False Teachers Bring Confusion

Beware of False Teachers and their teachings.

There are many who twist God's word, some occupy our pulpits.

How will you know the truth?

The only way to know is by studying your bible.

Not a glancing read but an in depth study, daily is ideal, 30 minutes or more.

I love the many read through the Bible in a year studies.

I use Navigators, it's days 1-25 then the rest of the month is for reflection.

I try to read the daily lesson, then maybe a commentary and the corresponding verses that are in the margins.

These sources are invaluable, helping to create a more precise interpretation.

I like Matthew Henry concise and Gill's exposition.

I also trust preaching from David Platt, John Piper and David Jeremiah.

Sin Brings Condemnation and Destruction But the Truth of Grace Through Christ Brings Freedom

For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. - Jude 1:4

2 Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. False Teachers and True Contentment Teach and urge these things.

3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness,

4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,

5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, - 1 Timothy 6:2-6

1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,

2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began

3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior; - Titus 1:1-3

1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,

2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,

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.

7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; - 1 Timothy 2:1-8

Life Fixer Upper

1 He entered Jericho and was passing through.

2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.

3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.

4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.

5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today."

6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner."

8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold."

9 And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." - Luke 19:1-10

1. Desire a change!

Come to the realization that there's something missing from your life, it just feels empty.

Your job, your career, your possessions etc. just don't satisfy.

There is something that you need, peace and joy from God.

Jesus satisfies deep within your soul!

2. Get desperate for Jesus!

Pursue Him!

Thirst for Him!

Get to know Him intimately!

Two times when people desperately search for God.

1. When you lose everything.

Your job, your marriage, your kids, your health.

2. When you have everything.

Things don't satisfy!

Only Jesus!

11 And he said, "There was a man who had two sons.

12 And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them.

13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.

15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

17 "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!

18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."'

20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

21 And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

22 But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.

23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.

24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.

25 "Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

27 And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.'

28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him,

29 but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.

30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!'

31 And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'" - Luke 15:11-32

3. You must respond quickly!

God created me!

God loves me!

God has a special plan for my life!

That's the shame of abortion.

God is Creator of all life.

Every babies' life is under God's plan.

4. Ignore the criticism!

Some people won't like it!

They will see the change in your life.

Then the conviction will fall on them.

There will also be some back sliding Christians who will wag their tongues.

5. Receive God's forgiveness!

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:8

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

Do you know Jesus?

Thanks Pastor Kevin!

What Binds the Hands of Love?

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. (Colossians 1:3–5)

The problem with the church today is not that there are too many people who are passionately in love with heaven. The problem is not that professing Christians are retreating from the world, spending half their days reading Scripture and the other half singing about their pleasures in God all the while indifferent to the needs of the world. That’s not happening! The people of God are not so full of love to God that they spend half their days in his word.

The problem is that professing Christians are spending ten minutes reading Scripture and then half their day making money and the other half loving and repairing what they spend it on.

It’s not heavenly-mindedness that hinders love for the lost and hurting of this world. It is worldly-mindedness that hinders love, even when it is disguised by a religious routine on the weekend.

Where is the person whose heart is so passionately in love with the promised glory of heaven that he feels like an exile and a sojourner on the earth? Where is the person who has so tasted the beauty of the age to come that the diamonds of the world look like marbles from the dollar store, and the entertainment of the world feels empty, and the moral causes of the world are too small because they have no view to eternity? Where is this person?

To be sure, he is not in bondage to the Internet or eating or sleeping or drinking or partying or fishing or sailing or putzing around. He is a free man in a foreign land. And his one question is this: How can I maximize my enjoyment of God for all eternity while I am an exile on this earth? And his answer is always the same: by doing the labors of love. By expanding my joy in God, no matter the cost, if by any means possible I might include others in it.

Only one thing satisfies the heart whose treasure is in heaven: doing the works of heaven. And heaven is a world of love!

It is not the cords of heaven that bind the hands of love and make them ineffective. It is the love of money and leisure and comfort and praise — these are the cords of selfishness that bind the hands of love. And the power to sever these cords is Christian hope. “We heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven” (Colossians 1:4–5).

I say it again with all the conviction that lies within me: it is not heavenly-mindedness that hinders love on this earth. It is worldly-mindedness. And therefore the great fountain of love is the powerful, freeing confidence of Christian hope.

John Piper 

Your good works are no ticket to Heaven

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Romans 3:25-26

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

When I was a little boy, I thought God was like Santa Claus with a long beard sitting up in heaven—making a list and checking it twice, trying to find out if I was naughty or nice. Then when my life was over, I would face Him and He would pull out these massive scales and weigh my good works against my bad to see if I made it into heaven.

Do you know what thinking this did to me? It made me fearful that at the end of my life I would face God and He would say, “Adrian. I’m sorry, but according to My calculations, you didn’t make it.” Then I would have to turn and ashamedly walk past my family and friends, separated from them and from God forever.

Friend, maybe you too believe this. But let me set the record straight: Salvation is not an attainment, it is an atonement—it is the reconciliation of man with God through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. You cannot achieve it—you must receive it.

ACTION POINT:

You cannot atone for your sins. Your good works cannot do it. None of us could produce works good enough or fast enough to atone for sin. Don’t even try. Rest in the finished work of the Cross.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

If He Calls, He Keeps

[The Lord] will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:8–9)

What are you depending on to ensure that your faith will last until Jesus comes?

The question is not, Do you believe in eternal security? The question is, How are we kept secure?

Does the perseverance of our faith rest decisively on the reliability of our own resolve? Or does it rest decisively on the work of God to “keep us trusting”?

It is a great and wonderful truth of Scripture that God is faithful and will keep forever those whom he has called. Our confidence that we are eternally secure is a confidence that God will do whatever is necessary to “keep us trusting!”

The certainty of eternity is no greater than the certainty God will keep us trusting now. But that certainty is very great for all whom God has called.

At least three passages put the call of God and the keeping of God together in this way.

“[The Lord] will sustain you (keep you) to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:8–9).

“May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24).

“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you” (Jude 1–2). (See the same reality in Romans 8:30, Philippians 1:6, 1 Peter 1:5, and Jude 24.)

The “faithfulness” of God guarantees that he will keep safe forever all whom he has called.

John Piper 

What’s your “safe place”?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

For Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of Thy wings. Psalm 61:3-4

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Of the 6500 hymns written by Charles Wesley, founder of the Methodist church, one of the finest is “Jesus, Lover of My Soul.” It’s been said that Wesley was inspired to write it after walking through the woods on a stormy day. A cloud burst and a lightning storm broke out. The rain began to come down in torrents.

By a swollen stream, little birds were shivering on a tree limb. A bolt of lightning flashed, and one was so frightened, it flew down toward Charles Wesley and tried to hide inside his coat. Wesley was so moved by that, he wrote,

“Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly,

While the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high.

Hide me, Oh my Savior, hide, till the storm life is past,

Safely to the haven guide. Oh receive my soul at last.

That's what our Lord does; He hides us. He guides us. He sustains us. He keeps us.

The song’s lyrics are a poignant picture of a young man’s journey into discovering the love of his life—Jesus.

Another hymn says it like this: “Hiding in Thee, hiding in Thee. Oh blessed Rock of Ages, I'm hiding in Thee.”

ACTION POINT:

Where is your heart today? Are you suffering from a broken relationship or the loss of a loved one? Run, don’t walk, into His waiting arms of love. Jesus wants to bind up your hurt and bring hope to your heart.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

As Sure as God’s Love for His Son

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

God strips every pain of destructive power. You must believe this or you will not thrive, or perhaps even survive, as a Christian, in the pressures and temptations of modern life.

There is so much pain, so many setbacks and discouragements, so many controversies and pressures. I do not know where I would turn, if I did not believe that almighty God is taking every setback and every discouragement and every controversy and every pressure and every pain, and stripping it of its destructive power, and making it work for the enlargement of my joy in God.

Listen to Paul’s astonishing words in 1 Corinthians 3:21–23, “All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” The world is ours. Life is ours. Death is ours. Which I take to mean: God reigns so supremely on behalf of his elect that everything which faces us in a lifetime of obedience and ministry will be subdued by the mighty hand of God and made the servant of our holiness and our everlasting joy in God.

If God is for us, and if God is God, then it is true that nothing can succeed against us. He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all will infallibly and freely with him give us all things — all things — the world, life, death, and God himself.

Romans 8:32 is a precious friend. The promise of God’s future grace is simply overwhelming. But all-important is the foundation: I have called it the logic of heaven. Here is a place to stand against all obstacles. God did not spare his own Son! Therefore! Therefore! The logic of heaven! Therefore, how much more will he not spare any effort to give us all that Christ died to purchase — all things, all good, and all bad working for our good!

It is as sure as the certainty that he loved his Son!

John Piper 

Actions speak louder than words

BIBLE MEDITATION:

And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight. Colossians 1:21-22

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

A man stretched a tightrope across Niagara Falls and pushed a wheelbarrow across it. Next, he filled the wheelbarrow with 200 lbs. of cement and pushed it across. The onlookers were astounded.

Then the tightrope walker asked the crowd, “How many of you believe I could do this with a man in the wheelbarrow?” The hands flew into the air. He pointed to a man who had his hand up and he said, “All right sir. You get in first.” Well, you couldn’t see the man for the trail of dust he left behind.

ACTION POINT:

It’s not enough for you to say you believe in God. Are you willing to act upon your belief? God is calling you to a relationship with Him. Will you answer His call?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

When Everyone Deserts You

At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (2 Timothy 4:16–18)

This morning I was lingering over these magnificent and heartbreaking words. Paul is in custody in Rome. So far as we know, he was never released. His last letter comes to an end like this.

Consider and be astounded!

He is deserted: “no one came to stand by me.” He is an old man. A loyal servant. In a foreign city, far from home. Surrounded by enemies. In danger of death. Why? Answer: So he could write this precious sentence for our discouraged, or fearful, or lonely souls: “But the Lord stood by me!”

Oh, how I love those words! When you are deserted by close friends, do you cry out against God? Are the people in your life, then, really your god? Or do you take courage in this magnificent truth: “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20) — no matter who deserts you? Do you strengthen your heart with this inexorable oath: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5)?

Then let us say, “The Lord stood by me!”

Question: What was threatened in 2 Timothy 4:18? Answer: that Paul might not attain the Lord’s heavenly kingdom! But over against the threat Paul cries, “The Lord will . . . bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.”

Question: How was Paul’s attaining the heavenly kingdom threatened? Answer: “evil deeds.” “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.”

Question: How could an evil deed threaten Paul’s attaining the heavenly kingdom? Answer: by tempting him to forsake his allegiance to Christ through disobedience.

Question: Was this temptation the “lion’s mouth” from which he was rescued? Answer: Yes. “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith” (1 Peter 5:8–9).

Question: So who gets the glory that Paul did not yield to this satanic temptation, but endured to the end in faith and obedience? Answer: “To him [the Lord] belong glory and dominion forever and ever” (1 Peter 5:10). “To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (2 Timothy 4:18).

Question: Why? Wasn’t it Paul who stood firm? Answer: “The Lord stood by me and strengthened me!”

John Piper 

God Never Takes His Eyes from You

BIBLE MEDITATION:

O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me. Psalm 139:1

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

God sees everything you do. God knows all about you. God loves you. It is an amazing thing that the Lord would feel this way about any of us, when we are less than a grain of sand compared to the universe He created.

There is no more reason for God to be interested in us than for the President of the United States to be interested in an ant floating on a piece of cheesecake in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. And yet God is interested...very interested.

The sun that stays in the sky and warms the earth will ripen a bunch of bananas like it has nothing better to do. In the same way, Almighty God runs the universe and is concerned about you as though you were His only concern.

ACTION POINT:

Don’t move on until that sinks deep into your heart.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

10 Results of the Resurrection

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17)

Here are ten amazing things we owe to the resurrection of Jesus:

1) A Savior who can never die again. “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again” (Romans 6:9).

2) Repentance. “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel” (Acts 5:30–31).

3) New birth. “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

4) Forgiveness of sin. “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17).

5) The Holy Spirit. “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing” (Acts 2:32–33).

6) No condemnation for the elect. “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died — more than that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34).

7) Jesus’s personal fellowship and protection. “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

8) Proof of coming judgment. “[God] has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

9) Salvation from the future wrath of God. “[We] wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10; Romans 5:9).

10) Our own resurrection from the dead. “[We know] that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence” (2 Corinthians 4:14; Romans 6:4; 8:11; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 15:20).

John Piper 

Bringing down the walls of your Jericho

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. James 4:8

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Joshua had an encounter with the pre-incarnate Christ in the Old Testament near Jericho (see Joshua 5). His first words to Him were, “Art Thou for us, or for our adversaries?” (v.13).

Joshua was scouting out Jericho because it was a formidable city standing between the children of Israel and their land of promise. It looked like there was no way Israel could take Jericho.

In each of our lives, the devil has placed a special Jericho, looming before us as an impossible barrier between us and what God wants for us, between us and the dreams of our youth, between us and the will of God, between us and the best ambition of our hearts. Our Jericho says, “You would have made it, but I'm here to keep you from entering your promised land.”

Your Jericho may be an unhealthy body, an unhappy marriage, an unholy life, lack of education, past defeats–something insurmountable. You can do one of two things: turn around, go back, and die in the wilderness of unbelief. Or, as Joshua did, face that fortress by faith and conquer it.

Notice the Lord’s answer to Joshua: “Nay; but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come” (v. 14). He didn’t come to take sides, He came to take over.

Jesus is the Captain of the host of heaven. This Conqueror with the drawn sword came to give Joshua a message of victory.

ACTION POINT:

The victory of Jericho was a victory of faith. Nothing less will achieve victory. The lesson in all the book of Joshua can be found in one sentence: Victory is not achieved by fighting; it is received by faith. You will never know victory until you lay your sword at His feet, bow yourself before His Mighty Throne, and worship Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How to Delight in God’s Word

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:103)

Never reduce Christianity to a matter of demands and resolutions and willpower. It is a matter of what we love, what we delight in, what tastes good to us.

When Jesus came into the world, humanity was split according to what they loved. “The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light” (John 3:19). The righteous and the wicked are separated by what they delight in — the revelation of God in Jesus, or the way of the world.

So someone may ask: How can I come to delight in the word of God? My answer is twofold:

1) pray for new tastebuds on the tongue of your heart;

2) meditate on the staggering promises of God to his people.

The same psalmist who said, “How sweet are your words to my taste” (Psalm 119:103), said earlier, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). He prayed this, because to have spiritual eyes to see glory, or to have holy tastebuds on the tongue of the heart, is a gift of God. No one naturally hungers for, and delights in, God and his wisdom.

But when you have prayed, indeed while you pray, meditate on the benefits God promises to his people and on the joy of having Almighty God as your helper now and forever. Psalm 1:3–4 says that the person who meditates on God’s word “is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”

Who would not delight to read a book, the reading of which would change one from useless chaff to a mighty cedar of Lebanon, from a Texas dust bowl to a Hawaiian orchard? Nobody deep down wants to be chaff — rootless, weightless, useless. All of us want to draw strength from some deep river of reality and become fruitful, useful people.

That river of reality is the word of God, and all the great saints have been made great by it.

John Piper 

Are you too far gone to be saved?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Romans 10:9

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

A business man came, sat in my study, and said, “Pastor, I need to be saved.”

“Wonderful. Let’s get on our knees.”

He got on his knees with me and prayed: “God, I’m a sinner; I’m lost and I can’t save myself. Jesus, You died to save me. You promised to save me if I would only trust You. I do trust you, Jesus. Now, with all of my heart, forgive my sins and save me.”

Right there, God saved him. That’s what it’s all about. You see, it’s so wonderful, so easy, because the Lord Jesus Christ does it all.    

But don’t think for a minute that because salvation is easy, available to all, that it’s cheap. Jesus Christ died in agony and blood for you to have it.

On one hand, here is your self‑righteousness, your legalism, “trying to” be saved. On the other is the righteousness of God, which is yours by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. By grace alone through faith alone. “Not by works, lest anyone should boast.”     

Now, which do you choose?

Self-righteous people, do you understand you’re a lost sinner and you, too, must be born again? Sinful people, you may be a murderer or committed some heinous sin, and think God cannot save you. Listen: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

I promise you on the authority of God’s Word, every blot, every stain that ever came across a human soul, Jesus’ blood can cleanse. If you think you’re too sinful to come, you’re wrong. Jesus will save you.

ACTION POINT:

Jesus said, “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and He who comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). Jesus will save you if you ask Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Forever Satisfied

I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)

This text points to the fact that believing in Jesus is a feeding and drinking from all that Jesus is. It goes so far as to say that our soul-thirst is satisfied with Jesus, so that we don’t thirst anymore.

He is the end of our quest for satisfaction. There is nothing beyond, and nothing better.

When we trust Jesus the way John intends for us to, the presence and promise of Jesus is so satisfying that we are not dominated by the alluring pleasures of sin (see Romans 6:14). This accounts for why such faith in Jesus nullifies the power of sin and enables obedience.

John 4:14 points in the same direction: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” In accord with John 6:35, saving faith is spoken of here as a drinking of water that satisfies the deepest longings of the soul. And the satisfaction becomes productive, like a well overflowing.

It’s the same in John 7:37–38: “Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”’”

Through faith, Christ becomes in us an inexhaustible fountain of satisfying life that lasts forever and leads us to heaven, and on the way sets us free from the sinful illusions of other satisfactions. This he does by sending us his Spirit (John 7:38–39).

John Piper 

What are you wearing today?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Philippians 3:9

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

A woman worked as a maid in the house of a mean innkeeper. One day God saved her and she could not hide her happiness. What used to be drudgery turned into joy. The innkeeper was furious and began to belittle her. He hated her for being happy.

Finally, he said, “You say you’re saved and I can see your happiness. Can you tell me what being saved means?”

She answered, “To me, it feels as though I am standing in Jesus’ shoes, and He is standing in mine.” A theologian couldn’t have said it better.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He hath made Him [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin [Jesus never sinned]; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

When God looks at me, He sees me as righteous as Jesus Christ. Not because of my righteousness! You say, “Who do you think you are?” A Christian, that’s who. Born again, cleansed by His blood. Philippians 3:9—“Not having my own righteousness, which is by the law, but the righteousness which is through Jesus Christ…by faith.”

That’s what Christianity is all about. When we see the bankruptcy of our old self—not just our sinful things, but even our “good” things—we lay them all aside, that we might gain Him. How do you gain Christ? By faith. You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

ACTION POINT:

Have you come to realize that in Jesus you are now clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and you’ve been “made the righteousness of God”? It is the gift of God, through His Son, Jesus Christ.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Get Up and Go

We are many!

We are one!

Be a doer instead of a hearer!

Do you ever wish you could get a do over of a past life event?

God is on His throne, high and lifted up!

Grace abounds!

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. - Isaiah 6:1

2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

3 And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" 

4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.

7 And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for." - Isaiah 6:2-7

Behold the glory of the living God!

Behold His great mercy!

Fall on your knees for forgiveness!

Are you holding onto your sin?

Get rid of that trash, your sin clings!

Jesus is the same everyday, every year and every second!

Come to Jesus you who are heavy laden!

Grace abounds!

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am! Send me." - Isaiah 6:8

Dress for battle!

Sword, spirit, faith and truth!

You will have battle scars!

Go and serve!

Except the free grace and the love of Almighty God!

Go and love people in Jesus name!

Thanks Pastor Waid!