Embracing Jesus

This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. (1 John 5:3–4)

Notice: Loving God is not just keeping his commandments. It is having a kind of heart for God that means that commandment-keeping is not burdensome. That’s what John says. But then he puts that truth in terms of new birth and faith, rather than love. He says, without a break, “For” — that is, here’s why God’s commandments are not burdensome: “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.” So, the new birth is what overcomes the worldly obstacles to keeping God’s commandments without burdensomeness.

And finally he adds, “And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.” So, the new birth overcomes the worldly obstacles to burden-free commandment-keeping, because the new birth gives rise to faith. So, the miracle of new birth creates faith, which embraces all that God is for us in Christ as supremely satisfying, which makes obedience to God more desirable than the temptations of the world. And that is what it means to love God.

The eighteenth-century pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards wrestled with this text and concluded, “Saving faith implies . . . love. . . . Our love to God enables us to overcome the difficulties that attend keeping God’s commands — which shows that love is the main thing in saving faith, the life and power of it, by which it produces great effects.”

I think Edwards is right and that numerous texts in the Bible support what he says.

Another way to say it is that faith in Christ is not just assenting to what God is for us, but also embracing all that he is for us in Christ. “True faith embraces Christ in whatever ways the Scriptures hold him out to poor sinners” — that’s another quote from Edwards. This “embracing” is one kind of love to Christ — that kind that treasures him above all things.

Therefore, there is no contradiction between 1 John 5:3, on the one hand, which says that our love for God enables us to keep his commandments, and verse 4, on the other hand, which says that our faith overcomes the obstacles of the world that keep us from obeying God’s commandments. Love for God and Christ is implicit in faith.

John then defines the faith that obeys as “the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:5). This faith is “embracing” the present Jesus as the glorious divine person that he is: the Son of God. It is not simply assenting to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God, because the demons assent to that. “They cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?’” (Matthew 8:29). Believing that Jesus is the Son of God means “embracing” the significance of that truth — the value of the reality. It means being satisfied with Christ as the Son of God and all God is for us in him.

“Son of God” means that Jesus is the greatest person in the universe alongside his Father. Therefore, all he taught is true, and all he promised will stand firm, and all his soul-satisfying greatness will never change.

Believing that he is the Son of God, therefore, includes banking on all this, and being satisfied with it.

John Piper 

You Died with Christ

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” ROMANS 6:1-2

 

PONDER THIS

What is the doctrine of identification? It is to be identified with Jesus who gave Himself for you. When Jesus was crucified, when Jesus faced that agony, that passion upon the cross, not only was Christ on that cross, but since He was your substitute, you were on that cross. Since He died for you, the old person you used to be died with Him, and now you have become one with Him in His death. You are no longer in Adam. Now you are in Christ. You are now identified with Christ. Everybody in the world is either in Adam or in Christ. Because of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, when Jesus died, the old man or woman that you used to be died with Him.

What does it mean that every person is either in Adam or in Christ?

How does your life look different because you are in Christ?

PRACTICE THIS

What gives you confidence that you are “in Christ”? If you are not confident, how is God calling you to respond to Him today?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Faith Shows Up in the Way You Live

“Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” HEBREWS 10:38

 

PONDER THIS

Faith is the heart’s response to the character of God. When your eye is right, it responds to light. When your ear is right, it responds to sound. When your heart is right, it responds to God, and that response is called faith. That’s the reason the Bible says, “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12). Unbelief never comes out of the head. Unbelief comes out of the heart. A lack of faith shows what is in our hearts. Faith is the dynamic of spiritual worship. Faith honors God, and God honors faith. Are you honoring Him through faith?

How have you experienced the reality of faith as a response to the character of God?

What are some ways your life might show a lack of faith, no matter what you say you believe?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of ways your faith is manifest in your life. Make another list of ways your life shows a lack of faith. What needs to change? Take those things before God in prayer.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

We Will Rule All Things

“The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.” (Revelation 3:21)

What does Jesus mean when he says this to the church in Laodicea?

Sit with Jesus on his throne? Really?

This is a promise to everyone who conquers, that is, who presses on in faith to the end (1 John 5:4), in spite of every threatening pain and luring, sinful pleasure. So if you are a true believer in Jesus, you will sit on the throne of the Son of God who sits on the throne of God the Father.

I take “throne of God” to signify the right and authority to rule the universe. That’s where Jesus sits. “He must reign,” Paul said, “until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25). So when Jesus says, “I will grant him to sit with me on my throne,” he promises us a share in the rule of all things.

Is this what Paul has in mind in Ephesians 1:22–23? “He put all things under [Christ’s] feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

We, the church, are “the fullness of him who fills all.” What does that mean? I take it to mean that the universe will be filled with the glory of the Lord (Numbers 14:21). And one dimension of that glory will be the complete and unopposed extension of his rule everywhere.

Therefore, Ephesians 1:23 would mean: Jesus fills the universe with his own glorious rule through us. Sharing in his rule, we are the fullness of his rule. We rule on his behalf, by his power, under his authority. In that sense, we sit with him on his throne.

None of us feels this as we should. It is too much — too good, too amazing. That’s why Paul prays for God’s help that “the eyes of your hearts [would be] enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you” (Ephesians 1:18).

Without omnipotent help now, we cannot feel the wonder of what we are destined to become. But if we are granted to feel it, as it really is, all our emotional reactions to this world will change. The strange and radical commands of the New Testament will not be as strange as they once seemed.

John Piper 

When Jesus Is Closer Than You Think

“The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen.”

ACTS 1:1-2

 

PONDER THIS

In the Gospels, you find what Jesus did in His human body—the body of His flesh. In the book of Acts, you find out what Jesus is doing in His mystical body, the Church. You see, Jesus is still active and alive on Earth today, and He still has a body. In the Gospels, it was His material, physical body. In the book of Acts, it is His new body, which is the Church. And Jesus is alive and well today in His mystical body. This is what the Bible calls in Colossians 1:27, “Christ in you.” You see, we’re not here just imitating the Lord Jesus. I love the idea behind the question, “What would Jesus do?” That implies, “What would He do if He were here?” But we need to realize He is here. So, it’s not, “What would He do?” We need to recognize His presence in His body and let Him do what He will do.

How easily do you recognize that Jesus is present with His people and working through His body, the Church, each day?

How are you called to be part of that work?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of ways you can see Jesus working through your church right now.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Under New Management

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

1 CORINTHIANS 6:19-20

 

PONDER THIS

Do you believe Jesus Christ is Lord? Is He Lord of all that you have and all that you do? Is He Lord of your thoughts? Is He Lord of your tongue? Is He Lord of your temper? Is He Lord of your time? Is He Lord of your testimony? Is He Lord? I want you to think about the redeeming claim of His lordship.

Jesus Christ has purchased you! He has redeemed you with His blood. You may say, “Well, I belong to me.” No, you don’t, not if you’re a Christian. If you’re a Christian, Jesus died to claim you as Lord. By what right can He say He is Lord of your life? He has purchased you with the silver of His tears and the gold of His blood, and He now lives in you to possess you as Lord.

When I first got saved, I learned about Jesus in the Bible, and that was wonderful to me. Then, as I began to live the Christian life, I would see what Jesus would do in the lives of other people. I saw Jesus in history and Jesus in action, and that was wonderful to me. And then as I studied more and more, I began to learn about Jesus in Heaven, ruling and reigning from His throne, and that was wonderful. But the great truth I am now learning is Christ in me, the hope of glory. He now lives in me. He has possessed me. I am His purchased possession, and, therefore, I am under new management.

What are some things that would need to change to make Jesus Lord of every area of your life?

What are some things that deter us from recognizing Jesus as Lord over every area of our lives?

PRACTICE THIS

Surrender the areas you have been holding back from Jesus and ask an accountability partner to help you seek Him as Lord in those areas.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Life I Now Live

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” GALATIANS 2:20

 

PONDER THIS

Jesus died for you. But when Jesus died for you, you died with Him. His death had your name on it. When He was nailed to the cross, He was your substitute. He didn't just take your sins to the cross. He took you to the cross. The problem is not what you do. It is what you are. The wages of sin is death. Your sin demanded death and Jesus died for you and you died with Him.

Now Christ lives in me. Not only did He die and I died with Him, but He rose and I rose with Him. And we can say with Paul, “The life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God.” His faith is in me. His life is in me. He inhabits my humanity. That is true life and freedom.

What parts of your life had to die when you received Christ?

How are you growing in taking on Christ’s life? What are some things that make that challenging?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to a Christian friend you look up to and ask how your friend has learned to walk in a new way of life with Christ.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Read it Through. Think it Out. Pray it In. Live it Out.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 TIMOTHY 2:15

 

PONDER THIS

You must prepare yourself to seek the Lord. When you have quiet time with God, do you prepare your heart, get away, close the door, grab a Bible and a notebook, seeking to put all other distractions away? Do you say, “God, I have but one business right now, and that is to prepare my heart to seek You”? It is not a casual, haphazard thing to seek the conscious presence of God.

Be ready in the morning. Open your Bible and read the passage through, then talk to God about it. When God shows you something in the Bible, talk to Him about it. Ask Him about it. Thank Him for it.

Read it through. Think it out. Pray it in. Then live it out. This is the way it really becomes real to you. This is how you can prepare each day. When you find something in the Word of God, the promises and truths are not museum pieces to hang on the wall; they’re checks to carry to the bank.

Do you prioritize spiritual preparation each day? Why or why not?

What does it look like to be prepared to listen to God and see Him move?

PRACTICE THIS

Take steps to prepare yourself spiritually each day with prayer, time in the Word, and an intentional step toward applying what you’ve learned.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Beater-Uppers, Passer-Uppers, and Picker-Uppers

“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’” LUKE 10:33-35

 

PONDER THIS

If you walk around the streets of most big cities, you will find that there are three classes of people. Luke 10 spells it out: there are the beater-uppers, passer-uppers, and picker-uppers. The beater-uppers are those people who would rob, kill, and destroy. They wound some domestically. They wound some psychologically. They wound some spiritually.

Then there are the passer-uppers. God help us, they have their names on church rolls somewhere. They are well-meaning, but they are too busy to see and help those around them. Then there are the picker-uppers, the ones who stop and step in to help, even when it is inconvenient and costly. You're one of the three: Either you are like those thieves who said, “What's yours is mine, and I'm going to get it,” or you are like the priest and the Levite who said, "What's mine is mine, and I'm going to keep it.” Or you're going to be like the Good Samaritan who says, "What's mine is mine, but you can have it if you need it. I'm here to share, I'm here to serve, and I'm here to minister.” How will you live your life? Who has Christ called you to be?

What description from today’s devotion do you most relate with? Why?

Who is the person Jesus has called you to be? How is the way He has called you to live different from how you live right now?

PRACTICE THIS

Go out of your way to serve someone today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Life’s Hidden Hunger

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

MATTHEW 5:6

 

PONDER THIS

What does it mean to hunger after righteousness? You may think of righteousness as something you do. But righteousness in the Bible is wrapped up in a person, and His name is Jesus. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:30 that Jesus is our righteousness. He is made righteousness for us. So when a person hungers and thirsts after righteousness, he is hungering and thirsting after Jesus Christ.

Life’s hidden hunger is Jesus. You may not know it, you may not understand it, and you may not agree with it. But the deepest need of your life is a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ. He is the righteousness of God that you hunger for.

He is to be first in your life. Jesus Christ is heaven’s bread for man’s deepest hunger. Most people don’t want to seek righteousness. They want to seek blessedness. We want to seek satisfaction, but the problem is, by wanting satisfaction, we don’t get it. What you need is not primarily happiness, satisfaction, and blessing. What you need is Jesus. The peace, joy, and satisfaction you long for only come through Him.

What are some ways you have tried to find lasting joy outside of Christ? What was the result?

What does it look like to let Christ be first in your life? What are some practical ways you can do that each day?

PRACTICE THIS

Ask a Christian you are learning from how to seek to make Christ first in your life each day.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Six Things It Means to Be in Christ Jesus

 [God] saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. (2 Timothy 1:9)

Being “in Christ Jesus” is a stupendous reality. It is breathtaking to be united to Christ. Bound to Christ.

If you are “in Christ” listen to what it means for you:

In Christ Jesus you were given grace before the world was created. Second Timothy 1:9, “He gave us grace in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”

In Christ Jesus you were chosen by God before creation. Ephesians 1:4, “[God] chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world.”

In Christ Jesus you are loved by God with an inseparable love. Romans 8:38–39, “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In Christ Jesus you were redeemed and forgiven for all your sins. Ephesians 1:7, “In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.”

In Christ Jesus you are justified before God and the righteousness of God in Christ is imputed to you. Second Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

In Christ Jesus you have become a new creation and a son of God. Second Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Galatians 3:26, “In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”

I pray that you will never grow weary of exploring and exulting in the inexhaustible privilege of being “in Christ Jesus.”

John Piper 

The Family Resemblance

“Jesus answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.”’” JOHN 3:5-7

 

PONDER THIS

What are the characteristics of the new nature in Christ? When the Bible says, “born again,” it literally means being born from above. When you are born from above, God’s nature comes into you. What is the nature of God? Do you want to know whether you’re saved or not? I know that I’m a Rogers. I can look at my parents and see their nature in me. Similarly, I know I’ve been born again because I can open the Bible and see God, and I can look in my heart and see the nature of God in me.

Because of that new nature, there will be love for Jesus Christ. If you don’t love Jesus, you’d better put a big question mark after your salvation. There will be not mere intellectual belief but a love for Jesus Christ. Because of your new nature, there will be a desire for holiness. God the Father says, “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:16). That is, “If you’re My child, you’ll be like Me.” You are going to be holy. You’re going to desire true holiness. This is certain for those who have been saved.

What has changed in your character since becoming a Christian?

What still needs to be changed in your life and character? Why have those areas been harder to surrender to God?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to a Christian friend you know well and trust. Ask him or her where you have become more like Christ and where further growth is needed.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

More Than Existence

 

“And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
1 JOHN 5:11-12
 
PONDER THIS

John points us to the source of life: Jesus. You don’t have life if you don’t have Jesus. You may say, “I have life.” No, you have existence. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). The “they” He spoke of includes you and me. The source of life is Jesus.

Now, not only is Jesus the source of life, but He’s also the substance of life. Christianity is Christ. It’s not a creed, not a code, and not a cause—it is Christ. Jesus Christ is to your spirit what blood is to your body. Christianity is not a religion about Jesus. It is not simply following His precepts. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Other teachers may point to life; Jesus says, “I am . . . the life” (John 14:6).

The source of your life is Jesus; the substance of your life is Jesus. And, therefore, the surety of your life is Jesus. 1 John 5:13 says, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” Through Jesus we have all we need. You don’t have to look any further than Him.

How have you found life in Jesus?
What tempts you to seek life outside of Jesus?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray and thank God for giving you Jesus as the source, substance, and surety of life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Your Heart Has No Checkout Time

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 CORINTHIANS 6:19-20

 PONDER THIS

Do you know that when God came into your life He moved in, and He is not moving out again? This verse reminds us of that identity we have in Him. Do you want to know where God lives? God lives in those who trust Jesus, and He is never moving out.

Sometimes we come to church, and we say, “We’re coming to God’s house.” No, you’re bringing God’s house to your church. God lives in you. Or we think, “Well, I’ve been to church. Now it’s 12 p.m. We’re moving out of God’s house.” Your heart is not a hotel with a checkout at noon. God comes to live in you, to stay in you, once and for all. Every day you live, you live with Him in you, and that changes everything.

Can you say you live every day like God lives inside of you? Why or why not?
How should God’s presence in you change the way you live each day?

PRACTICE THIS

Encourage a brother or sister who lives in a way that displays God’s presence.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

How to Manage Your Mess-Ups

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”GALATIANS 5:22-25

 

PONDER THIS

We all mess up. Nobody is perfect. Our kids want to know how do you manage your mess ups? How do you manage your failures? How do you manage your problems? That’ll be better for them than your phony perfectionism. Share with your kids. Give them an example. The two hardest times of life are middle age and teenage years, and somehow God puts them together in a family. You can still teach others, even as you are struggling. Your kids are going to learn more from your example than from your words.

What are we interested in with our kids? Many parents focus on sports, grades, physical health, popularity, and ability. But there are bigger values for them to learn. Think about the fruit of the Spirit. Is that something the next generation sees exemplified? Where are they going to learn about the fruit of the Spirit? These things are not taught as much as they are caught. We owe those who follow us an example.

What values did you learn from your parents? What values did they prioritize teaching you?

What are some values that are important to you to pass on to the next generation? Why are those important to you?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to a parent or grandparent and ask what values he or she is teaching to children. Listen for, and note, godly insights shared with you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

What Are You Hungry For

Pray Over This

“For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “‘A dog returns to his own vomit,’ and, ‘a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.’”

2 Peter 2:20-22

Ponder This

Did you know your nature determines your appetite? For example, a pig has an appetite for slop. A dog will return to his own vomit. Sheep prefer green pastures. What do you feed on? What really blesses you? Do you have an appetite for the Word of God?

Not only does nature determine appetite, but nature also determines behavior. What’s the nature of an eagle? It’s to fly. What is the nature of a fish? It’s to swim. What is the nature of a Christian? It is to live the Christian life. Nature determines appetite. Nature determines behavior. Nature determines environment. Squirrels climb trees, moles borrow under the ground, and fish swim in the water. You can tell whether you are a child of God by the environment you seek out. Nature determines association. Sheep gather in flocks, fish in schools, and Christians in church. Those with the Spirit of God live according to His nature, not Man’s.

What are the things that are easy for you to do? What makes you inclined toward those things?

What is your appetite for the things of God? What are the things of God you don’t have an appetite for?

 

Practice This

Be honest with God about the things you desire. Ask Him to heal your heart from the desires of your flesh and bring them under His lordship.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

We Live by Faith

The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Faith is a perfect fit with God’s future grace. It corresponds to the freedom and all-sufficiency of grace. And it calls attention to the glorious trustworthiness of God.

One of the important implications of this conclusion is that the faith that justifies and the faith that sanctifies are not two different kinds of faith. “Sanctify” simply means to make holy or to transform into Christlikeness. It is all by grace.

Therefore, it must also be through faith. For faith is the act of the soul that connects with grace, and receives it, and channels it as the power of obedience, and guards grace from being nullified through human boasting.

Paul makes this connection between faith and sanctification explicit in Galatians 2:20 (“I live by faith”). Sanctification is by the Spirit and by faith. Which is another way of saying that it is by grace and by faith. The Spirit is “the Spirit of grace” (Hebrews 10:29). God’s way of making us holy is by the Spirit; but the Spirit works through faith in the gospel.

The simple reason why the faith that justifies is also the faith that sanctifies is that both justification and sanctification are the work of sovereign grace. And it’s faith that corresponds to grace. Justification and sanctification are not the same kind of work (justification is the imputation of righteousness; sanctification is the impartation of righteousness), but they are both works of grace. Sanctification and justification are “grace upon grace” (John 1:16).

The human corollary of God’s free grace is faith. If both justification and sanctification are works of grace, it is natural that they would both be by faith.

John Piper 

The Problem Solver Is Alive and Well

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17

 

PONDER THIS

Don grew up in a home where his dad was an all-pro linebacker, but he was also an alcoholic who mentally and physically abused Don’s mom. Don’s family had everything the earth would call success, fame, and fortune. He said, “We had a house that four people lived in, but we didn’t have a home.” Through a Bible study, Don’s mother learned that trusting Jesus was the only way that she was going to be right with God. She immediately was changed and started praying for Don’s dad who then also came to faith in Jesus.

This father was immediately a changed man. He started coming home at 5 p.m.—sober. He started telling his sons how much he loved them. Because Don wanted to be like his dad, he walked the aisle at church and was also baptized, but his life never changed. He didn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. One day his dad shared today’s verse with him. After that Don trusted Jesus as his personal Savior, and the Lord changed his life. Now he says “I want to become more like my heavenly Father, not my earthly father. I’ve had some problems since then, but I know I have the Problem Solver living inside of me.” Jesus is still changing lives today. He is transforming people. He is alive.

How has Jesus transformed your life? With whom can you share your story?

Who have you learned from because of the transforming work of Christ in their lives? How might you encourage them?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time this week to share your testimony of Christ with another person.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

What Will You Do with Jesus?

“Pilate said to them, ‘What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ They all said to him, ‘Let Him be crucified!’”

MATTHEW 27:22

 

PONDER THIS

“What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” This is a personal question. You, like Pilate, must answer it. This is a pertinent question. We’re not talking about some idea; we’re talking about the One who claims to be the Son of God. And this is a pressing question; it is before you right now.

Jesus Christ was in Pilate’s hand that day. And today Jesus Christ is in your hand. But the time came when Pilate was in Jesus’ hand, and the time will come when you will be in Jesus’ hand. Jesus was standing before Pilate, but at the judgment, Pilate stands before Jesus. Jesus is standing before you today, through the Spirit and through the Word. But one day, you will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, this question is personal, pertinent, and pressing. “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?”

Are you going to believe His claim to be the Son of God and shape your life around that belief? Are you going to submit to Him as Lord of your life every day that you live? Will you hear about Jesus and agree at a surface level but never let Him shape what you do? What will you do with Jesus?

How does your life show that Jesus is Lord?

What are some areas where it is hard to follow Jesus as Lord?

PRACTICE THIS

Ask God to help you grow in understanding of His lordship and in living under His authority.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

I Have Decided to Follow Jesus

“But Ruth said: ‘Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.’” RUTH 1:16

 

PONDER THIS

Ruth’s promise to Naomi gives us a beautiful picture of a follower of Christ. A person who says to Jesus, “Lord, I will not leave You, and wherever You lead, I will follow. I have decided to follow Jesus.”

She said, “Where you lodge, I will lodge.” That is, I’m coming under the shadow of your wings. I am looking to you to take care of me. Would you say that to Jesus? “Jesus, despite all my problems today, I will look to You. I will depend on You to take care of my every need.”

She also had a new desire. She said, “Your people shall be my people.” You know what that means? “I don’t desire these Moabites anymore. I don’t desire fellowship with pagans. I want to be with the people of God.”

We must come to the point where we can say, “I am determined to follow You, Lord Jesus. Wherever You lead I’ll follow. Lord Jesus, I will depend on You, and I want to be with Your people.” Submit yourself to Him and He will give you the desire of your heart.

What does it look like to totally depend on God? What makes this difficult?

What are some new desires that come with following Christ?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for people you know who do not know Christ. Look for opportunities to share your faith with them. Ask God to change their hearts to desire and depend on Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers