altar is to breathe spiritually – confess our known sins in accordance with the promise of 1 John 1:9 and appropriate the fullness of the Holy Spirit as we are commanded to do by faith (Ephesians 5:18).

When we do this, we will be living supernaturally and our lives will produce the fruit of the Spirit in great abundance.

Only by being filled with the Spirit, and thus realizing the fruit of the Spirit, can spiritual gifts be effectively utilized in witnessing and building up the Body of Christ.

We begin by totally yielding ourselves by faith to Christ in a full irrevocable surrender to His lordship.

“He died once for all to end sin’s power, but now He lives forever in unbroken fellowship with God. So look upon your old sin-nature as dead and unresponsive to sin, and instead be alive to God, alert to Him, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Do not let sin control your puny body any longer; do not give in to its sinful desires. Do not let any part of your bodies become tools of wickedness, to be used for sinning; but give yourselves completely to God – every part of you -for you are back from death and you want to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for His good purposes” (Romans 6:10-13).

Bible Reading: Romans 12:3-18

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Knowing that God’s ways will really satisfy me, I will seek first His kingdom, resist the devil at his every appearance and watch with joy as he flees.

 

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Your Present Deliverance

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John MacArthur

“Obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet. 1:9).

In 1 Corinthians 1:18 Paul says that “the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (emphasis added). That emphasizes the marvelous reality of the believer’s present deliverance from sin. Peter stressed the same truth in 1 Peter 1:8, where he says that believers obtain as the outcome of their faith the salvation of their souls.

The Greek word translated “obtaining” in 1 Peter 1:18 literally means “presently receiving for yourselves.” It speaks of obtaining something that is due you as a result of your faith in Christ. “Outcome of your faith” refers to the logical result or end of faith. “Souls” speaks of the whole person. The entire verse could be translated, “You rejoice because you have and continue to hold onto the logical result of your proven faith–your ongoing deliverance from sin.”

You need ongoing deliverance because sin is an ongoing problem. You have new life in Christ, are a new creature in Him, and are no longer a slave to the penalty and power of sin, but you’re not yet fully glorified. Consequently you’re still subject to sin’s influence. Paul personalized that struggle in Romans 7, where he says, “The good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. . . . I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. . . . Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (vv. 19, 21, 24). The victory comes in verse 25, which says, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Jesus is the Great Deliverer, through whom you have victory over sin, death, and hell. That’s the last spiritual privilege in Peter’s brief list, but it’s by no means the least. As you love and trust Him, you’ll know the joy of present deliverance.

Suggestions for Prayer:

Praise the Lord for your deliverance from sin’s bondage.

For Further Study:

Review all the spiritual privileges and sources of Christian joy we’ve discussed this month. Keep them fresh in your mind as you face the challenges of each new day.

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Alistair Begg – Fellowship with Jesus

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The goodness and loving kindness of God our savior.

Titus 3:4

How sweet it is to see Jesus fellowshiping with His own beloved people! There can be nothing more delightful than when the Holy Spirit leads us into this fertile field of delight. Let the mind for a moment consider the history of the Redeemer’s love, and a thousand evidences of His kindness will come to mind. The purpose of them all has been to draw us to Christ and to weave the mind of Christ into the  thoughts and emotions of the renewed soul.

When we meditate upon this amazing love and see the Head of the church endowing her with all His wealth and power, our souls may well faint for joy. Who is able to endure such a weight of love? Even a partial sense of it, which the Holy Spirit sometimes grants us, is more than the soul can contain; how transforming a complete view of it must be! When the soul shall learn to discern all the Savior’s gifts and is granted the wisdom to fathom them and the time to meditate upon them, such as heaven will afford us, we will then commune with Jesus in a more intimate manner than at present.

But who can imagine the sweetness of such fellowship? It must be one of the things that have not entered into the heart of man, but that God has prepared for them that love Him. If we could burst open the door of our Joseph’s granaries and see the plenty that He has stored up for us, we would be overwhelmed with His love. By faith we see, as in a mirror dimly, the reflected image of His unbounded treasures, but when we actually see the heavenly things themselves, with our own eyes, how deep will be the stream of fellowship in which our soul shall bathe! Until then our loudest songs shall be reserved for our loving benefactor, Jesus Christ our Lord, whose love to us is wonderful, surpassing the love of a man for a woman.

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Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – We can Have Real Peace

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“So now, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith in His promises, we can have real peace with Him because of what Jesus Christ our Lord had done for us” (Romans 5:1).

When Arthur DeMoss, one of my very best friends and one of our Lord’s choicest servants, went to be with the Lord, as the result of an unexpected heart attack, all of us were shocked. The word reached me in Austria, where I was meeting with our European staff. Immediately, I flew back to the United States for the memorial service.

As I participated in that service, I looked over the large audience, about half of whom had been introduced to Christ through the ministry of this man whom we had all come to honor.

In the crowd, I saw one face that stood out – a face that was most radiant of all. It was Art’s widow, Nancy. She was sitting in the front row with their seven children. Her radiant countenance was a demonstration to me of the supernatural joy and peace which God gives in such times of extreme grief.

Nancy and Art were the greatest of lovers and friends. They had been deeply in love since their courtship and were almost inseparable whether in the building of the business, in the rearing of their family or in their burden for evangelism and the souls of men.

Yet, in this time of Nancy’s greatest sorrow, the evidence that she was filled with the Spirit radiated from her countenance. She was experiencing the supernatural peace of God – love’s security, which is available to all of God’s children.

Bible Reading: Romans 5:2-11

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will claim by faith God’s peace – not only for me but also for family and friends in need of such peace – and seek to introduce others to the One who is the Prince of Peace.

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Charles Stanley – Encouragement for All Seasons

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Deuteronomy 7:7-9

Spring, summer, fall, and winter—these are the seasons of the year. Life also has its seasons. Some are filled with joy, while others are characterized by difficulty. Take comfort because there is a principle from the Bible that can encourage and sustain you through every season: Our God is faithful.

We learn about this attribute of the Lord from passages like 1 Corinthians 1:9, where Paul says, “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” To say that God is faithful means He always does exactly what He says He will do.

How reassuring it is to know that He will keep His promises to His children and never leave their side, whatever “season” of life they are in. No matter how deep, how dark, how depressing, how hopeless, or how good things may seem, the child of God can count on the Father’s abiding presence.

So regardless of your present trials or triumphs, embrace these three truths:

1. God will be faithful to you because it is His very nature (Ps. 36:5).

2. God knows all about your situation; you are never alone in any season of life (Ps. 139:7-12).

3. God is omnipotent, so He has the power to meet every single need, and He knows how to move you through the various seasons of your life (Rom. 8:28).

Hold onto this fact: You will change and seasons will change, but our wonderful God is always the same. That means He won’t fail you, He won’t waver on you, and He won’t vary—you can fully rely on Him. And He will never forget about you; He is with you always. Great is His faithfulness!