Not Allowing Past Sins to Silence Our Witness

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

A young preacher was called out of a life of sin to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. While in the pulpit one day, he received a note in which someone had written all his past sins. In addition it read, “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? And you’re up there telling people to get right with God!”

Do you know what the young preacher did? He read that note, bowed his head in prayer, stood up and said, “Ladies and gentleman I have received a note, and here is what it says.” Then, in front of that whole crowd, he read every one of those sins. Then he said this: “Yes, I am ashamed of myself, but I am not ashamed of my Savior!”

ACTION POINT:

What are some past sins in your life that are holding you back from fully proclaiming God’s power to others? Confess them and bury them in His sea of forgetfulness.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

The Chance To Repent

This week much evil was done.

Many lives were taken by a single man who set himself up as judge.

While the lives of us all are filled with sin, God in His mercy, has given man a chance to repent.

We only have this second, the next may be taken and you will forever lose your chance to repent.

Sin separates you from a Holy God!

If you die in your sin, you go to Hell.

There is no way to be forgiven other than through the blood of Christ!

There are many false teachings on this matter!

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." - Matthew 3:2

the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned."  - Matthew 4:16

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. - Mark 1:4

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. - Romans 3:23-25

2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. - 1 John 2:2-3

10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. - Matthew 3:10-11

yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. - Galatians 2:16

19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. - Galatians 2:19-21

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. - Matthew 3:8

Are You in the Secret Service?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Romans 1:16

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Are you ashamed to put a Bible on your desk at work? Are you ashamed to bow your head in the cafeteria? Are you ashamed to invite people to Jesus Christ? Are you ashamed of the One who died for you?

A little boy had a dog, and someone asked him what kind of dog he was. He was just a mongrel, but the little fellow said, “Well, he’s a police dog.” The friend said, “He doesn’t look like a police dog.” The little guy replied, “He’s in the secret service.”

I’m afraid there are many of us who are in the secret service. We ought to be open and bold for the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

ACTION POINT:

Ask God to lead you out in strength and boldness today to live for Him and proclaim His love to others.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

The Eternal Truth

Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.  - Proverbs 23:23

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. - John 17:17

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. - John 14:6

even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. - John 14:17

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, - Ephesians 1:13

if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. - 1 Timothy 3:15

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. - 3 John 1:4

Remission Of Sin

There is no forgiveness of sin except through the blood of Christ!!

Remission definition:

Forgiveness 

for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. - Matthew 26:28

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. - Colossians 1:13-14

46 and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,

47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. - Luke 24:46-47

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. - Acts 2:38

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. - Hebrews 9:22-28

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. - Leviticus 17:11

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"-he then said to the paralytic-"Rise, pick up your bed and go home." - Matthew 9:6

Only One Life Ever Lived to Perfection

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” Revelation 4:8

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

There has never been a man like the Lord Jesus. I was deeply stirred by these words, written by John Phillips about Jesus:

“He never uttered a hasty, unkind, untrue, or frivolous word. He never entertained an impure thought. His talents never debased for selfish ends. His influence, never bad. His judgment, never wrong. He never had to apologize for anything that He did or retract a single word He said. He was never too late or too soon, never upset, never insipid, never shallow or afraid. . . He had absolute victory from the moment He drew his first breath in that Bethlehem barn until the moment He closed His eyes in death on the cross of Calvary.”

ACTION POINT:

If you’re looking for a hero, let me suggest mine. His name is Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Just Like You

In the beginning, we are all the same.

Sinners!

Sin is in our genetic makeup!!

It started in the Garden of Eden when man first sinned. 

It can be different!

You can escape sins hold!

Trust Christ for forgiveness, repent from sin and become a new creation in Christ!!

What happens is called Grace!

You don't deserve it!

I don't deserve it!

It all boils down to mercy!!!

This precious Grace comes when you accept Christ as Lord over you!

10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.

11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

12 But when he heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

13 Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." - Matthew 9:10-13

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