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Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – The Almost Christian

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“Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You almost persuade me to become a Christian.'”—Acts 26:28

The word almost is an interesting word. It is a word that we sometimes use when we are delaying something. When we are not quite ready to commit. When we are procrastinating. When we can’t make up our minds at a restaurant, we will tell the waitress, “I am almost ready to decide, but not quite yet.”

Today there are a lot of people who see themselves as almost Christian.

Now, let’s be clear: either you are a Christian or you are not a Christian. You may be well on your way to becoming a Christian. You may be looking into the claims of Christ and investigating them. You may be highly interested in Christianity. But either you are or you are not a believer. And I bring this up because in Acts 26 we read of Herod Agrippa. He was so moved by Paul’s powerful and persuasive presentation of the gospel, that he said, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”

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Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Is Loyal to His People

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“O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever.” (Psalm 136:26)

Do you know what it means to be loyal? Stella’s grandpa kept a white pony named Ginger on his farm. Whenever Stella visited Grandpa, she loved to ride Ginger around the pasture. Sometimes Stella would sit on the fence for an hour at a time talking to Ginger. When she would have to leave Ginger and go back home to the city, the pony stayed in her thoughts. Stella often drew pictures of Ginger or wrote about her in stories.

Now the truth is, Ginger was a very stubborn pony, and she was even a little bit mean at times. But if anyone ever said anything bad about her, Stella always stood up for her. She thought of Ginger as her horse. When Grandpa finally had to sell Ginger away to another farm, Stella went out to the empty pasture and found some long white hairs from her tail stuck in the fence. For years afterward, she kept that horsehair in a special little box. Her love for Ginger was loyal.

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – The Primary Issue

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Today’s Scripture: Hebrews 9:14

“Christ . . . offered himself without blemish to God.”

From different points of view, look at Christ’s work for us: he perfectly obeyed the law of God. He satisfied the justice of God. He exhausted the wrath of God. He removed our sins from the presence of God. He redeemed us from the curse of God. He reconciled us to God.

One thing is readily apparent: every work of Christ is directed toward God. It’s God’s law that was obeyed, his justice that was satisfied, his wrath that was propitiated, his holy presence from which our sins were removed, his curse from which we were redeemed, and alienation from his divine presence that has been reconciled.

This God-ward focus tells us that the integrity of God’s moral government and the upholding of his honor and glory are the primary issues in our salvation. It’s true that God’s love for sinful people such as you and me is the wellspring of our salvation, but this love could be shown only in such a way that the glory of his holiness and the honor of his law would be magnified. Jesus in his sinless life and sin-bearing death did just that. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – The Sacrifice for Our Sins

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Today’s Scripture: Isaiah 52-57

Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. – Acts 8:35

Isaiah 53 is one of the clearest Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah, depicting Him as the suffering servant who endured the punishment we deserve. Perhaps you can quote verses 5-6 from memory: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Years ago, I was holding some evangelistic meetings with college students in Halifax, Nova Scotia. One night after I had shared the gospel and a word of personal testimony with some students in a dorm, a young woman told me how she had recently come to faith in Christ. She was of Jewish descent and had been a vocal opponent of the Christians on her campus. But as she read her Old Testament one day, she came to Isaiah 53. For the first time, she saw what the Christians in her dorm had been trying to tell her. The Messiah had come–and died for her. Through the reading of this passage and through the witness and prayers of Christians on her campus, she gave her life to Christ and became an outspoken witness for Him.

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BreakPoint

BreakPoint –  Planned Parenthood under Investigation: Will Truth Get a Fair Hearing?

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The most important story of last year, in my view, was the exposure of Planned Parenthood’s trafficking in infant organs. But with the indictment of David Daleiden, the undercover journalist behind the incriminating videos, it seemed as if those responsible for the grisly exposed practices would not face any consequences.

All that may be changing, however. This month, lawmakers took a major step toward holding the abortion giant and its allies accountable. The Select Panel on Infant Lives, chaired by Representative Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, held a hearing on April 20th to review the evidence. And what they uncovered was stomach-turning.

It’s important to know that a 1993 federal statute prohibits the sale of fetal tissue. However, witnesses called during this month’s hearing say abortion providers have ignored that law for decades, encouraging and profiting from a market in human body parts.

Here’s how the process works: Researchers at companies like Stem Express pay procurement technicians to shop around abortion clinics for suitable specimens. They obtain consent from the patients, and inform the clinic staff, who kill the unborn child and harvest its tissue. The technician then packages and transports the body parts to the customer, records invoices, and makes sure the clinic is paid.

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Moody Global Ministries

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – THE CHURCH MUST HOLD TO THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS

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Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5

What if you saw a church that had an electric chair mounted on its steeple? In his book The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians, D. A. Carson pointed out that “The same sort of shocked horror was associated with cross and crucifixion in the first century. . . . Crucifixion was reserved for slaves, aliens, barbarians. Many thought it was not something to be talked about in polite company. It is this cultural distance from the first century that makes it so hard for us to feel the compelling irony of 1 Corinthians 1:18.”

This instrument of capital punishment is essential to the gospel. The “message of the Cross” thus makes no sense in the eyes of the world. How could an executed criminal be the Son of God? But the wisdom and power of God is not like that of mere human beings. He has a way of overturning expectations and flipping perceptions (1:18–21, 25).

In this epistle’s original context, both Jews and Gentiles would have been offended and confused (1:22–24; see Rom. 9:33). Jews, picturing God as a Divine Warrior (Zeph. 3:17), would have been expecting a Messiah arriving in power to deliver them. Greeks would culturally have been expecting logic, persuasive rhetoric, and related proofs of human wisdom. The gospel matched neither paradigm.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – TED CRUZ: ‘THE VOTERS CHOSE ANOTHER PATH’

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Ted Cruz ended his campaign last night. He noted that Indiana voters “chose another path,” effectively ending his chances of winning the nomination. His withdrawal leaves John Kasich to contest Donald Trump for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. Seventeen candidates began the process; who would have predicted that Mr. Trump would win the nomination and that Mr. Kasich would be his lone opponent at the campaign’s end?

I am writing today to voice three responses: one positive, one negative, and one hopeful.

Let’s begin with the positive: our process still works.

The Constitution requires that a candidate for president be a natural-born citizen who has been a resident of our country for at least fourteen years and is thirty-five years of age or older. It does not require previous political experience.

Mr. Trump is the first major party presidential candidate not to have served in political office since Dwight Eisenhower, a five-star general who led the Allies to victory in World War II. While many view him as unqualified to be president, clearly many Republican primary voters see him as the best candidate to lead our nation. With virtually no party support, he is on his way to achieving a historic victory.

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Troubled? Try Praise!

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Psalms 34

A lot of negative emotions accompany hardship: frustration, despair, fear, and doubt. People ruled by these feelings will often make poor choices. This is why I recommend that you decide now to respond to troubled times the way the psalmist did: with a heart of praise. Even in the darkest hours, worshipping God fills the heart with joy and the mind with peace. A believer who is filled in this way can wisely keep a commitment to obey the Lord no matter what.

Worshipping the Lord enlarges our vision. By doing so, we begin to see how He is at work in the world, perhaps in ways and places we’ve never noticed before. More particularly, we see what God is doing in our situation and detect areas where He requires obedience from us.

Our human tendency is to plot a course through a situation toward the easiest solution. But believers who strike out on their own do not mature in their faith. Moreover, they miss out on the blessings of following the Lord’s plan. Stopping to praise can keep us from taking the easy way out and direct us to the right path—namely, the way of God’s will. Taking a step forward in faith can be frightening. However, we can confidently take a risk, knowing our omniscient, omnipotent God has His children’s best interest in mind (Isa. 64:4; Jer. 29:11).

It’s hard to despair while honoring the Lord for His love and strength. We can dispel doubt by recalling His past faithfulness to us—and ease frustration by committing our future plans to Him. Praise is not the obvious reaction to hardship, but it is the wisest response.

Bible in a Year: 1 Chronicles 7-9

 

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Just What I Need

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Read: 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Bible in a Year: 1 Kings 14-15; Luke 22:21-46

We can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. —2 Corinthians 1:4

As I stood in the back of the room at a senior citizens’ center in Palmer, Alaska, listening to my daughter’s high school choir sing “It Is Well with My Soul,” I wondered why she, the choir director, had chosen that song. It had been played at her sister Melissa’s funeral, and Lisa knew it was always tough for me to hear it without having an emotional response.

My musings were interrupted when a man sidled up next to me and said, “This is just what I need to hear.” I introduced myself and then asked why he needed this song. “I lost my son Cameron last week in a motorcycle accident,” he said.

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – To Love a Flower

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The poet Emily Dickinson loved her garden. Though famously reclusive, she spent countless hours admiring and caring for her garden of flowers. Many of her poems reflect on her love of the outdoor world even if it only consisted of the wonders of her own yard. She writes whimsically of bees, clover, honey, and the summer grasses that grew green and lush around her Amherst, Massachusetts home. One of Dickinson’s most well-known poems speaks of her garden as the location of worship—with church, preaching, and heaven all represented by creatures in the natural world:

Some keep the Sabbath going to church

I keep it staying at home,

With a bobolink for a chorister,

And an orchard for a dome….

So instead of getting to heaven at last

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John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Strength for Today – Love of the Truth Brings Hatred

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“‘All these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me’” (John 15:21).

The world, in its general hatred of the truth and ignorance of God, will also hate believers.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ time hated Him intensely. If we are committed to following Him wholeheartedly today, we can’t expect to avoid persecution and hardship any more than He did. In John 15:20 our Lord tells us what to expect: “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”

If our perspective is right, however, this expectation should actually make us happy and even provide a certain sense of security. Receiving persecution from the world because we are Christ’s representatives means we have an opportunity to experience what Paul called “the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil. 3:10). As one commentator has said, Christian suffering “is the very means God uses to transform us into the image of His Son.” Troubles and pains can be great reassurances that we have been united with Christ.

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Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – When You Feel That Ache of Dissatisfaction

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For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.  Romans 8:19

There is an ache in the heart of every person alive. The farmer in China is well-acquainted with it; the housewife in the United States knows it; the rock star wrestles with it, and the Wall Street investor knows it. The poor sense it, and the rich feel it. Regardless of gender, economic standing, marital status, or any other differentiator of the human race, every person alive feels this ache.  It’s an ache of dissatisfaction that whispers to every soul, “There’s got to be something more.”

According to Ecclesiastes 3:11, this ache is better described as eternity, and God placed it in the human heart. Just as the heavens testify of God’s existence, this human ache of dissatisfaction does the same and it can feel like a burden because we never get away from it. It’s always with us, day after day, moment after moment. We can run away from home, run to another relationship, run to a better career, and that ache is still there whispering to us, “There’s got to be something more.” The great news is that this ache is God’s gift. When we allow it to do its work, it will drive us to the Almighty.

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Turning Point

Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – The Remedy for Loneliness

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Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?

John 21:16

Recommended Reading

John 21:15-19

An English newspaper recently ran a story about “Britain’s Most Unloved Dog.” Maggie, who was abandoned in 2003 by a large family that could no longer cope with pets, ended up at a place named Serendipity Kennels. Over the past eleven years, more than 50,000 people looking for a dog have bypassed her. No one has offered to give Maggie a home.

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Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – A Key to Effective Prayer

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I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father.… —John 15:15

One of the most important keys to effective prayer is approaching God as His friend. When we go to God believing that He sees us as His friends, new wonders are opened to us. We experience new freedom and boldness, which are both things to be extremely grateful for.

If we do not know God as a friend, we will be reluctant to be bold in asking for what we need. But if we go to Him as our friend, without losing our awe of Him, our prayers will stay fresh, exciting, and intimate.

A friendship involves loving and being loved. It means knowing that God is on your side, wanting to help you, cheering you on, and always keeping your best interest in mind. God loves you and desires your friendship!

Prayer of Thanks: Father, I am thankful that You have promised to be my friend. Help me to come to You in prayer, knowing that You love me and You are for me. Thank You, God, that I am never alone. You are my friend, and You are with me.

From the book The Power of Being Thankful by Joyce Meyer.

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Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – God Sees You

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But I will sing of Your strength, in the morning I will sing of Your love; for You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.

Psalm 59:16

Friend to Friend

I will never forget the first time I took our two-year-old son to the beach. I assumed Jered would take one look at the ocean and make a beeline for the water. We lived in South Florida at the time where many of the people we knew either had a swimming pool or lived on a canal that literally ran through their backyard. Since the tropical climate made it possible for Jered to play outside almost every day of the year, it was not unusual for him to be around water of some kind on a regular basis.

Just to be sure the trip was successful, I did what I thought was a fairly impressive job of preparing Jered for his first beach adventure. We talked and read books about the ocean and watched television shows about going to the beach. We quizzed friends about the best places to go once we got there and, finally, the day came when we actually went to the beach.

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Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Perfect Harmony

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“Most of all, let love guide your life, for then the whole church will stay together in perfect harmony” (Colossians 3:14).

Martha had a very poor self-image. The distress she felt because of her physical appearance was compounded by the guilt of being grossly overweight. She hated herself and was despondent to the point of seriously considering suicide.

I counsel many students and older adults who are not able to accept themselves. Some are weighted down with guilt because of unconfessed sins. Others are not reconciled to their physical handicaps or deformities. Still others feel inferior mentally or socially.

My counsel to such people is this: God loves you and accepts you as you are. The love of God which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit enables us to love ourselves as God made us. We can be thankful for ourselves, loving ourselves unconditionally as God does, and we can love others unconditionally, too.

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Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – Eternal Comfort

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Read: 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

Our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father . . . loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace. (v. 16)

Recently I kept a vigil as a hospice volunteer. The dying man hadn’t shown any signs of consciousness the entire night. Under his right hand he clasped his black leather Holy Bible. I found the tightness of his grip intriguing. It made me think of how we should hold firmly to the word of the Lord.

As I sat by this man’s side, I imagined the invisible flow of the Holy Spirit going up through his arm, into his chest spreading throughout his entire being. The eternal comfort of the Word of God and the hope of heaven can be ours even during the process of dying. God chose us, and cleanses us by our belief in the truth. We can obtain glory in heaven through his wonderful grace. How we need to stand firm and hold to what Scripture has taught us.

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Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; J.R.- Boot Camp Blessings

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If you decide to become one of “The Few, The Proud, The Marines,” it is not a matter of signing some forms and then shipping off for the battlefront. First, you will go to boot camp – and it’s not likely to be enjoyable. For three months, you will be subjected to all manner of physical duress, mental torment, sleep deprivation, mind games, seemingly pointless procedures and rugged routines. None of this is done out of hatred, but rather to make you a successful Marine and give you the best chance of surviving in combat.

I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.

Leviticus 26:9

Leviticus is a book of rules, many of them unfathomable to the modern mind. But the Israelites were living in a world filled with pagan, demonic practices that saturated everyday life. God wanted to reorient them to a proper worldview so that they could worship Him in holiness. In return for their obedience, He promised life and unparalleled blessings.

The key themes in Leviticus from the Lord: “be holy for I am holy,” and “love your neighbor as yourself.” Today, pray that America’s citizens and leaders will embrace those commands…so that God might pour out His unprecedented blessings on the nation.

Recommended Reading: Psalm 112:1-10

 

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Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Sharing His Message

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Paul replied . . . “I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains.”—Acts 26:29

In Acts 26, we find Paul sharing the gospel with King Herod Agrippa and others. We also find some principles that we all can use when sharing our faith:

First, find common ground and build a bridge to your listener. Paul began his defense by saying, “I am fortunate, King Agrippa, that you are the one hearing my defense against all these accusations made by the Jewish leaders, for I know you are an expert on Jewish customs and controversies. Now please listen to me patiently!” This was not flattery on Paul’s part. He was telling the truth. Agrippa was steeped in the ways of the Jews. He knew all about Jewish culture and customs. He could have started by saying, “You are a wicked man, Agrippa. And everyone knows it.” But he didn’t do that. He built a bridge. He was respectful.

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Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Comforts Those Who Mourn

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“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)

God used Mandy’s friend Crystal to teach her the meaning of this verse. Mandy was talking to Crystal on the phone one day, and she told Crystal a lie. Mandy lied because she cared more about pleasing Crystal than about pleasing God, and because she wanted to make herself look better than she was. As soon as the lie was out of her mouth, Mandy was shocked and sorry. But she did not tell Crystal she had lied. “What would she think of me if she knew?” Mandy thought. “She might not want to be my friend anymore. I’ll just confess my sin to God. That will be enough.”

But for a few days after that, Mandy was still miserable. She could not stop thinking about the lie. Finally, she wrote Crystal a note. She told Crystal about the lie and asked her to forgive her.

When Crystal got Mandy’s note, she went out of her way to come and find her. Mandy was so ashamed to face her that she began to cry. She felt that she did not deserve to have Crystal’s friendship anymore.

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