Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Where is Jesus Christ today?



BIBLE MEDITATION:

And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:6

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Where is Christ today? Seated at the Father’s right hand in Heaven. Where are you seated? In the same place. You don’t have to die to go to Heaven. In Christ, you are seated with Him in Heaven right now.

Listen to this, from Ephesians 1—

18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power,
20 Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Why is the empty tomb so glorious? Because it signifies more than just the fact that God raised Jesus from the dead. He raised you, too, to walk “in newness of life” (see Romans 6:4). I have come out of that grave. I have ascended. You have, too, if you are saved.

We encourage fellow believers by telling them, “Keep looking up,” when we should be saying, “Keep looking down!”—you’re already seated with the Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven, so you can look down on your problems. You, dear friend, have a brand new life!

ACTION POINT:

Take a moment and ask God to give you a new life or thank Him for the one He has already given you. You are seated with Christ in heavenly places.


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Jesus Bought Your Endurance



“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:20)

What that means is that the new covenant, promised most explicitly in Jeremiah 31 and 32, was secured and sealed by the blood of Jesus. The new covenant comes true for God’s people who trust the Messiah, Jesus, because Jesus died to establish it.

And what does the new covenant secure for all who belong to Christ? Perseverance in faith to the end.

Listen to Jeremiah 32:40,

“I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.”

The everlasting covenant — the new covenant — includes the unbreakable promise, “I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.” They may not. They will not. Christ sealed this covenant with his blood. He purchased your perseverance if you are in Jesus Christ through faith.

If you are persevering in faith today, you owe it to the blood of Jesus. The Holy Spirit, who is working in you to preserve your faith, is honoring the purchase of Jesus. God the Spirit works in us what God the Son obtained for us. The Father planned it. Jesus bought it. The Spirit applies it — all of them infallibly.

God is totally committed to the perseverance and eternal security of his blood-bought children.


John Piper 

Do you care too much about what people think?



BIBLE MEDITATION:

But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Thy works.” Psalm 73:28

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

We can be so protective of our reputations, can’t we? I know of preachers who have lost their children because they were more concerned about what people thought about their family than about what God taught.

Maybe some of you are raising teenagers, and they dress in a way that isn’t your style. Maybe your church friends are saying some unpleasant things. Let them criticize! God knows your heart. Those children are yours, not theirs. You need to love them with everything that God gives you. Stand by their side.

ACTION POINT:

Never sacrifice your son or daughter on the altar of your reputation. Trust your children to the Lord. Ask God to give you His wisdom so you can see how He is fulfilling His promise of Romans 8:28 in every situation.


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Monday, August 5, 2019

10 Things “Yahweh” Means

God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” (Exodus 3:15)

God’s name is almost always translated LORD (all caps) in the English Bible. But the Hebrew would be pronounced something like “Yahweh,” and is built on the word for “I am.”

So every time we hear the word Yahweh, or every time you see LORD in the English Bible, you should think: this is a proper name (like Peter or John) built out of the word for “I am” and reminding us each time that God absolutely is.

There are at least 10 things the name Yahweh, “I AM,” says about God:

1. He never had a beginning. Every child asks, “Who made God?” And every wise parent says, “Nobody made God. God simply is. And always was. No beginning.”

2. God will never end. If he did not come into being he cannot go out of being, because he is being.

3. God is absolute reality. There is no reality before him. There is no reality outside of him unless he wills it and makes it. He is all that was eternally. No space, no universe, no emptiness. Only God.

4. God is utterly independent. He depends on nothing to bring him into being or support him or counsel him or make him what he is.

5. Everything that is not God depends totally on God. The entire universe is utterly secondary. It came into being by God and stays in being moment by moment on God’s decision to keep it in being.

6. All the universe is by comparison to God as nothing. Contingent, dependent reality is to absolute, independent reality as a shadow to substance. As an echo to a thunderclap. All that we are amazed by in the world and in the galaxies is, compared to God, as nothing.

7. God is constant. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He cannot be improved. He is not becoming anything. He is who he is.

8. God is the absolute standard of truth and goodness and beauty. There is no law-book to which he looks to know what is right. No almanac to establish facts. No guild to determine what is excellent or beautiful. He himself is the standard of what is right, what is true, what is beautiful.

9. God does whatever he pleases and it is always right and always beautiful and always in accord with truth. All reality that is outside of him he created and designed and governs as the absolute reality. So he is utterly free from any constraints that don’t originate from the counsel of his own will.

10. God is the most important and most valuable reality and person in the universe. He is more worthy of interest and attention and admiration and enjoyment than all other realities, including the entire universe.


John Piper 

Who will you become?



BIBLE MEDITATION:

 “And He said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.” Luke 18:29-30

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

God has given you specific  abilities and He wants you to take those abilities and invest them in Him. Friend, it is a sin for you to be less than what God called you to be.

Sure, you may not be the next Einstein, Babe Ruth, Betty Crocker, or Billy Graham. But that’s not the point. The danger is that you will not do what you can do.

ACTION POINT:

There are three people inside you…

who you are right now,

who you could be for evil if you allowed the devil to get a hold of you, 

and who you could be for God.

I pray you will let go of this world with both hands and give your all to God for Him to use you.


LWF Dr Adrian Rogers 

Sunday, August 4, 2019

Hell-Worse Than You Can Imagine


151, 600 people die everyday
6,316 people die every hour
105 people die every minute
Nearly 2 people die every second
Over 55 million die people every year

Many of them do not know Christ as Lord and Savior!
They enter into eternity going to Hell and find no peace but everlasting suffering.
Lord, let us not neglect this truth!
God's word tell us that we will spend eternity in Heaven or Hell. 
There is no other place!
God's word is true!

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. - 2 Timothy 3:16-17

God is putting life into those words!
God's word stands!

6 A voice says, "Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 
7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. 
8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.  - Isaiah 40:6-8

What does the bible teach about Hell?

1. Hell is a physical place!
It's real!
It's not a state of mind!
It's not here on Earth!

41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'
44 Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?'
45 Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'
46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." - Matthew 25:41-46

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.
14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. - Revelation 20:11-15

2. Hell is a punishing place!
Hell never improves!
Hell never gets better!
It will not be a place to party in your wickedness!
It's fire, thirst, pain and torment!

37 He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,
39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.
41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers,
42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. - Matthew 13:37-43

49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous
50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. - Matthew 13:49-50

And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. - Mark 9:43

3. Hell is a permanent place!

Don't think Hell is temporary, a place where escape is possible.
There is no escape except by the blood of Christ!
While you breathe, there is hope, after, there is none!

19 "There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.
20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried,
23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
24 And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.'
25 But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.
26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.'
27 And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house-
28 for I have five brothers-so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.'
29 But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.'
30 And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'
31 He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'" - Luke 16:19-31

and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. - Revelation 20:10

And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. - Revelation 20:15

In Dante's inferno story, there is a reference about the inscription on the gates of Hell.
It reads " Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter!

How horrible!
In Hell there is no hope!
We have hope now!
Christ paid the price!
Trust Christ for salvation!

This is your warning!
Choose Heaven!

Share the good news that Christ alone will save You!

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

he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, - Titus 3:5

Repent of your sin, trust and follow Jesus!!

37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.
38 And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." - Luke 24:37-39

45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
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 for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
48 You are witnesses of these things.
49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." - Luke 24:45-49

Thank you Pastor Kevin!













As Secure as God Is Faithful

Those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)

Between eternity past in God’s predestination, and eternity future in God’s glorification, none is lost.

No one who is predestined for sonship fails to be called. And no one who is called fails to be justified. And no one who is justified fails to be glorified. This is an unbreakable steel chain of divine covenant faithfulness.

And so Paul says,

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

[He] will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:8–9)

These are the promises of our God who cannot lie. Those who are born again are as secure as God is faithful.


John Piper