Get Some Sleep

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” Psalm 121:4
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
I heard about a man who was in a crisis and couldn’t sleep. He thought about this verse of Scripture, “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." He said, “Well, Lord, there’s no need for both of us to stay up all night. Good night, Lord. I’m going to sleep while you stay awake.”

The Bible says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee because he trusteth in Thee." Isaiah 26:3
It may sound like a paradox: on one hand, pray earnestly. On the other, get some sleep. But Philippians 4:6-7 tells us, “Be careful for nothing” (that means don’t worry about anything) “but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God” (listen to it) “the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." 
ACTION POINT:
Friend, turn your problem over to Him. Roll it on the Lord. I don’t care how big it is. Read Philippians 4:6-7 and know the mastery of God’s peace.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

To the Church

2 Timothy 3:10-4:8

3:

10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,

11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra-which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.

12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it

15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

4:

1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:

2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. 

REMINDER #1: THE WORD DOES THE WORK.

• The Word saves.

• The Word teaches.

• The Word convicts.

• The Word corrects.

• The Word trains.

• The Word equips.

• The Word transforms.

Charge #1: Get a pastor who preaches it.

Charge #2: Be a people who prioritize it.

REMINDER #2: THE WORLD NEEDS THE WORD.

• His judgment is real.

• The time is urgent.

• His return is imminent.

Charge #3: Do all that Christ calls you to do.

• Knowing that it will be costly.

• Believing that it will be worth it.

Thanks Pastor David!!!

GOD’S GUIDELINES FOR GROWING YOUR KIDS

Ephesians 6:1-4 

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

2 "Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise),

3 "that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land."

4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. 

We grow our children by educating them. 6:1-3 

a. It is proper. 6:1 

b.There is a promise. 6:2-3

A better life 6:3 

A longer life 6:3 

We grow our children by encouraging them. 6:4 

a. We should avoid making them angry. 

b.We should be active in giving them advice.

“How to Love Your Children and Let Them Know It”

We love our children by:

1) Incarnational parenting. (note the example of Christ–Phil. 2:5-11)

2) Loving our mate. (Eph. 5:25-33; Titus 2:4)

3) Disciplining them. (Prov. 13:24; 17:10; 29:15)

4) Looking at them. (Prov. 20:12)

5) Touching them. (Eccl. 3:5)

6) Spending time with them. (Deut. 6:7-9)

7) Listening to them. (James 1:19)

8) Blessing them rather than cursing them. (Matt. 7:12)

9) Having fun with them. (Prov. 15:13; 17:22; Eccl. 3:4)

10) Nudging them out of the nest. (Eccl. 3:6)

11) Admitting when you are wrong. (James 5:16)

12) Introducing them to the perfect parent. (John 1:12)

Thanks Daniel!

Frequency, Fervency, or Flippancy?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And Jesus spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not faint.” Luke 18:1

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I think the reason we don’t pray with frequency and fervency today is because we think we can do things on our own without prayer. You know, perhaps the worst thing about us is not our prayerlessness but our pride. 

We have our machinery, our plans, and our methods. We have our pastors, choirs, Bible fellowships, and buildings. So we come to church thinking, “Well, we’ll do it; we know how to do it.”

And you know what the devil does? He stands in the corner and smirks. He says, “You can have your buildings, you can have your choirs, you can have your fellowships, you can have your preacher, you can have everything you want. You can even have your Bible studies, as long as you leave out the power of God that comes with fervent prayer that will not take no for an answer.”

ACTION POINT:

Spend some time in prayer. The devil mocks at our schemes, laughs at our organizations, ridicules our talents, but he fears our prayers. Pray—not only frequently but fervently.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Pray When You Don’t Feel Like It

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Many times we pray trying to impress someone in our group, but the early Christians weren’t trying to impress anybody. They were desperate. They prayed with intensity, fervency and specificity. They prayed to God, not to impress one another. 

What have you learned about intense prayer? When you’re in a crisis, you learn how to pray with intensity, don’t you? 

Many of us prayed this morning, but if I were to ask you, you couldn’t tell me with specificity what you prayed for. It was just a general prayer with no real intensity. I love Jeremiah 29:13, where God says, “And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart." Sometimes we don’t feel like praying, so we say we’ll not pray. 

ACTION POINT:

Don’t feel like praying? Continue in prayer until you do feel like it. Friend, if there’s ever a time that you need to pray, it’s when you don’t feel like it. 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

The Fellowship of Prayer

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“If any two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it will be done for them of My Father which is in Heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:19-20 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

God is pleased when His children pray, but God is more pleased when His children pray in fellowship. There’s nothing that will bind us together as a church more than praying. If you’ve ever had a prayer partner, you know that your hearts are linked together. 

There are times when God comes, when the church prays, and it is glorious and wonderful. It’s what we call “the fellowship of prayer.” This prayer is the prayer we see happening in Acts 12 when the church came together to pray for Peter.

ACTION POINT:

Gather together with other believers to pray this week.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Do You Have the Heart of an Edomite?

For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.  - Isaiah 34:5

9 And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; her land shall become burning pitch. 

10 Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.  - Isaiah 34:9-10

What is the spirit of the Edomite and what is its origin?”)

It originates from Esau and his spirit of rebellion towards God and the hatred of his brother Jacob.

I know we are all born into sin (rebellion) because one man (Adam) sinned and through him sin came to all mankind.

But, there is this thing called repentance! That is to say, you turn from sin and rebellion and toward God through Christ for a new life. 

But, even before repentance, there is mercy!

Mercy and forgiveness is offered through Christ by God.

However, there are some who deny God's power and the power of the blood of Christ and stay in their rebellion.

They are devoted to destruction and will spend eternity in Hell.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. - 2 Peter 3:9

Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.  - Obadiah 1:10

The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the LORD has spoken.  - Obadiah 1:18

11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad-in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls-

12 she was told, "The older will serve the younger."

13 As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!

15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."

16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."

18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

19 You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?"

20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?"

21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory-

24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? - Romans 9:11-24