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Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – “More . . .”   

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He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart. —Ecclesiastes 3:11

When my granddaughter Stella was very little, she made good use of the word more when she really liked something. Her favorite food was quesadillas. No matter what time of the day — breakfast, lunch, or dinner — she wanted quesadillas. Only she called it a “dilla.”

“Stella, what would you like to eat?”

“Dilla.”

And usually when I would give her one, she would then say, “More.”

It was the same when I read her a Bible story before bedtime. As soon as I finished the story, she said, “More.” So I read her another story, and at the end she said, “More.” So I did another. “More.” And another. “More.” And on and on it would go.

Quesadillas and stories about Jesus are good things, and to this day, we’re always happy to supply Stella with all she wants — of both. Sometimes, however, this desire for “more” can create problems for us — especially if we’re craving more of the wrong things. (Like ice cream or Krispy Kreme doughnuts.)

Deep down inside we’re all like little Stella, saying, “More.” We always want a little bit more out of life — the newest, the latest, the freshest, the coolest. We want more. That is the way God has wired us. But here’s the problem: as much as we see, taste, and experience life, it always seems like it just isn’t quite enough.

Do you know why that is? As we read in today’s opening verse, God has placed a seed of eternity deep in our innermost being. In our heart of hearts, there is a recognition that this world won’t be able to deliver on its promises. No matter what this world gives us, we find ourselves wanting more: More life. More hope. More joy. More peace. More satisfaction. And, ultimately, more of the presence of God Himself.

In heaven, those desires will be fulfilled in a way beyond what we can imagine. But until that day when we cross over to the other side, He willingly gives us more and more and more of Himself. And that’s the closest thing we have to heaven on earth.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – God Sees with the Eyes of a Father

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Max Lucado

Matthew 14:14 says. “He had compassion on them.” When Matthew writes that Jesus had compassion on people, he’s not saying that Jesus felt casual pity for them. Matthew is saying that Jesus felt their hurt in His gut. He felt the limp of the disabled. He felt the hurt of the diseased. He felt the loneliness of the leper. He felt the embarrassment of the sinful. And once He felt their hurts, He couldn’t help but heal their hurts. He was so touched by their needs that He forgot His own needs. He was so moved by the people’s hurts that He put His hurts on the back burner.

God sees with the eyes of a Father. He sees our defects, errors, and blemishes; but He also sees our value. Maybe that’s why God brings hurting people into your world, too!

From In the Eye of the Storm

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – The Power of Persistence

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Charles Stanley

Philippians 3:10-14

To be someone who perseveres, it is necessary to . . .

  • Learn the difference between being a failure and experiencing failure in life. Once we trust in Christ as our Savior, we are new creations, and our past failings are just that—in the past. Any future mistakes are to be regarded as temporary defeats; they do not define who we are. The apostle Paul learned this lesson well. No matter how many times he was reviled, chased out of town, or stoned, he did not consider himself a failure. Rather, he looked to His Lord to determine the truth about who he was: a forgiven sinner commissioned to take the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 22:10, 21).
  • Learn that encountering difficulties and tests does not automatically mean we’re to change direction. They may delay us in reaching our goals, but they aren’t necessarily a dead end. Look at trials not as reasons to quit, but as opportunities that can assist us in reaching goals. During our moments of defeat, God wants to teach us something that will help us succeed later on. Paul didn’t interpret the tragic events of his life as signals to stop. He knew what God was calling him to do and was committed to accomplishing it. He also experienced the power of persistence to transform his character and give him hope (Rom. 5:3-4). We are sustained by such hope, even in our greatest crises.

Through the work of His Holy Spirit, our heavenly Father will give us the ability to stay on course. Do not give up. Draw near to the Lord, and allow His power to sustain you.

 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — All We Need To Know

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Our Daily Bread

Romans 7:18-25

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells. —Romans 7:18

In a Fernando Ortega rendition of “Just As I Am,” Billy Graham’s voice can be heard faintly in the background. Dr. Graham is reminiscing about an illness during which he believed he was dying. As he mused on his past, he realized what a great sinner he was and how much he continues to need God’s daily forgiveness.

Billy Graham was putting an end to the notion that apart from God we’re okay. We can feel good about ourselves, but that confidence must come from the knowledge that we’re greatly loved children of God (John 3:16), not that we’re very good children (Rom. 7:18).

The first step in becoming a truly “good” person as a follower of Christ is to stop pretending that we’re good on our own and to ask God to make us as good as we can be. We will fail many times, but He will keep growing us and changing us. God is faithful and—in His time and in His way—He’ll do it.

In his final years, the writer of “Amazing Grace,” John Newton, suffered from dementia and lamented the loss of his memory. Yet he confided, “I do remember two things: I am a great sinner, and Jesus is a great Savior.” When it comes to faith, those are the only things anyone needs to know. —David Roper

The Lord has promised good to me,

His word my hope secures;

He will my shield and portion be

As long as life endures. —Newton

God’s grace accepted is God’s peace experienced.

Bible in a year: Psalms 66-67; Romans 7

Insight

The Christian life is one of struggle with sin and growth in holiness. On this side of heaven, we will not be totally freed from this struggle (James 3:2; 1 John 1:8–2:1). In today’s text, the apostle Paul writes of the war between good and evil that wages within him. Elsewhere Paul explains, “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want” (Gal. 5:17 NIV). Yet we can take comfort in the fact that Jesus delivers us from this “body of death” (Rom. 7:24).

Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Wrinkles in Time

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Ravi Z

“Uncanny” was one of the vocabulary words on my sixth grade vocabulary list, which was to be found within the book we were reading as a class. I remember thinking Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time was exactly that—uncanny, peculiar, and uncomfortably strange. Yet I also remember that it stayed with me—the story of a quirky girl named Meg, her overly-intelligent little brother, and their time-transcending journey to save their physicist father with the help of three mysterious beings. Madeleine L’Engle, the writer whose books invite readers to see time itself differently, passed away not too long ago. But her stories will continue to perplex sixth graders, and stay with us long after we have set them aside.

L’Engle is the writer who first showed me the incredible difference between two words in Greek, which we unfortunately translate identically. To the English reader, chronos and kairos both appear to us as “time.” But in Greek, these words are vastly different. Chronos is the time on your wristwatch, time on the move, passing from present to future and so becoming past. Kairos, on the other hand, is qualitative rather than quantitative. It is time as a moment, a significant occasion, an immeasurable quality. The New Testament writers use the word kairos to communicate God’s time, it is real time—it is the eternal now.

So it might be said for the Christian that when Jesus stepped into time to proclaim the kingdom of God among us, he came to show us in chronos the reality of kairos. “Jesus took John and James and Peter up the mountain in ordinary, daily chronos,” writes L’Engle. “Yet during the glory of the Transfiguration they were dwelling in kairos.”(1) With this story in mind, L’Engle describes kairos as that time which breaks through chronos with a shock of joy, time where we are completely unselfconscious and yet paradoxically far more real than we can ever be when we are continually checking our watches.

Whatever your view of religion, it is likely an experience you can recount; a moment so sweet or magnified it seems to stop time. But L’Engle presses the Christian to see it as something to be expected. “Are we willing and able to be surprised?” L’Engle asks. “If we are to be aware of life while we are living it, we must have the courage to relinquish our hard-earned control of ourselves.”(2) If we have the courage to see it, the kingdom of God is close at hand, kairos breaking through like Christ into the world.

I imagine Jacob, too, discovered the difference between chronos and kairos when he set aside the past which was about to catch up with him, along with his paralyzing fear of the future, and found himself living in “none other than the house of God.” The prophets and poets describe similar moments of waking to the present and finding the eternal dimensions of time. The shepherds in Bethlehem were going about their ordinary work when the glory of the Lord captured the moment. “Do not be afraid,” the angel announced. “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you” (Luke 2:13-14). At this invasion of kairos into the routine of chronos, the shepherds chose to respond with action: “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about” (2:15).

Uncanny encounters with time are a part of the human experience. The Christian is given a language to explain these encounters. We live somewhere between the already and the not yet, caught by the eternal now and the one who dwells within it. The implications are both temporal and unending. Will we have the courage to look for glory in the ordinary? To release control of our calendars and watches and note the eternal in our midst? The apostle joins every prophet and poet who proclaimed the coming of the Messiah in history and the return of the king to come, “Behold, now is the time (kairos) of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Like Christ, glimpses of the eternal come quietly and unexpectedly; they come and upset our very notion of time and all we discover within it. Why should we be so unreconciled to time if the temporal were our only concern? Or could it be that the eternal Word stepped into flesh, into our bounded realm of time, and literally embodied the reality that time is meaningful because of the eternal one in our midst. The Christian insists that kairos is breaking into chronos and transforming it. With Christ it proclaims, “The kingdom of God is close at hand”—and the temporal world invited to break in along with it. In ordinary moments that hint at such a radical invasion, might we have the courage to be surprised by one who comes so near.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art (New York: Bantam, 1982), 93.

(2) Ibid., 99.

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Lessons From the Field

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Alistair Begg

I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail. Haggai 2:17

How destructive is the hail to the standing crops, beating out the precious grain upon the ground! How grateful we should be when the corn is spared so terrible a ruin! Let us offer to the Lord thanksgiving. Even more to be dreaded are those mysterious destroyers—fungus, rust, and mildew. They turn the ear into a mass of soot or render it putrid or dry up the grain, and all in a manner so beyond all human control that the farmer is compelled to cry, “This is the finger of God.” Innumerable, minute fungi cause the mischief, and if it weren’t for the goodness of God, the rider on the black horse would soon scatter famine over the land. Infinite mercy spares the food of men, but in view of the active agents that are ready to destroy the harvest, wisdom teaches us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” The curse is everywhere, and we are in constant need of the blessing. When blight and mildew come, they are chastisements from heaven, and men must learn to deal with them accordingly.

Spiritually, mildew is not an uncommon evil. When our work is most promising, this blight appears. We hoped for many conversions, and instead we find a general apathy, an abounding worldliness, or a cruel hardness of heart! There may be no blatant sin in those for whom we are working, but there is a deficiency of sincerity and decision that is sadly disappointing. We learn from this to depend upon the Lord and the necessity of prayer so that no blight will fall upon our work. Spiritual pride or laziness will soon bring upon us the dreadful evil, and only the Lord of the harvest can remove it. Mildew may even attack our own hearts and shrivel our prayers and dampen our zeal. May it please the great Gardener to avert so serious a calamity. Shine, blessed Sun of Righteousness, and drive the diseases away.

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The family reading plan for August 4, 2014 * Jeremiah 32 * Psalm 1, 2

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Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

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)

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – The Source of True Love

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John MacArthur

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God . . . . We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:7, 19).

Scripture often makes seemingly impossible demands of us. For example, Jesus said, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44). That’s easy to say, but how is it possible? Our natural tendency is to love our friends and hate our enemies. But Jesus said, “If you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” (vv. 46-47).

Israel viewed tax-gatherers as traitors, and Gentiles as spiritual outcasts. Yet even traitors and outcasts show love and kindness to those who reciprocate. Jesus calls us to a much higher standard of love—one that is impartial, like God demonstrates when He “causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (v. 45). As we see from God Himself, it extends even to those who aren’t worthy: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Despite generations of rebellion and slander against His holy will and name, God sacrificed His beloved Son, thereby providing the means by which sinners can be saved. Out of love, Jesus willingly endured the pain and shame of the cross and paid the price of our redemption. Now that’s divine love in action!

God commands you to love as He loves: impartially and sacrificially. That may sound impossible on the human level but remember that God never requires you to do anything He hasn’t already enabled you to do. At the moment of your salvation, the Holy Spirit took up residence within you and began producing the fruit of love (Gal. 5:22). You don’t have to muster it up on your own. All you have to do is invite the Spirit to take control, allowing Him to govern your thoughts and actions. As you do, His precious fruit will be multiplied in your life.

Suggestions for Prayer:

  • Thank God for the love of the Spirit He has placed within you.
  • Ask Him for opportunities today to learn how to love more perfectly.

For Further Study: Memorize Galatians 5:22-23.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Who’s Number One?

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Joyce meyer

Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.” Luke 6:38, The Message

Sometimes we tend to live “backwards”—exactly opposite of the way we should live. We live for ourselves and yet we never seem satisfied . We should live for others – give away our lives – and learn the wonderful secret that what we give away comes back to us multiplied many times over.

When somebody wants to be “number one,” it automatically means a lot of people will be disappointed. Only one person can be the number one runner in the world; only one can be the president of the company or the best-known actor or actress. Only one can be the top author or the best painter in the world. While I believe we should all be goal-oriented and do our best, I don’t believe we should want everything for ourselves and care nothing about other people.

I have lived long enough to try a variety of ways to be happy and have discovered by process of elimination what is effective and what is not. Self-focus and striving to be number one at others’ expense does not make life work the way it was intended to work and is definitely not God’s will for our lives. Instead, He wants us to be aggressive about loving others and helping them get ahead.

Love must be more than a theory or a word; it has to be action. It must be seen and felt. Love is and has always been His idea. He came to love us and to teach us how to love. When we do this, life is exciting, beautiful and rewarding.

Love Someone Today: Lord, help me not to disregard or compete with others in an effort to be number one. I pray for opportunities to show love to others by helping others get ahead and reach their goals in life.

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Never Too Busy

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“He will listen to the prayers of the destitute for He is never too busy to heed their requests” (Psalm 102:17).

As a relatively young Christian businessman, I was deacon of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. I was asked to be the chairman of all of our deputation ministry involving more than 100 college- and post college-age men and women who dedicated their lives to serving Christ in the hospitals, jails and skid row missions.

On many occasions it was my responsibility and privilege to speak at various mission meetings attended by hundreds of destitute winos, alcoholics, drug addicts and others who had lost their way and were now in desperate need of help, physically and spiritually. God always ministered to me as well as to them for I seldom spoke to such a group without my heart being deeply stirred. Inevitably I found myself reaching out to these men, poor, dejected, discouraged, many of whom had not bathed for months, and yet I found myself embracing them in the name of Jesus, pleading with them to allow Him to turn the tragedy of their lives into His eternal triumph. Many did and with life-changing results.

But unfortunately, there were far more who refused Christ. I am reminded of one with whom I pleaded to surrender his life to Christ and receive the gift of God’s grace. He had, through the ravages of drink, lost his wife, his children, his business and even his health. He had absolutely nothing left, but his response to my insistence that he receive Christ was, “I cannot, I have too much to give up.” I could hardly believe my ears! God was waiting with arms outstretched, eager to embrace him with His love and forgiveness, to transform his life. Let us never forget that this is God’s desire for every person for He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Bible Reading: Psalm 102:18-28

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Today I will encourage others, rich and poor, old and young, all who are spiritually destitute, to turn to God, who loves and forgives, that they, too may experience eternal and supernatural life.

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.R. – Stranger to Suffering

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Suppose an arsonist starts a fire in your neighborhood. It soon roars across the city, destroying everything in its path, turning millions of dollars of property into ash and killing hundreds. The next morning, the mayor holds a press conference to announce he will be recommending the death penalty for the person responsible…whom he says is you. You and your Christian friends.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.

I Peter 1:6

Such a scenario confronted Peter when he wrote about the expectation of “various trials.” The Emperor Nero had just blamed Christians for the fiery destruction of Rome, even though many historians believe it was Nero himself who started the blaze.

Some Christians believe God has promised mountainous monetary riches and permanent good health on this Earth. Just trust Him and give sacrificially, they claim, and you will be a stranger to suffering. The Bible teaches otherwise. God promises perfect bliss, but not in this life. Will Christians be blamed for America’s problems? In some respects, it’s already beginning. But as you pray for your leaders and fellow citizens today, remember that many of them are sadly missing something you have: the assurance that the hardships of today are only “for a little while.”

Recommended Reading: Acts 14:19-28

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Grace—True As Ever

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greglaurie

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. —Romans 8:28

I survived a crazy childhood, growing up in an alcoholic home, with my mom being married and divorced seven times. But I came to Christ in high school, at the age of seventeen, and turned my life over to the Lord.

The stats all say that if you come from a divorced home, you most likely will end up divorced yourself. But by God’s grace and against all odds, my wife and I are closing in on our thirty-fifth wedding anniversary. So all in all, in spite of the heartbreaks in those early days, it has been a pretty happy story.

Lost Boy, the film that tells my life story, closes with our family walking down the street together, and it’s almost as though you could write the words on the screen: “And they lived happily ever after.”

I had been showing this film in various churches in different parts of the country, and I would speak afterward, telling the story of Joseph, how he faced many adverse circumstances in his life, and how God brought good results out of evil circumstances. Not that bad is good, but God can bring good out of bad and bring glory to His great name through it all.

And then came that morning in July 2008 when we got the terrible, incomprehensible news that our thirty-three-year-old son Christopher had been killed in a car crash on the freeway.

Good out of bad? The best results out of the worst circumstances? Was the message of Lost Boy still true, or was it all a sham?

Even in the depths of our grieving, we had to say the message of that movie hadn’t changed. The chronicle of God’s grace and faithfulness that we told in Lost Boy was as true as ever. We found ourselves in the midst of a life chapter we would have never, never chosen. But God still will bring good out of bad. He will bring glory to Himself.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

Max Lucado

Max Lucado – Jesus Understands You

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Max Lucado

When Jesus saw people, He saw an opportunity to love and affirm value. When we see people, we often only see thousands of problems. What did Jesus know that enabled Him to do what He did? He knew how people felt, and He knew that they were special. I hope you never forget that.

Are you under the gun at work?  Jesus knows how you feel. Do people take more from you than they give? Jesus understands. He knows what that’s like. Your teenagers won’t listen? Believe me, Jesus knows how you feel. You’re precious to Him. So precious that He became like you so that you would come to Him. When you struggle, He listens. When you yearn, He responds. When you question, He hears. He loves you. He understands you. And He paid a great price to take you home.

From In the Eye of the Storm

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – How Can I Become a More Obedient Child of God?

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Charles Stanley

Genesis 12:1-4

Obedience is a major characteristic of a person who is mighty in spirit and honors the Lord. Generally speaking, obedience characterized the faith of Abraham from his first encounter with God until his death.

We grow in obedience by having faith in the sovereignty of God. If we fail to believe in the Father’s sovereignty, we will find it difficult to obey Him. Abraham based his relationship with God on his confidence that the Lord would always do as He had promised (Rom. 4:20, 21). Faith comes by hearing the Word of God and responding in confident trust (Rom. 10:17). We will learn to trust Him as we study and meditate on His Word.

We grow in obedience by waiting for God’s timing. The Father is very time conscious—not in terms of minutes and seconds, but in regard to our acting in obedience according to His schedule. Throughout Scripture we find Him moving in “the fullness of the time” (Gal. 4:4). He is neither early nor late. He is always right on time.

We continue to grow in obedience by refusing to subject God’s plan to “common sense” or the reasoning of the world. Some things the Lord requires may look ridiculous from a human perspective. He told Abraham that he would have a son through whom He would bless the entire world. Yet the Lord allowed Abraham’s obedience to be severely tested—first by requiring him to wait nearly a quarter of a century before providing the promised provision, and later by requiring him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. God knew the motive of Abraham’s heart. It was one of obedience. When it came time to complete the sacrifice, the Lord was the one who provided a ram to be used in Isaac’s place.

We grow in obedience by promptly responding in obedience. If you long to obey God, you will not hesitate when He tells you to do something. Many times we fail to obey the Father because we fear the consequences. Yet He never requires us to do anything outside His will for our lives. Our only responsibility is to obey; His responsibility is to take care of the consequences of our obedience.

Our sensitivity to God’s will increases as we obey Him. Along the way, He provides glimpses of the blessings waiting for us. God always blesses obedience. You can trust Him, obey Him, and be blessed. Or you can disobey Him and spend the rest of your life wondering what He would have done had you obeyed Him. Once you glimpse the blessings of obedience, however, the consequences no longer matter.

Adapted from “The Charles F. Stanley’s Life Principles Bible,” 2008.

 

Resources About Opportunity and Obedience

Related Video

A Passing Opportunity

Too often, we let opportunities pass us by because we don’t realize they’ve been sent from our heavenly Father. In this sermon, Dr. Stanley teaches us how to be sensitive to the opportunities God puts before us. (Watch A Passing Opportunity.)

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — A Shared Bond

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Our Daily Bread

Ephesians 2:11-18

You are all one in Christ Jesus. —Galatians 3:28

When I needed a locksmith to get into my car, I had a pleasant surprise. After he arrived and began opening my little Ford’s door, we began chatting and I recognized his warm, familiar accent.

It turned out that my rescuer was originally from Jamaica—a land I’ve visited often and have grown to love. This changed a negative event into a positive one. We were in a small way kindred spirits because of our shared love for that beautiful island nation.

This struck me as a reminder of an even greater camaraderie—the joy of meeting someone new and discovering that he or she is also a believer in Christ.

In some places, this is not unusual because there are many believers. But in those lands where there are few believers, the joy of meeting someone else who loves Jesus must be even greater. It’s thrilling to share together the amazing reality of the freedom from sin we have through Christ!

For all who know Jesus, there is a shared bond, a oneness in Christ (Gal. 3:28), a joy of fellowship that can brighten even the darkest day. Praise God that He brings a bond of unity to all who know Him as Savior. —Dave Branon

What a miracle it is, dear Lord, that You can

bring together people of all tribes, tongues, and

nations to be like-minded in Christ—to share

a bond of love and affection for Jesus.

Christian fellowship builds us up and binds us together.

Bible in a year: Psalms 63-65; Romans 6

Insight

In the days of Jesus and Paul, there was a religious and social divide between Jews and Gentiles. So great was this divide that Jews avoided contact with Gentiles as much as possible, even erecting walls in the temple courtyard to keep themselves separated. However, both Jesus and Paul spoke of the gospel as crossing all social and national boundaries. Jesus sent the apostles to “all the nations” (Matt. 28:19) and “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8), and He broke down the “wall of separation” (Eph. 2:14).

 

Alistair Begg

Alistair Begg – Extravagant Goodness

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Alistair Begg

As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. Luke 8:42

Jesus is passing through the crowd heading for the house of Jairus, so that he might raise the ruler’s dead daughter. He is so extravagant in His goodness that He works another miracle on His way there. It is enough for most of us, if we have one purpose, to go immediately and accomplish it, without impulsively expending our energies on the way. Rushing to the rescue of a drowning friend, we cannot afford to use up our strength upon someone else in similar danger. It is enough for a tree to yield one sort of fruit and for a man to fulfill his own peculiar calling.

But the Lord Jesus is not limited in His power or restricted in His mission. He is so prolific in grace that, like the sun that shines as it rolls onward in its orbit, His path is radiant with loving-kindness. He is a swift arrow of love that not only reaches its ordained target but perfumes the air through which it flies. Virtue is always going out of Jesus, just as sweet fragrance exudes from flowers; and it will always be emanating from Him, like water from a sparkling fountain.

What delightful encouragement this truth affords us! If our Lord is so ready to heal the sick and bless the needy, then, my soul, do not be slow to put yourself in His path so that He may smile on you. Do not be lazy in asking, since He is so generous in giving. Pay careful attention to His Word now and at all times, so that Jesus may speak through it to your heart. Pitch your tent wherever He is so that you can obtain His blessing. When He is present to heal, may He not heal you? Be certain that He is present even now, for He always comes to hearts that need Him. And do you not need Him? He knows the extent of your need; so turn your gaze, look upon your distress, and call upon Him while He is near.

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The family reading plan for August 3, 2014 * Jeremiah 30, 31 * Mark 16

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Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg.

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – God in the covenant

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“I will be their God.” Jeremiah 31:33

Suggested Further Reading: 2 Samuel 22:1-7

Child of God, let me urge thee to make use of thy God. Make use of him in prayer; I beseech thee, go to him often, because he is thy God. If he were another man’s God, thou mightest weary him; but he is thy God. If he were my God and not thine, thou wouldst have no right to approach him; but he is thy God; he has made himself over to thee, if we may use such an expression, (and I think we may) he has become the positive property of all his children, so that all he has, and all he is, is theirs. O child, wilt thou let thy treasury lie idle, when thou wantest it? No; go and draw from it by prayer.

“To him in every trouble flee,

Thy best, thy only friend.”

Fly to him, tell him all thy wants. Use him constantly by faith, at all times. Oh! I beseech thee, if some dark providence has come over thee, use thy God as a sun, for he is a sun. If some strong enemy has come out against thee, use thy God for a shield, for he is a shield to protect thee. If thou hast lost thy way in the mazes of life, use him for a guide, for the great Jehovah will direct thee. If thou art in storms, use him, for he is the God who stilleth the raging of the sea, and saith unto the waves, “Be still.” If thou art a poor thing, knowing not which way to turn, use him for a shepherd, for the Lord is thy Shepherd, and thou shalt not want. Whate’er thou art, where’er thou art, remember God is just what thou wantest, and he is just where thou wantest . I beseech thee, then, make use of thy God.

For meditation: The false gods of the Greeks and Romans were given specific individual roles; the one true God is a glorious all-rounder—omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent—the complete opposite of the false god (1 Kings 18:27,37).

Sermon no. 93

3 August (1856)

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Filling up an Empty Word

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John MacArthur

“I show you a still more excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31).

In our society, love is a common word but an uncommon experience. Often those who use the word most understand it least. Many who think they’ve found love have really settled for something far less than God intended for them.

For many, love means a romantic or sexual relationship. While Scripture has much to say about intimacy within marriage, the word love takes on a different meaning in the New Testament. Even Ephesians 5:25 (“Husbands, love your wives”) doesn’t refer to romantic love.

Other common errors include equating love with emotionalism or sentimentality, or confusing it with a friendly spirit of tolerance and brotherhood toward others—often apart from any consideration for doctrinal purity or biblical convictions. But biblical love is none of those.

The “more excellent way” Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 12:31 is love that comes from God Himself and conforms to His holy attributes. We have no capacity to generate it on our own. The Greek word for that kind of love is agap[ma]e and it is characterized by humility, obedience to God, and self-sacrifice. John 13:1 says of Christ’s love for His disciples, “He loved them to the end.” That literally means He loved them to perfection—to the limits of love. In verses 4-5 He demonstrates His love by washing their feet. Love is humble. It focuses on meeting needs.

In addition, love is obedient and willing to make sacrifices for others. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). God made the supreme sacrifice for us in that He “so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16).

First Corinthians 13 applies to Christians of every generation because we all face the danger of misusing our spiritual gifts. As we study it and other passages about love, ask yourself if your love is all that God wants it to be. If not, take note of what changes you need to make in light of what you’re learning.

Suggestions for Prayer:

  • Thank God for loving you.
  • Ask Him for wisdom and grace to understand and walk in love.

For Further Study:

Read John 14:23-24, noting how Jesus described those who love Him.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Healing in His Wings

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But unto you who revere and worshipfully fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings and His beams, and you shall go forth and gambol like calves [released] from the stall and leap for joy. —Malachi 4:2

Around our world, horrible crimes and unspeakable acts happen every day to women and children who are powerless to stop them. Every act affects the life of a precious person, created in God’s image. Many women are hurt, wounded little girls trapped inside adult bodies, afraid to come out for fear of being hurt more.

I understand the feelings of these women. I was sexually abused by my father for many years. I also suffered abuse at the hands of other men throughout the first twenty-five years of my life. I developed a hardened attitude toward all men and adopted a harsh, hard manner.

But I want everyone to know that, through God’s Word and the help of the Holy Spirit, I was healed in my spirit, emotions, mind, will, and personality. It was a process that unfolded over several years, and I have enough firsthand experience to highly recommend God’s ways of restoration and healing rather than the world’s ways. It is much better to let God heal you than to spend your life being bitter about the past.

Lord, I rejoice today that You did not leave me to heal myself. I worship You alone, and I receive from You all the healing and grace that I need for this day. Amen.

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Authority Over the Enemy

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“And I have given you authority over all the power of the Enemy” (Luke 10:19).

By nature I am a very shy, reserved person. But I can look the world in the face and say, “I’m a child of the King. There is royal blood in my veins.”

Because of our identification with Christ, we are no longer ordinary people. The authority of God is available to those who believe in Christ. What a promise!

“Authority over all the power of the Enemy!” That is His promise, but it is something you and I must claim each time we face the enemy. We are to believe this; it is an intellectually valid fact. It is not exercising positive thinking and blindly hoping for the best; rather, it is claiming and leaning on the promises of God by faith.

Supernatural authority belongs to the believer, and there is a difference between authority and power. A policeman standing at a busy intersection has no physical power that would enable him to stop cars coming from all directions. But that little whistle he blows and the uniform he wears represent authority, and because of that authority the drivers know that they had better stop.

You and I have authority – given to us by the Lord Himself – over all the power of the enemy. He may tempt us; he may attack us; he may sorely try us. But victory is assured us as we continue to trust and obey our Lord and claim by faith His supernatural resources for our strength.

Bible Reading: Luke 10:20-24

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: Because I have been given authority over the enemy, by faith I will exercise that authority on behalf of others as well as myself, believing God for ultimate victory in each situation.