Church Growth God’s Way

It is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. (Romans 9:8)

Picture the Old Testament Abraham as a pastor. The Lord says, “I will bless you and prosper your ministry.” But the church is barren and bears no children.

What does Abraham do? He begins to despair of supernatural intervention. He is getting old. His wife remains barren. So he decides to bring about God’s promised son without supernatural intervention. He has sex with Hagar his wife’s handmaid (Genesis 16:4). However, the result is not a “child of the promise,” but a “child of the flesh,” Ishmael.

God stuns Abraham by saying, “I will give you a son by [your wife Sarah]” (Genesis 17:16). So Abraham cries out to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” (Genesis 17:18). He wants the work of his own natural, human effort to be the fulfillment of God’s promise. But God says, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son” (Genesis 17:19).

But Sarah is 90 years old. She has been barren all her life, and she has already passed through menopause (Genesis 18:11). Abraham is 100. The only hope for a child of promise is stunning, supernatural intervention.

That is what it means to be a “child of the promise” — to be born “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). The only children that count for children of God in this world are supernaturally begotten children of promise. In Galatians 4:28 Paul says, “You [Christians], like Isaac, are children of promise.” You are “born according to the Spirit,” not according to the flesh (Galatians 4:29).

Think of Abraham as a pastor again. His church is not growing the way he believes God promised. He is weary of waiting for supernatural intervention. He turns to the “Hagar” of mere human devices, and decides he can “attract people” without the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.

However, it will not be a church of Isaacs, but Ishmaelites — children of the flesh, not children of God. God save us from this kind of fatal success. By all means work. But always look to the Lord for the decisive, supernatural work. “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord” (Proverbs 21:31).

John Piper 

The Instrument in God's Hands

“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.” 1 CORINTHIANS 1:27

 

PONDER THIS

Years ago in New Jersey, there was a man who advertised that he was going to play a concert on an extremely valuable violin. People came from all over to hear him play. He tucked that instrument under his chin and began to play. You could hear the laughter of children as he played. You could hear the songs of the birds in the trees as he played. You could hear babies cry as he played. People were amazed at the music that came from that violin. When he had finished the concert, he took that violin and broke it on his knee. “Ah!” They were aghast. “Why has he done that?” Then he opened his case and brought out the expensive violin. He said, “The violin that I’ve been playing on is a fiddle I bought for a few dollars. It is not so much the violin that makes the music as it is the man who draws the bow.” To the world, you may be just a cheap fiddle, but God is the one who can make music out of your life. God uses common people! God can use you.

When have you been deterred because you felt dismissed or discarded by the world?

How has God used you in unlikely situations? How are you hoping He will do it again?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of ways God has used the “foolish things” of the world “to shame the wise” throughout the Bible and history.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

There's Never Been a Greater Day

“Gideon said to Him, ‘O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.’” JUDGES 6:13

 

PONDER THIS

Some of us feel like Gideon—like the Lord has stopped working and there is no hope for the world. But there’s not one shred of Scripture that says we cannot have a mighty revival in the day and age in which we live. Most of us don’t believe that. You talk about revival, and all people do is give a sympathetic smile. They’re simply waiting for Jesus Christ to get here. I’m here to tell you there has never been a greater day, a greater age, to live and to preach the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. And God wants you, sir; you, madam. God wants you to be in the middle of it. God has a mighty plan for you. And we need to stop moaning, groaning, and complaining about living in the last days.

How difficult is it for you to believe God could move in a mighty way in your life, community, and country today?

How might you present these challenges to God in prayer?

PRACTICE THIS

Read Judges 6–8 to see the challenges Gideon faced. Compare these challenges with the challenges we face today. Consider how God might move today like He did in the time of Gideon.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

No Such Thing as Coincidence

“Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, ‘Go, view the land, especially Jericho.’ So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there.” JOSHUA 2:1

 

PONDER THIS

Joshua told the men, “Go view the land,” and they came to a particular house. Here’s the question I have for you: Was that by mere chance? Was that a coincidence? Was it happenstance? No, it was the will of God and not mere chance that brought these men to the house of Rahab; it was the providence of God.

Let me tell you how the providence of God works. God works on both sides of the equation. God will find a person whose heart is tender, a person who wants to know Him, a person under conviction, a person seeking Him. And God will take a witness, a messenger, a soul-winner, and work in that person’s heart as well. And then God gets the two together. We call that divine providence. The Bible is full of those kinds of stories.

Think of a time during which you experienced the providence of God?

How might God be prompting you now to be used by Him in the life of another?

PRACTICE THIS

Ask God how He is calling you to act for Him today and then obey what He reveals to you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God’s Plan for Martyrs

They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. (Revelation 6:11)

For almost three hundred years, Christianity grew in soil that was wet with the blood of the martyrs.

Until the Emperor Trajan (about AD 98), persecution was permitted but not legal. From Trajan to Decius (about AD 250), persecution was legal. From Decius, who hated the Christians and feared their impact on his reforms, until the first edict of toleration in 311, the persecution was not only legal but widespread and general.

One writer described the situation in this third period:

Horror spread everywhere through the congregations; and the number of the lapsi [the ones who renounced their faith when threatened] . . . was enormous. There was no lack, however, of such as remained firm, and suffered martyrdom rather than yielding; and, as the persecution grew wider and more intense, the enthusiasm of the Christians and their power of resistance grew stronger and stronger.

So, for three hundred years, to be a Christian was an act of immense risk to your life and possessions and family. It was a test of what you loved more. And at the extremity of that test was martyrdom.

And above that martyrdom was a sovereign God who said there is an appointed number of martyrs. They have a special role to play in planting and empowering the church. They have a special role to play in shutting the mouth of Satan, who constantly says that the people of God serve him only because life goes better. That’s the point of Job 1:9–11.

Martyrdom is not something accidental. It is not taking God off guard. It is not unexpected. And it is emphatically not a strategic defeat for the cause of Christ.

It may look like defeat. But it is part of a plan in heaven that no human strategist would ever conceive or could ever design. And this plan will triumph for all those who endure to the end by faith in God’s all-sufficient grace.

John Piper 

 

His Timing Is Perfect

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may find grace for a well-timed help. (Hebrews 4:16, my literal translation)

I know this precious verse is usually translated, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” But that is a paraphrase — a true one — to show that God shows up just when we need him. But the literal focus is on how timely the help is.

All ministry is in the future — a moment away, or a month away, or a year, or a decade. We have ample time to fret about our inadequacy. When this happens, we must turn to prayer.

Prayer is the form of faith that connects us today with the grace that will make us adequate for tomorrow’s ministry. Timing really matters.

What if grace comes too early or comes too late? The traditional translation of Hebrews 4:16 does not make clear a very precious promise in this regard. We need a more literal rendering to see it. The promise is not merely that we find grace “to help in time of need,” but that the grace is well-timed by God.

The point is that prayer is the way to find future grace for a well-timed help. This grace of God always arrives from the “throne of grace” on time. The phrase “throne of grace” means that future grace comes from the King of the universe who sets the times by his own authority (Acts 1:7).

His timing is perfect, but it is rarely ours: “For a thousand years in [his] sight are but as yesterday when it is past” (Psalm 90:4). At the global level, he sets the times for nations to rise and fall (Acts 17:26). And at the personal level, “My times are in [his] hand” (Psalm 31:15).

When we wonder about the timing of future grace, we must think on the “throne of grace.” Nothing can hinder God’s plan to send grace when it will be best for us. Future grace is always well-timed.

John Piper 

Where Our Comfort Comes From

He [Pilate] entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.” (John 19:9–11)

Pilate’s authority to crucify Jesus did not intimidate Jesus. Why not?

Not because Pilate was lying. Not because he didn’t have authority to crucify Jesus. He did.

Rather, this authority did not intimidate Jesus because it was derivative. Jesus said, “It was given to you from above.” Which means it is really authoritative. Not less. But more.

So, how is this not intimidating? Pilate not only has authority to kill Jesus. But he has God-given authority to kill him.

This does not intimidate Jesus because Pilate’s authority over Jesus is subordinate to God’s authority over Pilate. Jesus gets his comfort at this moment not because Pilate’s will is powerless, but because Pilate’s will is guided. Not because Jesus isn’t in the hands of Pilate’s fear, but because Pilate is in the hands of Jesus’s Father.

Which means that our comfort comes not from the powerlessness of our enemies, but from our Father’s sovereign rule over their power.

This is the point of Romans 8:35–37. Tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and danger and sword cannot separate us from Christ because “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

Pilate (and all Jesus’s adversaries — and ours) meant it for evil. But God meant it for good (Genesis 50:20). All Jesus’s enemies gathered together with their God-given authority “to do whatever [God’s] hand and [God’s] plan had predestined to take place” (Acts 4:28). They sinned. But through their sinning God saved.

Therefore, do not be intimidated by your adversaries who can only kill the body (Matthew 10:28). Not only because this is all they can do (Luke 12:4), but also because it is done under the watchful hand of your Father.

“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:6–7)

Pilate has authority. Herod has authority. Soldiers have authority. Satan has authority. But none is independent. All their authority is derivative. All of it is subordinate to God’s will. Fear not. You are precious to your sovereign Father. Far more precious than the unforgotten birds.

John Piper 

The Perfect City

He has prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16)

No pollution, no graffiti, no trash, no peeling paint or rotting garages, no dead grass or broken bottles, no harsh street talk, no in-your-face confrontations, no domestic strife or violence, no dangers in the night, no arson or lying or stealing or killing, no vandalism, and no ugliness.

The city of God will be perfect, because God will be in it. He will walk in it and talk in it and manifest himself in every part of it. All that is good and beautiful and holy and peaceful and true and happy will be there, because God will be there.

Perfect justice will be there and recompense a thousandfold for every pain suffered in obedience to Christ in this world. And it will never deteriorate. In fact, it will shine brighter and brighter as eternity stretches out into unending ages of increasing joy.

When you desire this city above everything else on the earth, then you honor God, who, according to Hebrews 11:10, is the designer and builder of the city. And when God is honored, he is pleased and not ashamed to be called your God.

John Piper 

When God’s Brushstrokes Don’t Make Sense

“Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church.” ACTS 12:1

 

PONDER THIS

Have you ever watched a painter put his colors on canvas? He’s splashing the colors on that canvas, and he’s mixing this. He says, “I think a little more yellow, yeah.” And you watch, and you think, “Man, that guy’s so good; how does he do that?” But then he will reach in, and he’ll get some colors, and he’ll go, “Shoosh!” And you think, “Oh no, you ruined it!” He put some big old splashy thing on it, and you think, “Mister, you really messed up—let’s see how you’re going to get out of this.” And then, suddenly, it just comes together. It’s a masterpiece!

Sometimes we look at what God does, as He puts His colors on the canvas, and we say, “Lord, you’re really doing good.” And then suddenly God just goes, “Shoosh!” And we think, “Lord! You have messed things up.” Have you ever felt that way? That may have been how the Early Church felt when Herod began his attack. “God, how did You let this happen?” Just because things are not making sense to you, do not think that they don’t make sense. And just because you can’t see God working doesn’t mean He is not.

Do you remember a time you felt like God was not working but later recognized that He was?

How can these moments, both from our own experience and as recorded in Scripture, help us to remain faithful to God when it is hard to see how He is working?

PRACTICE THIS

Write down an area in which you are looking for God to work, but you’re not seeing it yet. Take time to pray over this, asking the Lord to give you continued faithfulness as you wait for Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Delayed Deliverances

Immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. (Acts 16:26)

In this age, God rescues his people from some harm. Not all harm. That’s comforting to know, because otherwise we might conclude from our harm that he has forgotten us or rejected us.

So be encouraged by the simple reminder that in Acts 16:19–24, Paul and Silas were not delivered, but in verses 25–26, they were.

First, no deliverance:

“They seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace.” (verse 19)

“The magistrates tore the garments off them.” (verse 22)

They “inflicted many blows upon them.” (verse 23)

The jailer “fastened their feet in the stocks.” (verse 24)

But then, deliverance:

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God . . . and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. (verses 25–26)

God could have stepped in sooner. He didn’t. He has his reasons. He loves Paul and Silas.

Question for you: If you plot your life along this continuum of Paul’s initial suffering and later deliverance, where are you? Are you in the stripped-and-beaten stage, or the unshackled, door-flung-open stage?

Both are God’s stages of care for you. He has not left you or forsaken you (Hebrews 13:5).

If you are in the fettered stage, don’t despair. Sing. Freedom is on the way. It is only a matter of time. Even if it comes through death. “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

John Piper 

Sprouting Wings and Growing a Halo

…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” PHILIPPIANS 1:6

 

PONDER THIS

I’ve been growing for a long time, and I’m still growing. I’m not a full-grown Christian. God is my Heavenly Father and a baby must grow. If you give your heart to Jesus today, you’re not going to sprout wings and get a halo. You may be forty, fifty, or sixty years old, but spiritually you’re going to have to learn how to walk, talk, dress, work, and feed yourself. You’re going to have to grow. You’ll be a brand-new baby.

Some say, “I’ve got some things in my life, and when I get them all worked out, I’m going to give my heart to Jesus Christ.” That’s backward. That’s like trying to grow up and then be born. No. You are born when you give your heart to Jesus. Yes, you’ll stumble. Yes, you’re going to have trouble with your old vocabulary. Yes, there will be some things you still struggle with. Yes, you’re going to make some mistakes. Yes, you’re going to fall trying to learn how to walk. But you will be in the family. It is a commencement, and it is a walk. It goes on as you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

What are some ways Christians need encouragement as new believers?

What are some ways you are still growing in your faith? When was a time in life when you experienced significant growth in your faith?

PRACTICE THIS

Ask a younger Christian in the faith how you can provide spiritual support and encouragement. Or ask an older Christian to do this for you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God’s Plan for Martyrs

They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. (Revelation 6:11)

For almost three hundred years, Christianity grew in soil that was wet with the blood of the martyrs.

Until the Emperor Trajan (about AD 98), persecution was permitted but not legal. From Trajan to Decius (about AD 250), persecution was legal. From Decius, who hated the Christians and feared their impact on his reforms, until the first edict of toleration in 311, the persecution was not only legal but widespread and general.

One writer described the situation in this third period:

Horror spread everywhere through the congregations; and the number of lapsi [the ones who renounced their faith when threatened] . . . was enormous. There was no lack, however, of such as remained firm, and suffered martyrdom rather than yielding; and, as the persecution grew wider and more intense, the enthusiasm of the Christians and their power of resistance grew stronger and stronger.

So, for three hundred years, to be a Christian was an act of immense risk to your life and possessions and family. It was a test of what you loved more. And at the extremity of that test was martyrdom.

And above that martyrdom was a sovereign God who said there is an appointed number of martyrs. They have a special role to play in planting and empowering the church. They have a special role to play in shutting the mouth of Satan, who constantly says that the people of God serve him only because life goes better. That’s the point of Job 1:9–11.

Martyrdom is not something accidental. It is not taking God off guard. It is not unexpected. And it is emphatically not a strategic defeat for the cause of Christ.

It may look like defeat. But it is part of a plan in heaven that no human strategist would ever conceive or could ever design. And this plan will triumph for all those who endure to the end by faith in God’s all-

John Piper 

The Two Great Abilities

“Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.”

ROMANS 1:13-15

 

PONDER THIS

Paul was flexible to the missionary opportunity. He said, “I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.” May I tell you what it takes to have the missionary heart? It’s not speaking ability, not intellectual ability, not physical or financial ability, not personality. If you have those things, well and good. Use them for Christ. But the two great abilities that are needed are these: dependability and availability.

Could you say with the Apostle Paul, “I am ready to live as a Christian should live? I am ready to pray. I am ready to give. I am ready to go. I am ready to die, if need be”? Many of us instead say, “I can’t go.” We give excuses. But no cause should take precedence over the call of God on your life.

Are you a lawyer today? Your law practice is not more important than the call of God on your life. Are you a doctor today? Your medicine is not more important than the call of God on your life. God may have you where you are right now for a reason, but if God were to reach in and break up your plans, are you flexible? Are you willing to change course because you’re surrendered to Him?

What are some ways we can prepare ourselves to listen to God when He calls?

When has God called you to do something unexpected? How did you react? How did you seek to trust Him through it?

PRACTICE THIS

Ask God where He is leading you right now and spend time listening for His direction.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Included in the Covenant

“There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.” (Psalm 132:17–18)

Who will benefit from the promises God made to David?

Here is Psalm 132:17–18 again: “I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.”

Now connect that with Isaiah 55:1, 3, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! . . . And I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”

From this side of the cross, here’s how I would paraphrase that promise: Whoever comes to God through Jesus Christ, his Son, thirsting for what God is for us in Christ, rather than depending on who we are or what we do, God will make with that one a covenant.

Remember how the Bible comes to an end in Revelation 22:17? “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” This is not just the Jews of Isaiah’s day. This is anyone who comes to Christ to satisfy the thirst of his soul. “I will make with [that one] an everlasting covenant!”

What covenant? A covenant defined and secured by God’s “sure love for David.” Isaiah 55:3, “I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” I take that to mean that I am included in the Davidic covenant. What David gets, I will get in Christ Jesus.

And what does that include?

A horn will sprout for me. That is, great strength will fight for me and protect me. There will be a God-prepared lamp for me. That is, light will surround me and darkness will not overcome me. There will be a crown for me. That is, I will reign with the Son of David and sit with him on his throne. “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne” (Revelation 3:21).

It is an astonishing thing that we will benefit from the promises made to David. God means for us to be astonished. He means for us to leave our devotions astonished at the power and authority and surety with which we are loved by God.

John Piper 

Custom Plans Just for You

 

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way.”

PSALM 37:23

 

PONDER THIS

God has a special plan just for you. God doesn’t deal with us all as a group. He deals with us as individuals. Just like every snowflake has its own specific pattern, God made you as an individual, and He has a plan for you.

You may think, “Well, that’s true for those like you, Pastor Rogers, that God has called into His service.” No, it is true for you too. The same that is true for the preacher is true for the plumber. The same that is true for the missionary is true for the secretary. God has a plan for each individual life.

It’s not that some positions are higher than others. The will of God is the highest place, no matter your vocation. God loves you and has a plan for you. Our role is to trust Him. Sometimes my wife will ask, “Adrian, will you do something for me?” What’s my first question? “What is it?” She usually gives me an answer, but suppose she says, “Adrian, will you do something for me?” And I ask, “Well, what is it?” She replies, “Never mind, just trust me.” I gulp and say, “Okay.” Why? Because I love her, and I know she loves me. I don’t have to worry. God has a plan for us, and we can trust Him.

How does God’s love for you lead you to greater trust in Him?

How can you grow in following God’s direction for your life right now?

PRACTICE THIS

Write out your desires for your life then jot down what you have felt God leading you toward. How do the two differ? How do you need to respond?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God’s Pleasure to Do You Good

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)

Jesus will not sit by and let us disbelieve without a fight. He takes up the weapon of the word and speaks it with power for all who struggle to believe.

His aim is to defeat the fear that God is not the kind of God who really wants to be good to us — that he is not really generous and helpful and kind and tender, but is basically irked with us — ill-disposed and angry.

Sometimes, even if we believe in our heads that God is good to us, we may feel in our hearts that his goodness is somehow forced or constrained, perhaps like a judge who has been maneuvered by a clever attorney into a corner on some technicality of court proceeding, so he has to dismiss the charges against the prisoner whom he really would rather send to jail.

But Jesus is at pains to help us not feel that way about God. He is striving in Luke 12:32 to describe for us the indescribable worth and excellency of God’s soul by showing the unbridled pleasure he takes in giving us the kingdom.

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Every little word of this stunning sentence is intended to help take away the fear that Jesus knows we struggle with; namely, that God begrudges his benefits; that he is constrained and out of character when he does nice things; that at bottom he is angry and loves to vent his anger.

Luke 12:32 is a sentence about the nature of God. It’s about the kind of heart God has. It’s a verse about what makes God glad — not merely about what God will do or what he has to do, but what he delights to do, what he loves to do and takes pleasure in doing. Every word counts. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

John Piper 

Do You Have a God-Given Dream?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

 

PONDER THIS

You don’t find the will of God; the will of God finds you. You get your heart right with God. You present yourself to Him. You have the mind of Christ, you get in the stream, and you’ll find out that God will be guiding you.

God has a dream for you. I’m not telling you God has promised to fulfill your fantasies. I’m talking about a God-given dream. How can I tell whether my dream is a God-given dream? Think about it. Pray over it. When I was a kid, I said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” And then, after a while, I got a little inclination in my heart. “Lord, I think You want me to preach.” And then it was, “Lord, do You want me to preach?” Then after a while, it was, “Lord, if You don’t want me to preach, you better let me know.” And then, finally, “Lord, I know this is what You want.” Check your dream out. Soak it in prayer. God will guide you.

When have you felt God guide you to do something?

Why is it important to be discerning and prayerful when you think you may have a God-given dream?

PRACTICE THIS

Ask another mature Christian about the ways God led him or her throughout life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are You Too Busy for God’s Truth?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” John 8:31

 

PONDER THIS

Discipleship is costly, but ignorance is far more costly. How do you buy the truth? How do you purchase the truth? First, it’s going to cost you precious time. That’s one of the costs you’re going to have to pay. You’re not going to get it by osmosis. Time is precious, but it is not as precious as truth. Hurry is the death knell of prayer and Bible study. You want to buy the truth? It’s going to cost you time.

Many won’t pay that price. This is evidenced by the reality that prayer and Bible study are one of the lowest things on our priority lists in the morning. We wake up a little late, hurry through the morning, check the day’s news, drink a scalding cup of coffee, rush out the door, and say, “Lord, bless this mess.” But discipleship is going to cost you time. Take time to be holy.

How willing are you to pay the cost of time for the sake of discipleship to Jesus?

How does your schedule and routine support or contradict this claim?

PRACTICE THIS

Pay the cost of time today to spend time with God in prayer and Bible study.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God’s Plan for Family Priorities

PRAY OVER THIS

“And He answered and said to them, ‘Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.’” Matthew 19:4-6

 

PONDER THIS

Marriage has the highest priority. The highest priority of human relationships is not parent to child or child to parent, but husband and wife to one another. Therefore, we as parents must be preparing our children to leave us. We must come to a place where the eagles stir the nest to send out those children so they can have homes of their own.

Now the little eagle doesn’t want to leave the nest. It’s so comfortable in the nest and the mother eagle comes with little bits of fish or big fat juicy worms to feed that little eaglet there in the nest. But there comes a time when that eagle must fly and get out of the nest. It would be easy to do everything for the bird and never really teach that baby eagle how to fly. What a mistake!

Marriage deals with more than simply a sexual union, though that is included. It means one flesh physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Two become one. Marriage is a romance, and in the first chapter, both the hero and the heroin die, and they become one new person. This does not end when you have children, you are still one, and you need to still prioritize that relationship, preparing for the day your child will be sent out.

What are some relationships that have a high priority in your life?

How can you pour into the next generation, preparing them to leave the nest?

PRACTICE THIS

If you are married, prioritize your spouse today. If you are not married, ask a couple you know if there is a way you could serve and pray for their family.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God’s Plan for Israel

PRAY OVER THIS

“I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!” Romans 11:11-12

 

PONDER THIS

Paul became the apostle to the Gentiles, and you and I are reading from a Jew who wrote to us the Book of Romans. We’re blessed by the mysterious plan of God. But God said that came about in a strange way when the Jews turned from the Gospel and the Gentiles were blessed. In effect, God is saying in this Scripture: “If I keep my Word to the Gentiles, how much more, then, will I keep My Word to Israel and bring her people back to Me?” Remember that Israel was not to be just simply a reservoir through which God poured His blessings, but it was a pipeline through which God dispersed His blessings. In Genesis, God said to Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3). Abraham is the tree, and we who are Gentiles have simply been grafted in. We’re the wild olive. If God can take unbelieving pagans and make believers out of them, how much more can He bring Jews to their true Messiah?

How does it affect you to think of the way God has brought you into His family? How has that changed your life?

What friends have you prayed for who need salvation and reconciliation with God?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider those you know who are far from God. Get to know them and their stories and seek to share how your faith has changed your life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers