June 9

1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,

2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 

5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, 

6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'" 

7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

10 And the crowds asked him, "What then shall we do?"

11 And he answered them, "Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise."

12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?"

13 And he said to them, "Collect no more than you are authorized to do."

14 Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages."

15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ,

16 John answered them all, saying, "I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

18 So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people.

19 But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done,

20 added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison. - Luke 3:1-20

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

27 and give no opportunity to the devil.

28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. - Ephesians 4:25-32

65 You have dealt well with your servant, O LORD, according to your word. 

66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. 

67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. 

68 You are good and do good; teach me your statutes. 

69 The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; 

70 their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law. 

71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. 

72 The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.  - Psalm 119:65-72

1 And behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the LORD to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make offerings.

2 And the man cried against the altar by the word of the LORD and said, "O altar, altar, thus says the LORD: 'Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.'"

3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: 'Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.'"

4 And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Seize him." And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself.

5 The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.

6 And the king said to the man of God, "Entreat now the favor of the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me." And the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him and became as it was before.

7 And the king said to the man of God, "Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward."

8 And the man of God said to the king, "If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place,

9 for so was it commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.'"

10 So he went another way and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.

11 Now an old prophet lived in Bethel. And his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told to their father the words that he had spoken to the king.

12 And their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone.

13 And he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him and he mounted it.

14 And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" And he said, "I am."

15 Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat bread."

16 And he said, "I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place,

17 for it was said to me by the word of the LORD, 'You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.'"

18 And he said to him, "I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.'" But he lied to him.

19 So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water.

20 And as they sat at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back.

21 And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, "Thus says the LORD, 'Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD and have not kept the command that the LORD your God commanded you,

22 but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, "Eat no bread and drink no water," your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.'"

23 And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back.

24 And as he went away a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body.

25 And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.

26 And when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, "It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the LORD; therefore the LORD has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word that the LORD spoke to him."

27 And he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." And they saddled it.

28 And he went and found his body thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey.

29 And the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city to mourn and to bury him.

30 And he laid the body in his own grave. And they mourned over him, saying, "Alas, my brother!"

31 And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.

32 For the saying that he called out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass."

33 After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places.

34 And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth. - 1 Kings 13

1 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.

2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, "Arise, and disguise yourself, that it not be known that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who said of me that I should be king over this people.

3 Take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what shall happen to the child."

4 Jeroboam's wife did so. She arose and went to Shiloh and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age.

5 And the LORD said to Ahijah, "Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you say to her." When she came, she pretended to be another woman. 

6 But when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another? For I am charged with unbearable news for you.

7 Go, tell Jeroboam, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: "Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over my people Israel

8 and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, and yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes,

9 but you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back,

10 therefore behold, I will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will burn up the house of Jeroboam, as a man burns up dung until it is all gone.

11 Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat, for the LORD has spoken it."'

12 Arise therefore, go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die.

13 And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something pleasing to the LORD, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

14 Moreover, the LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today. And henceforth,

15 the LORD will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their fathers and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger.

16 And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin."

17 Then Jeroboam's wife arose and departed and came to Tirzah. And as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.

18 And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet.

19 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

20 And the time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years. And he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place.

21 Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite.

22 And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done.

23 For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,

24 and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.

25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.

26 He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made,

27 and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house.

28 And as often as the king went into the house of the LORD, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom.

29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

30 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.

31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite. And Abijam his son reigned in his place. - 1 Kings 14

How Can You Love People Who Are So Wicked?

I need this teaching.

God first loved us, yes while we were still in our sin.

We are a judging people.

We judge each other with the false sense that we are better than so in so.

I know that all have been consigned to sin or disobedience because God says so.

This was to show His sovereignty and the power He has bestowed on the blood of Christ.

His teaching is meant to pierce the soul, convicting you of sin and bringing you to your knees by the realization that you are lost and headed for hell.

You come to the reality that you aren't able to satisfy God's wrath by anything you could ever do.

You need supernatural help.

That help comes in Christ alone.

There is so much evil masquerading its self in the form of justice denied.

There is injustice in this imperfect world ruled by sinful men.

How do we make sense of it all?

The only true righteousness found here is in Christ and His teaching.

All men are sinners!

However there's a difference in the ones who have repented and are under the blood of Christ as compared to those who are still in their sin.

Listen very carefully, I did not say that the saved still could not sin. 

As long as you are in this earthly body, you will battle sin.

Our very nature bends us toward sin. 

That is why Paul talks about us as if we are mentally unstable, not doing the things we want to do but the things we don't want to do.

The work has already been done through Christ, His death and His resurrection.

It's God's plan, He is sovereign over all!!

For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. - Romans 11:32

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,

10 as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; 

11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 

12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."  - Romans 3:9-12

22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.

24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,

26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. - Galatians 3:22-27

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. - Romans 3:19-20

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, - Romans 3:23

14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.

15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.

17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.

22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,

23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. - Romans 7:14-25

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. - Romans 5:6-11

how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, - Hebrews 2:3

17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. - Hebrews 2:17-18

Glorify God in Your Body

You were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:20)

“Worship” is the term we use to cover all the acts of the heart and mind and body that intentionally express the infinite worth of God. This is what we were created for. It might be singing in church. It might be sweeping the kitchen floor.

Don’t just think about worship services when you think about worship. That is a huge limitation which is not in the Bible. All of life is supposed to be worship.

Take breakfast, for example, or midmorning snacks. First Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Now eating and drinking are about as basic as you can get. What could be more real or more ordinarily human than eating and drinking? And Paul says, in effect, let all your eating and drinking be worship.

Or take sex. Paul says the alternative to fornication is worship.

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:18–20)

That is, worship with your body by the way you handle your sexuality.

Or take death for a final example. We will experience death in our bodies. In fact, it will be the last act of the body on this earth. The body bids farewell. How shall we worship in that last act of the body? We see the answer in Philippians 1:20–21. Paul says that his hope is that Christ would be magnified — worshiped, shown to be worthy — in his body by death. Then he adds, “For to me . . . to die is gain.” We express the infinite worth of Christ in dying by counting death as gain.

You have a body. But it is not yours. “You were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

You are always in a temple. Always worship.

John Piper 

How Will God Respond to Your Sin?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God?” Romans 3:23

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

You may be a “righteous” sinner, a “moral” sinner, a “church member” sinner, a “fine up-standing” sinner, or an “educated” sinner; but you are a sinner.

And the Bible says Jesus and Jesus alone is God's answer to man's sin. Without Jesus Christ, nothing can be done for your sin. With Jesus Christ, nothing else needs to be done.

We must confess our sins and be willing to admit we’re a sinner. We must believe Jesus is the only answer for our sin. We must believe He is the Savior.

Dear friend, if today by faith you will admit you're a sinner, then you are well on the road to being saved. If you offer God an alibi, any excuse for sin, you'll never be saved. First John 1:7 says, “… the blood of Jesus ChristHis Son cleanses us from all sin.” And Romans 5:20 says, “…where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

ACTION POINT

You must “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved...” (Acts 16:31). Confess your sins, repent of them, and believe. Then, “…though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they will be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

June 8

41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.

42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom.

43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it,

44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances,

45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.

46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress."

49 And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"

50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them.

51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. - Luke 2:41-52

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.

18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!-

21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,

22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,

23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. - Ephesians 4:17-24

57 The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words. 

58 I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. 

59 When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies; 

60 I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments. 

61 Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me, I do not forget your law. 

62 At midnight I rise to praise you, because of your righteous rules. 

63 I am a companion of all who fear you, of those who keep your precepts. 

64 The earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love; teach me your statutes!  - Psalm 119:57-64

1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

2 And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt.

3 And they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam,

4 "Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you."

5 He said to them, "Go away for three days, then come again to me." So the people went away.

6 Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, "How do you advise me to answer this people?"

7 And they said to him, "If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever."

8 But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.

9 And he said to them, "What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, 'Lighten the yoke that your father put on us'?"

10 And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, "Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,' thus shall you say to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs.

11 And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'"

12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, "Come to me again the third day."

13 And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him,

14 he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions."

15 So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that he might fulfill his word, which the LORD spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

16 And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, "What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David." So Israel went to their tents.

17 But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah.

18 Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

20 And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah only.

21 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God:

23 "Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people,

24 'Thus says the LORD, You shall not go up or fight against your relatives the people of Israel. Every man return to his home, for this thing is from me.'" So they listened to the word of the LORD and went home again, according to the word of the LORD.

25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel.

26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David.

27 If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah."

28 So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, "You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt."

29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.

30 Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one.

31 He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites.

32 And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.

33 He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar to make offerings. - 1 Kings 12

All Hostile to God

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death. (Colossians 1:21–22)

The best news in all the world is that our alienation from God is ended and we are reconciled to the Judge of the universe. God is no longer against us, but for us. Having omnipotent love on our side mightily steels the soul. Life becomes utterly free and daring when the strongest being in the universe is for you.

But Paul’s message of salvation is not good news to those who reject the diagnosis in Colossians 1:21. He says, you “were alienated and hostile in mind.”

How many people do you know who say, “Apart from God’s grace, I am hostile to God in my mind”? People seldom say, “I hate God.” So, what does Paul mean that people are “hostile in mind” to God before they were reconciled by the blood of Christ?

I think he means that the hostility is really there toward the true God, but people do not allow themselves to think about the true God. They imagine God to be the way they would like him to be, which seldom includes any possibility that they might be in really serious trouble with him.

But concerning the God who really exists — a God who is sovereign over all things, including sickness and calamity — we were all hostile to him, Paul says. Deep down, we hated his absolute power and authority.

That any of us is saved is owing to the wonderful truth that the death of Christ obtained the grace by which God conquered our hearts and caused us to love the One we once hated.

Many are still learning not to be hostile to God. It is a good thing that he is gloriously patient.

John Piper 

Do You Trust or Worry?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep" Psalm 121:4

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

I heard about a man who was in a crisis and couldn’t sleep. He thought about this verse of Scripture, “Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:4). He said, “Well, Lord, there’s no need for both of us to stay up all night. Good night, Lord. I’m going to sleep while you stay awake.”

The Bible says, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You" (Isaiah 26:3).

It may sound like a paradox: on one hand, pray earnestly. On the other, get some sleep. But Philippians 4:6-7 tells us, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and [listen to it] the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

ACTION POINT

Friend, turn your problem over to Him. Roll it on the Lord. I don’t care how big it is. Read and obey Philippians 4:6-7 and know the mastery of God’s peace. God’s peace will settle over your panic.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers