What Makes God Proud

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16)

I want very much for God to say to me what he said about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: “I am not ashamed to be called your God.”

As risky as it sounds, does this not really mean that God might actually be “proud” to be called my God? Fortunately this wonderful possibility is surrounded (in Hebrews 11:16) by reasons: one before and one after.

Take the one after, first: “God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”

The first reason he gives why he is not ashamed to be called their God is that he has done something for them. He made them a city — the heavenly city “whose designer and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). So, the first reason he is not ashamed to be called their God is that he has worked for them. Not the other way around.

Now, consider the reason he gives in the front. It goes like this: “They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.”

“Therefore” signals that a reason has just been given for why God is not ashamed to be called our God. The reason is their desire. They desire a better country — that is, a better country than the earthly one they live in; namely, a heavenly one where God is.

When we desire this heavenly city — this dwelling place of God — more than we desire all that this world can give, God is not ashamed to be called our God. When we make much of all that he promises to be for us, he is proud to be our God. This is good news.

So, open your eyes to the better country, the city of God that he has prepared for us, and let yourself desire it with all your heart. God will not be ashamed to be called your God.

John Piper 

Do you have a generous heart? Or a stingy one?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. John 12:25

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Two men were discussing the issue of tithing. The first one asked, “How do you figure your tithe? Before taxes or after taxes?” The second answered, “Oh, I figure my tithe before taxes.” “Why do you figure it that way?” he asked. His friend responded, “Because the Lord gets more that way.”

That’s the kind of man who is going to get a blessing from the Lord. In Matthew 23:23, Jesus said the Pharisees were so bound up in being sure they gave God one-tenth—but not a penny more—that they even tithed from the mint plants and small herbs. They would have an herb in their hand and count out each leaf one by one to give their exact tithe to the Lord—just enough, yet not too much. How precise they were! Yet there was poverty of heart.

ACTION POINT:

Oh God, give us men and women who say, “Dear God, I’m going for You with all that I am. I’m getting out of the boat with both feet. If You tell me to hit the ground, I’m going to hit it until You tell me to stop.”

 LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Heaven - More Than You Can Imagine

1. Believers ( Christ Followers ) will enjoy an eternal family reunion.

Heaven never ends!

No goodbyes!

God is, was, and will be!!

That's what eternity means, never ends!

Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. - 2 Corinthians 5:8

2. Believers will live in a perfect Kingdom!

This wicked, sin filled world, will be gone!

There are no tragedies in heaven!

There is no illness, no murder, no suicides, no injustice!

Sin destroys, there will be no sin in heaven!

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,

20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,

21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:20-21

Jesus is the answer!

Not religion!

Only the precious blood of the Jesus cleanses! 

19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. - Romans 5:19-21

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

6 And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.

7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. - Revelation 21:1-7

Two takeaways!

1. Are you sure that you will be there?

Your works won't do it, it's grace through Christ! 

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,

4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith-more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire-may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. - 1 Peter 1:3-9

2. Are you living like you've been forgiven?

Thank you Pastor Kevin!

Faith for the Impossible

He grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. (Romans 4:20–21)

Paul has in mind a special reason why faith glorifies God’s future grace. Simply put, the reason is that this God-glorifying faith is a future-oriented confidence in God’s integrity and power and wisdom to follow through on all his promises.

Paul illustrates this faith with Abraham’s response to the promise of God: that he would be the father of many nations even though he was old and his wife was barren (Romans 4:18). “In hope he believed against hope,” that is, he had faith in the future grace of God’s promise, in spite of all human evidences to the contrary.

He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. (Romans 4:19–21)

The faith of Abraham was a faith in the promise of God to make him the father of many nations. This faith glorified God because it called attention to all the omnipotent, supernatural resources of God that would be required to fulfill it.

Abraham was too old to have children, and Sarah was barren. Not only that: How do you turn a son or two into “many nations,” which God said Abraham would be the father of? It all seemed totally impossible.

Therefore, Abraham’s faith glorified God by being fully assured that he could and would do the humanly impossible. This is the faith we are called to have. That God will do for us what we could never do for ourselves.

John Piper 

How badly do you want victory?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10:4

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I believe that many of us are experiencing limited or no victory because we have not learned to press the battle on through to victory. “But wait a minute, Dr. Rogers, I want the victory.” Do you really?

Then you need to know this: First, God wants you to have the victory. Second, the measuring cup of your victory is in the palm of your hands. That is, you can be as victorious as you want to be. Every day, make Ephesians 6:10-18, which describes the armor of God, a part of your morning routine.

When I played football, I put on a helmet, shoulder pads, knee pads, cleats—no player would go out on the field undressed for the game.

Every day, we need to get dressed spiritually. I’m not going around spiritually naked. I’m going to have on the whole armor of God. I wouldn’t walk into a day undressed, and I’m not going to walk into a day without the armor of God on me and my family: the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the Gospel, helmet of the hope of our salvation, shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit.

God gives us weapons and they work! When the devil came after Jesus in Matthew 4, Jesus defeated him with the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.  Three times Jesus said, “It is written,” and the devil left Him.

ACTION POINT:

We will only have victory if we use the weapons God has given. The devil has no stronghold we can’t pull down if we do. Don’t try to wield those spiritual weapons in your own strength. The Bible is your sword, but it’s the Sword of the Spirit, not your sword. Take it up, but rely fully on Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Who Are the Children of Abraham?

“In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)

You who hope in Christ and follow him in the obedience of faith are Abraham’s descendants and heirs of his covenant promises.

God said to Abraham in Genesis 17:4, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.” But Genesis makes plain that Abraham did not father a multitude of nations in a physical or political sense. Therefore, the meaning of God’s promise was probably that a multitude of nations would somehow enjoy the blessings of sonship even though physically unrelated to Abraham.

That’s no doubt what God meant in Genesis 12:3 when he said to Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” From the very beginning, God had in view that Jesus Christ would be the descendant of Abraham and that everyone who trusts in Christ would become an heir of Abraham’s promise. Paul says in Galatians 3:29, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

So, when God said to Abraham 4,000 years ago, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations,” he opened the way for any one of us, no matter what nation we belong to, to become a child of Abraham and an heir of God’s promises. All we have to do is share the faith of Abraham — that is, bank our hope on God’s promises, so much so that, if obedience requires it, we could give up our dearest possession like Abraham gave up Isaac.

We don’t become heirs of Abraham’s promises by working for God, but by being confident that God works for us. “[Abraham] grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:20–21). That’s why Abraham could obey God even when obedience looked like a dead-end street. He trusted God to do the impossible — like raise his son from the dead.

Faith in God’s promises — or today we would say, faith in Christ, who is the confirmation of God’s promises — is the way to become a child of Abraham; obedience is the evidence that faith is genuine (Genesis 22:12–19). Therefore, Jesus says in John 8:39, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did.”

Children of Abraham are people from all nations who put their hope in Christ and, like Abraham on Mount Moriah, therefore don’t let the loss of their most precious earthly possession stop their obedience.

You who hope in Jesus Christ and follow him in the obedience of faith are the descendants of Abraham and heirs of his covenant promises.

John Piper 

Are you dying of spiritual malnutrition?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Christians are suffering a famine because so many pulpits aren’t feeding their flocks the heavenly bread. If you’re not feeding on the Bible daily, you’re either not saved or you’re dying of spiritual malnutrition. Our strength is found when we feed upon the Word of God.

Job said, “I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12). Job was saying that if he had to choose between eating physical bread or spiritual bread, he would rather have the Word of God.

ACTION POINT:

I pray that everyone reading this will commit to a daily routine of exercising on their knees in prayer and feeding with the nutritious bread of God’s Word.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers