Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Jesus Was Perfect


BIBLE MEDITATION:
“How much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Hebrews 9:14

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
What an amazing life the Lord Jesus lived. Do you realize that Jesus never corrected, withdrew, or amended any statement He ever made? I wish I could say that! Jesus Christ never apologized for anything He ever did or said. Jesus Christ never sought advice from anyone, never had to ask for forgiveness. 

Jesus Christ doesn’t have any strong points. For Him to have strong points, He would have to have weak points. Robert Clark has rightly given this assessment of his character: 

“There was meekness without weakness, tenderness without feebleness, firmness without coarseness, love without sentimentality, holiness without sanctimoniousness, lowliness without lowness, truth without error, enthusiasm without fanaticism, passion without prejudice, heavenly mindedness without forgetfulness, carefreeness without carelessness, service without servility, self exaltation without egotism, judgment without harshness, seriousness without somberness, mercy without softness.” 

What a person was the Lord Jesus Christ! 

ACTION POINT:
The greatest question that can be asked was the question Pontius Pilate asked the crowd when Jesus stood before him: "Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ?" Now I'm going to ask that question of you. What will you do with Jesus? No greater question could be asked. 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Surprising Qualities of a Peacemaker


BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Matthew 5:9

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
I remember reading about a preacher boy who was in a class in a liberal college, and the professor said, “Christians ought never to have any enemies. We ought never to be controversial.” Then he said, “What we need to do is to follow the example of Jesus.” 

The boy lifted his hand and asked, “If Jesus Christ was so beautifully tactful and diplomatic, how did He manage to get Himself crucified?” 

Peace is not appeasement. It is a right relationship with God that leads to a right relationship with self and guides us into right relationships with others. Literally, peace is a fruit of righteousness. It is the righteousness of God ruling and reigning in your heart. 

ACTION POINT:
Read Hebrews 12:14. Are there conflicts which you can resolve by becoming a peacemaker? If so, confidently place your hand in His and bring peace.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Monday, April 14, 2014

Seeing Him Who is Invisible


BIBLE MEDITATION:
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Let me tell you how to experience God: Get your heart pure, and you will see God with the eyes of faith. 

You see, Jesus is not talking about your physical body. You get your spiritual heart right and your spiritual eyes will see. 

Hebrews 11:27 says that Moses “endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” You get your heart right and you’ll see the invisible God…

...in circumstances

...in nature

...in the face of your spouse, your child, your grandchild. 

You’ll see Him in the Scriptures. God will become a bright, living reality to you.

ACTION POINT:
Put on the eyes of faith today and find God creating and sustaining life. Maybe there is a garden newly abloom with spring flowers. Do you see the hand of God?

 LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Mourning with Purpose

BIBLE MEDITATION:
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
We’ve done all we can do to keep ourselves from feeling any pain. We have psychologists who numb our neurosis. Counselors who absolve us of guilt. Doctors to sedate our pain. Insurance agents to take away our worries. And even at death we have the mortuary to try to beautify death for us. 

But Jesus was a man of sorrows. He saw the sin around Him and it broke His heart. In Matthew 23:34-39, we read how Jesus’ heart ached for Jerusalem and the destruction sin had wrought in the hearts of men.

ACTION POINT:
Do the things that break the heart of Jesus, break yours? Do you have a dry eye in a hell-bent world? It’s time to be like Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Saturday, April 12, 2014

What Is Meekness?


BIBLE MEDITATION:
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth" Matthew 5:5

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
What does it mean to be meek? First, let me tell you what it is not before I tell you what it is. 

Meekness is not weakness. The word “meek” means yielded. It literally has the idea of strength under control. When an animal, especially a horse, is domesticated, it is trained so a rider can sit on its back or so it can pull a plow. The proper term for this process is that the animal has been ”meeked.” It has been broken. Now it yields to the rider or the yoke. Now the animal exhibits strength under control. That’s what meekness is. 

ACTION POINT:
Read Matthew 11:29 and 21:5. What does Jesus say about Himself and how can you emulate Him?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Friday, April 11, 2014

Aftermath

I was watching a show on TV about lawyers. It's a good show, well as good as one can be now days! It's definitely a show about the wickedness of man, his sinful ways and the way the world is! It's full of the things the world deems acceptable, spouses not honoring their marriages, lots of people consuming alcohol, business men cheating clients, unnatural sexual relations and in general the way the world rolls! This episode was different in that one of the main characters was murdered. Doing just an everyday thing, he was at work, defending a client, then it all went bad, just as in real life, unexpected, everything changed.
I was reminded how unpredictable everyday is! We go off to jobs, to school or shopping, thinking we will return home but sometimes that's not the case! Sometimes you don't come home!! Don't trust in what the world tells you! Search scripture and pray!

John 3:
35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Acts 2:38
And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 9:
11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)
12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,
14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.
17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.
18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.
19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
20 saying, "This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you."
21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship.
22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own,
26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Are you ready for eternity? 

I listened to one of the characters trying to explain that the murdered lawyer was in heaven with God. Another character asked how she knew this and she said because he was a good man. Nothing could be further from the truth!! No one is good but God! You can not get to heaven by being good! You can only get to heaven through the blood of Christ which was shed for the forgiveness of sin! You must repent! Christ is the only acceptable payment God has deemed worthy for our debt payment! Christ died so that we might live! Salvation is a gift of grace, freely given to those who will believe in the power of Christ. This gift was bought with a price that man can never fully know or understand! A total innocent, crucified, scourged and beaten. 
God's Son, being obedient to His Father, endured our punishment. 

1 Peter 3:18
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

Phil.2:
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.


We are called to be the salt of the earth! What does this mean? Everything around us is decaying from sin! We are to share the gospel to stop this certain death and eternal destruction! We are commanded to be a light in a dark and evil world!

Lev.2:13
You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.

Col.4:6
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

1 Peter 3:15
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

Lord, have mercy on us! Help us teach You in truth! Let us sting with Your word of truth as Your word brings people to humble repentance! Amen

Poor in Spirit What Does It Mean?

BIBLE MEDITATION:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
What does it mean to be “poor in spirit”? Jesus is talking about being a beggar. He is saying, “Blessed are the beggars.” He’s not talking about finances here. He’s talking about a person being poor spiritually. 

Before a person can enter into the kingdom of heaven, he must first admit that no matter how much he may have in the material realm or psychological realm, he is absolutely and totally spiritually bankrupt and a beggar before God. If he doesn’t see that, he will never, ever get into the kingdom of heaven. 

ACTION POINT:
I’ve often said that I am just one beggar showing another beggar where to find food. Do you see yourself as a beggar in need of the Bread of Heaven?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers