Monday, September 16, 2019

The Soul’s Final Feast



One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)

God is not unresponsive to the contrite longing of the soul. He comes and lifts the load of sin and fills our heart with gladness and gratitude. “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!” (Psalm 30:11–12).

But our joy does not just rise from the backward glance in gratitude. It also rises from the forward glance in hope: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:5–6).

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope” (Psalm 130:5).

In the end, the heart longs not for any of God’s good gifts, but for God himself. To see him and know him and be in his presence is the soul’s final feast. Beyond this there is no quest. Words fail. We call it pleasure, joy, delight. But these are weak pointers to the unspeakable experience:

“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).

“In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

“Delight yourself in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4).


John Piper 

We want to know why…

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.
Isaiah 50:10



DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

We can endure almost anything if we know why it is happening. Wouldn’t you agree? But we don’t always get the luxury of knowing why things happen.

You can’t be a pastor as long as I have without having heartbroken questions asked of you. “Why did my baby die?” “Why did I lose my business?” “Why am I so sick?”

Job felt this way. He said, “I deserve an answer. Why is this happening to me?! The bottom has fallen out of my life. And I don’t know why.”

ACTION POINT:

Have you ever been plunged into darkness? Don’t get the idea that if you’re right with God, you’ll have all the answers. Never doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light.


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Wake Up America Part 2


When the foundations are being destroyed!


if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"  - Psalm 11:3


The good news!
Three points of good news!

1. God is still on His throne!

The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD's throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.  - Psalm 11:4

Sin abounds.
Crime is rampant.
Man has become violent.
Our government parties can't get along to accomplish the good for its people.
We are spiraling out of control, but God is still on His throne.
Demons are loose!

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. - 1 Peter 5:8

We live in a sin filled world.
But praise God is still on His throne.
He's working His perfect plan through His perfect power.

2. One day the record will be set straight.

5 The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. 
6 Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.  - Psalm 11:5-6

Stay true to your Christian values.
Love God and love people with incredible passion.
Do not be intimidated by the enemy or his crowd.
Remember one day God will set the record straight!

10 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.
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 20:10-15

3. This world is not my home!

For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.  - Psalm 11:7

" God never said the journey would be easy, but He did say that the arrival would be worthwhile". Max Lucado

Are you so overwhelmed that you can't function?
Hold on to this verse!

20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. - Philippians 3:20-21

1 "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. - John 14:1-3

How do we repair the foundations?

1. Repent and do the first works.
Judgement first begins in the house of God!

1 "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: 'The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
2 "'I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.
3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.
4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. - Revelation 2:1-5

2. Resist the enemy!

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. - 1 Peter 5:8-9

Stand firm in your faith!

3. Put on the full armor of God!

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. - Ephesians 6:11-12

4. Claim the blood of Jesus!

There's power in the blood of Jesus.

10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. - Revelation 12:10-11

5. Look to heaven!

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 
2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.  - Psalm 121:1-2

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.
13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.
14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.
15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. - Revelation 19:11-16

Thanks Pastor Kevin!!


The Only Enduring Happiness



“You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” (John 16:22)

“No one will take your joy from you” because your joy comes from being with Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus means that you will never die; you will never be cut off from him.

So two things have to be true if your joy is never to be taken from you. One is that the source of your joy lasts forever and the other is that you last forever. If either you or the source of your joy is mortal, your joy will be taken from you.

And oh, how many people have settled for just that! Eat, drink, and be merry they say, for tomorrow we die, and that’s that (Luke 12:19). Food doesn’t last forever, and I don’t last forever. So let’s make the most of it while we can. What a tragedy!

If you are tempted to think that way, please consider as seriously as you possibly can that if your joy comes from being with Jesus, “No one will take your joy from you” — not in this life, nor in the life to come.

Not life or death, or angels or principalities, or things present or things to come, or powers or height or depth, or anything else in all creation will be able to take our joy from us in Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 8:38–39).

Joy in being with Jesus is an unbroken line from now to eternity. It will not be cut off — not by his death or ours.


John Piper 

What does God want from you today?



BIBLE MEDITATION:

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
Psalm 133:1



DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Do you know what God wants from you today? Reconciliation. That’s far more important than singing in the choir, preaching a sermon, serving in the nursery, or giving an offering. When we learn this, God is going to bring great revival to our churches.

Revival always begins when people begin to confess their faults one to another, pray for one another, and forgive one another. Revival isn’t raising the roof with a lot of emotion. It's getting the walls down. It’s not just saying, “I’m going to get right with God.” It’s saying, “I want to get right with my brothers and sisters.”

ACTION POINT:

When we are reconciled, revival will come. And rejoicing will surely follow. Not just any kind of rejoicing. There will be Holy Spirit joy—joy unspeakable!—when you know there is nothing between your soul and the Savior and nothing between your soul and another believer!


LWF Dr Adrian Rogers 

Saturday, September 14, 2019

God Will Supply All Your Needs



My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

In Philippians 4:6, Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” And then in Philippians 4:19 (just 13 verses later), he gives the liberating promise of future grace: “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

If we live by faith in this promise of future grace, it will be very hard for anxiety to survive. God’s “riches in glory” are inexhaustible. He really means for us not to worry about our future.

We should follow this pattern that Paul lays out for us. We should battle the unbelief of anxiety with the promises of future grace.

When I am anxious about some risky new venture or meeting, I regularly battle unbelief with one of my most often-used promises, Isaiah 41:10.

The day I left America for three years in Germany my father called me long distance and gave me this promise on the telephone. For three years I must have quoted it to myself five hundred times to get me through periods of tremendous stress. “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

I have fought anxiety with this promise so many times that when the motor of my mind is in neutral, the hum of the gears is the sound of Isaiah 41:10.


John Piper 

The kind of heart you need

BIBLE MEDITATION:

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou were cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Revelation 3:15-16

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Of all the people who left Egypt with Moses and crossed the wilderness for 40 years, only two of them were permitted by God to enter the Promised Land, and Moses was not one of them! Only Joshua and Caleb out of that group entered the land.

Joshua chapter 14 tells us something that’s a key to Caleb, the Hebrew hero in battle. Three times the Holy Spirit says Caleb “wholly followed the Lord God” (vv. 8, 9, 14). Every ounce of Caleb was given to the Lord.

This is the kind of heart you and I should have if we call ourselves Christians. If you’re fainthearted, the devil is going to intimidate you. And there’s only one way to stand against the devil. That is to give everything to Jesus Christ. Indeed, God does not accept half-hearted religion.

It would be better for you to say “There is no God” than say He doesn’t mean that much to you, that He doesn’t make a difference in your life, that He doesn’t stir your heart to love Him.

ACTION POINT:

God is looking for wholeheartedness. "With my whole heart have I sought Thee." (Psalm 119:10) Can you say this to the Lord today? 


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers