One Decision Affects All Others

“For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” ROMANS 14:7-8

 

PONDER THIS

When you say Jesus Christ is Lord, a lot of your decision-making is drastically narrowed. When I go to a hotel room, I don’t have to keep asking myself, “Am I going to watch something inappropriate?” Why? Because Jesus is Lord. If there’s something there that doesn’t belong to me, I don’t have to ask myself, “Am I going to take it or not?” It’s not mine! Jesus is Lord! When you make that decision, so many other decisions are made.

In every person’s heart and life, there’s a throne. If self is on the throne, Christ is on the cross. If self is on the cross, Christ is on the throne. Wouldn’t you like to have a coronation service today and say, “Jesus Christ is Lord of my life”? And then, when you get sick, it’s time to die, and those chilly waters of death start to come around your feet, won’t it be wonderful to say, “Jesus is Lord”? And then when the trumpet sounds and the graves are giving up their dead, and the sky is split asunder, and the Lord Jesus comes in all His glory, won’t it be wonderful to rise in the resurrection and say, “Jesus Christ is Lord”?

Do you believe He is Lord? He is Lord. He died to claim us as Lord; He rose to control us as Lord; He lives to be crowned as Lord. He is Lord.

What are some ways Jesus’ lordship over your life has changed the decisions you make?

What are some ways you try to stay on the throne of your life? What does it look like to surrender to Christ’s lordship?

PRACTICE THIS

Think about your day ahead. Consider how seeing Jesus as Lord will change how you live today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Does Anything Come Before Jesus?

PRAY OVER THIS

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear." 1 Peter 3:15

 

PONDER THIS

Christians have faced bad times throughout history. Christians in the Roman Empire were perceived as enemies. The early Christians Peter wrote to were accused of insurrection because they would not proclaim Caesar as lord. Peter’s letter was more or less of a handbook for survival for Christians in that time. Peter spoke to those Christians in distress, and in verse 15, he said, “Sanctify the Lord.”

This is for us too. The very first thing we’re to deal with is the principle of lordship. “Sanctify the Lord.” You have to make up your mind that nothing will stand in the way of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you enthroned Him as Lord? Or have you come down the aisle of church and gotten baptized only because you want fire insurance and don’t want to go to Hell? He must be Lord. Everything in your life must get in line behind the lordship of Jesus Christ, never ahead of it. Our job is not ultimately to save America. Our first responsibility is not to preserve our freedoms, as important as they are. Our prime responsibility is to stand up for Christ and witness to His grace and His power, telling and showing the world, “Jesus is Lord.”

What are some things that have come before, or threaten to come before, Jesus in your life?

How do you need to take action to make Jesus Lord of your life?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk with an accountability partner about how you can encourage one another to keep everything in line behind Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Medicine for the Missionary

“All things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)

Sovereign grace is the spring of life for the Christian Hedonist. For what the Christian Hedonist loves best is the experience of the sovereign grace of God filling him, and overflowing for the good of others.

Christian Hedonist missionaries love the experience of “not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). They bask in the truth that the fruit of their missionary labor is entirely of God (1 Corinthians 3:7; Romans 11:36).

They feel only gladness when the Master says, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). They leap like lambs over the truth that God has taken the impossible weight of new creation off their shoulders and put it on his own. Without begrudging, they say, “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5).

When they come home on furlough, nothing gives them more joy than to say to churches, “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience” (Romans 15:18).

“All things are possible with God!” — in front the words give hope, and behind they give humility. They are the antidote to despair and the antidote to pride — the perfect missionary medicine.

John Piper 

For God’s Little People

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. (Luke 2:1–5)

Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that God ordained beforehand that the Messiah be born in Bethlehem (as the prophecy in Micah 5:2 shows); and that he so ordained things that when the time came, the Messiah’s mother and legal father were living not in Bethlehem but in Nazareth; and that in order to fulfill his word and bring two unheard-of, insignificant, little people to Bethlehem that first Christmas, God put it in the heart of Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be enrolled each in his own town? A decree for the entire world in order to move two people seventy miles!

Have you ever felt, like me, little and insignificant in a world of seven billion people, where all the news is about big political and economic and social movements and outstanding people with global significance and lots of power and prestige?

If you have, don’t let that make you disheartened or unhappy. For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mammoth political forces and all the giant industrial complexes, without their even knowing it, are being guided by God, not for their own sake, but for the sake of God’s little people — the little Mary and the little Joseph who have to be got from Nazareth to Bethlehem. God wields an empire to fulfill his word and bless his children.

Do not think, because you experience adversity in your little world of experience, that the hand of the Lord is shortened. It is not our prosperity or our fame but our holiness that he seeks with all his heart. And to that end, he rules the whole world. As Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.” And he is always turning it for his saving and sanctifying and eternal purposes among his people.

He is a big God for little people, and we have great cause to rejoice that, unbeknownst to them, all the kings and presidents and premiers and chancellors and chiefs of the world follow the sovereign decrees of our Father in heaven, that we, the children, might be conformed to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ — and then enter his eternal glory.

John Piper 

Do You Love Anything More Than Jesus?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 1 John 3:16

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The rich young man in Mark 10:17 asked Jesus, “Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Then Jesus asked him if he had kept the law. He said yes. With compassion for him, Jesus responded, “There’s one more thing you lack. Go and sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. And take up the cross and follow Me.” But the rich young man was “sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions” (Mark 10:22).

NOTE: Jesus let him go. Jesus didn’t run after him. And there’s another thing I want you to notice: Jesus didn’t lower His standards.

ACTION POINT:

Is there anything you love more than Jesus? You must willingly lay it down to be saved.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Where is Jesus Christ today?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:6

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Where is Christ today? Seated at the Father’s right hand in Heaven. Where are you seated? In the same place. You don’t have to die to go to Heaven. In Christ, you are seated with Him in Heaven right now.

Listen to this, from Ephesians 1—

18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

19 And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power,

20 Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places,

21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

Why is the empty tomb so glorious? Because it signifies more than just the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead. He raised you, too, to walk “in newness of life” (see Romans 6:4). I have come out of that grave. I have ascended. You have, too, if you are saved.

We encourage fellow believers by telling them, “Keep looking up,” when we should be saying, “Keep looking down!”—you’re already seated with the Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven, so you can look down on your problems. You, dear friend, have a brand new life!

ACTION POINT:

Take a moment and ask God to give you a new life or thank Him for the one He has already given you. You are seated with Christ in heavenly places.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

You Do Belong Somewhere

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. - Colossians 3:3

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

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

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

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.

8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.

10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.

11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.

13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. - Romans 6:1-14

2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ,

3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.

5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,

7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. - Colossians 2:2-15

19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,

20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,

21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. - Acts 3:19-21

15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,

16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. - Ephesians 1:15-23

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved-

6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

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

9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. - Ephesians 2:4-10

Rise Up Over Loneliness

We all will struggle with loneliness at sometime in our life.

One of those times might be when you have lost a loved one in death, go through a divorce or a break up with a dear friend.

Six Scriptural truths to remember in your loneliness 

1. Loneliness happens.

17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, "Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt."

18 But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle. - Exodus 13:17-18

God sometimes takes you the long way around as he works in you.

Your hope is in God alone.

2. Loneliest does not mean God has forgotten you.

20 And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness.

21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.

22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. - Exodus 13:20-22

God was in the cloud and fire.

He will never leave you.

3. God is always at work behind the scenes on your behalf.

Behold the miracle!

1 Then the LORD said to Moses,

2 "Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea.

3 For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, 'They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.'

4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD." And they did so.

5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, "What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?"

6 So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him,

7 and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.

8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly.

9 The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD.

11 They said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?

12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."

13 And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.

14 The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent."

15 The LORD said to Moses, "Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.

16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.

17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.

18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen."

19 Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them,

20 coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

24 And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic,

25 clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians."

26 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen."

27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.

28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.

29 But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

31 Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses. - Exodus 14

4. Do not be deceived by your emotions; listen to your faith.

Satan brings up your weakness.

5. Keep moving forward.

Keep on keeping on.

Take those steps in faith.

God heals brokenness by faith and hope.

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.  - Psalm 30:5

It might take time.

Be still and wait on the Lord.

6. As a child of God, He is your defender and deliverer.

God has a miracle for you!

His plan will never be thwarted!

You matter to God!

Thanks Pastor Kevin!

Moving beyond your 5 senses…

BIBLE MEDITATION:

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Many Christians are so materialistic that they never look past the physical world to the transcendent Christ above. They only experience what their five senses (touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing) bring to them.

When a problem arises, it blows out every candle in their souls, knocks the sun out of their sky, and they can’t enjoy the daily bread of life that Jesus promises.

ACTION POINT:

For some reading this, you’re in the midst of a gigantic problem that to the world has “disaster” written all over it. If you’re seeking first His righteousness, God will give you all you need. You have God on your side—the King of kings, the Lord of lords. Don’t you forget it.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are you willing to transfer the title?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. Matthew 16:24

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Very early in our marriage, Joyce and I got on our knees and made a solemn vow before God that all we had would belong to Jesus Christ. We would not really own title to anything.

Now, we might hold title as people view it legally, but everything we owned would belong to the Lord. If He wanted it, He could have it. If He wanted to use it, if He wanted to destroy it, if He wanted to give it away, if He wanted to give more—that was His business.

Have you done that? Have you transferred everything to Christ? Here’s what counts with God: It’s not your fame, it’s your faith. It’s not your ability, it’s your availability. It’s not your scholarship, it’s your sacrifice.

ACTION POINT:

Stop now this moment and think about what you have. Are you willing to “transfer the title”? Tell the Lord Jesus Christ that He is the true owner of all you have—including your abilities.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Problems Advance The Gospel

Thank God for problems, they will change you.

By the showing of God's strength and power in you while you walk through them, that will change others.

This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.  - Psalm 118:24

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." - Joshua 24:15

Open your heart to God's word.

Why me Lord? 

God says why not you?

Seek me says the Lord.

God will never fail you.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.

24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. - James 1:22-24

But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. - James 1:25

You have dominion over problems.

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. - James 1:2-8

Paul had problems.

God used him in a mighty way to share the gospel.

Even as he sat in prison, he advanced the Gospel.

He ministered to both Jew and Gentile.

1 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest

2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.

4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

5 And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do."

7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.

8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord."

11 And the Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying,

12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight."

13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.

14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name."

15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name."

17 So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized;

19 and taking food, he was strengthened. Saul Proclaims Jesus in Synagogues For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus.

20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God."

21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, "Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?"

22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. - Acts 9:1-22

12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel,

13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will.

16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.

17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.

18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. To Live Is Christ Yes, and I will rejoice, - Philippians 1:12-18

And the LORD answered me: "Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.  - Habakkuk 2:2

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?  - Numbers 23:19

1. God uses problems to guide you.

Proverbs 20:30 CSB

Lashes and wounds purge away evil, and beatings cleanse the innermost parts.

2. God uses problems to inspect you.

And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?" - Job 1:8

3. God uses problems to correct you.

It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.  - Psalm 119:71

4. God uses problems to protect you.

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. - Genesis 50:20

5. God uses problems to perfect you.

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. - Romans 5:3-5

Keep your sound mine, grounded in the word of the Lord.

There is life and death in the tongue, guard what you say.

Paul's problems

7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.

9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Are you boosting in your weakness?

Let God be God.

Thanks Timothy Alexander!!

Timothy was paralyzed from the neck down in a car accident.

Timothy believed God and His promise.

Timothy asked the doctors about his prognosis and they told him he had a 5% chance of ever walking again.

Timothy asked" who told you this"?

The doctors were dumbfounded.

They could not answer.

Timothy knew God had a plan for him. 

Timothy has recovered his use of his arms.

Timothy is still trusting the Lord!

Which Secular Law Will You Break?

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,

4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. - Romans 13:1-5

Secular definition 

Of or relating to the world, temporal

Temporal definition

Relating to earthly life

Secular law was instituted according to God's plan to keep civil obedience.

God knew the wickedness of man and that he was bent toward rebellion.

Laws are meant to keep peace, protect safety, and keep society from falling into despair.

Fear God, repent, love your neighbor, these are the things we hold dear.

There has been an evil unleashed on society.

This evil stems from the breakdown of the family and the loss of the fear of God's judgment.

It's subtle things like declaring a fetus isn't a real person or to just ignore that you are a trespasser in a country you entered illegally.

It's that adultery is ok, sexual abuse of children is ok, sexual slavery of vulnerable young girls is practiced by all manner of men, not just so called creeps but judges, cops, doctors and a host of many others.

From there Satan has altered your thinking.

He has tricked you into rebellion against God's teaching.

These things are punishable by death.

Praise God that Jesus made a way for us to be forgiven.

You must repent, turn from sin and death to follow Christ!

4 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.

5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day-

7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.

9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."

10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.

11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion.

12 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;

13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones,

15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. - Jude 1:4-16

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. - Matthew 24:35

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,

15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

16 since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,

19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you

21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

24 for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 

25 but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you.  - 1 Peter 1:14-25

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

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

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