Living for God in a godless Society

The 10 Commandments used to hang in our schools.

We used to pray in our schools.

We used to have no alcohol sales in some counties.

Abortions were done far and wide.

Now, no prayer, no commandments, liquor available everywhere and to our shame, abortions are actually encouraged!

Suicide rates are high, lawlessness abounds, respect isn't taught but disrespect is applauded.

Murder, theft, child abuse us the norm!

We need revival!

This country is about to spiritually collapse!

This is not the first time that the world has turned from God!

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. - Hebrews 11:23

How do the people of God navigate in these godless times?

1. Moses refused!

He was Pharaoh's grandson.

He chose to be with God's people.

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, - Hebrews 11:24

2. Moses chose.

The world's pleasure is fleeting!

God's joy is eternal!

Sin is fun for a season.

Sin will make you a slave.

You must repent!

Feelings have replaced truth.

God's truth is the authority!

I can disagree with you and still love you. 

34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. - John 8:34-35

choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. - Hebrews 11:25

Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. - James 1:15

"And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression," declares the LORD.  - Isaiah 59:20

3. Moses regarded!

He was looking ahead to his eternal reward!

He weighed sin against God's truth.

Your home is not here!

We are just passing through!

He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. - Hebrews 11:26

4. Moses left!

He stood up!

He stepped out of sin into the light!

Do the right thing even when you face persecution!

Satan's fate is sealed!

By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. - Hebrews 11:27

5. Moses kept!

They were saved by the blood of a lamb just as we have salvation in the blood of Christ!

By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. - Hebrews 11:28

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. - 1 Peter 1:18-21

We have lost our salt!

We need repentance!

Seek God!

Thanks Pastor Kevin!!

Models for Combating Discouragement

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:26)

Literally the verb is simply fail, not “may fail.” This God-besotted psalmist, Asaph, says, “My flesh and my heart fail!” I am despondent! I am discouraged! But then immediately he fires a broadside against his despondency: “But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

The psalmist does not yield to discouragement. He battles unbelief with counterattack.

In essence, he says, “In myself I feel very weak and helpless and unable to cope. My body is shot, and my heart is almost dead. But whatever the reason for this despondency, I will not yield. I will trust God and not myself. He is my strength and my portion.”

The Bible is replete with instances of saints struggling with sunken spirits. Psalm 19:7 says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.” This is a clear admission that the soul of the saint sometimes needs to be revived. And if it needs to be revived, in a sense it was “dead.” That’s the way it felt.

David says the same thing in Psalm 23:2–3, “He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” The soul of the “man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14) needs to be restored. It was dying of thirst and ready to fall exhausted, but God led the soul to water and gave it life again.

God has put these testimonies in the Bible so that we might use them to fight the unbelief of despondency. And we fight with the blast of faith in God’s promises: “God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” We preach that to ourselves. And we thrust it into Satan’s face. And we believe it.

John Piper 

Are You Looking for an Easy Way to Serve God?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

…and run with patience the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1c

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The word “patience” here doesn’t mean the ability to thread a needle, but literally means “endurance.” It means bearing up under a heavy load, a real challenge.

Are you looking for an easy way, a cheap way, a lazy way to serve God? All honey and no bees? A life of ease? You just want to say, “Oh, I’m so happy in Jesus.” Listen, the business of running this race means that you’re going to be working at it with all of your heart. When you watch someone running, do you notice how intense he is?

You may be on a sick bed or in a wheelchair. But no one is excluded. We are to “run” with endurance. If you’re in this race, you need to pray over it, you need to weep over it, you need to study over it, you need to work over it.

ACTION POINT:

This matter of being saved and running the race is a full-time occupation. God does business with those who mean business.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Grace for Every Need

Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant. (Psalm 86:16)

Future grace is the constant plea of the praying psalmists. They pray for it again and again to meet every need. They give us a beautiful model of daily dependence on future grace for every exigency.

They cry out for grace when they need help: “Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me! O Lord, be my helper!” (Psalm 30:10).

When they are weak: “Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant” (Psalm 86:16).

When they need healing: “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord” (Psalm 6:2).

When they are afflicted by enemies: “Be gracious to me, O Lord! See my affliction from those who hate me” (Psalm 9:13).

When they are lonely: “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted” (Psalm 25:16).

When they are grieving: “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief” (Psalm 31:9).

When they have sinned: “O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!” (Psalm 41:4).

When they long for God’s name to be exalted among the nations: “God be gracious to us and bless us . . . that your way may be known on earth” (Psalm 67:1–2).

Unmistakably, prayer is the great link of faith between the soul of the saint and the promise of future grace. If ministry was meant by God to be sustained by prayer, then ministry was meant to be sustained by faith in future grace.

John Piper 

If He suddenly disappeared, would you even notice?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Psalm 51:11

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

When a person dies, his spirit departs. And I’m afraid that’s what has happened to many churches: the Holy Spirit has departed. 

The organism has become an organization and the movement has become a monument.

Dr. Carl Bates said years ago something that shook me to my foundation: “If the Holy Spirit were to suddenly die [now, of course, you know that's impossible. He cannot die] but “if the Holy Spirit were to suddenly die, most of our churches would meet next Sunday and go right on, never knowing the difference.”

I wonder if that’s not true about many churches. The Holy Spirit has not died, but He has departed. The Holy Spirit has left the building.

I've been in some churches where you’d think that Hallelujahs and Amens cost $100 apiece. You just can't find them. There’s a sort of barren stillness. But I believe there's something contagious about the Holy Spirit of God. The Bible says where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

ACTION POINT:

We don’t have to live in either one of two extremes: we don’t have to fry in fanaticism or freeze in formalism. But we should have a burning, passionate, blazing, emotional love for the Lord Jesus Christ.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

His Timing Is Perfect

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may find grace for a well-timed help. (Hebrews 4:16, my literal translation)

I know this precious verse is usually translated, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” But that is a paraphrase — a true one — to show that God shows up just when we need him. But the literal focus is on how timely the help is.

All ministry is in the future — a moment away, or a month away, or a year, or a decade. We have ample time to fret about our inadequacy. When this happens, we must turn to prayer.

Prayer is the form of faith that connects us today with the grace that will make us adequate for tomorrow’s ministry. Timing really matters.

What if grace comes too early or comes too late? The traditional translation of Hebrews 4:16 does not make clear a very precious promise in this regard. We need a more literal rendering to see it. The promise is not merely that we find grace “to help in time of need,” but that the grace is well-timed by God.

The point is that prayer is the way to find future grace for a well-timed help. This grace of God always arrives from the “throne of grace” on time. The phrase “throne of grace” means that future grace comes from the King of the universe who sets the times by his own authority (Acts 1:7).

His timing is perfect, but it is rarely ours: “For a thousand years in [his] sight are but as yesterday when it is past” (Psalm 90:4). At the global level, he sets the times for nations to rise and fall (Acts 17:26). And at the personal level, “My times are in [his] hand” (Psalm 31:15).

When we wonder about the timing of future grace, we must think on the “throne of grace.” Nothing can hinder God’s plan to send grace when it will be best for us. Future grace is always well-timed.

John Piper 

How do you inherit your Father’s wealth?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

And I will give him the morning star. Revelation 2:28

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I remember reading a story about a wealthy Roman who had a lavish estate, and he had a servant named Marcellus. He also had a son, but for some reason there had been a falling out between him and his son. So when the wealthy Roman died, it was revealed that in his will he had written, “I’ve left my entire estate to my slave, Marcellus. To my son, I leave him only one thing. He can choose any one thing from my estate he wants, but that's all.” The son said, “Very well, I choose Marcellus.”

Here at the end of Revelation 2, our Lord gives a treasured promise to those who overcome (v. 28): "And I will give him," that is, the overcomer, "the morning star." Jesus is that morning star. What He's saying is, “You'll receive the greatest reward of all. You'll receive Me, the morning star.” Do you know what the morning star is? The star that appears just after the darkest hour of the night.

ACTION POINT:

It's getting very dark. Praise God, it's getting gloriously dark, and before long that morning star is going to appear. Jesus is the morning star. If you choose Jesus, with Jesus comes all the Father's wealth.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers