Sunday, June 29, 2014

Authority in a Generation Gone Astray

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” Romans 13:1

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Our generation doesn’t like the word authority. We don’t like to be under anybody. We stick out our chests and talk about being free-born Americans.

If you’re a baby boomer, you’re of a generation of anti-authority figures. In your lifetime you’ve gone through the hula hoop, the Barbie doll, pop psychology, Dr. Spock, Donahue, and the Beatles. It was all anti-authority! Fathers were Archie Bunker. Preachers were Flip Wilson. The anthem was, “Do your thing. If it feels good, do it.” Many of us dare not realize the vestiges of rebellion that still lurk down in our hearts.

ACTION POINT:
Give some serious thought to the question: Who is on the throne of my life today?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Being Spirit-Filled

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“...Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” Acts 9:6

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
So many Christians want to be Spirit-filled, but have they ever asked why God should fill them with His Spirit?

I want you to imagine a man pushing a car into a service station. It has no battery in it. The car has four flat tires, a hole in the gas tank, and half the wires are disconnected. The attendant comes out, looks at this rattle trap, and says, “May I help you?”

The man says, “Yeah, fill ‘er up.”

What do you think that attendant would say? “What for?” would be appropriate.

I think God sometimes says, “What for?” to us. Instead, we need to just sign the contract at the bottom and say, “Lord, You fill it in.”

ACTION POINT:
Bow before the Lord, open your hands, and say, “Lord, It’s all You. I am nothing but a vessel for You to use. Use me as You will.”

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Thursday, June 26, 2014

God’s Provision in the Midst of Suffering

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Over and over again, people will ask me this question, “If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?” There’s never an easy answer to that question when someone is grieving or suffering, but God has taught me that the universe has a disease. And God cannot remove the pain until the last vestige of sin is gone. The worst thing that could happen to human beings would be if we were to live in a world cursed by sin, and yet the world seem to be a paradise. We would never come to God.

ACTION POINT:
God has showered this world with immeasurable mercies. Focus today, not on the suffering, but on the provision of God’s grace.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

The Ultimate Act of Forgiveness


BIBLE MEDITATION:
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” 1 Peter 3:18

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Suppose someone were to punch you in the nose? And suppose in an act of compassion you were to say to that person who punched you, “I forgive you.” And suppose they responded, “There’s no need for you to forgive me. I’ve already forgiven myself.” You’d feel a little cheated. Only the one who was punched can forgive the hitter.

Sin is a clenched fist in the face of God, and only God can forgive sin. There’s enough Gospel dynamite in 1 Peter 3:18 to blow the sin, the hatred, the sorrow, and the sickness out of anybody’s life, but that dynamite must be ignited by the spark of faith.

ACTION POINT:
Is there someone in your life you need to forgive? Maybe someone from whom you need to ask forgiveness? Go do it now. Tomorrow may never come.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

I Just Died! Am I Going To Heaven?


Ps.91:
14 "Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. 
15 When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. 
16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation." 


I just died, now what? 
Am I going to heaven? 
I had a physical body but now I have a spirit body. 
Who made my spirit body? 

2 Cor.5:
6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.
8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.

1 Thess.4:
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Ecc.12:
and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Every person born has a physical body and spirit body. 
God the Creator made both.
The physical body dies but the spirit body, by God's design, lives on.
Heaven and Hell are the eternal homes of spirit bodies.
Heaven is where God and Christ are and it is the place reserved for Christ followers. 
Hell is reserved for Satan and his followers, the sons of rebellion.

Ps.104.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. 
30 When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.

Job 33:4
The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. 

Christ died so you can live!
Christ is the only acceptable payment to God for sin.
Christ blood washes your sin away!
There are many false religions teaching false doctrines!
You may choose but do so with care!
God, in His mercy seeks you!
If you seek God, He will be found!

John 17:
2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

1John 2:
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Romans 3:
22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Hebrews 10:
1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.
2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?
3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 
7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'" 
8 When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law),
9 then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He does away with the first in order to establish the second.
10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds," 
17 then he adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more." 
18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

You must repent, turn from sin!

Hebrews 10:
26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

Lord, how we long for the lost to know You. Open their hearts to Your saving grace. Amen

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Complete Confidence in the Lord



BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
There must be complete confidence in the Lord to take care of us because this complete confidence will lead to constant compliance. Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us we are to trust with all our heart (not just part of it), and we’re to acknowledge Him in all our ways (not just some of our ways).

God won’t take part of it. You can’t say, “Lord, I want Your will in my social life, but I don’t want Your will in my business life.” Or, “I want Your will in my church life, but I don’t want Your will in my relationships.” You just can’t do that. If He’s worth part of it He’s worth all of it.

ACTION POINT:
What are you holding onto today? Give it all to Jesus. Instant obedience will bring incredible blessing.

 LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Monday, June 23, 2014

Where Is Your Treasure?


BIBLE MEDITATION:
“. . . for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:21

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
There are many people who think they are wealthy who are not. We’ve seen the television series “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” and many times it should be called “Lifestyles of the Rich and Foolish.”

When is a rich man poor? When he tries to find satisfaction in his money. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said, “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).

A man of modest income said to a man who was very rich, “I have more than you have.” The rich man said, “How is that so?” He answered, “Because I have all I want, and you don’t.”

ACTION POINT:
When you set your goal to be wealthy, then money becomes your master rather than your servant. What is your goal with your finances?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers