How Well Do You Know God?

“Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.” (Job 36:26)

It is impossible to know God too well.

He is the most important person who exists. And this is because he made all others, and any importance they have is owing to him.

Any strength or intelligence or skill or beauty that other beings have comes from him. On every scale of excellence, he is infinitely greater than the best person you ever knew or ever heard of.

Being infinite, he is inexhaustibly interesting. It is impossible, therefore, that God be boring. His continual demonstration of the most intelligent and interesting actions is volcanic.

As the source of every good pleasure, he himself pleases fully and finally. If that’s not how we experience him, we are either dead, or blind, or sleepwalking.

It is therefore astonishing how little effort in this world is put into knowing God.

It’s as though the President of the United States came to live with you for a month, and you only said hello in passing every day or so. Or as if you were flown at the speed of light for a couple of hours around the sun and the solar system, and instead of looking out the window, you played a computer game. Or as if you were invited to watch the best actors, singers, athletes, inventors, and scholars perform their best, but you declined to go, so you could watch the TV season’s final soap.

Let us pray together that our infinitely great God would incline our hearts, and open our eyes to see him as fully as we can and seek to know him more.

John Piper 

 

How to Fulfill Your Deepest Need

“Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, “To your descendants I will give it.” And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” EXODUS 33:1-3

 

PONDER THIS

The more I study and gain experience, the more I realize that the bottom line, the highest good, and the most wonderful fulfillment is to know God intimately and to enjoy Him personally.

Do you know God personally? I’m not asking if you know about Him. Is He today, this moment, in your heart, in your life, a bright, living, and vital reality? If so, you know the deepest pleasure. You have fulfilled the deepest need. You have attained that for which you were created: to know God personally. Worship is enjoying the presence of God. You need nothing more. You should settle for nothing less. Through worship, we enjoy the presence of God, and this is possible any time or place, through the power and presence of His Spirit who lives in us.

What are some ways you have come to know God personally? Where do you still need to get to know Him?

How do you prioritize knowing God personally in your daily life?

PRACTICE THIS

Share with someone else how you have gotten to know God personally.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How Well Do You Know God?

“Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.” (Job 36:26)

It is impossible to know God too well.

He is the most important person who exists. And this is because he made all others, and any importance they have is owing to him.

Any strength or intelligence or skill or beauty that other beings have comes from him. On every scale of excellence, he is infinitely greater than the best person you ever knew or ever heard of.

Being infinite, he is inexhaustibly interesting. It is impossible, therefore, that God be boring. His continual demonstration of the most intelligent and interesting actions is volcanic.

As the source of every good pleasure, he himself pleases fully and finally. If that’s not how we experience him, we are either dead, or blind, or sleepwalking.

It is therefore astonishing how little effort in this world is put into knowing God.

It’s as though the President of the United States came to live with you for a month, and you only said hello in passing every day or so. Or as if you were flown at the speed of light for a couple of hours around the sun and the solar system, and instead of looking out the window, you played a computer game. Or as if you were invited to watch the best actors, singers, athletes, inventors, and scholars perform their best, but you declined to go, so you could watch the TV season’s final soap.

Let us pray together that our infinitely great God would incline our hearts, and open our eyes to see him as fully as we can and seek to know him more.

John Piper 

How Well Do You Know God?

“Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.” (Job 36:26)

It is impossible to know God too well.

He is the most important person who exists. And this is because he made all others, and any importance they have is owing to him.

Any strength or intelligence or skill or beauty that other beings have comes from him. On every scale of excellence, he is infinitely greater than the best person you ever knew or ever heard of.

Being infinite, he is inexhaustibly interesting. It is impossible, therefore, that God be boring. His continual demonstration of the most intelligent and interesting actions is volcanic.

As the source of every good pleasure, he himself pleases fully and finally. If that’s not how we experience him, we are either dead, or blind, or sleepwalking.

It is therefore astonishing how little effort in this world is put into knowing God.

It’s as though the President of the United States came to live with you for a month, and you only said hello in passing every day or so. Or as if you were flown at the speed of light for a couple of hours around the sun and the solar system, and instead of looking out the window, you played a computer game. Or as if you were invited to watch the best actors, singers, athletes, inventors, and scholars perform their best, but you declined to go, so you could watch the TV season’s final soap.

Let us pray together that our infinitely great God would incline our hearts, and open our eyes to see him as fully as we can and seek to know him more.

John Piper 

Do You Know Jesus?

PRAY OVER THIS

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Romans 10:17

 

PONDER THIS

You can’t go to Heaven on your mother’s faith. You can’t go to Heaven on your pastor’s faith, your neighbor’s faith, or anybody else’s faith. You can hear about Jesus and what Jesus has done for others, but that is not strong faith—it is secondhand faith. In Matthew 16:13, Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” But then, in verse 15, He asked the most pertinent question: “But who do you say that I am?”

Do you know about Jesus, or do you know Him? Is your faith firsthand or secondhand? To have faith, you must know what God has said. Wake up. Listen. Faith is a response to the Word of God. That’s the reason we have the pulpit. That’s why preach: so that people can hear the Word of God. If you want people to believe, you’ve got to give them something to believe. And we must give them the Word of God.

What is the difference between firsthand and secondhand faith?

How can you be sure your faith is your own?

PRACTICE THIS

Spend some extra time in God’s Word today and consider how it applies to your life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Do Hypocrites Keep You from Jesus?

PRAY OVER THIS

“They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.” 2 Peter 2:15

 

PONDER THIS

What do you do when you learn of counterfeit money? Do you throw away all your money? What do you do when you learn that some doctor is an impostor? Do you refuse to go to any doctor? What do you do when you learn that some lawyers are dishonest? Do you refuse ever to use a lawyer? Of course not. It is the counterfeit that proves the worth and the validity of the genuine item.

Why do people counterfeit Christianity? Counterfeit Christians prove the worth, the validity, and the reality of that which they are counterfeiting. Never let a hypocrite keep you away from the true riches of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t be so foolish. You may say, “Well, I’m not going to church. There are hypocrites there.” May I give you some advice? It would be far better for you to spend a few days with some hypocrites than to spend eternity with all hypocrites in Hell. Don’t let a hypocrite keep you from the true riches of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How have you found it true that counterfeits prove the worth of the genuine item?

What are we missing about ourselves if we say we will avoid the Church because hypocrites attend?

PRACTICE THIS

End your time in prayer, thanking God for the worthiness of Jesus and the beauty of the true Gospel that redeems the worst of sinners and hypocrites.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How Well Do You Know God?

“Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.” (Job 36:26)

It is impossible to know God too well.

He is the most important person who exists. And this is because he made all others, and any importance they have is owing to him.

Any strength or intelligence or skill or beauty that other beings have comes from him. On every scale of excellence, he is infinitely greater than the best person you ever knew or ever heard of.

Being infinite, he is inexhaustibly interesting. It is impossible, therefore, that God be boring. His continual demonstration of the most intelligent and interesting actions is volcanic.

As the source of every good pleasure, he himself pleases fully and finally. If that’s not how we experience him, we are either dead, or blind, or sleepwalking.

It is therefore astonishing how little effort in this world is put into knowing God.

It’s as though the President of the United States came to live with you for a month, and you only said hello in passing every day or so. Or as if you were flown at the speed of light for a couple of hours around the sun and the solar system, and instead of looking out the window, you played a computer game. Or as if you were invited to watch the best actors, singers, athletes, inventors, and scholars perform their best, but you declined to go, so you could watch the TV season’s final soap.

Let us pray together that our infinitely great God would incline our hearts, and open our eyes to see him as fully as we can and seek to know him more.

John Piper 

Ignorance Guarantees Ungodliness

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. (2 Peter 1:3)

I am amazed at the power that the Bible attributes to knowledge.

Listen again to 2 Peter 1:3: “[God’s] divine power has granted . . . all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.”

Literally, all the power available from God to live and be godly comes through knowledge! Amazing! What a premium we should put on doctrine and instruction in the Scriptures! Life and godliness are at stake.

Not that knowing guarantees godliness. It doesn’t. But it seems that ignorance guarantees ungodliness. Because, Peter says, the divine power that leads to godliness is given through the knowledge of God.

Here are three implications, a warning, and an exhortation.

1. Read! Read! Read! But beware of wasting your time on theological foam and suds. Read rich doctrinal books about “the one who called you to his glory and excellence.”

2. Ponder! Ponder! Slow down. Take time to think about what the Bible means when you read it. Ask questions. Keep a journal. Let yourself be humbly troubled by puzzling things. The deepest insights come from trying to see the unifying root of two apparently antagonistic branches on the tree of truth.

3. Discuss. Discuss. Be a part of a small group that cares passionately about the truth. Not a group that just likes to talk and raise problems. But a group that believes there are biblical answers to biblical problems, and they can be found.

Warning: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6).“They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Romans 10:2). So beware of the deadly effects of ignorance.

Exhortation: “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord” (Hosea 6:3).

John Piper 

How Well Do You Know God?

“Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.” (Job 36:26)

It is impossible to know God too well.

He is the most important person who exists. And this is because he made all others, and any importance they have is owing to him.

Any strength or intelligence or skill or beauty that other beings have comes from him. On every scale of excellence, he is infinitely greater than the best person you ever knew or ever heard of.

Being infinite, he is inexhaustibly interesting. It is impossible, therefore, that God be boring. His continual demonstration of the most intelligent and interesting actions is volcanic.

As the source of every good pleasure, he himself pleases fully and finally. If that’s not how we experience him, we are either dead, or blind, or sleepwalking.

It is therefore astonishing how little effort in this world is put into knowing God.

It’s as though the President of the United States came to live with you for a month, and you only said hello in passing every day or so. Or as if you were flown at the speed of light for a couple of hours around the sun and the solar system, and instead of looking out the window, you played a computer game. Or as if you were invited to watch the best actors, singers, athletes, inventors, and scholars perform their best, but you declined to go, so you could watch the TV season’s final soap.

Let us pray together that our infinitely great God would incline our hearts, and open our eyes to see him as fully as we can and seek to know him more.

John Piper 

What It Means to Love God

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. (Psalm 63:1–2)

Only God will satisfy a heart like David’s. And David was a man after God’s own heart. That’s the way we were created to be.

This is the essence of what it means to love God: to be satisfied in him. In him — not just his gifts, but God himself, as the glorious person that he is!

Loving God will include obeying all his commands; it will include believing all his word; it will include thanking him for all his gifts. But all that is overflow. The essence of loving God is admiring and enjoying all he is. And it is this enjoyment of God that makes all of our other responses truly glorifying to him.

We all know this intuitively as well as from Scripture. Do we feel most honored by the love of those who serve us from the constraints of duty, or from the delights of fellowship?

My wife is most honored when I say, “It makes me happy to spend time with you.” My happiness is the echo of her excellence. And so it is with God. He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

None of us has arrived at perfect satisfaction in God. I grieve often over the murmuring of my heart when I lose some earthly comfort or convenience. But I have tasted that the Lord is good. By God’s grace I now know the fountain of everlasting joy.

And so I love to spend my days luring people into joy until they say with me, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).

John Piper 

What is the secret key to the Bible?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law. Psalm 119:18

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Have you ever thought you could just go to the Bible and pull some truth out of it for your life? Let me tell you, you cannot. I don't care who you are, you could know Hebrew and Greek, but not know God. Unless you lay your intellectual pride in the dust and ask God to open your eyes to understand His Word, you’ll not know the God who wrote it. Do you believe that?

Most of us don't believe it. If we really believed it, we would be praying, asking the Lord to open our eyes. The human mind, will, and emotions cannot understand “the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual discerns all things” (1 Corinthians 2:14-15a).

ACTION POINT:

God will give you wisdom to understand if you ask Him. The secret to understanding the Bible is to ask God to open your understanding! It took a supernatural miracle to write the Word of God. It takes a supernatural miracle for you to understand it. When God begins to write His Word upon your heart, you are going to lead a supernatural life!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Awakening Part Two

for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."  - Ephesians 5:14

Lord, pour out Your Spirit on Your people!

Wake us from our sleep so that we may know You and Your will!

Barriers that prevent awakening

1. Shallow worship 

We were created to worship God.

Give your life to God.

Testify that God is indeed good.

Participate in worship.

God is searching for worshipers.

19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship."

21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." - John 4:19-24

And the Lord said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,  - Isaiah 29:13

Your heart must be in worship.

Don't go through the motions.

Dear God, we worship You with all we've got for as long as we've got ... not for what You do but simply for Who You are!

2. Weak prayers

We are not bold in our prayer.

He is an all powerful God who is able.

We need You every minute of every hour!

He restores all things!

17 And someone from the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute.

18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able."

19 And he answered them, "O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me." - Mark 9:17-19

25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again."

26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, "He is dead."

27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

28 And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?"

29 And he said to them, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer." - Mark 9:25-29

Prayer and fasting is our lifeline to God!

"The devil fears nothing from prayer-less work, study or religion. He mocks our religion, he mocks our toil but trembles when we pray."

Samuel Chadwick

Lord, bring revival!

Dear God, may we as Your people learn that we can pray big, bold, confident prayers.

We don't know Your will but You have said" we have not because we ask not".

3. Christ-less preaching

We must preach Jesus!

He alone is able!

1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.

2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,

4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. - 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

11 "Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "when I will send a famine on the land- not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. 

12 They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.  - Amos 8:11-12

"America needs Godly men in the pulpit that will preach God's word. People don't need cute stories or 20 minute sermonette. The world has taken the gloves off. They're throwing knockout punches. It's time for God's preachers to stand and declare Thus Says The Lord God". 

Steve Gaines 

" We put men into pulpits because they have degrees. But you can have 32 of them and still be frozen".

Leonard Ravenhill

Incredibly gifted preachers have lost their passion for God!

They sprinkle a little Jesus.

Boldly preach the word of God.

Share the good news of Jesus Christ across the street and around the world.

Love people regardless of their level of education, color of skin or socio-economic status.

Dear God, we lift up one name and one name only, the high and holy name of Jesus. The name that is above every name!

No repentance!

Your sin is your downfall!

1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. 

2 Take with you words and return to the LORD; say to him, "Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips.  - Hosea 14:1-2

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.  - Hosea 14:9

"The chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God and heaven without Hell". 

William Booth 

Founder, The Salvation Army

The late 1800's 

We must call people to repentance, that is our command.

We must love people, but the second part of that is to point out that you must repent.

There is accountability for staying in your sin!

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, - Acts 3:19-20

Dear God, we repent of our sin and plead for Your mercy!

Thank you Pastor Kevin!!

We’re only on the threshold of knowing Jesus

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. Psalm 102:25

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I’ve been preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ for more than fifty years, but I feel I’m just on the threshold of discovering Him. I want to move closer and closer to Him and learn more and more about Him.

Do you know what Paul said at the end of his ministry? That he “may know God” (see Philippians 3:10). Did he know God? Yes, but even after years of ministry, he knew so little about Him—there was so much more to know.

Let me ask you a question. Did Christopher Columbus discover America? Well, he touched on the shores of America. But even today there are thousands of unnamed lakes, forests, and more where no one has yet completely explored.

In a similar way, there is so much for us yet to discover in Christ.

ACTION POINT:

You may have “touched on” Christ, but God’s plan is that you know Him more and more each day.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are you ready to pay the price?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, that I might finish my course. Acts 20:24

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Do you pay a price—some extra time in the morning—to get into the Word of God? Do you pay the price of being ridiculed because you keep your Bible on your desk in the office or bow your head and thank God for His gracious goodness to you when He gives you a meal? Are you willing to be different? Will you finish your course? 

When you’re running this race, you’re going to find out that you’re running right against the grain. There’s the broad way, where most are traveling, and here you are, going the other way. Against the grain.

You see, what we believe is the opposite of what the world without Jesus Christ believes. Our faith in Christ

starts at a different source

follows a different course

ends at a different conclusion

…and there is a price to pay.

ACTION POINT:

Frankly, we don’t like that idea of a “price to pay.” We say, “Well, I’m saved by grace, and so I’m just going to float into heaven on flowery beds of ease.” No. A disciple is one who follows his master, obeys his master, and there is a price to pay.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The only way you’ll know God

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known. Psalm 77:19

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Visiting the Sea of Galilee is an unforgettable experience. The Lord Jesus walked on the water there, but you cannot see His footsteps. When a wagon goes across land, it leaves a trail, but when a boat goes through the ocean, it leaves no trail.

In this passage in Psalms, what is God saying? He’s saying we will never know Him  only by studying the history of what He has done. His ways are mysterious. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

But we can know His ways, for He says in Psalm 103:7, “He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel.” And in Micah 4:2 we find, “And many nations shall come, and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.’”

ACTION POINT:

You can try to make sense of God with all your ingenuity, creativity, and intelligence, but God says we will never know Him that way. We have to lay our intellect in the dust and say to God, “Show me Your ways.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The will of God is not a road map

BIBLE MEDITATION:

For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother. Mark 3:35

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Major Ian Thomas, English author and founder of a worldwide missionary fellowship, once wrote, “Which of these things in the life of Jesus is more spiritual? When Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount? When He raised Lazarus from the dead? When He washed His disciples’ feet? Or when He spat on the ground and made clay to anoint the blind man’s eyes? None was more spiritual than the other. Jesus did not divide His life up into little segments of spirituality. He was simply available to do whatever His Father willed.” The will of God is not a road map. It is a relationship! You just simply set yourself apart to do the will of God.

ACTION POINT:

Are you segregating your life into activities that are more spiritual than others? Surrender all you are to Him and make yourself available for whatever He calls you to do today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

We Are His House

Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses — as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. (Hebrews 3:3–6)

The people who boast and hope in Jesus Christ are the house of God. Which means that Jesus this very day — not just back in Moses’s day or in his own days on earth — but this very day is our Maker, our Owner, our Ruler, and our Provider.

Jesus is called the “builder” of this house. Moses was not the builder. He was part of the house. So it says, “Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses — as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.” So Moses, as great as he was in leading the house, and giving God’s word to the house, was still just a part of the house. But Jesus built the house.

So if we boast in Jesus and hope in Jesus, we are the house, and Jesus is our Builder, and Owner and Ruler and Provider. He does not let his house be destroyed or fall into ruin.

Then the writer changes the imagery — from builder and house, to son and servant. “Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant . . . but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son.” So Christ did become part of the house — part of the household — he built. But even so, his honor is far above Moses. Moses was a servant. Christ is the Son. The heir.

And we are part of this household. Hebrews 3:6: “And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.” By all means, let us respect and give Moses his due. But the point of the whole book of Hebrews is: Christ is greater. Greater in every way. He is the builder of the house of God’s people. And he is the Son in the house of God’s people. Let us respect Moses. But let us worship Jesus — our Maker, our brother.

John Piper 

The Danger of Drifting

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. (Hebrews 2:1)

We all know people that this has happened to. There is no urgency. No vigilance. No focused listening or considering or fixing of their eyes on Jesus. And the result has not been a standing still, but a drifting away.

That is the point here: there is no standing still. The life of this world is not a lake. It is a river. And it is flowing downward to destruction. If you do not listen earnestly to Jesus and consider him daily and fix your eyes on him hourly, then you will not stand still; you will go backward. You will float away from Christ.

Drifting is a deadly thing in the Christian life. And the remedy for it, according to Hebrews 2:1, is: Pay close attention to what you have heard. That is, consider what God is saying in his Son Jesus. Fix your eyes on what God is saying and doing in the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

This is not a hard swimming stroke to learn. The only thing that keeps us from swimming against sinful culture is not the difficulty of the stroke, but our sinful desire to go with the flow.

Let’s not complain that God has given us a hard job. Listen, consider, fix the eyes — this is not what you would call a hard job description. In fact, it is not a job description. It is a solemn invitation to be satisfied in Jesus so that we do not get lured downstream by deceitful desires.

If you are drifting today, one of the signs of hope that you are born again is that you feel pricked for this, and you feel a rising desire to turn your eyes on Jesus and consider him and listen to him in the days and months and years to come.

John Piper

Do you really mean business with God?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I’m amazed at how little it takes to stop some Christians from accomplishing the tasks the Father has given them to do. This thing of being a Christian is not a Sunday afternoon stroll. Shining God’s light in a dark world is a full time job. The Christian life, being saved, leading others to Jesus Christ, is a full time occupation. We must pray over it, weep over it, and study over it to show ourselves approved.

If we possess life in Christ, it first must possess us. Every great athlete is possessed with a desire to win. When I watch the Olympics and see these young people who’ve trained, sometimes tears come to my eyes. I pray, "Oh, God, I want to be that kind of a Christian! I want to live in the spiritual realm as these people are willing to live in the physical realm!"

Most of us in America get up on Sunday mornings and sit in an air-conditioned church with beautiful stained glass windows in streamlined comfort. The truth is…we’re flabby, undisciplined, and exhibit no determination.

Friend, God does business with those who mean business.

ACTION POINT:

Do you mean business? “…seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). Does your life indicate that you’re in serious pursuit of running the race set before you?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Soul’s Final Feast

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)

God is not unresponsive to the contrite longing of the soul. He comes and lifts the load of sin and fills our heart with gladness and gratitude. “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!” (Psalm 30:11–12).

But our joy does not just rise from the backward glance in gratitude. It also rises from the forward glance in hope: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:5–6).

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope” (Psalm 130:5).

In the end, the heart longs not for any of God’s good gifts, but for God himself. To see him and know him and be in his presence is the soul’s final feast. Beyond this there is no quest. Words fail. We call it pleasure, joy, delight. But these are weak pointers to the unspeakable experience:

“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).

“In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

“Delight yourself in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4).

John Piper