Simply Obey

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD.” Isaiah 55:8

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The Bible is not primarily a book to be explained; it is first and foremost a book to be believed and obeyed. Whether you understand it or not, when God says it, you just simply obey it. 

And don't substitute human reasoning for obedience. So many times we like to tell God how He ought to do things. I can imagine those early disciples when Saul was making havoc of the church and hauling Christians off to prison and death. I imagine there were many praying, “Oh, God, do something about Saul. Strike him dead.” But God didn't want to strike him dead. God struck him alive! And aren't you glad He did?

ACTION POINT:

Isn't it strange how God works? You see, our ways and God's ways are so different. This is when we have to say, “I will trust You and obey.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Murmuring Against God

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“…for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against Him: and what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.” Exodus 16:8

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The Israelites had just come through the Red Sea, and they were dancing with joy and praising the Lord. 

But just three days later they were murmuring and complaining! Moses said to them, "Your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD." 

One of the greatest lessons you can ever learn is, when you murmur and complain, you are really murmuring against God. Murmuring is no little sin. God lists it with idolatry and fornication (1 Corinthians 10)! 

They were being led of the Lord. Moses was there. The Word of God was there. Why did they murmur? It was a lack of faith, but it was also a lack of reason. Would God have brought them through the Red Sea just to let them die? If Jesus Christ died for you on that cross, do you think He saved you to abandon you? 

ACTION POINT:

”My Lord knows the way through the wilderness. All I have to do is follow.” Will you follow Him and let Him have His way and not complain and not murmur?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Fear Not!

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will show to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.” Exodus 14:13

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Three hundred and sixty-five times in the Bible—once for every day of the year—it says, “Fear thou not,” or its equivalent, “The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do.” 

Sometimes we come to a place where things are out of our hands. There is nothing we can do. Oh, we hurry around, we’re so busy manipulating, trying, conniving, and scheming. But finally we come to a place where God hems us in, and there is no way out but up. God places us where there is nothing we can do. There is no one to help us. God just says, “Fear not, stand still … and see the salvation of the LORD.” 

ACTION POINT:

Read those words again: “ye shall see them again no more forever.” When you come to the place of desperation, what does God want you to do? Number one, “Fear not.” God wants you to come to this place of dependence that you may learn there is nothing to fear and He may say to you, “Fear not” and "Stand still."

Just stand still. "Be still and know that I am God."

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Good News

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” Isaiah 52:7

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I once heard of a pastor who received word from the war department that a young soldier, reported missing in action and presumed dead, was found alive! His mother had already been informed of his death. And now they asked this pastor to be the one to tell her that her son was alive. 

Do you think this pastor said, “Well, I've got a little vacation I'm going to take first, and I want to play a round of golf or do some other things”? 

What a thrill, going to tell that message! I want to tell you, there ought to be that thrill and urgency in my heart and yours every time we tell a poor, sin-sick, lost, and undone sinner there is good news that Christ died for our sins.

ACTION POINT:

If you know the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and you're not interested in sharing it, I sincerely doubt you've ever been saved. How could a person know the Gospel and not want to share it? 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Christianity, More Than a Creed or Code

“...and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.” - Matthew 1:21

Are Christians fools for believing in Jesus? Are we serving a false God? If you go to the tomb of Confucius, you’ll find it’s occupied. If you go to the tomb of Buddha, you’ll find it’s occupied. If you go to the tomb of Jesus, you’ll find it empty. He is a risen Savior.  Now that’s very important, because you can take Confucius out of Confucianism and still have Confucianism, and you can take Buddha out of Buddhism and still have Buddhism. But you cannot take Jesus Christ out of Christianity and still have Christianity because Christianity is not a code. It’s not a creed. It’s not a cause. It is Christ Himself.

You have a hope that the world needs to hear about. Who can you share that hope with today? 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

The Sin of Silence

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household.” 2 Kings 7:9

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Andrew Murray said, “There are two classes of Christians: soul winners, and backsliders.” In my humble estimation, there are two great sins a Christian can commit: the greatest is to fail to love the Lord Jesus. The second greatest is not adultery or drunkenness, but it is the sin of silence—to refuse to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Suppose you knew the cure for cancer. Would you not tell it? Suppose you were on an island where people were starving to death and you knew where there was a vast hoard of food. Would you not tell it? 

Ours is the greatest mission, the greatest message, the greatest Master the world knows anything about. Our mission is the Great Commission. Our message is the saving Gospel of our Lord and Savior. Our master, Jesus Christ Himself, has told us we ought to take the gospel to every creature on earth. Yet many Christians are sinning against this command. They're committing what I call “the sin of silence.” If you’re not a witness, you're not right with God, I don't care what else you may do. 

ACTION POINT:

I care not how faithfully you attend, how eloquently you teach, how liberally you give, how circumspectly you walk or how beautifully you sing. If you’re not witnessing, you’re not right with God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Gain What You Cannot Lose

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?” 2 Kings 7:3

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Jim Elliot, martyred missionary to the Aucas in Ecuador, wrote in the flyleaf of his Bible, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” He's talking about giving his life for Christ and the gospel. 

I’ll tell you, in these days the most dangerous thing you can do is to play it safe. You are safer out on the waves with Jesus Christ than you are in the boat without Him. These are desperate days, and we need to live like it. 

ACTION POINT:

You're going to die anyway. By coming to Jesus, you’ve got everything to gain; you haven’t got anything to lose. Why sit we here till we die? You can’t save your life. You’re not going to get out of it alive, so you might as well invest it in something important.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

To You Who Search

What it means to be a Christ Follower

Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.  - Isaiah 55:3 

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, - Hebrews 9:27

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. - Romans 3:23-26

1. Christ is the reason for your salvation:

4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. - 1 Timothy 2:4-6

    A. Christ was obedient to God the Father and came to be your sacrifice

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. - Philippians 2:5-11

    B.  Christ is the only sacrifice God will accept, there is no other(works)

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)

12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. - Hebrews 9:11-12

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,

4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, - 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. - Hebrews 9:22

24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own,

26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. - Hebrews 9:24-26

    C.  Salvation is a gift

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. - Ephesians 2:8-9

    D.  There are other religions that are false and lead to eternal separation from God and all His glory ( these people worship false gods)
Ex.20:
3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Deut.32:17

17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
    to gods they had never known,
to new gods that had come recently,
    whom your fathers had never dreaded.

    E.  God has assured us eternal life only through Christ

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

11 For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."

12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.

13 For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?"

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. - Romans 10:9-17

    F.   We have a physical body- it dies at a time appointed by God

13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. 

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 

15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 

16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. 

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!  - Psalm 139:13-17

    G. We have a spiritual body- it lives eternally just as Christ rose from His grave

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

   
H.  There are two places the spirit body goes, heaven( for those who turn from sin and bow to the Cross of Jesus) or hell( for those who are in rebellion)
Luke 16:26
26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 

     I.   Soon Jesus will come back to crush satan and his followers and we will have a new heaven and earth

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. - Romans 16:20

10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. - Revelation 12:10-11

    J. Follow by baptism:

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. - Romans 6:3-4

Are You Limiting God?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” 1 Corinthians 1:27

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

People say, “Well, I don't believe God can use me.” You’re insulting God. You’re limiting Him. “Well,” you say, “all right then, I'll just serve God in my poor little old weak way.” Quit it! He doesn't want you to serve him in your “poor little old weak way.” God wants to take ordinary people and do extraordinary things through them! This is the kind of people God wants to use. 

It's not your fame; it's your faith. It's not your scholarship; it's your relationship. It's not your ability; it is your availability. It's not who you know; it's Whose you are that counts. 

ACTION POINT:

God takes what the world calls a foolish message, then God takes a weak messenger, and then God compounds these two in the crucible of His love and wisdom. The result is glory to God. 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

The Word of God—the God Who Cannot Lie

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD,.” 2 Kings 7:1a

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

We speak of the Bible as inerrant and infallible. When the Bible speaks, God speaks. I’ve noticed the more liberal a preacher gets, he doesn’t like to call the Bible the Word of God. But oh, dear friend, this is the Word of the Lord, spoken by His prophets, and it is authoritative. 

Billy Graham came to this conclusion in the early years of his ministry and prayed, “I have seen enough of the transforming power of this Word to know that You are behind it…. I take it by faith…and trust You to make clear to me what it means.” 

F. B. Myer, one of the greatest devotional writers of all time, said if any promise of God should fail, “the heavens will clothe themselves in sackcloth, and the sun and moon and stars will reel from their seats. The universe will rock, and a hollow wind will moan through creation, bearing the tidings that God is mutable, that God can lie.” 

ACTION POINT:

There’s no need to argue about it; no quibble about it. If it’s the Word of God and God is a God of truth, then it can’t have error in it. A God of error cannot inspire, a God of truth cannot inspire error. It is the product of the Spirit of God; it is thereby totally infallible because God is infallible. Thank God for the inerrancy of the Bible.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Practical Atheists

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.” 2 Kings 7:2

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

This man, this government official, acted like he believed in God, but he was a practical atheist. To me the biggest fool is not the man who says there is no God, but the man who says there is a God and then doesn't live like it. Here was a man who had a sterile religion. He believed in God in a way. He had a form of godliness, but he denied the power thereof. And he was the loser. He was robbed by the thief of unbelief. I want you to see what the man of God said to him. “Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not eat thereof.” 

ACTION POINT:

Unbelief always withholds God's blessings from us. Your sins are withholding good things from you and unbelief is the chief among them. Confess any unbelief.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Instrument of Evil

God created man in His own image! 

Satan perverted man. 

Evil enters man! 

Sin enters the world bringing corruption! 

We can't fix it! 

The government can't fix it!

Only God through Christ will fix it!

There is no other way!

In recent days a man, full of sin, entered a church and killed 9 people.

This man had hatred in his heart that would not be denied.

He bowed to Satan and was his instrument of evil.

Who eternally judges? 

God alone!

God has given man the power of judgement to keep order in society.

We have laws to keep peace.

They are ordained by God!

The law is a deterrent to lawless people.

But God has made a way for man to receive forgiveness.

He sent His only Son to shed His blood for the remission of our sin.

If you repent and believe God did raise Christ from the dead, giving Him alone the power of salvation for man, you will be saved. 

Repent to live eternally!

Rebellion leads to death eternally!

For peace:

20 "Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. 

21 Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. 

22 "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. 

23 By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: 'To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.'  - Isaiah 45:20-23

5 I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, 

6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. 

7 I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.  - Isaiah 45:5-7

For healing:

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb

2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.

4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. - Revelation 22:1-5

For salvation:

 17 But Israel is saved by the LORD with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity. 

18 For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): "I am the LORD, and there is no other.  - Isaiah 45:17-18

For Jesus is God's only acceptable sacrifice for man's sin:

3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 

4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-every one-to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 

9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 

10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.  - Isaiah 53:3-12

Listen To Me

3 "Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; 

4 even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save. 

5 "To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?  - Isaiah 46:3-5

9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 

10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,'  - Isaiah 46:9-10

Why are we, we meaning the human race, so unrepentant towards God? 

What is it in us that makes us so foolish?

We have no understanding of God, His power, and the depth of who He is! 

We are made in His image but our spirit has been perverted by sin.

Why will you not bow to Him who is worthy? 

And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. - Revelation 20:15

Those Slaps Do Sting

Slaps, whether physical or mental do sting! 

The physical one stings your body but the mental one stings your heart!

I have a terrible temper. It is something I struggle with daily. God will not forgive a heart full of spite. I must keep my anger away for the glory of the Lord. He alone will repay every hostile deed. 

38 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'

39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. - Matthew 5:38-39

22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. - 1 Peter 2:22-24

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.  - Isaiah 53:7

But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.  - Jeremiah 11:20

The sting of death kills the body eternally but the sting of unrepentant sin kills the soul eternally.

A Blessing for Fathers on Father’s Day

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in His ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, and thou shalt see thy children’s children, and peace upon Jerusalem.” Psalm 128

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I am convinced that America’s families will not be changed until the dads in America are changed. The key is the father. God has given us a survival manual, and it begins with the father. He is to be a God-fearing, hard-working, worshipping man of God. He is to be bold, but he must also truly fear God. 

What is the fear of God? Not a cringing dread of God, but love on its knees. And I am convinced that the man who fears God the most loves God the best.

Dads, your children need to see the fear of God in your life. I’ve made an observation of fathers. Do you know what makes a good dad? He is a man who is both strong and tender at the same time. Strong, but not afraid to hug, to kiss, to love, to speak softly and gently to the children. 

ACTION POINT:

These children of yours are like olive plants round about your table. Dads, if you will do this, if you will put the emphasis upon your family, we are going to see good in this nation again.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Faithful in Your Words

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.” James 5:12 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

In June we take time to focus on fathers, and I’ve discovered in talking with teenagers that many of them harbor bitterness and resentment. Much of that resentment is directed toward their fathers over the serious matter of broken promises. If you’re a dad who wants to restore your relationship with your teenager, one of the best things you can do is to remember those broken promises. Then go to them with a remorseful spirit and say, “I’ve asked God to forgive me, and I want you to forgive me.” Ask this question, “Have I ever made a promise to you that I’ve failed to keep? If so, I want you to tell me because I want to repent. I want you to believe that your dad is a faithful man.”

ACTION POINT:

Are you a man of your word? If not, start fresh today and make a commitment that you will stand behind your word. 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Things of Value

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Glory and honor are in His presence; strength and gladness are in His place.” 1 Chronicles 16:27

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I heard about a little girl who loved her daddy so much she wanted to do something very special for him for Christmas. She decided to make him some house slippers. She went up to her bedroom every evening and worked. The times that she used to sit in her father's lap and talk disappeared. For months she worked alone. Finally, she came down on Christmas Day with those slippers and presented them to her father. 

He was appreciative of her nice gift. But he thought to himself, “How much more I would have valued her time just sitting in my lap and being with me than I value these slippers.” 

ACTION POINT:

Jesus values the time you spend with Him far more than the things you do for Him. Learn to sit at the feet of Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

God Already Knows

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.” Genesis 22:13

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I don't know what your problem is today, but God already knows the answer. 

Abraham thought he had a problem when he was going up to sacrifice Isaac. He didn't know how his need was going to be met. But the moment Abraham started up one side of that mountain with Isaac, on the other side, a ram started up—the ram that was going to be the substitute for Isaac. 

Abraham never saw the ram, but God saw it. And I want to tell you, God knows a way for you. God has a plan for you—a plan for all of us.

ACTION POINT:

God's children are never to panic. Worry is an insult to Almighty God. Trust God—He already knows.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

A Depraved Diet

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver.” 2 Kings 6:25

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
A depraved diet was the mark in this day of famine, and a depraved diet is the mark in our day. Only today, we have a spiritual famine.

Today we're feeding on all sorts of depravity and filth. Do you know why millions of Americans are feeding on a depraved diet? Do you know why pornographic magazines are read by so many? Do you know why people are going to see these sick movies and so-called adult films? Why these dens of iniquity, these things they call night clubs, are filled with people? Because there's a famine for the Word of God. And anytime a man, a woman, a boy or girl is not properly fed, he will have a depraved diet.

ACTION POINT:
How do you change your diet and keep from doing these things? Not primarily by saying, “I'm going to be a good boy.” Load up on the Word of God. Feast on the honey, the milk, the meat of God’s Word.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Christ Is the Way to Holiness

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Gal.2:20

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Here is one of the greatest secrets of living a victorious life that I know anything about: holiness is not the way to Christ—Christ is the way to holiness.

Many times we think, “If I could pray enough, live purely enough, study my Bible thoroughly enough, or get my life holy enough, that would bring me closer to Jesus. It would bring me into a relationship with Him.”

But not so! It is Jesus Christ Who enables you to pray. It is Jesus Christ Who enables you to study the Bible. It is Jesus Christ Who enables you to live the pure life. Holiness is not the way to Christ—Christ is the way to holiness.

ACTION POINT:
Claim now the fullness of God’s power. Just as Elisha was identified with Elijah, so you must be identified with the Lord Jesus Christ. The way to be like Him is to see Him and to worship Him and praise Him. Then you’re changed; you are made like Him. You become like what you spend time with.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Deny Yourself

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Matt.16:24
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Do you want to be filled with the Spirit of God? Do you really? Are you willing to forsake self? God is not going to superimpose His mighty, dynamic power on your old self-life.

Some people think denying themselves is doing without certain kinds of food, going without sleep, or doing without certain pleasures. They think maybe if they go live in a monastery they'll be denying themselves.

But Jesus didn't say deny yourself things. It‘s not denying yourself things; it’s denying yourself. Simon Peter forsook his nets, but it was a long time before Simon Peter forsook Simon Peter.

ACTION POINT:
Self doesn’t want to die. Are you willing to say, “None of me and all of Thee”?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Sin is the Cause; Christ is the Cure!

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Romans 5:12

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Some would say that man is but the sum total of his environment and his body chemistry. If he does wrong, it's because he's like a computer that has been programmed wrongly. If he was raised in a bad neighborhood, he shouldn’t be blamed for breaking into stores or smoking dope. Or if he has a vile temper, perhaps he had an overbearing mother.

According to behavioral psychologists, these people may be pitied but not blamed. They may be sick, but they’re not sinful. They may be weak but not wicked. They need some sort of a psychological adjustment rather than salvation. 

ACTION POINT:
If we don't make a proper diagnosis, we'll never come up with the right cure. The thing wrong with our society today is we're spending too much time sweeping down cobwebs when we need to be killing spiders. The spider is sin; the cobwebs are the result that we see in society around about us.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

What Them Dry Bones Mean for Your Eternity

"Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save.  - Isaiah 45:20

21 Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. 

22 "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. 

23 By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: 'To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.'  - Isaiah 45:21-23

God gave you life:

Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. - Ezekiel 37:5

then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. - Genesis 2:7

God is sovereign and there is no other:

1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.

2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.

3 And he said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know."

4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. - Ezekiel 37:1-4

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live."

10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11 Then he said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.'

12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel.

13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.

14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD." - Ezekiel 37:7-14

22 And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms.

23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. - Ezekiel 37:22-23

God is merciful:

11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.

12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry

14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.

15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?

16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,

18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.

19 Then you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in."

20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.

21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.

24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. - Romans 11:11-24

29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience,

31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.

32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. - Romans 11:29-32

You do matter:

My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. - Ezekiel 37:27

God orchestrates:

9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, - Acts 1:9-10

and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." - Acts 1:11

The God of the universe judges sin:

11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.

12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here!" And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. - Revelation 11:11-12

He is coming again!!! Are you trusting in Christ alone? For there is no other way by which salvation comes! 

6 Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. 

7 Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen. 

8 Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any."  - Isaiah 44:6-8

5 I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, 

6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. 

7 I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.  - Isaiah 45:5-7 

Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."  - Revelation 15:4

Waging War On Sin/Being Sure Of Your Salvation

Romans 8:

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"

16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

17 and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. 

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 

Heirs of God- His children 

Through suffering with Him

Luke 9:23

And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 

2 Tim.3:12

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 

Through discipline 

Heb.12:6

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."  

We have the Holy Spirit

How? By hearing the word

Romans 10:

17: So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. 

Spirit bears witness

1 John 3:

24: Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. 

Flesh living- you will die

Romans 8:13

13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Spirit living-make war on flesh-you will live

War on sin-Fight the flesh

Hate sin-its a ongoing fight

We cry out to God, Abba Father Aramaic translation(daddy)

Shown by the spirit to be Sons of God when we cry out in anguish to God about our sin and repent

Your inheritance 

Inherit the world-heir to the world

Gal.3:29

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Romans 5:2

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Glory to God

Ps.73

23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. 

24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. 

25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 

26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 

27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. 

28 But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.  

You will have a glorified body 

Phil.3:

20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. 

Suffer with Him

1 Pet.4:13

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

Luke 9:23

And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 

All things are yours

1 Cor.3:21

So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 

Spirit led

1 Cor.12:3

Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit. 

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Thanks John!!!

New Labels on Old Bottles

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” 1 John 1:8, 10

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Today we’ve almost done away with the idea of sin. Our culture rejects sin as old-fashioned, so we’ve taken away the word sin and replaced it with new words in our vocabulary. 

Some of these high sounding phrases are: error, mistake, misjudgment, weakness, psychological maladjustment, glandular malfunction, and a stumble upward—anything but sin. 

We've gone through the medicine cabinet and put new labels on old bottles of poison. So we have new terminology. We’ve tried to change things by changing the words, but they've not really been changed at all. We have some egg-headed people who have—with all of their learnedness and intelligence—somehow made “sin” to be out of date. 

ACTION POINT:

We must come back to a place of accountability. People have a nature that is a sinful nature, and they do wrong because they are wrong. Friend, I want to tell you, sin is a reality. Public Enemy Number One is sin. Your great enemy is sin.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Is the Choice You’re Making Questionable?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“… for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Romans 14:23

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Now, what does that mean? It means any action that is not motivated and done by complete faith in God is sin. Anytime you do anything you’re not absolutely confident is God’s will for you to do, if you have a doubt about doing that thing, whether the thing in and of itself is right or wrong, you’ve sinned. 

A man was in the back bedroom getting dressed. His wife was out in the living room talking with a friend. He yelled out, “Is this shirt clean enough for me to wear?” Without hesitation, she said “no” and went on talking. 

After a while he came out, buttoning up another shirt. He asked, “How did you know that shirt wasn’t clean without looking at it?” She said, “If you had to ask, it wasn't.” 

Now, that's what God is saying here: whatsoever is not of faith (that you don't have confidence in) is dirty. If it's doubtful, it’s dirty. Leave it alone.

ACTION POINT:

Friend, we ought to give God the benefit of the doubt, and if we think it may be wrong, we should leave it alone until we’re sure that it is right. 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Never Been More Alive!

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:12
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
If you are a child of God and this moment were to have a stroke or a heart attack or something fall on your head, and some doctor were to say, “I have an announcement to make: he/she is dead,” he'd be “dead” wrong! You'd never be more alive!

Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body; spiritual death is the separation of the spirit from God. I can never die in that sense because I can never be separated from God. Neither can you. Paul said there is nothing that can “separate us (the child of God, the Christian) from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

ACTION POINT:
There are a lot of dead people who will go to work tomorrow. They have existence, but they don't have life. But if you know Christ, you have life and will never die!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

It’s Confession That Leads to Cleansing

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Behavioral psychologists and Freudian psychiatrists are always talking about getting rid of your guilt complexes. They say man has all of these desires within him, and he's been held in by blocked memories, and they squeeze him in. They say if he represses himself, he will come up with a neurosis and a psychosis. And so they say, “Express yourself. Live it up! Do your thing, and whatever feels good to you, whatever is meaningful to you, express yourself.” 

They claim the opposite of repression is expression. No friend. Let me tell you, it is not repression, and it is not expression—it is confession. 

ACTION POINT:

The Bible says in 1 John 1:7, “… the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” And Romans 5:20 says, “… but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

You’re Going to Live

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die…” John 11:26

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I heard a story about a boy who was dying on a battlefield. The chaplain was there, cradling this boy's head tenderly in his hands. The boy looked up and said, “Chaplain, am I going to live?” The chaplain looked down at that grievous wound and saw the life’s blood ebbing out, and he knew that in just a matter of minutes the boy would be dead. He said to the boy, “Son, are you a Christian?” The boy gave a weak smile and said, “Sir, the happiest day in my life was when I gave my heart to Jesus Christ. Yes, I'm a Christian.” The chaplain said, “Then, son, you'll live!” And indeed he will! 

ACTION POINT:

“And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Life is short, death is sure, sin is the cause, and Christ is the cure.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

All Have Sinned

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

You may be a “righteous” sinner, a “moral” sinner, a “church member” sinner, a “fine up-standing” sinner, or an “educated” sinner; but you are a sinner. 

And the Bible says that Jesus and Jesus alone is God's answer to man's sin. Without Jesus Christ, nothing can be done for your sin. With Jesus Christ, nothing else need be done. We must confess our sins and be willing to admit we are a sinner. We must believe that Jesus is the Savior. 

ACTION POINT:

Acts 16:31 says, “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved...” And once you are saved, the Bible says, “…though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Get Some Sleep

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” Psalm 121:4
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
I heard about a man who was in a crisis and couldn’t sleep. He thought about this verse of Scripture, “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." He said, “Well, Lord, there’s no need for both of us to stay up all night. Good night, Lord. I’m going to sleep while you stay awake.”

The Bible says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee because he trusteth in Thee." Isaiah 26:3
It may sound like a paradox: on one hand, pray earnestly. On the other, get some sleep. But Philippians 4:6-7 tells us, “Be careful for nothing” (that means don’t worry about anything) “but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God” (listen to it) “the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." 
ACTION POINT:
Friend, turn your problem over to Him. Roll it on the Lord. I don’t care how big it is. Read Philippians 4:6-7 and know the mastery of God’s peace.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

To the Church

2 Timothy 3:10-4:8

3:

10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,

11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra-which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.

12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it

15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

4:

1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:

2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. 

REMINDER #1: THE WORD DOES THE WORK.

• The Word saves.

• The Word teaches.

• The Word convicts.

• The Word corrects.

• The Word trains.

• The Word equips.

• The Word transforms.

Charge #1: Get a pastor who preaches it.

Charge #2: Be a people who prioritize it.

REMINDER #2: THE WORLD NEEDS THE WORD.

• His judgment is real.

• The time is urgent.

• His return is imminent.

Charge #3: Do all that Christ calls you to do.

• Knowing that it will be costly.

• Believing that it will be worth it.

Thanks Pastor David!!!

GOD’S GUIDELINES FOR GROWING YOUR KIDS

Ephesians 6:1-4 

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

2 "Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise),

3 "that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land."

4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. 

We grow our children by educating them. 6:1-3 

a. It is proper. 6:1 

b.There is a promise. 6:2-3

A better life 6:3 

A longer life 6:3 

We grow our children by encouraging them. 6:4 

a. We should avoid making them angry. 

b.We should be active in giving them advice.

“How to Love Your Children and Let Them Know It”

We love our children by:

1) Incarnational parenting. (note the example of Christ–Phil. 2:5-11)

2) Loving our mate. (Eph. 5:25-33; Titus 2:4)

3) Disciplining them. (Prov. 13:24; 17:10; 29:15)

4) Looking at them. (Prov. 20:12)

5) Touching them. (Eccl. 3:5)

6) Spending time with them. (Deut. 6:7-9)

7) Listening to them. (James 1:19)

8) Blessing them rather than cursing them. (Matt. 7:12)

9) Having fun with them. (Prov. 15:13; 17:22; Eccl. 3:4)

10) Nudging them out of the nest. (Eccl. 3:6)

11) Admitting when you are wrong. (James 5:16)

12) Introducing them to the perfect parent. (John 1:12)

Thanks Daniel!

Frequency, Fervency, or Flippancy?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And Jesus spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not faint.” Luke 18:1

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I think the reason we don’t pray with frequency and fervency today is because we think we can do things on our own without prayer. You know, perhaps the worst thing about us is not our prayerlessness but our pride. 

We have our machinery, our plans, and our methods. We have our pastors, choirs, Bible fellowships, and buildings. So we come to church thinking, “Well, we’ll do it; we know how to do it.”

And you know what the devil does? He stands in the corner and smirks. He says, “You can have your buildings, you can have your choirs, you can have your fellowships, you can have your preacher, you can have everything you want. You can even have your Bible studies, as long as you leave out the power of God that comes with fervent prayer that will not take no for an answer.”

ACTION POINT:

Spend some time in prayer. The devil mocks at our schemes, laughs at our organizations, ridicules our talents, but he fears our prayers. Pray—not only frequently but fervently.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Pray When You Don’t Feel Like It

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Many times we pray trying to impress someone in our group, but the early Christians weren’t trying to impress anybody. They were desperate. They prayed with intensity, fervency and specificity. They prayed to God, not to impress one another. 

What have you learned about intense prayer? When you’re in a crisis, you learn how to pray with intensity, don’t you? 

Many of us prayed this morning, but if I were to ask you, you couldn’t tell me with specificity what you prayed for. It was just a general prayer with no real intensity. I love Jeremiah 29:13, where God says, “And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart." Sometimes we don’t feel like praying, so we say we’ll not pray. 

ACTION POINT:

Don’t feel like praying? Continue in prayer until you do feel like it. Friend, if there’s ever a time that you need to pray, it’s when you don’t feel like it. 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers