Friday, November 2, 2018

A 3-cent pat of butter cost him a promotion…



BIBLE MEDITATION:
He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. Luke 16:10

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
I heard about a man who was an executive in a company. They were going to move him up and make him one of the chief executives. The Board of Directors had talked it over, and it was a done deal. It was a monumental advancement. But in the company cafeteria one day, the owner of this company just happened to be behind this man in the cafeteria line. Unbeknownst to him, the CEO saw him take a pat of butter costing about 3 cents, then put a slice of bread over the butter so the cashier couldn’t see it. The CEO went back to the Board and told them they had the wrong man—he didn’t have integrity. And for 3 cents, the man lost a monumental promotion and multiple thousands of dollars!

If you have integrity, how much more will your heavenly Father be able to bless you! But if you live like this almost-executive, your Father must say, “I can’t bless him. He doesn’t have integrity in the small things.” God help us to be faithful.

Be faithful in the small things, the secret things. What you are in secret is what you are, nothing more, nothing less.

ACTION POINT:
Are you faithful in the little things? Let this be the beginning of a new day of faithfulness in your life. Remember the little things. God is watching to find you faithful.


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Thursday, November 1, 2018

We Cry Out To You Lord


I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior.  - Isaiah 43:11

"You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.  - Isaiah 43:10

15 Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior. 
16 All of them are put to shame and confounded; the makers of idols go in confusion together. 
17 But Israel is saved by the LORD with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity. 
18 For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): "I am the LORD, and there is no other. 
19 I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, 'Seek me in vain.' I the LORD speak the truth; I declare what is right. 
20 "Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. 
21 Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. 
22 "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. 
23 By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: 'To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.'  - Isaiah 45:15-23

1 With my voice I cry out to the LORD; with my voice I plead for mercy to the LORD. 
2 I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him.  - Psalm 142:1-2

I cry to you, O LORD; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."  - Psalm 142:5

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! 
2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! 
3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 
4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. 
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;  - Psalm 130:1-5

13 But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you. 
14 O LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?  - Psalm 88:13-14

1 O LORD, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you. 
2 Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry! 
3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.  - Psalm 88:1-3







Christ’s Sufferings in Us


Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. (Colossians 1:24)

Christ has prepared a love offering for the world by suffering and dying for sinners. It is a perfect sacrifice. It pays in full for all the sins of all his people. Nothing can be added to make a better gift. It is lacking in nothing — except one thing, a personal presentation by Christ himself to the nations of the world.

God’s answer to this lack is to call the people of Christ (people like Paul) to make a personal presentation of the afflictions of Christ to the world. In doing this, we “[fill] up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.” We finish what they were designed for, namely, a personal presentation to the people who do not know about their infinite worth.

But the most amazing thing about Colossians 1:24 is how Paul fills up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.

He says that it is his own sufferings that fill up Christ’s afflictions. This means, then, that Paul exhibits the sufferings of Christ by suffering himself for those he is trying to win to Christ. In his sufferings they are to see Christ’s sufferings.

Here is the astounding upshot: God intends for the afflictions of Christ to be presented to the world through the afflictions of his people.

God really means for the body of Christ, the church, to experience some of the suffering he experienced so that when we proclaim the cross as the way to life, people will see the marks of the cross in us and feel the love of the cross from us.


John Piper 

Why is our nation so troubled?



BIBLE MEDITATION:
Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in His ways. The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel. Psalm 128:1, 5-6

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Right now our nation is sick unto death because she has forgotten God. But listen to this and let it burn into your soul. In 1821 John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States, said, 
“The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: It connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity. From the day of the Declaration, the American people were bound by the laws of God.”

The principles of civil government and Christianity were linked together in an unbreakable bond. Nearly all citizens acknowledged Christian, biblical principles as the rules of their conduct.

In 1913 President Woodrow Wilson said, 
“America was born to exemplify the devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from Holy Scriptures.”

In March, 1931, Congress adopted “The Star-Spangled Banner” as our national anthem. Do you know what the fourth stanza says? “Blessed with victory and peace, may this Heaven-rescued land praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must when our cause it is just. And this be our motto, ‘In God is our trust.’”

ACTION POINT:
God blessed America because she was rooted in spiritual principles and truths. Praise God that the Christian and Judaic heritage was written into our very fabric. And pray for your nation according to 2 Chronicles 7:14—“If My people who are called by My name shall humble themselves and pray, seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land.”


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

The Seminary of Suffering



My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

This is God’s universal purpose for all Christian suffering: more contentment in God and less reliance on self and the world. I have never heard anyone say, “The really deep lessons of life have come through times of ease and comfort.”

But I have heard strong saints say, “Every significant advance I have ever made in grasping the depths of God’s love and growing deep with him has come through suffering.”

The pearl of greatest price is the glory of Christ.

Thus, Paul stresses that in our sufferings the glory of Christ’s all-sufficient grace is magnified. If we rely on him in our calamity, and he sustains our “rejoicing in hope,” then he is shown to be the all-satisfying God of grace and strength that he is.

If we hold fast to him, “when all around our soul gives way,” then we show that he is more to be desired than all we have lost.

Christ said to the suffering apostle, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul responded to this: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9–10).

So suffering clearly is designed by God not only as a way to wean Christians off of self and onto grace, but also as a way to spotlight that grace and make it shine. That is precisely what faith does: it magnifies Christ’s future grace.

The deep things of life in God are discovered and magnified in suffering.


John Piper

Two things are following you



BIBLE MEDITATION:
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Goodness and mercy will pursue you all the days of your life. That’s what the word “follow” literally means in Psalm 23:6—to pursue.

Jesus pursued you with His call of salvation, and He will continue to pursue you. His goodness and mercy are like two sheep dogs that follow the flock to assure there is safe journey to the Shepherd’s final destination.

How many times have you questioned God’s provision in your life and wondered if He really cared for you? Well, there's no question here. It says SURELY, not hopefully. Yes, you and I will stumble, but He will pick us up.

ACTION POINT:
How would you live differently today if you knew that grace and mercy were going to follow your every step? How would you treat others?


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Which Secular Law Will You Break?


1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,
4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.
5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. - Romans 13:1-5

Secular definition 
Of or relating to the world, temporal

Temporal definition
Relating to earthly life

Secular law was instituted according to God's plan to keep civil obedience.
God knew the wickedness of man and that he was bent toward rebellion.
Laws are meant to keep peace, protect safety, and keep society from falling into despair.
Fear God, repent, love your neighbor, these are the things we hold dear.
There has been an evil unleashed on society.
This evil stems from the breakdown of the family and the loss of the fear of God's judgment.
It's subtle things like declaring a fetus isn't a real person or to just ignore that you are a trespasser in a country you entered illegally.
It's that adultery is ok, sexual abuse of children is ok, sexual slavery of vulnerable young girls is practiced by all manner of men, not just so called creeps but judges, cops, doctors and a host of many others.
From there Satan has altered your thinking.
He has tricked you into rebellion against God's teaching.
These things are punishable by death.
Praise God that Jesus made a way for us to be forgiven.
You must repent, turn from sin and death to follow Christ!

4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day-
7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.
9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."
10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.
11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion.
12 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;
13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones,
15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. - Jude 1:4-16

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. - Matthew 24:35

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you
21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
24 for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you.  - 1 Peter 1:14-25

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18