Why Is There Suffering In The World?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: 

“If there is a God, and that God is a good God, then why is there suffering?” 

“What kind of a God is it that has created evil?”

Ever heard those comments before? Ever made them yourself?

You’re not alone. Many people have thought the same thing. But that’s not straight thinking. Let me tell you the way it truly is.

God did not create evil. God created perfection. God made man perfectly free. The freedom He granted man meant that he had to be free to choose to love.  Then in order to choose to love, we must be able to choose not to love. This freedom of choice gave rise to evil, for man’s freedom meant he could make a wrong choice.

ACTION POINT:

Which kind of love do you want from others? A forced love or a free love? Which sounds better, “I love you” or “I have to love you”?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Our Servant, Jesus

The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

Not only was he the servant of his people while he lived on earth, but he will also be our servant when he comes again. “Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them” (Luke 12:37). Jesus gave that as a picture of what he will do at his return.

Not only that, he is our servant now. “‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5–6).

Does this belittle the risen Christ — to say that he was and is and will ever be the servant of his people? It would, if “servant” meant “one who takes orders,” or if we thought we were his masters. Yes, that would dishonor him. But it does not dishonor him to say that we are weak and need his help.

It does not dishonor him to say that he is the only one who can service us with what we need most.

It does not dishonor him to say that he is an inexhaustible spring of love, and that the more he helps us and the more we depend on his service, the more amazing his resources appear. Therefore, we can confidently say, “Jesus Christ is alive to serve!”

He is alive to save. He is alive to give. And he is thrilled to be this way.

He is not burdened down with your cares. He thrives on burden-bearing, not burden-giving. He loves to work “for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4). He “takes pleasure . . . in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 147:11). His eyes “run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).

Jesus Christ is exuberant with omnipotent service for the sake of all who trust him.

John Piper 

Dead To Sin, Alive To Christ

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:11

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: 

A woman woke up one morning and noticed that she felt like she had just gone to sleep. She said, “It can’t be six o’clock in the morning!”

But the radio said it was six. The clock said it was six. The sunrise said it was six. Now, I submit to you: it really didn’t matter how she felt, did it?

Sometimes we respond the same way when it comes to our salvation. We need to get our salvation out of the realm of fickle emotions and begin to “reckon” (count on) God’s facts.

Each morning when you wake up, begin by saying, “I am dead to sin. I am alive in Christ. I know it’s a fact. He died for me. Now I reckon it!”

ACTION POINT:

Look up the word “reckon” in the dictionary. Are you “reckoning” yourself dead to sin and alive to Christ? If not, begin to do so today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Amazed at the Resurrection

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder. (2 Peter 3:1)

As Easter approaches, let’s stir up our thankfulness and joy and admiration and amazement at what the resurrection of Jesus means for us. The curse of our fallen nature is that what once thrilled us becomes ordinary. The reality hasn’t changed. We have changed.

This is why the Bible exists. Peter says of his two letters that they are written to “stir up” or “arouse” by means of “reminder.”

So, let’s stir up our sincere minds by way of reminder.

What has God done in raising Jesus from the dead? Here are a few biblical answers.

Because of the resurrection of Jesus, we are born again to a living hope.

1 Peter 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Because of Jesus’s resurrection, he now has the glory for which we were made. Our ultimate destiny is to see him as he is.

1 Peter 1:21: “God . . . raised him from the dead and gave him glory.”

John 17:5, 24: “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. . . . Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

May the risen Lord Jesus himself awaken and arouse your sincere mind to new depths of worship and allegiance and joy.

John Piper

Be Still And Know That He Is God

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: 

I read in the newspaper about a fighter plane that fired off a weapon and was moving so fast that it overtook the bullet and shot itself down. Literally! There are a lot of folks I know doing the same thing. They are shooting themselves down.

They don’t take time to slow down and to be still and know that God is God. They don’t take time to experience His serenity and inner quietness. Isaiah 30:15 says, “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”

How much time do we take to be quiet before the Lord? If you don’t have time to do this, you are too busy! You are going to miss life looking for it.

ACTION POINT:

I have a question for you. Are you spending time alone with the Lord every day? If not, let this be your wake-up call.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Ways To Love God's Way Part Two

Experience God's love so that we can share God's love.

Give without sparing.

God gives to you so that it will flow from you.

All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back.  - Proverbs 21:26

1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia,

2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord,

4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints- - 2 Corinthians 8:1-4

Be obedient.

Trust God.

Give.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. - James 1:17

God gave you your life, breath, riches and blessings.

Trust Him.

Trust without doubting.

6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. - James 1:6-8

Do you have trouble trusting?

Did someone abandon you?

Broken relationships effect your ability to trust.

1 For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. 

2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.  - Psalm 62:1-2

Promise without forgetting.

Stand by your word.

Your word is your bond.

Our word has become worthless.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.  - Proverbs 13:12

4 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.

5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. - Ecclesiastes 5:4-5

Forgive without remembering.

bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. - Colossians 3:13

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 

12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.  - Psalm 103:11-12

He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.  - Micah 7:19

He will forgive.

He will forget.

Can you forgive?

You must repent to get forgiveness.

Bitterness destroys.

Pray without ceasing.

pray without ceasing, - 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Pray for all things.

When you are in the pit, you better hope someone is praying you out.

Thanks Pastor Kevin!

Ways To Love God's Way Part One

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. - 1 Corinthians 13:13

Listen without interrupting.

If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.  - Proverbs 18:13

Trust and communication

In a successful relationship you must have these.

You spend way too much time thinking of your answer without really listening to the question.

Listen quietly.

Process it.

Speak without accusing.

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; - James 1:19

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; - 1 Corinthians 13:4-5

You feel attacked so you lash out.

Satan takes the little things and sets them deep in your soul so that you blow them out of proportion.

Speak in love or be silent.

Share without pretending.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, - Ephesians 4:15

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.  - Proverbs 27:6

Trust friends who are willing to speak the truth.

They only want the best for you.

Don't bow up, listen.

4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.

5 Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"

6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.

7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."

8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.

9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

10 Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."]] - John 8:4-11

Do you wonder what Jesus wrote the second time? Me too!

Answer without arguing.

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.  - Proverbs 15:1

It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.  - Proverbs 21:9

It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.  - Proverbs 25:24

Don't be quarrelsome.

Be open to change.

Listen.

Enjoy without complaining.

14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing,

15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, - Philippians 2:14-15

You will stand out in your difference.

Be a joyful person.

Ask God to take you from the addiction of grumbling.

Thanks Pastor Kevin!!!